09 June 2015
Children of the Amazon
Boats are a way of life on the Amazon. Children paddle their way to school and home again. One school we visited was three classrooms, the only building in the area that was still above water and it only barely so. Flooding this year was higher than in many previous years. We have taken some children of pastors into our program for sponsorship. We hope to help and encourage them in their ministry work.
Amazing Amazon
In the last week of May 2015, I spent a part of my life on board this boat. We zipped along waterways, like roads, in the Amazon River, braving hot sun, sudden torrential rains, fellow boaters and river creatures. The driver, that is the man handling the motor at the back, used a GPS device to navigate canals that looked identical to me. Unlike American waters, there were no recreational boaters here. Everyone was going somewhere, usually with boat loaded down as ours was--with supplies, livestock and children. I noticed that dogs seemed to enjoy the experience more than other animals. The best part was the beautiful scenery and of course the ministry among the villages. The worst part was sitting with no back rest for hours. I suffered from my lack of Spanish fluency, except when we stopped in a village. The indigenous people did not speak Spanish which put us all on a level field. Life in the village was like villages in many places where we work. Homes were simple shelters, Food was home grown-- plentiful in harvest and perhaps scarce at other times. Fishing is important. Many of these villages have a church building and a body of believers planted by the missionary who was hosting me.
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