JungleMaster Ministries

2011-04-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

As I settled down from a busy week in the jungle it was great to be back in the city and able to relax in a air conditioned room, my mind settled on the fact that the problems with logistics and safety were over. I opened my computer thinking that I would write on the blog but decided that I would check E-Mail first.
The first E-mail read: Flight Cancelled - Contact Your Local Office. The elections in Peru mandated that airlines cancel all flights on Saturday. I'm not too sure how a presidential election would require that everything in a country stop, but that’s what happened. The stores were closed, the airlines canceled flights and the entire country focused on the election. I can't figure out why this was a surprise to the airlines but they sold us the tickets during the work stoppage.

We were now rushed and the time to relax had to be delayed. I phoned the airline and managed to secure 12 seats but that left me with ticket and no way out... but a friend in the airport that managed to get me the 2nd to last seat on another airline. All that to say I had been delayed at getting out information on the Missions Conference.

So...Stats, 788 miles on the Amazon transferring people and equipment. 6 round trips from Nauta to Santa Rita. 27 Churches represented, 25 communities, 2400 meals served, 276 pastors, leaders and families. Our attendance was lower than expected due to the compulsory voting laws in Peru. (One lesson learned) But God knew and our food equaled the number of people perfectly. To the last detail everything went perfectly, that’s not to say there weren’t changes and a couple of glitches but each and everyone on the team took up the challenges of the tasks without a single issue.

We had moved the teams up river prior to the conference for 3 days, I set some to be leaders and left tasks to do and each time I returned up river I was completely blown away at the amount of work completed and way each one had become connected to the others. Never have I seen so much done by a team in such a short time. I would have never imagined that bringing 25 people together and with 1/3 of them not knowing the others would they have all meshed so perfectly. It really was a God thing……

The first group were building bunk beds and painting, the second; painting and cleaning, all of the tasks were done and the mission center was 100% ready when our guests arrived.

The voting in Peru is madatory, so all residents must return to their place of registry to vote or be fined 100 dollars. That made attendence to the seminar lower that anticipated. None the less, God had His chosen 276 people attend. Billy Powell, Carlos Arstoga, Jim Bates, Larry Reynolds and Jorge Arevalo all did amazing jobs at teaching. They all flexed with the changes and managed to work together evey step of the way.

Praying with the Pastors

We learned so much, developed deep relationships with the brothers in the jungle and the other team members. If I could have asked God for a particular outcome it wouldn't have been this great. Thats not to say there wasn't logistical issues, there was. Like running at night on the Amazon. Nothing quite matches the darkness in the jungle or the amount of trash in the river. If you have a spot light on to see the trash you can't tell where your going, you can't see the river bank. If you turn out the lights then you can just make out a slight difference between the trees and the sky, giving you a rough idea of where the river is going. Can't win...

Anyway lots to do and will get more details soon. Keep praying, God has done a mighty work, mostly due to your deep and ferverent prayers.

Tom

2011-04-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

I have a decent connection tonight so, even though its late I thought I would give you a run down. The last two days have been running from Nauta to Santa Rita with teams and cargo. The day before yesterday was cargo and Ed Alm, I left him with the goods and said, "please have some beds made by the time we're back." Yesterday we ran the 90 miles or so with the folks from St Louis, and three from Bellingham. We were really heavy so we didn't get to Santa Rita until 4:30. We off loaded the gear, said sorry, wired up a spot light and headed home. The poor boat got the you-know-what=run out of it, I had only so much light and wanted to close the gap to Nauta before the sun closed the door on me. We ended up running about 1.5 hours in the dark....NOT FUN. The water is full of logs, you can only tell where you're going by turning off all lights and only after your eyes adjust can you barely tell the difference between trees, water and sky. Today we had one extra hour by the time we left, again wide open through the logs and sticks and we pulled into Nauta just as the light left us. One more day of this...Then the conference. Be praying, one small church up river (100 miles) said they would bring 40 people...lets see we invited 70 churches x 40 = ...?? don't think about it.

2011-03-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Culture Shock
We didn't get out of Iquitos today. Didn't get a permit to travel up river until 3pm. Our goal is to leave at 8am and run to Santa Rita tomorrow. ---No Plans Survive The Jungle---- We managed to finish all the shopping. Paint, parts, more food, plastic plates on and on. Pray as we had a clash of wills already. We ended up recognizing the enemy at work and prayed through it. I think all is well.

This is our plan..... run to Santa Rita, start work come back on Friday to Nauta. Saturday at 6 am I will take a taxi to the Airport and get the first group, we hired a bus to take us to Nauta, I will then run up river with the group drop them off and get them settled, head back to Nauta. Do it again, then again......

I'm not sure when I can post again, I will be in Nauta for a few nights waiting for groups and I'm not sure if they have an internet connection there......

2011-03-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Preparing for the Festival - Day 3-

The first day we were here here was mostly getting some further loose ends pulled together on the boat, we fixed a vent issue, serviced the engine and purchased spare parts. Its a constant struggle to force myself to spend money on "just in case" issues, things like a spare propeller. We don't need it but if we did we would be in a world of hurt if we didn't have it. We bought the prop.

