Day 3 First Village - Jutai

My hammock didnt fall! I prayed that it wouldnt since I tied it last night and not a translator and the lord is faithful. I was honestly nervous. Still laying in it, watching everyone move around the boat in excitement. We finally stopped moving down the river sometime last night and we are here at our first village. And the nerves set in. Its go time. Not really sure whats about to happen, I get up and start getting ready. We eat and do a morning devotional with worship as we have every morning and then we split up into teams. Im in mens ministry and happy to be in it. Im curious to see how this is done. Rick goes over agenda and we group up for prayer. We split up into three mens groups and grab supplies, bom bom (candy), bibles and my note pad. Our group heads left (I would say east or west but Im lucky that I know im in Brazil so I wont attempt) We get to our first home and meet with a man siting inside. He invites us in, welcomingly. Pause.....First off, If im chillin (chillin means hanging out mom) in my house and four people ask to come in my house, Im not positive that Im cool with that. But maybe thats just me, in America, where we dont know our neighbors and are worried about being robbed all the time. Anyways, he asks us to sit and Rick starts talking to him, thru a translator. Basically its small talk and then Rick goes into why we are here. Medical aid and spiritual aid. Through conversation we find out that he is a Christian and has been for over a year. Rick begans to encourage him through scripture and asks some fundamental questions of faith to make sure he knows the truth and not false teaching that is spread worldwide, like god will give you things if you love him. After some conversation, Rick asks if he has been baptized...... and it hits. Klein, you havent been baptized since you were saved. Of all the baptism services I have been blessed to be apart of at home, I haven't thought about me doing it. Baptism is where you publically announce your faith in Christ and by being dunked in the water, you are dead to sin and alive in Christ, Romans 6. I will say that I have been dunked in the water before but at the time, I wasnt a believer. I didnt understand, in my heart, what it ment to be saved. I didnt understand, in my heart, the gospel and how Christ, god in the flesh, perfect and holy, died for us, sinners and wicked, to be called holy and blameless before God. That through Christ, we will get to walk with God in heaven, praising him in worship for eternity. Thats something only god can give you. Its through grace you have been saved though faith, Ephesians 2:8. We as humans cant do that. It was more about being cool, not cussing or drinking and apart of the "good people" to which there is no such thing...
Not being baptized kinda plagued me until lunch. We spent the morning inside his home and then prayed over him and his family and met up with the rest of the team. We all met on the boat for lunch and naps. I met with Rick about the baptism situation and he told me to pray about it. Confession time... I dont pray enough at home. Being here in the Amazon spreading the word, you stay in constant prayer. Praying while someone else is sharing the word, praying for the village as you walk, praying for the words and courage to speak and praying that you dont get taken by any animals in the village. Praying. We ended up after lunch rounding up the men of the village all together and having man time. Rick spoke through Daniel, the brazilian interpretor, challenging the men. Taking them deeper into thought about what it looks like here, in heaven and salvation. Some of the men, laughed and really didnt pay attention but some did. Some look sincere and some wanted to know and learn and some wanted to be encouraged. Which we prayed together and handed out bibles. It was explained to us before we even got off the boat this morning that we are here to spread seeds. We cant get frustrated that some of them wont listen or dont take their faith seriously. We are there for encouragement and prayer and spreading the word. Santification is something that needs to happen there but for our team, it wont be through us. It is kinda frustrating at the same time but more about that later.

Now its football time. Let me share to you something about this sport. It doesnt matter where you are in the world, football (soccer) is worldwide. These dudes could ball. They played barefoot and with both feet. They knew the rules and held them. They were very polite as they stomped us. To say this much, we even had a decent squad. Some of the guys on our team played in college and are on teams in America. We did score one goal but we needed more. We gathered again and praised God for the time together, praised God for the people in the village and praised him that Christ died for everyone. To see someone completely different than you in appearance, language and traditions and to know that we will see each other again in heaven, to where we dont need a translator to communicate is awesome to say the least. Thats something we all took as Christians with us, American and Brazilian. We met as a group for night service inside an open building. Praise and Worship led by David and Bruno, the Brazilian translator, who also played guitar. We sang in Portugese (probably spelled that wrong) and in English. Korbin gave his testimony, which is inspiring in any part of the world. As he was doing that, the kids ran a muck with no parents having them sit so Korbin was interrupted alot. After he finished, we grabbed them and went away to entertain. We played Duck Duck Goose. I havent played that since I was a kid and wow that was fun.
Everyone boarded the boat for showers and dinner. Of course I was on the outside shower with my shower buddies, Jeremy and Jarrod. We ate dinner and gathered for praise and worship and share time. Let me say one thing about praise and worship. We were blessed to have such a talented leader in that from David. With him, the amazon river which by now is as smooth as glass, the jungle surrounding you, and no light in the air to shut out the million stars you can see, you cant help but awe at the creator. We worshiped.
Share time was about sharing what you experienced in the day that someone else may have not gotten to witness. We went around and from everyone was saying, we had a good day. This team has come together. We are starting to see why God chose this team. We are all different in many ways and we are together in Christ. The relationships that we are forming are getting strong and its going to be great to see what God has in store for us. What is that crawling on my leg.....