Only a few more days...

Hello Friends!

My 10 weeks here are coming to an end. I cannot believe that it is almost over and on Friday I start my trip back to the states. Time goes by so fast!

This past week was our last time to go to Brazil and help our missionary friend. It was a very exciting week though! On Friday and Saturday we held a youth camp for all the local youth. Around 80 teenagers from any church, any denomination, or even if they did not attend church were invited to come and spend these two days with us. It was very busy and exciting weekend! I was able to lead and teach them a worship song in English. They were SO excited to learn English. Many of them came up to me afterwards wanting to learn more!! They were all given gifts of many devotional booklets, a bible, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a washcloth. We ended the weekend with more singing and a bonfire under the incredible stars. It was the start of a new mission to reach the young people of this area.

Clauber & Denora Quadros and their family.

Our staff for the youth camp.

Preparing breakfast for the youth.

Teaching the song in English.

Serving dinner.

Now we are back in Leticia for our last few days. We will be spending this week cleaning, packing, and recuperating from the last 9 weeks. I want to thank you again for all of your support!! It has been an incredible time here in the Amazon and I am going back completely changed. God has not only allowed me to be a part of spreading the His love to these people, but has also transformed me. I would not trade the lessons I have learned here for anything.

Please continue to pray for myself. and for Mark, as we end our time here in the Amazon. We have developed some amazing relationships here and it is sad to leave them. We will be travelling to Bogota, the capital of Colombia, on Friday and will spend Friday evening and all of Saturday there. We will then head to the states early Sunday morning. Please pray for our safety as we travel and that there will not be any problems with customs, our luggage, or any delays.

Thank you for being a part of spreading the love of Christ to the people of the Amazon! May God bless you in everything and continue to use you to reach many people around the world!

Time is Flying!

Hola!

It’s been a little while since I have updated this, but everything is still so good down here! We have been staying busy and learning so many new things! This past week we were blessed to have a couple from Texas join us. We were originally supposed to be going on a medical trip, but unfortunately it was postponed. I was very disappointed, but I still plan to go on one sometime in the future! It was so good to have people from the states join us for a week, bearing many gifts, mostly candy!! J

While they were here we visited a couple different communities and I was given the opportunity to share my testimony. At one of the communities in Brazil I felt my heart break even more for these people. I have never looked into someone’s eyes and seen the sadness, the hopelessness, and the longing for something more as I did when I saw them. I wished so badly I could just help them and give them everything I had. Most of them didn’t have a Bible and for some of them there is not a Bible translated in their tribal language. I kept praying that whatever I shared with them was straight from the heart of God.

This trip completely changed for me in one night. We were invited to attend a birthday party for the niece of the Brazilian missionary we have spent most of our time with. I could not believe the amount of people that were there!! They know how to throw a party. I have never attended a party for a 9 year old like this before! They were so giving!! They fed every mouth that was there and kept giving more goodies. They have so little, but yet they kept giving and giving and giving! I was beyond full after I left, loaded up with a bunch of cake and candy.

However, this is not what changed my trip for me. When I walked out of the house and was surrounded by 20 – 30 little kids I kept hearing “Kree-sta!! Kree-sta!!” Most of the kids at this party were a part of the school & feeding program I have been helping out at and they all seemed to remember me. I have always just ministered to a group of kids a couple times during my trip, but never got to know them. This time however, I have been with them so much that I not only know their names, but they know me as well. I was so overwhelmed! It completely changed everything. My love for them grew even more!! It is hard to stay on a mission trip for a longer period of time, but it’s so worth it!!

I cannot believe I only have 2 ½ weeks left. Please continue to pray for us these next couple of weeks. It’s going to be difficult to transition from being here to going back to the states and leaving all of those kids that I have gotten to know. Thank you so much for all of your support and prayers!!! I am forever grateful! 

The Power of Prayer

This past week and a half I have spent at the home of a Brazilian missionary living in the jungle. I had been there before and have always loved being with him and his family! This trip was much different than the others I have been on. He wanted to show myself and Mark, who is also staying the same amount of time as I am, what daily life is like being a missionary. He did not want to show us how it is when you come for a couple days with a team, but long term what day to day life looks like. It’s much, much different than I had in mind!

We helped him and his wife out with their daily chores and projects. Some days we had more work to do than others, but all in all it was very good. They are in charge of a school and feeding program for some of the kids in their village, they come every Tuesday – Friday from 2pm – 4pm sometimes 5. I enjoy working with these children and playing with them. For some of them it is the only love and food they will have all day. Many of these kids do not get to have a childhood, but are in charge of taking care of their brothers and sisters and doing many chores that we in America do not do until we are older. It is such a blessing to be able to give them a few hours a day of just being a kid.

The biggest thing I have learned from this family is how lightly we take prayer in America. When we sit down to pray before a meal we say the same, mundane prayer every time. “God, thank you for this food, bless it to our bodies, and bless the hands that prepared it.” Sometimes I wonder if God gets tired of hearing the same old prayer 3 times a day. It’s more of a habit to us, than actually speaking with God. What a privilege to come before the Almighty God, to speak to Him, and to have Him listen to us!!