We also arranged for a carpenter to build bunk-beds. He was to have a sample for us to view the next day, we went by his shop and he had the first one done, so we made a deal with him to finish all 10 of the beds and he will deliver them to Santa Rita and assemble them for us by Friday.

We also managed to order cushions for the boat and those were finished today.

The big issue was buying food, we at last decided to get our cook, Felix, to help us shop. After 8 hours and stops at the Peruvian version of Costco and its antithesis in the farmers market, we purchased 1000 lbs of rice, 200 lbs of beans, 100 lbs of sugar, 100 lbs of dried fish, 50 lbs of noodles, 100 boxes of fruit juice 50 lbs of potatoes, on and on and on..........

The greatest frustrations come from dealing in the culture; they wouldn't consider stopping at the next closest place to get an item. No; its almost like as we are going down the list we travel from one side of town to the other, getting the stuff in the order on our shopping list without reading down and seeing what the next item is. Without exaggeration we must have put 250 miles in today and the same yesterday. Lucho even joked, "I need to plan ahead like a gringo.." Its really hard to get anything done here......

Our current plan is to head up river tomorrow.....we'll see...

Be praying.. we had wished to buy food as gifts but we are killing our budget. Pastor Javier would rather purchase gasoline as gifts. Still have a lot done. Got to go, this internet connection stinks, about every 10 minutes I have to walk down the hall and reboot the router.......

2011-03-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Amazon Mission Festival Adventure Begins

You don't understand spiritual warfare until you embark on a quest to take ground from the enemy. Our day to day lives don't normally produce any resistance from satan because for the most part we aren't any threat to him. Once we get out of our crazy lives long enough to attempt something for God, then we experience the enemy pushing back. From personal experience I know that for the most part I can live out my life without too much problem, its only when we chase after one of these adventures for God do we see the enemies hand.

Recently I had to ask myself if these things that happen are really from the enemy....Is it possible that God is just cleaning the slate so all things are in the open, or is it that its the enemy trying to clean my clock and knock me down?

I write this as I sit waiting for my flight to leave Seattle. We have experienced my back going out last week, some family revelations that caused us deep concern, there was a fire in Miami that canceled our flight to Lima, on and on.

In Seattle going through the security I had made the obvious mistake of taking a thermal mug in my carry on. That set off a chain of events that allowed me to see what all the pat-down fuss was about and getting my hands swabbed, then the swab was run through a flux-capacitor, registering the possibilities that either I had been building explosives or using hand moisturizer......

Once through security, I had to follow up on what Ed Alm told me. Ed called and said that his flight was canceled. It concerned me because his flight was my flight from Miami on... Ed said there was a fuel depot fire and they weren't running flights through Miami, I asked in Seattle and they said "no problem", I asked again in Miami and they said "no problem" when I landed in Miami, I asked again, "no problem". It wasn't until the flight did the anounce. "due to a fuel problem we will be running a little late." Oh well....

We do these things in complete trust in God or we would be fools, its His mission, His responsibility and under His protection that we proceed.

Keep checking here to see whats up, I will update this as we go. Follow us also at
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=07oeV4hSciRRlGCK5nBm3bz00xfJBiVQX

Or on Facebook.

Mostly be praying.......................................

The Amazon Water Project

2011-02-13T18:21:00.000-08:00

2011-01-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

"Buenos Tacos" is our standard greeting when Lucho (our Junglemaster director in Peru) and I phone each other...its a code for "all is well"....This time, what I heard was, "Tomas, I need to tell you something....... (my heart sank, I knew something was wrong)............... "Leandro is in the hospital, he is very sick."

"Oh no, please Jesus no", I prayed..........you see; I felt like I let Leandro down.....Leandro is 11 years old and the son of one of our staff members in Peru. Leandro is very small for 11 because has a hole in his heart from a birth defect.

Last year I started to look into getting him help but ran up against walls and down dead ends. By May we were suffering from our own financial issues and I was scrambling to find ways to fix our own problems, The fact is I just plain dropped the ball.

I was Praying hard, "Lord strengthen him so we can get him help, I won't let him down again. please Jesus get him through this".....I told Lucho to do whatever he had to do to help, somehow God will provide, its the right thing to do and God will honor that...... but we can't let Leandro down.

For three days, Leandro struggled to survive, the Doctors were doing everything a jungle hospital could do, I called Lucho twice a day to check on Leandro. On Sunday I got word, Leandro was better. Lucho called it a miracle, the Doctors weren't sure why he was getting better. If you have ever been in a hospital in Iquitos you would agree it had to be the hand of God that made Leandro better.

Today Leandro is back home. I sent Lucho to Lima to ask if they can fix the problem there and how much it would cost. The social medicine in Peru doesn't cover heart operations..Lima has McDonalds and Burger kings, they must have heart surgeons...

Then... think of who you know, what connections you have and how we can save Leandros life. I decided the moment that I heard he was in the hospital that all the Missions Conferences, mission trips, outboard motors, buildings and stuff didn't make any difference if we didn't do everything possible to help Leandro...........

Little guys like Leandro is why we do missions, its not just the core of what we do, its the heart of all we do.

Thank You, Thank Jesus, Be Praying....................

Tom and Janet Clark
JungleMaster USA

2010-10-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

No Chrome................

