Monday, March 30, 2009

The Jungle Ain't What It Used to Be

Used to be, you could send someone on a mission trip to the jungles of Peru and you wouldn't hear from them for days on end. You wondered, worried, fretted about their safety and would be so relieved when they returned to civilization and could call you. Not so anymore. Technology has come to Pebas, Peru. Jeff used his iPhone to call us from a village in the Amazon. Six years ago, on his first trip, this would have been an impossibility.  Of course, the conversation went something like, "Hey, you won't believe it! I'm calling from Pebas. There's a cell tower here. I have no idea how much this is going to cost. Bye!"

Here we are welcoming the team home. 
It was great to see them walk 
through that turnstyle at DFW.









I had a special interest in this trip, other than the fact that Jeff was going. Our children's choir, Wild Worship, had raised money to send 100 shirts to the Yagua children. The back of the shirts had John 3:16 printed in Spanish.  I couldn't wait to see pictures of the kids who received them.

The team on the rapido, heading to the villages.

The first picture shows a little boy wearing a shirt we sent in January 2008. It was formerly black with a turquoise and pink logo. On the right he is wearing a new Peru Pals shirt in yellow.


More happy faces. While it was great to send the shirts, Jeff said they could have handed out many more. So, I'm pondering the possibility of trying to raise enough money or donations to send more shirts on the next trip that will be in June.  I've already thought of a name for the fundraiser: No Yagua Child Left Behind -- A T-Shirt for Everyone!  (hee, hee)

After traveling to the villages, the team spent 4 days in Iquitos helping the seminary to build a wall for their classroom.  It was a profitable time, as well as an encouragement to the hard-working Peruvians.

Just loved the beautiful colors of this photo of the Amazon River

As usual, Jeff came home bearing many exciting gifts and wonderful stories of the way that God is working in the Amazon Basin.  Remember:  the next trip will leave in June. So, start sending me those t-shirt monies now!  There's still time and, if you call now, I'll throw in a free Yagua jungle bracelet with every donation. ; )

A Dios sea la gloria!

4 comments:

Melissa said...

Gotta love iPhone. Not that I'll have one to love anytime soon, if ever, but still... Glad Jeff has one. Love the Peru Pals shirts. That Solid Rock shirt needed a new friend. Have we been sending shirts for that long? Guess so.
Love the pictures. And love technology.

And since I haven't taken the time to share this sentiment on any of the other many electronic messaging choices available to me today, yet feel it strongly, (and I really just wanted to share it with you anyway because you "get it" and anyone else who comes to your blog will hopefully not be offended by it), I just thought I'd also add that "I HATE MONDAYS (AND MY CURRENT LOCATION)!" Okay, I feel better now! Well, actually I don't but at least I got that out.

Melissa said...

Weird. The first time I looked at this post at work, there was only part of the first paragraph with most of the pictures. I got back on when I got home to see the pictures better. (My work computer always has pictures too dark to see.) Anyway, now I can see all the text and the rest of the pictures. I did wonder about all the pictures in a strange configuration with a gap in the middle and no text. Now I know it was just another bizarre malfunctioning of that stupid computer at work. >:(

Genny said...

Melissa, I bet your Mondays wouldn't be so bad if you were spending them in FW. We must find you jobs!

Barb said...

Yay for Peru Pals! Let's collect $$ again! What about trying to collect as much as possible on the day of the retreat? We could give them a reward if we reach $100 on that day. Your thoughts?