Fresh Off the Trail

Most aspects of missionary life in the Amazon Basin have become the norm for me at this point, boats, bugs, alligators  piranas, dirt roads, and 4x4 trucks.  But this week marked another first for me!  I was asked to travel along with our construction supervisor, Joaquim, to visit two communities that currently have works in progress, Santarém Miri and Mucambo.  The catch was that we would be traveling by dirtbike!

Now this is starting to sound more like play than work, so I readily accepted.  (Special thanks to fellow missionary Edson Lee for loaning my his bike for the trip.)  The purpose of the trip was simple, travel to the two communities and make sure that the construction projects were in order and on time.  I had already been to the community of Mucambo when we laid the foundation of that church.  This is part of what it takes to make sure that these projects are ready for the American teams that come down to help out and bless these people.

So on Monday afternoon we headed out, taking with us a bricklayer that we would be leaving in Santarém Miri to work the next couple weeks.  After two hours in the sun and rain and some slick clay roads, we arrived to out first stop.  We spent the night there with the local pastor and helped get some issues straightened out.  The next day after lunch, we were on our way again, taking three more hours to arrive in Mucambo.  These three hours felt more like trail riding than on a road, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In Mucambo we found the church all but ready for the American team next week and so our work was light.  We had some blessed fellowship time with the locals in their prayer meeting and with the worker and his family. But most good things come to a close and so the next day after lunch we were on our way again, this time with the entire five hour trip in front of us to make it home in time for cell groups that night.

I learned about what a blessing a dirtbike can be here.  I think a 4x4 might have made the trip, but I'm sure it would have been more like 15 hours instead of 5 to make the 200 km one-way journey.  Plus we had to cross a river in a small canoe, which was readily available.  A truck would have to wait for a barge, which sometimes doesn't operate for days at a time.  And by boat, it takes twice as long, and twice as much fuel.  So praise the Lord for the efficiency of motorcycle-church-construction-supervision!

It was a superb time for me to spend with Joaquim, working, playing, and ministering to everyone we came across.  It doesn't get much better than that.


View Santarém to Mucambo - Supervision Trip by Moto in a larger map

Here is the link to see more pictures on Facebook.