JungleMaster doesn't have any "Chrome". I think we're made out of something more like cast Iron. A Canadian friend of mine says Cast Iron is, "The American Wonder Metal". Maybe that's not a great analogy, but what we don't have is anything that tears at the heart of the average North American Christian. Sad to say, but for the most part all we do is church plants and leadership training.

Deep in the jungle there isn't any orphans; families take care of extended members. People aren't starving; in the jungle everything you need to survive is either growing in your back yard, swims by in the river or walks by in the jungle. These are the things that cause us to jump in and throw our resources to fix the problem.

Training a 50 year old jungle pastor to become a missionary is not very glamorous, (unless your a 50 year old widower). Self-sustaining mission centers only are exciting to book keepers and economists.

with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." Revelation 5:9

Yet what we're doing will produce missionaries to extend into the deepest reaches of the Amazon. Its estimated that there are at least 150 unreached and un-contacted people groups in the Amazon. So who is it that will reach these people? It won't be you or me; we don't do well in the jungle. It has to be them; those that live there now. So how will we ensure that those tribes are represented? We need to empower and send. Thats what we do, not too shiny....but solid, like cast iron.

2010-09-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

I have to laugh at Gods sense of humor, we've not only had the longest transition to full-time ministry in history at 13 years, but now hold the title of shortest term full-time missionaries in history, 4 months......BUT now I'm going for the most transitions back into full-time ministry, we'll return as soon as we can get funding up..........Oh well.

I haven't given up, I'm now working at a manufacturer of aluminum boats, doing ministry in the jungle, and busting my hump taking whatever extra project I can to make a buck.


Tom

So what happen?..Partly economy, partly unfulfilled promises but mostly I'm my own worse enemy. We launched the year with three planned trips in 4 months, it takes lots of work to put together a trip to the jungle. Then there was the time I was in the jungle, almost 7 weeks. Mostly its my lack of ability to self promote and raise funds, I knew that I needed to be sitting down with people one-on-one and asking for support but there was always something to interfere. Something that I could call more important than setting up appointments, I hate asking for money. That seems odd because I believe what we're doing in the jungle is one of a kind, out of the box, most effective way possible to mobilize the brothers there to take the gospel to the ends of the world that is going on today. I really believe in what we are doing and God being behind it. I guess that its too easy to hope that God will just make the money flow in. I've read all the books on funding, to separate the role of God in moving people to give and my role of letting our needs known without being pushy or too much of a salesman is difficult.

The other issue we have is designated funding. I don't know if you can really call it a problem, but its an issue. We made a commitment in March that we would never borrow from, or use funds from one account to another to make the budget in Peru or support us. So as we have funds in the bank ear marked for projects we can't use them to fund the monthly operations of JungleMaster. That's great but we're running the risk of bankrupting the ministry with cash still in the bank. That's why I had to go out and find a job, the only solution was for us to give up our support to fund the work in the jungle. Is that still borrowing from one fund to keep another going? Yes, but its the only fund that I have discretion over, so what do we do? To those of you that send money for us as support, please bear with us and have patience and when giving increases we will transition back to "fuller-time ministry".

In San Jose

What's the hard part? Janet and I have put everything into this for years, for 80% of the time we didn't get any support from JungleMaster, for two years we took $300 dollars a month and for 3 months we took our full support. We hoped and prayed as we went into full-time ministry that we had paid our dues and God was finally rewarding us....it just didn't happen, and maybe it's all because of me. Its just hard for me when its my family that has paid the highest price for this ministry.

Mostly though I need to say how much I appreciate everyone that has hung in there and supported us and this mission through the years. The steadfast friends that have sent funds year after year, the brother in Oklahoma that saved up and sent a cashiers check for $1:00, the 10 year old that saved his lawn mowing money all summer long and sent it to us.....these are sacred dollars.........We often pray through each name as we send out our prayer letters; as we put on the labels its a reminder of a name, a family and a relationship, its just a small way we can make an offering back to those that support us.

Last Friday, I had talked to an on-fire supporter of ours, I told him of our need to find ways to get the budget straightened around; he shared it with his wife who proceeded to drop to her knees to ask God to help. Their little girl listened into mom, ran upstairs and grabbed her piggy bank and came down and said, "Here mom, give this to the people in the jungle"...my oh my....that makes me tear up.

You still can help....there is the seemingly "not so obvious idea" of giving, also... how about hooking us up with someone in your church. Having an opportunity to speak before a congregation and let the Holy Spirit touch hearts bears amazing fruit. One Sunday can literally change our economic future. We went to a small community church of 25 people and in two Sundays raised one time gifts of over $3,000.00.

We also want your stuff. Everyone has something of value that has been just sitting around collecting dust that they don't want. It maybe too much of a hassle or just not worth your time to sell, ship and deal with. We have a team of people ready to come get it and clean it up to sell it for JungleMaster. We have had lots of weird stuff that we have been able to move,... give me a call at 360.510.1563

I'm also working on writing a book, its title is, "The JungleMaster" following God in the Amazon. One day when you read about all of the stuff we've been through it will blow you away. Its not a "Jim Elliot" story, more of a "Annie" meets "Godzilla".............................

We won't quit, God will provide......has provided and will continue to bless...

Thanks...Tom and Janet

2010-06-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

Jimmy was just doin the Lords work....

