Second day in Obidos John and Junior crossed the Amazon in a Kayak this morning. We continue to see dolphins everywhere we go. We visited 4 churches and put on another Vacation Bible School. It started out looking like rain and 6 kids arrived God broke the clouds and we sent the six out to bring their friends and ended up with 35. Also had a soccer clinic in a well to do school. In the afternoon we went to a building called the milkshake where Junior signed up a team to play in a futsol tournament. Our guys won the first two games but were defeated in the third tying for third place out of 16 teams. Good job guys! Amy Moon and Dirancy Foddrill also played on the two opposing women's teams. It all happened so fast Dirancy wasn't sure who her teamates were and actually passed the ball to Amy twice. Amy's team won! Our team played a soccer game this evening in what some refer to as the castle. The field had three walls around it. Rocky played in this game and Joe took an elbow to the chest and just like FIFA the brazillians came out with a stretcher and carried him off the field only to walk back across 10 seconds later at half time. The other players wanted something to happen to them so they could be carried off in this manner. We tied 1-1. Brazillian teenage girls appear to be very grateful american teenage boys are here. Max and Chad drew the attention of the upperclassmen as Rocky did the lower classmen. Ask Roc Byrd about his nickname of "Mato Frangos" and also about Jabba's delivery with the assistance of Shaggy. Roc adjusted the entire crew, the cooks, and some of our team member. Sarah was his assistant. Fields are ripe workers are few. Please pray that the lord sends more workers.
6/20
Today was a recreational day. We fished and caught mostly catfish. Sebastian and Jordan caught a red belly piranha and a white piranha which we had the cook prepare and many of us sampled. They taste like bluegill. Some of the team spread our clothes on the upper deck to dry after having been washed only to have it rain. They dried later that day. On the way back to Santarem we stopped at a beach where most of us jumped from the third floor of the boat (approximately 22-25' high) into the Amazon. We swam and kayaked the whole afternoon into the evening. Caleb wins the awards for frequency of jumping from the boat and most vicarious which we dubbed the falling monkey award. We also buried Amanda up to her neck and then dug a moat around her and calling her Amanda's Island. Dan, Owen, Jordan,and Ryne decided to kayak into a lagoon at dusk. Dusk happens to be feeding time for the alligators. Junior strongly suggested they make their way back to the open water or the safety of the boat. Two kayaks flipped but no injuries. A good time was had by all. Tonight we packed up and docked in Santarem. Moved all our gear to the Amazon Park Hotel. We really felt sad leaving "Mockville"and also saying goodbye to Amy Moon, however we also felt there would be many more adventures awaiting us on land. One thing we won't be missing from the boat is the "head" it was just large enough to shower, shave, and urinate without changing feet position. A praise note: no one experienced sea sickness the entire boat trip however a few constitutions needed slight adjustment.
6/21
Saturday early morning finds us eating breakfast at the hotel so we can get an early start to Belterra for V.B.S. All are excited about the return trip where we plan to eat at a churascarria. After arriving in Belterra we could tell the Truth project had really promoted this eventful day. We had two basketball teams but ended up playing eachother the first game. The winning team then went on to handily defeat a local team only to lose in the third round. This city is very unique in that it was started by Henry Ford. Most buildings are made of wood unlike everywhere else. While the V.B.S. crew worked with the children the rest of us went canvassing/ evangelizing door to door with our green Truth Project shirts. Everyone seemed so excited about the game and about the service to follow. We arrived at the field only to learn that the game location had been changed to another field due to rain earlier in the day. Worst soccer field to date. No nets,no lines, tall grass, separated by muddy ponds. The other team won barefooted (6-3) and had a 68-72 year old playing forward. We had a man give his heart to the Lord on the soccer field. Jason Courtney had witnessed to him and then after the game the teams were meeting and praying together and this man came forward. Praise the lord. There was also high expectation of what might happen at the service. We had a wonderful service where we saw many invites from the canvassing. The music and message was good. Most of us enjoy a song where everybody jumps up and down. Probably one of those you had to be there moments. We quickly left to go to the restaurant, which is not normally open at night but Junior is a friend of the owner. It is all you can eat and let me tell you some of these youth can really pack it away. Near the end many even bought ice cream. It was a neat experience. The next day we would learn that the owner had called Scotty and jokingly said he didn't make any money on us as we ate twice as much as their usual customers.
6/22
Breakfast at the hotel at 6 a.m. in order to take the bus at 7 a.m. for an early morning soccer game in the neighborhood Junior grew up in. We lost 6-3. The field today made Belterra's field look like carpet. One side had sand 6" deep and foot tall grass. The other side had cavernous ruts 20' long and 6" to 1' wide by 8" deep. This was all interspersed with broken glass and pottery as well as the only rocks we've seen in country. When we had arrived horses were grazing on the field and had marked outthe corner "post(not flags)' arc with road apples (Manure). Some brazillians played barefooted. The team also brought all their previous trophies it took 6 people to carry them 1 trophy alone took two people. During the soccer game Tim went with Scotty to the prison to take some medications to a prisoner there. There are great opportunities there as this is the only prison in Brazil with a chapel inside the walls. Scotty also informed us that they have the paperwork and permission from the warden to do many things there. Please pray for the right contacts to aquire a large building where they could take up to 150 prisoners and teach them to read and right and train them with other job skills to give them hope and a future. Also pray for the money to purchase the building. The internet is slow here at the hotel as it takes up to five minutes to load a page. Our evening service was eventful as the Byrd family gave their testimonies. While Sarah was speaking Roc's plastic seat gave way dumping him on the floor. All had a good chuckle and Sarah seemed to relax a little with the diversion and gave a fine testimony.
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