take a deep breath...

This post by Jane Thorson, a friend down the hall in Memorial Dorm, College of the Ozarks, 15 years ago. And now a lifelong friend.

somewhere in between Porto Do Moz and Gurupa, Brin and i were looking out at the amazon river, and she told me to take a deep breath...to breathe in the fresh air that the amazon (the lungs of the world) produces. she had this really philosophical idea about how she would remember taking these deep breaths while she lay on her death bed...very deep stuff.

and so, i've been taking alot of deep breaths lately...breathing in the amazon air, of course, but also breathing in the life and culture of the amazon.

i didn't know exactly all that i would be doing when i made my plans to come visit josh and brin. all i knew is that i wanted to see what their life was like living in altamira...in the amazon river basin. but a couple days after arriving in altamira, brin and i joined a team of canadians/brasilians/missionaries on a river trip up the amazon river to the port city of Gurupa.

their goal was to deliver water filters to people living in villages along the amazon river. my goal was to get the chance to see the amazon. i think we both got a lot more than what we expected!

for ten days we slowly traveled up the river, stopping at different villages that one of the brasilian pastors had surveyed earlier. during the day, the canadians would deliver around 8-10 water filters to the families in the village where we had stopped (by village, i mean a few houses clumped together) and brin and the missionary doctor would set up a makeshift "clinic" where they would do consults with the people in the area. while the adults were visiting with the doctor, a couple other people on the team would be painting children's faces, passing out candy and little toys, playing frisbee and of course soccer with the kids. (that's the team i joined!)
then in the evening, we would hold a small meeting in one of the family's homes. sing some worship songs, share some testimonies, preach the word, and pray for people.

it was great!

it was cool to see how open the brasilians were to strangers coming into their homes....it was inspiring to see how brin and the missionary doctor sat with people, listened to their hurts/pain, and gave them physical hope (medicine) and spiritual hope (prayer)...and it was encouraging to see the brasilian church working along side the canadian church in ministering to peoples felt needs. i couldn't have asked for a better picture of the amazon.

and all along the way, i was taking deep breaths:

i breathed in the friendliness of the brasilians...the smiles from the children and adults...the amazing fruits of the amazon...the refreshing river baths...the art of sleeping in a hammock...the adventurous travel in canoes through the tributary rivers off the the amazon river. the joys of living together in community...and of course, the amazon air itself, sometimes scented with tropical flowers.

i know...as i go back home, i hope that i will continue to take deep breaths...
maybe not of the air (although the air in omaha isn't that bad?!) but more importantly, that i will breathe in deeply the life and culture of the place GOD has me for this time in my life. because i know that HE has things there for me, just like i've experienced in the Amazon.

so wherever you find yourself at the moment...don't forget to take a deep breath...

heading off into the remote tributaries of the amazon!

some of the amazing cacao we enjoyed on the trip!

the smiling faces!

Brin translating as i shared a testimony!

relaxing in our hammocks!

painting faces

brin doing her medical things!

setting off to deliver some filters