Today Janet and I are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary, last week we began to think we should do something special but there were a lot of obstacles in our way. Over the week God took our "Perfect Storm" and created a "Perfect Calm" .....Our daughter Tessa had cheer camp from Thursday to Saturday, I finished a bunch of projects on Wednesday that allowed us to pay our bills, one customer gave me an extra $200.00..that gave us a bit of extra cash, we owned a tent and we guessed that we could go camping for the same amount of money as staying home plus a bit of fuel and 8 bucks a night at the National Park. So that was it; we went camping for two nights for our 30th and we went to Mazama (as it sounded a little like Mazatlan, it was a bit exotic too).

As we were loading the truck, Janet and I decided to make this a ministry trip too and we prepared some of our handouts and committed to stop at every church we spotted along the freeway. Our first Church was the Valley Baptist Church in Sedro Wooley. We pulled into an empty parking lot and I jumped out secretly hopeful that no one was there and I could just drop the stuff off and run. I grabbed the handle of the door but it opened so unexpectedly that I found myself standing in the office area of the church. Within a couple of seconds a frazzled guy with a cell phone stepped into the hall and gave me this really skeptical look.

"Hi, my name is Tom Clark and I'm a missionary in the Amazon, I know you get a lot of this....." I was cut off by Pastor Mike,

"Yes we do and I'm really busy now, could you drop your stuff off, I'm in the middle of a problem right now could you please?..."

"Sure no problem" I said, "Tell you what brother, we'll be praying for you as we drive east too"

I left him with our stuff and didn't get a mile down the road before I realized that God had called us to make this a ministry opportunity too. It wasn't about us dropping our stuff off but about us seeking the needs of these guys that served in the small churches in rural communities. We prayed for Pastor Mike as we pulled into the various churches we saw, some were empty, some had VBS going, when we reached Concrete we found the "Community Bible Church",... Pastor Rob was outside helping his daughter get the lawn mower going. I stopped and introduced Janet and myself and even offered to help him fix his mower. He graciously declined yet we drove off realizing that these guys serving in the community churches were the heroes of the faith. Without big staffs and lots of help they did the preaching, mowing and painting all on their own.

Janet and I continued to stop and leave our information packet and we stopped at 12 churches over the two days to Mazama and back. The second day we realized that on one of the stops my cell phone must have fell out of the truck, after thinking it through I realized that I lost it in Marblemount. The phone has all my contact information and it would be another huge loss to us, second only to the computer that was stolen out of our house two weeks before. We were heading to Winthrop when Janet noticed she had a voice message, "Hi, my name is Jimmy and I found your phone at the Marblemount Chapel, I'm bikin to Idaho and I........(we were cut off)

Janet and I figured that Jimmy must be coming through Winthrop and if he was making time he should be there about the same time we were. We went to town looking for someone that looked like a Jimmy with a southern accent, everyone looked like Jimmy at that point...........

On the way back to Mazama Jans cell phone rang again, "Hi, my name is Jimmy and I'm just doing the Lords work. I have your cell phone and I need to get it back to you"

We spent several minutes making arrangements for Jimmy to leave the phone at the Shell station in Marblemount and thanking him for helping us out. We explained to him how he was helping a brother in ministry and how he was being used by God.

When we lost our phone God had one of our brothers who was committed to doing "His work", ready to cover our backs. When we were we pulling out of Marblemount, God had His man Jimmy peddling in....

I guess that whether we're on vacation celebrating an anniversary or biking across the State of Washington, we can be doing "ministry" every moment, its an eternal perspective that I need to be thinking about or I just get lost in my busyness....But that's what we are called to do...., No?

Yes, Jimmy was doing the Lords work, Thanks Brother!

2010-06-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

'First will be Last'
This is the latest newsletter......

2010-05-12T07:04:00.001-07:00

Medical Mission

We gathered a huge amount of equipment at home and as we traveled into the Amazon we culled down the equipment to what we believed would be the best things to have on hand while in the jungle. The Team was amazing. With the broad expertise of a nurse, para-medics and an engineer; God had hand picked a great combination.

The team set up the church as a clinic and had stations for check-in, pharmacy, triage and consultation. The church turned out to be a solar cooker and even with the huge amount of stress working in the heat for two days, plus the massive amounts of bugs that attacked from the dirt floor, not even a single breath of displeasure was voiced. In total our team saw 116 people over two days. What a huge blessing for the people of Dos de Mayo and a huge blessing for us.

As people walked out of the jungle they were registered at a check in by Reyna our Peruvian nurse, moved on to John, John, Craig and Rich for triage. Alivia handled the shots and handing out the meds. Ed kept track of the Pharmacy. It worked! BUT!!...it was really hard work...you have to give these the med team huge props, they suffered in that hot box, were devoured by bugs and stayed in there and got it done. It was so much harder than my tasks, only after I had returned from the trail and shortwave radio did I realize how much they had gone through.....It was so bad that even with the heat they had to wear long pants and shirts tapped down to keep the bugs out.

The one relief was the late afternoon swim in the little river that flowed by the village.. (And a bunch of bug repellent) ....

2010-05-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Up-Date on our fuel issues.

As you read this it may be a bit of a shock that we were stranded 390 miles deep in the jungle with no fuel and needing 190 gallons to get back to the beginning of the only road that leads to an airport and our ticket home.....

