Long Weekend!

Monday morning came way too quick, but I guess most Mondays do. It has been a dream of mine since I could remember to actually be in the Amazon River Basin. Can you imagine... wildlife that is so rare it has been documented only once. Even rarer still, the fact that only one species of an animal will live on only one small island in the mouth of the Amazon. Birds that are so colorful they look like an 80's jumpsuit flying across the sky. Snakes that can eat an entire deer, with little ease. Phenomenal colors, variety of life, and breath-taking views harvest themselves in one of the only places left in the world that has not been fully discovered. This place truly points back to an amazing, awesome Creator! When you put such an amazing place with one of my favorite things in the world to do, you get, fishing in the Amazon. My first trip in 2009 promised little success for an opportunity to get to go fishing in the Amazon. When we arrived in 2011, that statistic proved itself even more true. Basically, we could never afford a 10,000 dollar fishing trip. A couple of months ago I met a guy, who knew a guy, who owned a fishing boat. A couple of months later, 5 guys went fishing on a beautiful Saturday morning. We didn't catch much, but what we did catch was pretty cool. We reeled in a skate (similar to a stingray) that was absolutely huge! I am pretty sure if it would have been any larger, it would have sunk the boat! We also caught yellow and orange catfish, shovel nose catfish, and a couple other types of smaller fish!

I noticed while we were fishing that I wasn't feeling too well. I didn't want to spoil the once in a lifetime opportunity to get to fish, so I kept pushing.... When I got home I knew something was wrong. I crashed Saturday night and woke up running a 102, and could barely move. I walked over to the Director's apartment to let him know I wasn't feeling well. I told him that I should be good for the Sunday evening English Service. Finding a fill in that short notice around here is quite a task! By the time I got home, I used the little bit of energy I had left to type out my message word-for-word, emailed it to Doc (the Director), and passed out. I woke up with Liz by my side, and fell back asleep after eating some "cure-all Amazon fruit and stew". Thanks for the prayers! This morning I woke up feeling much better, but moved on to the next headache.... testing an entire school of kids, by myself! I guess I didn't realize how much John (the missionary from Lima, Peru), was taking care of during his 9 day stay here.

There are a lot of things up in the air right now. We have a lot of stuff to take care of for our visas. We haven't heard back about the status of our long awaited visas - pray God moves them through the system with His authority! We have a lot of openings in our staff here at AVA, only a miracle from God will fill those positions at this point! At this point, we are hopeful and excited about ALL that God will do in the upcoming future. We ask that you would pray, with us, during this season of prayer - during this season of watching God make the impossible happen! James 5:16 tells us that the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective! Will the righteous pray with us?