Believe it or not, us missionary wives rarely get the chance to go on an Asas flight. I've flown with Jeyson on training flights in Anapolis, but since arriving here in the Amazon region I hadn't had the chance to go on any "real" flights. It's really for a good reason - the flights are usually packed with missionaries and supplies headed to the jungle for long term work so there's no room for an extra passenger. But finally my big chance came Monday morning. Not only was it my first chance to fly in the Amazon region, but also my first chance to fly in the (slightly larger) Cessna 206, as opposed to the 172 training plane. And to top that off, this was my first trip to a truly isolated and remote village. I've been to a few villages in central Brazil that you can get to on dirt road, but this was my first true Amazon village experience.
I found out about the opportunity about 20 minutes before take off. The passengers arrived and the pilot realized there was extra weight and gave me a call. I threw myself together (pajamas to out the door in 10 minutes!) and Elijah hung out with Jeyson in the hangar while I was gone. We were flown by Denis, who has about 30 years of experience flying in this region, and he made it look SO easy!
This was the group flying in. The husband in the back and wife on the right were flying into a village (which I won't mention the name of for safety reasons) to do a dental clinic for the week. The husband's dad (Kirt) is a long term missionary in the village, which made the clinic even more special for them. Kirt's wife, Marta, is on the left. She lived in the jungle for many years but now lives full time in Boa Vista. Kirt spends a month in the village, a month in the city with her. But she came along on the trip in order to visit him in the jungle. They were all really excited to see each other.
On the way there, we flew just above and in between the clouds. In such a small plane it is quite the experience!
When the clouds parted, I got my first good look at the Amazon rainforest by air. There are just no words for the vastness of it. Imagine you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, water as far as you can see. That's kind of how it felt, except instead of water, there were trees as far as the eye could see. And that was just the smallest corner of the Amazon.
Intricate networks of river
Rivers don't run everywhere here, but even if you could take one instead of a plane, it zigs and zags so much!
In the middle of nowhere we would fly over a village. People groups totally isolated from the outside world and each other.
When we arrived, it was a party! A group from the village and the missionary, Kirt, and his coworker Joao, were waiting for us. Kirt and Joao are some of the most fun people you have ever met. So you can imagine how fun they were when they saw people from the "outside world" and not only just any people, but Kirt's family! (Kirt's son and wife live across the country in Sao Paulo). They immediately painted us all red with the help of the natives as part of the celebration of receiving us.
Oh, btw, don't get me started on the incredible, breathtaking landing!!! It was an inclined runway, so as we were landing down in the middle of all of those trees, we at the same time were going up a hill! Incredible!!
Despite their lack of smiles in pictures, the local people were very nice and very happy to see us! They also really enjoyed, and asked for their pictures to be taken since they really enjoyed seeing them.
The kids were so creative and had made these airplanes all on their own and brought them to the runway.
Village house under construction for you to get an idea of what they're like.
Here's Davi, the dentist, checking on the missionary, Joao's jaw on the dental chair that had been set up for the clinic.
The people really enjoyed seeing us and walked around with us everywhere as we toured the village. Btw, in case you're wondering, I believe most of the clothes they are wearing came from the government health workers, 2 live there with them to help with any needs they have.
The kids all live such a different life than kids in the city. They are so free. These little 3-6 year olds just all hopped in the river and started swimming and splashing when we walked over by the river. As soon as we all walked away, they all jumped back out and followed us on our walk. Not much activity happens in the village, so we were a big hit!
Pineapples growing
Kirt and Joao's equipment for keeping the runway cut
This a jaguar's tooth. Recently a jaguar started attacking a group of the village's hunters when they were out on a hunt. They had no choice but to kill the jaguar with arrows.
There was lots of time hanging out on the porch before we had lunch in Kirt and Joao's home.
Here's an inside view of the missionary house. Very rustic...completely dirt floor. One room for everything (hammocks are hung up here at night time), and an outhouse outside. The outhouse toilet was actually a tree stump carved very nicely into a toilet base and there as a seat on top of it. I didn't expect something so nice in the jungle, but Kirt is very talented! No fridge (no power) so they can only cook what they need for each meal. They have a small gas stove so we heated up lasagna that Marta had packed and Joao made rice and beans.
Since not much is going on the village, the local people enjoyed watching us as we spent time together.
Here, Joao was changing his shoes and put down a little board so he could put his foot on the floor without getting his sock covered in dirt. To me that really illustrates how sacrificial this life is. There are so many comforts these missionaries give up to serve the people that they love. We take so many comforts for granted.
It is a privilege to serve these men and make their ministry possible through Asas's flights.
On the way back, it was just Denis, Marta, and me. We passed over a few other villages that our mission flies to just to check them out
And saw the most incredible rainbows on the way home.
I hope I'll have many more opportunities to go in the future, but I have no doubt that this first visit will always stay with me in a special way.