We had planned on having a canoe with a peci-peci bring fuel to withing 40 miles of our destination, but once we discovered that we were in trouble we had to get a hold of the crew in that boat and have them bring the fuel all the way to our location. If not for the fact that the shortwave radio was working in Dos de May we wouldn't have been able to do so... With the Sat-phone we may have called out for help but it would have been 3 days before anyone could come...We wouldn't have starved but we would have missed our flight possibly.

The whole issue was caused by the boat owner who had never been to Dos de Mayo, even though this guy is the director of tourism in the area and has many boats taking people all over the river. Needless to say when I went into rescue mode I was up-set. Using my best Spanish, I let those guys know what huge idiots they were and they only had to tell me the truth about how much fuel they had and let me give my input. Never again will I hire a boat and let the control of our logistic get out of my hands.

Our ability to mobilize our team in Santa Rita to transport fuel is what ended up saving our butts. When we radioed Santa Rita they purchased every gallon of fuel in town and loaded up a borrowed canoe and peci-peci and headed off for a difficult journey. They ran the fuel up river for two days to meet the fuel boat that we turned around from Dos de Mayo to intercept them and then turn around to meet us at check point 4, about 100 miles round trip. These guys busted their humps to get us fuel to get out of the jungle.

So we loaded fuel in Dos de Mayo, intercepted the second canoe 150 miles down river with the first canoe, had it turn back around to meet us at the 100 mile point. We then transferred that fuel on the river, ran down to San Jose to pick another 80 gallons that we had arranged to have dropped off by the ferry,.

2010-05-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Day One:

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, I was able to use the satellite phone as a phone but every time I tried to get it to work as a modem, my computer would lock up. I worked on the issue while in Dos de Mayo but with all the issues we were having I didn't want to waste batteries in case things really fell apart.

So here we go, this is the updates as I wrote them while up river.....

Even as I write this, Alivia and the Doctor are working to help a baby from Santa Rita with the flu….Its a little tough with a language barrier but we are working though the issues step by step.

Our boat ride to Santa Rita went really well, The trip from Nauta took just 3 hours! We were a bit over-loaded but beyond that it went well….

By the time we left Iquitos we were on our third Doctor, # 1 broke his leg, # 2 had to work all night in the hospital and couldn’t leave, but # 3 was just the guy we needed. Doctor Antonio is connected with the Health system in this part of the jungle. When we arrived in Santa Rita the 1st Doctor had left town to get his leg set, but he didn’t talk to the nurses at the clinic and give them authorization to release the medication that we had purchased. She required us to phone the number two guy in the medical system to get authorization to take the meds. It just so happened that Antonio knows the guy and has been up river and had the required level of background that the “head Doc” told the nurse to give “JungleMaster” whatever they needed. Problem solved! The “wrong” guy was the right guy to have when things went south. Thankfully no complications so far……..

At 8am we leave for Dos de Mayo, we have our permit, Meds, cook and Doctor. Our goal is to reach Hamburgo aka Check point 6. We’ll stay the night there and head for Dos de Mayo the next morning, about 3 hours up river from there.

Pray for safety and Logistics.

Day two –To Dos De Mayo.

We now have our Peruvian nurse, Doctor Antonio and the medicines loaded on the boat and ready to go.

Last night we were discussing fuel and consumption; with the information we received, realized once again, that we didn’t have enough fuel for our expedition. We ended up purchasing an extra 55 gallons in Santa Rita and loaded up a canoe with the fuel, to run it up river to drop off it as a back up. Once we are returning from Dos De Mayo we will be able to pick the fuel up on the river bank and refuel the boat. The fuel issue was a big point of argument on who knew what, how much the engine burned per hour and how far we had to go. The fact is that I know boats, Ed Alm has a GPS and he had mapped out just how far we had to travel using Google Earth. By the end of this journey I think we’ll know who was right…..

I’m writing this in the boat and we have just past Check point one, the river is chocked with Lilly pads, slight over cast and it’s relatively cool for the jungle. The jungle here is dense, so much so that it would take a huge effort just to travel inland a few feet. Trees along the river form a barrier wall to anyone trying to penetrate into its depths, it’s like a 100 foot tall wall, backed up with a footing of impenetrable brush all entangled as a solid surface. Even Home Base doesn’t have enough green paint samples to cover the multitude of colors along the river. The further we travel, the narrower the river, once we reach Dos de Mayo it will only be a few yards wide. Check point two is just a few miles ahead, more soon I hope.

At check point 3 we picked up a Park Ranger to guide us up river and offer a little extra layer of protection.. …IRENA; the park protection service had used the shortwave radio to call the check point and made, as a requirement for us, to take our new passenger “Israel” with us.

Now late in the day; we only made check point 4, but we were able to get in early enough that we could get settled. This check point has a bunk house and a facility for visitors, other than the ranger had just used a few gallons of gasoline to kill bugs by spraying it on all of the floors it was great, but we elected to use the other “bug filled” house to hang hammocks in and pass on the bug free version.

Everyone is doing great, Thankfully; no problems thus far…

Tom and team…..

Day Three Arrival in Dos de Mayo.

Leaving at 7 am we are making good time, the motorista continued to slow down and not until later did we discover why.

