The Amazon Journey of Faith

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md6awcgMk9A 400x400]

It was with a strange excitement that we stepped off the airplane in Manaus. For a couple of weeks we’d been talking about this part of our journey. The trill of going into a place for the first time, not knowing where we would sleep or what we would do, but knowing that God sent us there for a purpose and a plan, and that He would guide our steps as we walk into whatever He had designed for us before time even began.

Walking down the corridors towards the luggage reclaim, the reality struck us of what we were doing. It’s always nice as a Christian to say that we trust in God, but this seldom goes beyond our own planning and preparation. Here we were actually practically dependent on God’s real-time guidance, otherwise we’d be lost.

The first moments we stepped into the Amazon air we could feel an invisible moist and thick blanket wrapping itself around us. We walked towards the bus stop and prayed to God once more, dedicating this time to Him and asking Him for His guidance, protection and provision. The bus arrived and we headed into the city of Manaus for the first time.

After the bus dropped us off we hiked towards a tourist information centre, but because it was a holiday, everything was closed. We decided to sit down in front of it in the shade and Jakes asked a random person sitting next to us a question. Although he couldn’t speak English we eventually figured out that he was an evangelical Christian and that he had a brother who could speak English. For some reason this person felt compelled to help us.

We eventually met his brother in Christ, Wilson, who actually came from the UK and spoke fluent English. It also turned out that he had been involved with Amazon River outreaches in the past. He showed us around the city and helped settle us in for the first couple of days in Manaus. On the third day in Manaus, when places were open again, Jakes called a few numbers of possible contacts we’d received from a friend we made in Sao Paulo. One number turned out positively and the lady could have a meeting with us immediately.

We met Raquel of YWAM in her office some minutes later, and as we explained our journey of faith and our mission to her, uncertainty changed to amazement, and amazement to excitement as she phoned someone who she thought could help us. Ten minutes later Paulo and another brother entered the office, and their response was similar to Raquel’s. Where a previous church had received our explanations with doubt and scepticism, God gave us total favour and an open door here. Although Raquel could speak pretty good English, making arrangements was still not an exact science, but we figured out that we would be sleeping at an Indian Chief’s house that same evening.

Arrangements with our baggage and with food had to be hurriedly completed so that we could be finished in time for them to pick us up. We had understood that we would sleep over one night and then go back to Manaus the next day to possibly stay at the YWAM base, so we packed day bags with sleeping gear and tents, preparing to be away for one day. The rest of our luggage we left in storage at the hostel we had stayed at. After we were picked up we drove about 45 minutes outside of town to a little settlement on the outskirts of town where indigenous Indians lived – we stayed here at the chief’s house.

The evening consisted of playing with the village kids, helping the chief’s children with English, eating a pleasant meal and taking a shower in an outside shelter with some turtles. The next morning we were woken up at 5am not knowing what was happening or where we were going, but we were packed and hiking to the nearest bus stop soon after. Back in the city we joined some more guys at the harbour and took a 15-minute boat trip across the Rio Negro, figuring we were going to another village deeper in the Amazon.

On the other side we waited for a while until a car picked us up and took us about 40 minutes further away from Manaus. We eventually arrived at a river where a small riverboat was anchored. We got to know our fellow travellers, and they were all Brazilian and/or Indigenous Indian pastors or missionaries. Among them were the two guys we met at the YWAM office – Paulo and his friend. The riverboat took us on a 15 minute journey and we eventually anchored next to a much bigger riverboat that was anchored on shore close to a lonely hut built on stilts.

Getting off the boat we could see some young people looking like Americans working around the terrain, and eventually the translator Joshua told us where we were and what was going on as we were taken up the hill with the rest of the pastors and missionaries. This place is the new base of the organisation CONPLEI, whose goal it is to unite mission organisations in the Amazon regions to train and prepare indigenous leaders and missionaries to reach out to their own people. The Americans were busy preparing and clearing the terrain where the new facilities are to be built. The land was bought at a fraction of its initial cost after much prayer.

The next three days we spent working and fellowshipping with our pastor friends and with the Americans. We slept on the roof of our riverboat in our tents and it rained for large parts of the days. On the first afternoon Joshua the translator called us for a meeting with the president of CONPLEI. They explained their vision and purpose and then we also explained ours. Eventually they asked whether we would be interested in partnering with them, sending Global Challenge groups in the future to help with construction, support, English lessons and training, and we agreed that we thought it would be a good partnership.

During these three days we also got information and contacts for our journey ahead, and we received the specifics of our next location for ministry. We also got two new portable hammocks for our 6-day journey on the Amazon to Benjamin Constant, that Joshua the translator had coincidentally brought with him. On the last day of our time on the river, we had morning devotions with our Indian pastor- and missionary friends. After some scripture and singing we got an opportunity to share our testimony with them and Jakes explained how God had lead us there. After this Paulo told us a testimony of his own…

A few days before we came, he saw a couple of shooting stars, and he thought back to 1912 when his ancestors had seen shooting stars and believed that it foretold the arrival of white people who would come and help them. Paulo felt that God told him some white people would come and help, and when he received the phone call from Raquel he knew that it was what God had told him about, and this is why he immediately dropped everything and went to the office when he received the call.

This was just another confirmation to us that God was guiding and opening doors without us really doing anything, and that His favour and grace was upon us for His glory and His will to be accomplished. After our 6-day Amazon boat journey we were greeted by a welcoming party in Benjamin Constant, and that same evening we took part in an elders meeting of the tribe to discuss and plan our time ahead. Again it was evident that God’s favour and grace was following us wherever we went.

It seems clear that our paths have been laid out in detail and in intricate design, and we are going along on a journey that is directed and protected by our heavenly Father. Submitting in trust to the guidance and protection of God is a voyage of faith and sometimes of uncertainty, but it is a voyage that overflows with the visible influence and working of God, and the awe and excitement that this brings, surpasses all other experiences.

Please continue to stand in prayer with us. Join us as we continue on this journey and as we bare witness to the power of our living Father and Saviour Jesus Christ. May we all receive the desire to experience our God more intensely through greater faith and trust, even when it goes beyond our barriers of comfort and control.

Amen.