When this family prays, they pray with their whole heart. It is the most sincere prayer I have ever heard. When they pray before a meal it is not just the same old prayer over and over again because it’s habit. They are truly thanking God from the bottom of their hearts not only for the food, but for everything they have. They don’t have much, so what little they have they take care of and are so grateful for.

Prayer is a very powerful thing. God would not instruct us to pray if it was insignificant and meaningless. What an honor we have been given! My prayer life will forever be changed because of this family.

Thank you again for all your prayers and your support. I will be returning to this missionary’s house again on Monday for 4 days, then heading up the Javari River on a medical trip!! 

Changes

Things have changed drastically here at the Amazon house. I was here with a team of 20 from Christ for the Nations Institute, and on Sunday evening they left Leticia, Colombia to start their trip back to the United States. The house went from being very loud and filled with people, to very empty and quiet. The first night it took some adjusting to get used to sleeping in the room by myself instead of with 6 other girls. I am here with another friend that came with us last summer, Mark, that will also be staying for 7 more weeks.

Before the team left we had a very busy schedule, which made time fly by! We went to a town called Islandia, Peru to minister. This town is completely on 15 foot stilts!! There were so many kids there to love on and play with. Amazon Xpeditions has installed one of their biggest water purification systems at this town and have pipes running to different spots of the village. People will come to these water spouts to fill up their water cans and take the clean water back to their homes. They work so hard just to have clean water!

We evangelized on the streets of Leticia. We saw many salvations and we were able to pray for so many people! One incredible testimony came from a very sad man sitting alone. Two guys from our group went over to talk to him, only to find out his wife had left him a couple days ago. He said that morning while he was sitting there he prayed to God asking that if He is real, to send someone to him!!! What an incredible God we serve!

What I will be doing the next 7 Weeks

The remainder of my time here is going to be extremely busy, and will keep me from being able to get to the internet often. Tomorrow I leave for Brazil, to the Brazilian missionary’s home we went to earlier. Mark and I will be there for 9 days helping them with anything they need, with VERY limited Internet connection. We will return for one day to then go on a medical trip down the river, along with another team of doctors. This will be for a week and we will be spending many, many hours on the boat to reach these villages. After returning from this trip we will be in Leticia again for a couple days, then we head out to Brazil again for 3 weeks. After these 3 weeks, our time here in the Amazon will come to an end.

I am very excited and nervous about what is in store for the next 7 weeks. One of the main things I will be doing is teaching English to the Brazilian missionaries. I will definitely need God’s help because they speak Portuguese and I barely speak Spanish!! But I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me and I am so excited to see how He uses me to help them!

I ask that you continue to pray for me daily as I embark on this journey God is taking me on. I need His strength to help me and to guide me. He has proven to me over and over again of His faithfulness and I know this will be another testimony of how great and how awesome our God is. I want to thank you with all of my heart for investing in the Amazon with your prayers!!

The Jungle

I cannot even begin to put into words this past week. God has stretched me farther than I could have ever imagined! It started with us heading into the jungle to one of my favorite places on earth, a local Brazilian missonary’s home. This man is one of the most amazing men I have ever met and works harder than anyone I know. He has sacrificed so much to help the people in his village. It’s so incredible.

He runs a school and feeding program for the local village children. He normally has two groups of kids come a day. We were able to speak to the children about sexual abuse and explain to them that they have a voice and need to speak up if anyone is abusing them. We also were able to speak to some of the women and tell them they also have a voice and need to protect their children. God opened many doors for this and it was a huge blessing and eye opening experience for them!

While we were there we also focused on helping the missionary with different projects he needed done, but didn’t have time to do them by himself. We were so grateful to bless him. We also passed out many pairs of shoes to the children!!! I loved every minute we were there.

We spent two days with this missionary and then headed back deeper into the jungle. We found out that Amazon Xpeditions has been given land to open a discipleship training program for the people of the Amazon! Their goal is to train up locals to go out and speak to their tribes and to the places that we as Americans are unable to get to because of the government. We spent two days sleeping in tents, showering in the river, and getting eaten alive by bugs to help them fulfil this dream by clearing the area of trees. It was a lot of hard work but such an honor to help them start something they have been dreaming of for years!!!

We returned from the jungle yesterday afternoon, having only an hour to get our first shower in two days and get ready to go to another conference. At this conference the counsellor on our team was able to speak to local teachers and leaders of different churches about sexual abuse and also how they can prevent it. They were so receptive!!! It was amazing!!! God is breaking the chains of sexual abuse in this area and I am so blessed to be a part of it!

It has been an amazing opportunity to be here and to serve the people of the Amazon. I have never been as exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally as I have these past two weeks, but it’s all so worth it. You’re prayers are definitely needed and I am so thankful for them!! God is so good. He has given myself and my team supernatural strength to do all of the work we have done. There is no way we made it on our own. What a good God!!! Lives are being transformed and children are being saved from losing their innocence!! PRAISE GOD!!!

“Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior so are the children of one’s youth. “  Psalms 127:3,4

May many blessings come you way!!

Krista

And the journey continues!

Hola!!

I am so blown away by God’s power and might! He is so good and has been moving in amazing ways down here. Our target on this trip is to break the sexual abuse that goes on, which is a subject that is UNTOUCHED in this area, and the enemy has been doing all he can to stop us. But we know that the Gospel cannot be stopped and that our God is more powerful and great than anything the enemy throws our way to stop us.

We recently held a conference raising awareness about sexual abuse. One of the women on our team is a counsellor and she was able to take her knowledge and teach the women that they do have a voice, that they are allowed to say no, and that it’s not ok. For most people they feel that they cannot say anything to anyone, and even if they do most would not help because it’s the “normal” thing to do.

We live close to a local soccer field and were able to go and play with the kids. One of them even accept Jesus into His heart that night! The following evening we held a youth event and talked to them about purity and remaining pure throughout their life.

The past couple days we have been helping a pastor move 150lb pieces of wood in the jungle. We had to hike through the jungle, clear a path and make small bridges across the water to the place where the wood was cut. Then from there we had to carry the pieces of wood on our shoulders back through the jungle. It was probably the hardest work I have ever done, but had we not helped he would have had to do all the work by himself. However, this pastor is amazing!! We were all struggling to carry one per 4 people and he walked past us carrying two by himself. Afterwards he was almost in tears expressing how thankful he was that we helped him out. He said he would never have thought God would bring a group of young people from the United States to help him! God is faithful!!

The ministry bags are still at customs in Bogota and we are believing we will get them back!! God has really been teaching us that He is all powerful and all knowing. Our faith and our trust in Him is really being tested.

Please continue praying for our team. We will be travelling to the jungle tomorrow and staying until Saturday. We will need prayer for strength and protection. I can’t believe it’s almost been a week already!! Love you all and I am so thankful to each and every one of you for your prayers!!

Krista

We have arrived!!!

I am here in Leticia, Colombia because of you! I cannot thank you enough. As our plane landed my eyes filled with tears and my heart full of joy to be back again. It took a lot to get us here! Every obstacle the enemy could throw our way to stop us came at us the past two days.

It started off with us losing a team member at the airport in Dallas. She is here in America for school and originally from Vietnam. A week ago, Colombia changed their regulations on how Vietnamese people are to enter into the country and we were not able to bring her.

From there, we arrived in Bogota Colombia and could not get through customs. We had each packed a personal bag and a bag filled with ministry items. Amazon Xpeditions has brought ministry items in this way many times and have never had problems. We ended up staying at the airport trying to get it through for over 4 hours, only to be told to go to our hotel without them. This morning when we returned for our flight to Leticia we again approached them for 3 hours trying to get them. After many threats and fines we had to leave without 15 of them.

We are so thankful for getting here safely and that we were able to bring our personal luggage with us (they wanted to take everything from us except our carry ons). We know that God is going to be doing amazing things on this trip and that is why it was so difficult for us to come. Even though we are without those bags (mostly filled with items donated to give to the children) we are still here and are able to minister and for that we are so thankful.

Tomorrow night we will be teaching at a church on ways to prevent child abuse. This subject is not brought up in this area. We also have been given favor to have that teaching broadcasted live in three major cities via radio. What a blessing!!!

I am so excited for what God has in store! Great things are coming! Please keep praying for us and praying that we will be able to retrieve the ministry bags from customs in Bogota. Thank you so much!!!

Leaving!!

Today is my last day in the United States for the next ten weeks! I cannot believe that the time has come for me to return to the Amazon, this past year has gone by so quickly!! I have been praying, packing, and preparing to g0 for the past 9 months and it's finally time. God is so good. He has brought all the provision I need in order to go! He is so faithful!!

Early tomorrow morning, myself and a team from Christ For The Nations will head to the Dallas Fort Worth airport where we will then go to Miami. From Miami we will head to Bogota, Colombia and we will stay there for the evening. We will then board our last flight to Leticia, Colombia on Wednesday morning.

Thank you so much for all of your support and prayers! Please continue to pray for us as we travel and as we minister in the Amazon region, and for myself the next 10 weeks.

Blessings!!!
Krista

Hello Friends!

I am so excited about my trip to the Amazon. I have been so blessed by many of you that have been praying for me and supporting me financially. I will be leaving in only 32 days!!! I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me while I am down there.

The first 3 1/2 weeks that I will be there, I will be going as a leader with a team from Christ for the Nations Institute. Please be keeping us in prayer, as we have had many attacks within the past few months from cars breaking down, sickness, and theft.

I am still in need of $150 for my trip. If you feel led to give financially to this journey God is taking me on please mail a check to:

Amazon Xpeditions
PO Box 2183
Cedar Hill, TX 75106

Make checks payable to Amazon Xpeditions with my missionary number, 015, in the memo.

Thanks again! Love you all!!

Krista