Four weeks ago, Kathy Sedberry, Hilde Ziegler, Carol and I, were commissioned for this year’s Amazon Medical Mission Trip. Our adventure began when we joined 14 other missionaries from First Presbyterian Church in Orlando. We traveled to Miami for our five hour flight to Manaus Brazil. We were bussed to our boat arriving by 2:30 AM. While introductions of the crew and mission team were made and we started to get to know each other, we shared a welcome bowl of soup as our boat departed Manaus. After the necessary instructions of ship board life were given, we made it to bed by 4:00 AM.
Our journey took us from Manaus, 150 miles down the Amazon River towards the Atlantic Ocean to the town of Itapiranga. When we arose on Monday morning, we were well down river. It took us 16 hours to reach Itapiranga where we picked up a local that would direct us to the villages we were to visit. The river was near its peak levels and flowing very fast. It took us 29 hours to make the return trip because of the current.
Our medical boat was the J.J. Mesquita, named after its founder, not the national bird of Brazil – the mosquito. The first deck was the medical area, with dentist office, doctor’s office, nurse station, pharmacy and triage area. The second deck was our living quarters. Because the river was so high, we literally tied up to a tree in the river and the villagers came by boat to the facility. The houses are on stilts to accommodate the high water season with very little dry land. While some of us tended to the patients, others would hold Vacation Bible School at the local community center in the village. In total we treated approximately 130 patients and held VBS for approximately 150 children in the four villages.
While our mission was a medical one, tending to the people’s health, how their spiritual needs were being administered to, was the real story for us. As I said, we picked up a local in Itapiranga on our first stop. That was Pastor Willie. He oversees the villages we visited and this is his church. With him is his wife Maria. We bring special thanks from him and the church in Itapiranga – which WE helped start. In 2004, Pam Masten, then Elder for Service and Mission, brought a proposal to help begin a church in this town on the Amazon River. Our Session approved a gift of $3,000 which provided a significant beginning, buying the land and the building materials. We were blessed to see what has been done with our gift. We walked the streets with him in the morning, evangelizing and telling everyone about the Jesus movie that would be shown that evening. The church housed the Vacation Bible School in the afternoon. They have reached the minds and hearts of many of the people of Itapiranga and the surrounding area.
More needs to be accomplished; the church needs bathroom facilities, glass to enclose the window openings, Pastor Willie and Maria need a place to live; they are currently renting, and Willie also needs to complete his seminary training. These and other challenges remain for this small church but they put real meaning to the words of our church being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in this world. I told Pastor Willie that I would report back to our congregation of their progress and see if there is any additional support that we can provide. I have completed the first part of that obligation and would like to address the session about the second part.
In closing, our service and mission programs are not just a group of projects to make us feel good. But I’ll tell you; those of us that went are the greatest beneficiaries. Our projects are about helping others to be spared from saying, before God and man, “Yes they housed us, they fed us, they trained us for work but they never told us how we could be reconciled to the will and purposes for which we are created.” From 2 Corinthians: Our job is to be the ambassadors of the living God, living and speaking as though God were making his appeal through us as believers.
Obrigado e deus abençoar
Tom Thomson