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