Fun Day

Our time of ministry with the people of Iquitos had basically come to an end.  We had only this last day there and it was to be spent with the Abundant Life Ministries Team and some of the Safehouse Men and Jessica House Women.  We had come to know them and were looking forward to spending this day with them.  They are a joy to be around.

What did we do?

Well, we drove down to the jungle - which wasnt that far a drive!

We were going on a boat ride on the Amazon!

It was so beautiful.  I couldnt believe we were actually there on the Amazon.  I never thought that I would ever be there.  But there we were.

While we waited for our boat the Safehouse Men pulled out the ole trusty drum and we had some worship goin on right there on the dock!  It was awesome!

I tell you what.  These guys who have been rescued from this drug addiction, and such poverty know how to worship their Jesus!  We could learn a little.  I am just sayin!

This was a 5 hour boat ride.  I was concerned about Todd who gets motion sickness and who insisted on NOT taking any dramamine.  However he was FINE.  Great in fact.  No motion sickness medicine needed.

Our boat ride down the Amazon was really cool.  The first exciting thing was something I loved.  We saw DOLPHINS!  Who knew?  Not me, I tell you.  I had no idea we might see dolphins.  I didnt know there were fresh water dolphins!  But there they were.

There are also PINK dolphins in the Amazon.  We did not however see any of those.  The people of Peru believe if you see a pink dolphin it means there are real mermaids living there!  :)  No pink dolphins, no mermaids.

The 5 hour boat ride was split into several stops along the way.  That was a good thing because I couldn't see us just riding for 5 straight hours on that boat.  Our first stop after seeing the dolphins was Monkey Island.

We saw bunches of Monkeys just running around everywhere hoping you would grab an orange and feed them, which we did.

They climbed all over you.

They even played in your hair.

We also saw sloths!  They are so strange.

They have these smiles on their faces and they move sooooo slow!  They grow algae on their bodies because they move sooooo slow!  Crazy!  They have these huge claws that they hold on with.

You have to hold them out away from you so they wont latch onto you with their claws!
This is sweet Courtney holding one.  She is beautiful and precious!  A wonderful missionary and help to Abundant Life Ministries.

And YES there were Anacondas there!

 Todd was not really looking forward to that part.  He did fine though.  Katlyn - Not so much!  We will leave it at that.  Poor Katlyn.

We got to hold them.

Todd declined.  I learned they are not poisonous.  They are more like a Python, squeezing their prey to death!

 We also learned they do not really like the rush of the big Amazon and can more often be found in the smaller tributaries leading to the Amazon.

There were also big birds,

huge turtles,

 and more of a more aggressive type Monkey as well there on Monkey Island.  (They were in cages.)

It was so cool to see some of Gods creation that I had never seen before.  This is a big big world that he created and sometimes we can just sit back and relax in our own little part of it never realizing all of it.  OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!

We got back on the boat and moved on down the river a bit.  The chefs from the Mission had packed a breakfast of a Egg, Ham, & Cheese Toast Sandwich for us which we ate while on the boat.

The kids were very good.  They as well as the rest of us had a very good time.

 There were more things beyond Dolphins and Monkey Island.  However I will save that for another post.