At check point 5 we passed our fuel boat (they had traveled all night) This later would prove to be a bad idea. But we made it to Hamburgo with no issues.

Hamburgo to Dos de Mayo should have been two hours, the motorista had slowed to 15 mph and we were sneaking up on three hours when we started to have issues, twice the engine died before it finally died with just a mile to go. It soon became apparent that the motorista lied to us about how many gallons of fuel we had started out with and that we were painfully short of fuel. It may be 1 mile to Dos de Mayo but we were 390 miles from civilization……

I jumped to the rear of the boat to take over the control of the issues. All of the operators of the boat said there was “NO” more fuel as I yelled back to them that there was always more and we needed to pour everything together in one small diameter container to be able to use whatever was left. They were adamant there was nothing left so I pushed them aside as we were losing ground against the river and I was just a bit upset that they had lied to me and assured me they knew what they were doing.

I did find fuel in the 55 gallon drum and poured it in a 2 gallon container, the other two containers added a few drops and I had about an inch of fuel in the small container. I primed the engine and used about half of our precious fuel, pulled the choke and yelled, “Vamanos” ..Lets Go…The engine fired off and we had head way, I was yelling, “slowly and keep to the right bank of the river, stay close enough that when it dies we can pull in immediately.” The fuel vanished in a minute and I had just the fuel in the hose; knowing it was moments before the engine died for the last time, I looked up and saw that the operator was following the left side of the river, now I was yelling forward and had to explain why I had told them what I wanted, “WE Have just a moment left and Dos de Mayo is on the OTHER side of the river, when it dies we need to WALK, and I CAN’T walk across the WATER..MOVE OVER NOW!......”. This seemed to cement the issue of leadership and they moved the boat, I yelled again, “When I tell you, turn in to the beach, DO NOT let the boat drift..” Seconds later the last of the fuel was burnt and I yelled forward for them to turn, the engine was slowing and I knew that pulling the choke would give me a couple more seconds, just enough to get to the shore. When we had stopped we were within a half mile or so of the step of point for the trail into Dos de Mayo.

So here we were; half the team took up the adventure of hiking through the jungle to Dos de Mayo and the other half waited in the boat. We were planning to get to the village and send a boat with a peci-peci back to tow in the boat. I guess it was about 30 minutes of hacking through the jugle until we reached the check-point and the head of the river to Dos de Mayo and about another 30 minutes to Dos de Mayo.

Once in the village we found the church had constructed a guess house and even had a bathroom…. Maybe nothing you would recognize…

So the next day as the team prepared for the clinic, I hiked the 2 mile to the short wave radio to call out and arrange for a fuel drop. (not as easy as it sounds) I think by the time we had a plan in place to get fuel we were on plan “G”, having worked through the rest of the alphabet.

So here’s how it went:

Radioed Nauta to get hold of the owner of the boat. No one could find him, in the office or at home, worked through 5 phone numbers, no luck…radioed the check point to find our first planned fuel boat to make sure that they are still on the river.

Status; We found our fuel boat at check point 6, they were stalled because of permission; Check point six asked for medical help…my reply, “Fuel here, meds there”. They gave permission for the canoe to proceed to Dos de Mayo….

Status; 55 gallons on the way,… all the way to Dos de Mayo.

Status; still short 80 gallons.

Radioed Santa Rita, gave them 5 phone numbers for the owner of the boat, and the names of two people to relay information to him. No one could reach him.

Radioed San Jose to prepare them for the possible fuel drop and arrange for someone to pick up the fuel and start it up-river. The owner needed to get the fuel on the ferry that day to give us enough time to get it up river so that we can make it out on time.

Radioed Santa Rita had them try all of the phone numbers, no one can get the owner.

Radioed Check point 3 to see if the launch from the university was still there and if we could get fuel from them…the launch left the day before.

Radioed Santa Rita, asked if one of the local venders, “Gustavo’ had any fuel left, he had none but could get some in two day…too long we needed fuel now. Asked him if there was any other fuel in Santa Rita, he said he would check and radio back. Gustavo called back and said he wasn’t sure how much and he would buy everything in Santa Rita and get it started on a canoe to Dos de Mayo as soon as he could.

Status; possibly, we have enough fuel on the way….

Total was 3 hours on the radio and a 4 mile hike in the jungle. My expectation was that we would have the first boat in by 4:30 and it was 5pm when they arrived. Then around 7pm we found out that check point one had radioed up that a canoe had just passed them heading for us with 80 gallons of fuel on board.

Amen………………………………..

Its never easy traveling in the jungle, trusting people and equipment, and changes in plan are the norm. Thankfully no complications so far.

2010-05-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

After a day and a half without any sleep we arrived in Iquitos Monday morning. Trying to sleep at the Airport was kinda un fruitful, our layover in Lima was only 5 hours, that's not enough time to run into the city get a hotel and return, so we elected to just hang out and wait for our next flight. Everyone had their own little place to curl up and try to sleep but it just doesn't work well.

We did have a little excitement getting through customs, every bag with medical supplies got red lighted. That meant that we received a physical inspection. I'm not sure why they let us through without duties, both the ladies working the counter weren't too happy about us not declaring the bags of supplies we had; maybe it was our ONG, maybe our promises to be better the next time or our plea for the people of the jungle, but the head inspector just shook her head and said "You can go, just next time declare your stuff first."

