The Family Church Trip, November 4-13, 2005

Kim's Story

As I sat on the airplane waiting to land in Manaus I heard a voice in my head say to me, "The work that you do this week, will not be of you but of me." It is very clear to me now whose voice that was.

I was not ready for the experiences that God had in store for me. One experience that I will hold close to my heart was when a young fisherman came to our clinic in Pericatuba to be seen by a clinician. His feet were very cracked, dirty, and calloused as a result of constantly being wet in the Amazon River.

I work as an emergency department nurse in the United States, so I put my skills to use. I soaked his feet in a mixture of sterile water and betadine. After the soaking, I began to wash and scrub his feet. Here I was, a nurse from the U.S., used to having the nicest and most up to date equipment to work with, sitting on the floor of a very old church deep in the Amazon, using what bare materials I had to help this poor young man. As I washed his feet, tears came to my eyes and joy filled my heart. I remembered how Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples.

I am constantly working to be the best Christian that I can be, to be like Jesus. At that very moment, I got a very small feeling of what it might be like. John 13:12 states, "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another's feet." Jesus did not wash their feet to get them to be "nice to one another." His purpose was to extend his mission on earth after he was gone. His disciples were to move into the WORLD serving our Lord God and serving all people by taking His message of salvation. It is clear this message still continues today through the work of Amazon Vision Ministries.