Endings and looking forward......

We returned to Georgetown in Guyana on Friday 16^th and have spent the last two days just resting, sorting our social lives back home and spending precious time together.  I am so excited to be heading home on the 19^th and 20^th  but am sad to be saying goodbye to my amazing teammates whom I have shared life in all its fullness for the last 14 months! 

I so much appreciate you reading my blog and keeping updated on my goings on and I and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible before Christmas.  Thank you for your friendship, support and prayers!

And as for what is next…I will be in the UK until the New Year and after a rest will be praying about maybe returning to Brasil and or Mozambique…or even joining some of my teammates on a continued adventure around the Caribbean for a few months!

Thank you and God bless you x

 

I will leave the last words to our team leaders, Jesse and Tanya and the beginnings of their last blog post....I couldn't put it better myself.....

In the past fourteen months our team has travelled through every nation of Central and South America. This is twenty-one nations that we have driven through since we left Washington, USA on September 9th, 2011. Our team has included 44 men and women from over ten different nations. Our community was amazing, constantly growing in unity and family through our 

extreme life of contrast and challenge.

 

We carried the presence of God and ministered in the slums, jungles, mountains, prisons, red light districts, local churches, and much more. We traveled by car, ferry, bus, plane, canoe, train and on foot. God constantly revealed His faithfulness through times of need, danger, blessing, challenge, tiredness, discomfort and comfort, sickness, and health, in the unknown and unforeseen. Our faith was stretched and our lives forever changed. 

Suriname and French Guiana

We made our way straight from Georgetown to Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo.  Suriname is an incredible mix of the world religions, Caribbean feel with Dutch overtones.  I was very grateful that the only hostel which could accommodate the 11 of our team left included a swimming pool..I had so missed swimming! 

Whilst in Suriname, the team got to speak on national radio and pray over Suriname as well as pray for the sick in the local hospital.  We tried to visit the local prison but due to us being there for a limited time this did not happen.  I was able to do some sightseeing including the city’s cathedral which was a beautiful wooden structure inside.

From the border of Suriname we got a canoe to French Guiana..which is actually considered France and therefore a part of the European Union and its currency is therefore the Euro!  As we were trying to save time and money we just stayed on the border town of Saint Laurent du Maroni and I got to practice some of my school girl French..with which I had some success!

The team visited two Amerindian indigenous communities on the river in the few days we stayed.  We were able to learn more about the Amerindian’s way of life as well as pray for those who were sick and for prosperity for their families and wider community.  My favourite evening in French Guiana was a full on French evening of drinking French wine and eating camembert and baguettes all for 3 Euros a head!

Guyana: beginning of the journey’s end

We had the most ridiculous journey by minibus to Guyana’s capital, Georgetown..at times we did not know whether to laugh or cry as the road was so bad!  I was very grateful that I did not need to drive and the whole experience reminded me of parts of Africa.  Georgetown has a real Caribbean feel mixed with some British history..and its been really nice to speak English again!  I have even found proper tea served - lovely!

 

Our time in Georgetown was spent mainly as a team saying some farewells as about half of the team felt that it was right for them to return home.  So there were many tears shed and lots of lovely things said about each other.  I also got to hang out with the younger girls on an individual basis to help in the processing of the adventure!   Whilst we have been staying in the city we have also prayed for people on the streets and saw one lady’s sight partially restored.  Wow!

Tomorrow I will be doing my fourth airport run in as many days saying goodbye to team members and then I get to travel to Suriname and French Guyana as they are our last two countries to visit! 

And I’m excited to say that my flight is booked home so I will be returning to the UK and sunny Salford on Tuesday 20^th November!  So I hope to see many of you in the next few weeks.  Thanks for reading and God bless you lots. 

Amazon jungle city: Manaus

My time spent in Manaus was definitely one of the most interesting parts of my journey.  Manaus is a city on the edge of the jungle and has a really mixed feel.  I lived and worked with John and Kathy, long term missionaries to Brasil and uncle and aunt to Melissa, one of my team mates.  John and Kathy have pioneered work both in Sao Paulo and now in Manaus.  They blessed us so much with nice food and I had a mattress for the first time in weeks which helped improve my health no end!

 

As John is a co-pastor of a local church he asked the three of us to lead a morning for the teenage girls of the church.  I spoke (with the aid of a translator!) about the story of Esther from the Bible and we shared how valuable they are to God.  We then answered lots of questions about boyfriends and relationships and what it means to be a missionary!

The Amazon basin area is home to many indigenous communities, many of whom are Indian tribes.  Some of these tribes have sent representatives to live in camps in Manaus to show the government and others how they have been mistreated.  In the camp or settlement which we visited, living conditions are poor…little access to running water and very basic ‘housing’.  The settlement itself is fascinating as there are over 20 separate tribes amongst the 2000 inhabitants and they are choosing to live in community to make their voice heard.

Myself and Kathy visited the settlement a number of times and I loved it..well I didn’t love the fact that people were living in such poor conditions but I loved listening to peoples stories and helping practically in peoples lives.  One young mum, Regiana explained that her cousin had just had a baby and needed baby clothes and that she was also struggling herself.  As well buying the babies clothes I was also able to purchase jewellery made by Regiana as this is how she tries to make her living.  At a short service held in the community, Regiana gave her life to Jesus and others asked for prayer.  All in all a special time and really made me think about returning to Manaus in the future.

We then made our way to the Brazilian border on a night bus and crossed over to Guyana.