The flight to Iquitos was OK, we just had the oldest 737-200 still in the air, The two flight attendents had to put a little shoulder into it to get the door shut. Our original plan was to head straight to Nauta and be in Santa Rita Monday evening but we had some issues getting a permit to enter the National Reserve. Lucho was able to get the permit in hand buy mid-day, we thankfully used the day to rest instead.

Oh yeah, we also had to change doctors at the last minute, the original Doctor broke his leg.

Tuesday at 8am we will take all of our gear plus the doctor, and our staff to Nauta, get on the boat and be in Santa Rita around 4pm. If this post is a bit funny sounding its because I need to sleeeeeep.. So see ya and keep praying. Two more things, I'm still struggling with the Sat-Phone, it now connects but locks up my computer, some kinda conflict...I still think I will get it to work but don't worry if we lose contact.....and we all are doing great! The group is doing well and I think I can say for each one of us that we are fitting together really great!

See ya soon...Tom

2010-05-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

This should be cool!.....my Sat-Phone is working now as a modem and I will be able to transmit from the deepest parts of the Amazon. My plan is to up load daily photos and moment by moment up-dates from the remote little village of Dos de Mayo. Forward This to Your Friends.....

We leave Sunday.
Check out http://junglemaster.blogspot.com/ daily!!....
Send this link to your friends!
Add yourself as a "follower" on blogger to get e-mail notifications of posts....
Announce this in your Church and small group...

This trip includes;
Rich Bosman, John Swobody, John Shorthill, Ed Alm, Alivia Danskin, Craig Johnson and Tom Clark; when we get to Iquitos we'll pick up my Director, Lucho Rios, Wilder and our cook Alan. Once we hit Santa Rita (180 Miles up river from Iquitos) we pick up two Peruvian nurses and the local Doctor. From Santa Rita we travel 120 miles up a side river to get to Dos de Mayo. We have a huge pile of medical supplies donated by many local agencies and companies.

OH yeah....If you know me and picked up this "forward" from a friend, I need to get your e-mail to keep you posted..Send me a note and get on my list...

Check out my blog and see what happened on the last trip, it will blow you away!...http://junglemaster.blogspot.com/

Want to help? Right now we could use your gift to offset our costs for medical supplies (drugs we purchased in Peru) and transportation. Go to www.junglemasterusa.com and hit the donate link. Or you can mail a check to our office at 1323 Lincoln St. Bellingham, WA 98229

Pray for Safety and all of the Logistics of 600+ miles of jungle by boat....

Only for Him
Tom Clark

2010-04-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing Changes in The Jungle, Except those that Pass through it... True, in fact the jungle seems to be a huge mass of organisms in some kind of a symbiotic relationship. The problem is, as North Americans we become the parasitic infection and the jungle works to expel you the moment you arrive. The secret is to act like a good parasite, imitate something that the organism recognizes.....Imitate the locals...

The local people don't try to change the jungle to meet their needs, they adapt to it. North Americans lather on the deet, slap bugs, bring fans, hide in nets and alter their immediate environment to be like home. The locals slow down, don't overheat, bathe in the river and meet their environment as immutable.

The jungle is no Pandora from Avatar fame, there is a big group of folks now that want some type of utopia in the Amazon,... not going to happen.

Here's the bright side, You can have a great trip to the Amazon, you just need to slow down and be wise, don't let the bugs and heat get ahead of you. Never run when you can walk, never walk when you can sit or sit when you can lay down, never be awake when you can sleep. Eat when its available, always get dry if you have the opportunity. Go with the jungle, not against it. Don't make stupid mistakes and don't get over-confident. Simple Huh?

2010-04-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Ready, Set, Go..
This will be the shortest turn around that I've ever had. 18 days from return to departure. Praise God that this time I'm not as tired as I normally am and I can see going again as a real possibility. (Really Real) When we leave on May 2nd, I will be accompanied by 6 Bellingham'ers...This will be a medical mission to Dos de Mayo, deep in the Amazon.

I've been to Dos de Mayo before and its so deep in the jungle that they like to say that they have been forgotten by the government and the world. We expect about 400 people from the local jungles to start to gather in the village soon, word is out up river and they are coming to meet us.

We have needs too, we have to purchase medical supplies and medicines and expect to spend 1000 dollars on vaccines. If you want to help where there is no help, contact me or go to www.junglemasterusa.com and hit the "Donate" link.

2010-04-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Buy a Horse, Give a Chicken...

We did manage to purchase over 40 chicken and take them upriver to give to local families. If you remember we did a fund raiser that offered to give a chicken away in exchange for your purchasing one of 115 horsepower, so we could get a new motor on our boat in the Amazon. It was funny trying to explain to the folks up river the concept and why we wanted to take a photo of them holding a chicken. The first few folks came up and gave their names, held the chicken and got their picture taken; then promptly put the chicken back. I realized that they were being gratious in following our wishes but didn't understand that they got to keep the chicken.

I had Bob Vance explain again that they were to keep the chicken and take it home and the happy mood we had going even became more joyful. Once things got straightened out it went really well as there was a new motivation for getting a photo taken with a chicken for the gringos.

Soon I'll get photos out to supporters, so if you partisipated, your "family" photos will be coming soon.

