I've been home from my trip for a few days now, enjoying time with the family and getting back into the flow of life. Part of me though, is still with the rest of our group who continues to visit towns along the Amazon River.Since I only was along for the first half of the trip it will be hard to make an accurate evaluation until they return. In the meantime, I'll try to bring you up to speed on what we experienced...
Upon arriving in Manaus, we were immediately confronted with an obstacle. We had planned on taking a line boat (public boats traveling between cities) to Sao Gabriel, a 72 hour trip up the Rio Negro. However, what we didn't know was the river was so low that line boats were not traveling up-river. We looked into flights, but last minute fares were out of the question. After some scrambling, we learned that we could hire a boat and driver. While this was a much more expensive option, it would give us freedom to stop at river villages. Due to the cost, we decided to only travel as far as Santa Isabel and then down to Barcelos on the way back to Manaus.
Upon arriving in Manaus, we were immediately confronted with an obstacle. We had planned on taking a line boat (public boats traveling between cities) to Sao Gabriel, a 72 hour trip up the Rio Negro. However, what we didn't know was the river was so low that line boats were not traveling up-river. We looked into flights, but last minute fares were out of the question. After some scrambling, we learned that we could hire a boat and driver. While this was a much more expensive option, it would give us freedom to stop at river villages. Due to the cost, we decided to only travel as far as Santa Isabel and then down to Barcelos on the way back to Manaus.
The "speedboat" that we hired to take us up-river.
A morning stretch on the beach before leaving, we camped several nights on beaches during the long trips up and down river.
We saw first hand why the line boats were no longer going up-river, this line boat ran aground on this rock a month and half ago, since then the river has dropped another several feet.
Before I go further, some of you may be wondering what we were looking for on this trip. Our goal, to find a region where God may be calling us to open a new work, is easily stated but not so easily executed. We're looking for things like remote interior communities that don't have access to the gospel, but that often depends on how you define "remote", "access" or even "community". In addition, there are some things that we want that would help us not live quite so "remotely", such as internet, access to banking and a reasonable selection of groceries. Most of these qualities are subjective (does the availability of only onions and carrots constitute a "reasonable selection of groceries"?) and often statistics on population and churches working in the interior is very hard to nail down.
Santa Isabel was smaller than we expected, probably around 7,000 people in the town itself, but we were surprised by how clean, well-maintained and safe it was. The town itself only had 6 churches, and only one, that we could tell, was working in the interior. Somewhere around twenty interior communities were in the region of Santa Isabel, only about half have churches. We left thinking there was certainly kingdom work to be done, but not sure if this was THE place.
Santa Isabel was smaller than we expected, probably around 7,000 people in the town itself, but we were surprised by how clean, well-maintained and safe it was. The town itself only had 6 churches, and only one, that we could tell, was working in the interior. Somewhere around twenty interior communities were in the region of Santa Isabel, only about half have churches. We left thinking there was certainly kingdom work to be done, but not sure if this was THE place.
Government buildings in Santa Isabel; the cleanliness and condition of the city, we learned, was more to do with the local government than any presence of prosperity.
Barcelos was probably twice the size of Santa Isabel, and felt like a big city after eating every meal in the only restaurant in Santa Isabel. Barcelos had twice the number of churches in town, and one was quite large. The church work in the interior was better organized, but the interior region was much larger and had more communities. The town seemed much more comfortable to live in compared to Santa Isabel. Again, Barcelos seemed to have plenty of work in the interior, but is this the place God is calling us?
Ben and I explore Barcelos on a rented motorcycle.
View of Barcelos from our hotel.
The Rio Negro seems to be a needy place, it certainly qualifies for remote. Tim and Kevin, along with Tim's sons Luke and Ben, will be visiting more than 10 communities on the Amazon. When they return we will have a better idea of how the Rio Negro compares to the Amazon. We were hoping for a big "God moment" that would help us know with certainty where He is calling us. That may still happen on the second part of the trip, but most likely, God will speak to us in His "still small voice". Please pray for us, both as a family and mission, as we seek to hear that voice and respond to His call.
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