"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." This served as a good reminder throughout my recent trip to Brazil. I was asked to come and help with the dental clinic. My main job would be to numb hundreds of patients for tooth extraction. We headed for a town in Northern Brazil called Barcelos. This town was only reachable by plan or boat. So after 30 long hrs. we arrived.
Studying for my sermons while relaxing in my hammock. Bible workers had been in place for 3 months before we got there and as a result over 200 people gave their lives to Jesus in baptism.
The boat!
This was my home for two weeks and for 52 other people as well. We spent 30 hrs. getting to the town of Barcelos where we had VBS for 300 kids each day, built a new church and served medical needs.
Who's the captain of this boat anyways?!
The bathrooms on the boat. Oh, I must tell you that the water we took showers with was from the river but that's also where the other water went. It's amazing how refreshing those showers were after a long day of sweating.
I slept on a hammock each night with about 6 in. between me and my neighbor. Honestly, I missed my hammock the first night back.
A good patient.
Removing a tooth. I only did this three times since I was so busy giving all the shots. In my 4yrs. of being certified to give anesthetic I have never given so many injections as I did in Brazil. In estimation I probably gave around 300 while I was there. Needless to say I was tired to seeing those syringes.
Each evening there was an evangelistic meeting. I was able to preach twice which was a huge blessing to me. This particular night was about Jesus' huge love for us in coming to die so we could live! I praise God for that today!
WAIT! Wrong patient!!
typical village house
Ana Cristina. She followed us to many dental clinics and finally let us pull two of her painful teeth.
Other members of the team were busy building the second SDA church in Barcelos. We stopped there one day after arriving back from an outer village.
I know this is not the most appealing picture but I wanted to show at least one picture of what I saw all day long. In Brazil they manufacture a drink called Guarayna. This is the same stuff we put into energy drinks like Red Bull. And this is the same stuff that is melting teeth in Brazil along with constant candy consumption and sucking on limes. It killed me to see little children coming in who had only had their teeth for 3 yrs. and needing them all taken out because they were decayed to the gumline. A few times I just wanted to scream, " this is not fair!!" Their chances were gone at such a young age. However, the further we got from town the less decay there was because the people out in the villages don't have access to the junk from town. It was encouraging to just give a fluoride once in a while!
The tear says it all..."this hurts". It was hard to give anesthetic sometimes but there was no other choice for these kids who had so many rotten teeth.
This precious little boy was suffering from double cleft palate. This means he has open fissures into his sinuses making it hard to eat, swallow or have normal oral function. Unfortunately he will probably remain this way for his whole life unless taken to a bigger town for help.
Yes we had some friends on the boat. Luckily they were kept safe in a wooden box. However the flying cochroaches weren't.
Each day we would head for other side of the river to bathe. Soon the kids from town figured that out so they came over to swim. This is a picture of them racing us back to town in their canoes. It's also a great picture of the sunsets that we saw every night.
Some of my friends and dental patients! They loved me even after I numbed their teeth.
The location for one of our many dental clinics. At least the view was beautiful not to mention the dozen chickens that wouldn't leave us alone!
Taking some time-out from giving anesthetic to put pig-tails in this cute little girl's hair.
The Amazon River. I had no idea it was so wide since I was imagining a little river with over hanging branches complete with big snakes dangling above you. We would go for miles and see no one... just some pink, fresh water dolphins and tropical birds.
Drinking the real stuff...fresh coconut juice!
The dividing of the waters. This is where the Amazon River and the Rio Negro come together, but for some natural reason they don't mix. It is actually named as one of the 7 natural wonders in the world and it was amazing.
I'm so grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to visit Brazil. It was a blessing to bless.
