Day 3 - Visiting Areruta

Day 3

Saturday, 9-6-14

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We are in the boat again, heading to Areruta for the day.  Dilma cooked breakfast for us and we stopped on our way to Areruta to drift and eat fried fish, rice and banana.  It was great!

Always amazed at God's beautiful creation

Dilma and the kids went with us to Areruta

When we got back on our way, we suddenly turned around in the river to go catch a duck.  It was on the shore and couldn’t fly.  Puma caught it.  I held it – it scratched me – I passed it to Pablo, then Pablo to Dilma.  Dilma wrapped it up in a shirt and held it like a baby, laughing the whole time.  More blue and yellow macaws are flying overhead.

15:26

We left Areruta at 14:00.  We stopped once because the gas filter was stopped up.  Tito and Pablo either unstopped it with a pocket knife or broke it – either way we are on our way again, but our boat has a leak.

We did things  a bit different in Areruta.  We gathered all the people, Tito preached to all of them.  Then, as a group, we gave Paracetomol, Vitamins, Albendazol, Baby powder, cream and toothbrushes.  The idea was to save time and not explain the same drugs over and over.  But, doing it this way loses the personal contact.  I think maybe next time we can be more effective if we stay in one or two villages and spend time there – focusing more on relationships.  The time Claudia and I spent a week just in Oromomo – talking, eating and working alongside the women – was one of the most effective trips.

Tito is sharing the Gospel in Chimani

Brenda explaining some vitamins and the importance of boiling water

Our Pharmacy

It is a pretty hot day today – not many clouds.  Brenda’s thermometer reads 100 degrees!  I would say about 95, of course sitting in a canoe in the river, with no shade, it feels like 102 degrees – especially when the motor suddenly quits and there is no breeze.

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We arrived around 16:00 from Areruta. We were so hot!!  I convinced Brenda to go down to the river with me and cool off – we stood knee deep in the water.  I bent over and washed my hair, letting it hang in the water.  Tiny fish came up and started nibbling on it!

In the meantime, about 10 women came and were waiting to be seen by Brenda.  I helped her a bit and then went to go cook dinner.  I was exhausted!  The heat was really draining.

At 20:00 we had a church service.  It was mainly children and youth.  We sang some songs and then Puma preached.  There were probably 60 people there.  It is  so great to see the church being used and the Gospel being spread.  

The front step of the church in Oromomo

Day 2 of Jungle Trip

Day 2, September 5, 2014

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9:01 AM   - As I write this, we are slowly drifting down  the river in a dugout canoe.  We left 10 minutes ago but only got 5 minutes down river and the motor quit.  Tito is draining the oil into one of my cooking pots to see if that is the problem.  I won’t be asking for the pot back. . .

Drifting

This morning in Ushbe, about 15 women and children showed up outside the school house at 6:45 for medical care!  I cooked breakfast over the borrowed fire while Brenda attended to them.

9:12 AM – The motor has started again and we are moving faster.  We prayed that God would fix the motor.  One think I try to remind myself is that we can do all humanly possible, but if it doesn’t work, it is ok because God is in control.  He controls the motor, the weather, the river.  We MUST trust in Him.

9:32 AM – We are stopped again.

A pair of blue and yellow macaws are  flying around in the treetops, squawking and playing – so beautiful as we drift down the river.

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We eventually made it to Agua Negra after about 3 hours in the canoe.  We were able to attend to about 40 people and share the Gospel with them.  We held clinic in the one room school house.  The entire school was smaller than most people’s kitchens!  We had lunch in the school teacher’s house, boiled rice and fish.  Then, back on the river to travel down to Oromomo where we will pitch our tents for the remainder of the trip.

Agua Negra

We had to haul all our medicines up a 30 foot bank - I dirty, sweaty and out of breath when I made it to the top.
You can see our canoe way down in the river.

Brenda and Tito are sharing the Gospel and giving some health classes

We arrived at Oromomo just before dark, which was an answer to prayer.  We REALLY didn’t want to be on the river after dark.  It took us another 3 hours to get down the river. We were very tired after riding in the canoe all day in the hot sun without any shade.  Our relief would come when we would get out and push the boat.  We had to get out and push several times because the river was so low.  We would be going along at a good clip and all of the sudden come to a sluggish halt – our boat would be stuck on a sand bar in the middle of the river.

It was great to see Dilma, Lizbeth, Marianna and Jabez.  The girls have grown up so much!  They just laughed, giggled and hid behind their mother until I snatched both of them up and gave them big hugs, then they decided to be my shadows.

Mariana and Lizbeth

  Judith Mendez and her mother Nasmine are here.  Judith is a missionary with International Tribal Missions, Tony Murrin’s mission organization that HHFM is partnering with.  Nasmine is 75 years old!  She moved her to live with her daughter and help her.  She has taken to it like a duck in water!  She is helping to tutor the  children, doing Bible studies, etc. 

