Wow, what a difference there is between here and our country! Of course there are the regular differences, such as culture, traditions, physical lay of the land, etc. But man, it is HOT! Sometimes I feel as if we´re in a sauna 24/7. I wake up in sweat, shower, then start sweating again, and then go to bed in sweat. Sorry for grossing all of you out! I have to laugh. Anyways, Iquitos is a busy city and there is almost constant noise from the street, mostly from those motokars they drive. The buildings are right next to each other, a continuous line of walls block by block, but all very colorful to show their separation. The usual smells are food, garbage, and diesel. It is definitely distinct in every way!
We´ve been working at the jails, and the girls have the opportunity to work with both the men and the women. The men are a lot of fun and most of them are crying out to Jesus, big men weeping like children. They are so hungry for the word, literally starving for it. Just touching our bibles brought them joy and peace! The women are just as receptive. They are all so sweet. Two ladies I was talking with, or attempting to talk with, saw my infected bee sting on my finger and tried to help me by popping it with their needle… I´ll stop there with details, you can imagine the pain and rest of the story.. OUCH! But I let them help me. We cleaned it later. 🙂 We painted their fingernails and my hand was shaking as I painted each of the three woman´s nails. I´m so bad at it, I rarely do decently on my own! But God kept my hand steady and they were very pleased. They were very joyful to have us there.
Tuesday we leave Iquitos for Requena, a village on the Amazon. I´m excited to get out of the busy city and into the somewhat peaceful jungle. Our team is doing great so far and I love working with everyone. We truly get along great. We have a lot of fun and often are laughing together in the down times of our days, which don´t come often! 🙂 It´s challenging to get rest and energy, so we are tired usually, but God is with us and gives us strength. He´s been doing so much already, and I can´t wait to continue this journey and see more great things!
I love you all and miss you mucho!