Judith and Nasmine

We had a few luxuries in Oromomo I was not expecting.  The first was that Judith let us use her gas stove!  A real gas stove out here!  I was very excited!  We set up camp in the house that HHFM had built here.  It has two rooms.  The front room is used for Sunday School and the back room is where we set up our tents.  The second luxury was that in the back, I hung a shower curtain so we could bathe with a bucket.  I must say that I was  very, very excited about having a “shower” of sorts.  It is wonderful when you can bathe and then just go around the corner and get in your tent.  (I know, seems like something trivial, but it is HUGE)

Our house!  It still needs a door, some windows screened in, etc.  But it is so nice!

Our tents.  The shower curtain is hanging behind the back wall.
That area is going to be a storage/bathroom area eventually.

Day 1 of the Jungle trip

September 4, 2014 - Ushbe, Bolivia, Day 1

What a feeling to fly into the jungle  and when you step out of the plane the tribal people start saying your name!  “Jessie”  “Jessie”  “Jessie”

The whole village comes to the strip to greet you.

We set up camp inside the church that has been built since I was there last.  CIC built the church.  It is about 6 feet off the ground for flooding.

Inside the church

We held a medical clinic in the school next door.  Brenda saw 65 patients.  I saw 2 patients!  I was actually busy preparing medicines for her and then I had to leave and go cook dinner.

The school house - it is still under construction

Jose Luis "Puma" cleaning some sore on the child's head

Brenda treating a child

We also gave out toothbrushes to all the families

Such a cute family, I had to get a picture

I am bathing this baby and teaching the mother how to keep him clean

The camp stove would not work, so I had to go and borrow a fire from someone.  As I cooked, two boys sat and watched me intently; all the while chewing on some shredded, dry meat.  There were at least 15 dogs ranging from 2 weeks old to “too old to remember”.  Chickens and roosters walked around, sometimes pestering the dogs.  A giant sow with about 8 babies came walking through my “kitchen”.   She totally upset everything and few dogs put her in her place, which was outside an invisible perimeter that had been established and recognized only by the animals.

The kitchen

I was their entertainment

One of the ladies was weaving this

Sow and babies

Just a few of the many dogs

At 7:30 we had a service in the church.  It was packed.  I counted about 100 people inside.   There were people everywhere, in the floor, in laps, on the stage.  I sat on a bench and there was a child underneath me sleeping.  There was a woman in the floor next to me with her 5 children as she nursed the 6^th. 

The men all sit on the left side of the church, the women and children all sit on the right side.  Tito preached the sermon in Chimani.  At several intervals, the women would all start hacking, snorting sucking and eventually spitting onto the wooden floor.  No one else seemed to find this odd or disgusting. 

The church service.  I think those are bugs being reflected in the camera flash.

Tomorrow we go to Agua Negra.  Tito says it is 3 hours down river, we will see.

Black sheep?!?

So, Word of Life has a new children's show. One of the characters is a black sheep. She talks like a "gringa". Bad Spanish accent. Wants to eat all the time.  Etcetera.  

Rumor is that her character was loosely based on me!   Well. . .  (Speechless)

Time of refreshing

I came down here to Bolivia to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Word of Life Bolivia. I thought that was all. 

God had other plans. 

This has been a great time of encouragement and refreshing for me. Surrounded by friends who love and encourage me. Hearing messages from men of God. Having time to rest, reflect and read the Word. 

So far, this trip, these 4 days have been wonderful in so many ways!  

White Ants!

Vivian is sitting by me as I swing in a hammock on the front porch.  We are enjoying a brief respite from the heat, feeling the cool breeze that comes as the sun sets.  I am chatting with several of the residents  about the crusade they just returned from in Muwayo.
Suddenly, Vivian starts shouting!  All the children go running to the back of the cottage.

 Isa says to me, "White Ants!  I will bring you one!"

He comes back chewing something, the wing still hanging from his lips and another one climbing up his arm  He snatches it off is arm, pops it in his mouth and chews excitedly.  Putting one in my face, he says "They are good.  Here, eat one.  No, don't kill it!  You have to eat it alive, it is better."

"No thank you, I just had dinner."

"You can put them in water and salt to eat them.  Or you can fry them."

At this wonderful culinary advice, I get up to go find the other children.  They are in the back, quickly gathering the winged grub like insects.  White, yes.  Ants, no.  They are grabbing them from the ground excitedly but very deliberately - popping them in their mouth and chewing quickly.  The sun has set and the darkness is coming fast.

Some children are adding the insects to a blue cup.  One child explains, "We are going to fry them!"  The sound of high pitched laughter and excitement fill the air.

Isa points out the swarm that had alerted Vivian.  Thousands hover around the mango trees, many dropping to the ground, as if their batteries have gone dead.

After the cup is full and last bit of light is gone from the sky, the kids all go running and skipping back to their cottage.

It is then that I notice Esther, alone, by the cottage.  She says sadly, "I don't like white ants. When I eat them they make my cheeks big."  (yeah, that is it, my excuse for next time)