Follow Me on this blog and you'll know when there are up dates..plus send the link to others.

2010-04-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

So overall, this team did a fantastic job. Everything we wanted to accomplished was done, not just done, but done really well. From the seminar to the well and everything in between, this group blew it out of the park! But the enemy knows just where to hit us when someone is taking ground for the kingdom.

We had three different issues with health of family members while we were gone, Lucho had issues at home with his family, we were attacked from every angle and every weakness. But we came together each and every time stronger than than we started. We kept to our times together at night to decompress and our devotion times in the morning, we prayed for each other and showed grace to one another.
I really learned a lot about myself and areas that I need to change and give up to God. I hope my leadership will improve and each team will benefit from the experience gained from all the trips before them.

This will be the fastest turn around for me that I've ever had as I go back with another team in May. But, God is good and I'm not as tired as usual, I feel that I'm actually ready to go. Stay tuned as I'm working to get my Sat Phone working and hope to post from the deepest parts of the Amazon....

2010-04-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

A friend said that, "God has called me and He has a support team out there for me, but it's my job to find it."

How do I know that this is a call? There is no way that this can be done part-time any longer... To quote a phrase that everyone uses when they listen to what JungleMaster is doing or comes down here and sees the mission, "This is WAY bigger than we had imagined".

This last week in the jungle is proof, We did a seminar for the local pastors that brought out 200 people, 26 leaders from 22 Churches in 19 local communities. To these men this conference was a "Willow Creek Leadership Conference" times two. We are uniting the local churches with the only jungle based missionary sending church in the upper Amazon. Just ask those that where here; it was huge, transformational, uniting and Blessed.....Next year we expect 1000 brothers there and we will have and three days of teaching and a community outreach for the second annual "Missionary Festival of the Amazon"

We also completed a well that is deep and clear, we now CAN produce water projects in the Amazon using the brothers in the church, keeping the funds in the church.

Jorge Arevelo, The pastor from Lima was there.. his quote, "I have been involved in missions in the Amazon for over 15 years, to see what you are doing is amazing and not been done before, your level of accountability and the quality of the work your doing has never been seen here, God will prosper this far more that you can believe, it will double or triple."

We are going to Dos de Mayo for a medical mission, right now they don't have any medicine there, they take their sick to the church for healing.....Two years ago, when we did the Church plant there they had not had the word of God. Last week the Pastor from Dos de Mayo said that, "We used to only hear the cries of the drunk at night, now we hear the songs of Jesus.

What part of this would God not bless? Yet, I may be at the point of not only the longest transition to missions in history, but also the shortest ministry recorded.

To get all of these group trips planned and completed, then trying to finish up my boat repair projects; all I have done is shoot myself in the foot. I have not been able to do the one-on-one sit downs that is required to raise the funds to sustain full-time ministry. My issues with being reluctant to directly ask for money has made it difficult to be pro-active enough to raise the funds we need to sustain this and we are now out of time. God needs to pour Himself into this thing,.

"So, Tom cut to the chase".You might be saying now...... Even with whats been added over the last couple of months we are still almost 5000 per month short. That includes our support, the increases in staffing in Peru, the softer dollar and completion of projects there. Most of what we have been able to raise for support is getting chewed up with ministry in the jungle.

Am I trusting God if I go get a job next week? Or do I need to make my needs known and see if He blesses? Both?

Just Pray...the funds to do these things come from the least expected places, but God Knows. He's ramping things up exponentially and I know He has a way out..........................

2010-04-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday we were at Jorge Arevalos church in Barranco, and outskirt of Lima, and attending worship there. The music was amazing and electric, afterward there was testimonies from some of the new 40 believers that came to Christ as a result of a Wednesday rally. The guest speaker was a Pastor from Iquitos. After she was done she came up to greet us and thank us for our service to her country and the people in the jungle. She then looked at me in the eye and said that she had noticed that I was tired. Right at that Carl Angell walked by and said to her "this man needs a word from you" pointing to me. She looked at me deep in my eyes and without loosing eye contact for several minutes she proceeded to tell me, "The work you do is very hard and you are the type of person who won't give up..... God has much more for you to do, all of what you are going through is to make you stronger and to make your family stronger, but I want to tell you something......you are not alone, God has been walking with you from the beginning. The work will get harder and you need to be prepared. God will bless your effort and your ministry is about to multiply." I know she said much more than that but she had me blown away and I didn't hear much more than that. She has never met me, nor did she know anything more that that I was a missionary from the US. But she spoke right through me......

2010-04-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well, after several days of no contact with the outside world I need to continue to update you on our time in the jungle......The well drilling went great, the first thing I noticed was that the guys we had knew what they were doing. We have been training Wilder and Wilter to operate the equipment and we also brought along a friend of ours named Chavo. This is the first time I met Chavo and I instantly liked him. He is a tough guy; here they say, "He is a pussycat that looks like a Lion on the outside". When he shakes your had he's testing to see what your made of.........Joel, Chavo, Wilder and Wilter worked all of the first day in the jungle to get the hole bored. Joel worked his rear off with the Peruvians move by move. By the end of the day they all were covered head to toe with mud, dirt and sweat in 85 degrees and 90% humidity. But; they got it done, hole in the ground 27.5 meters deep and the casing in. We had an issue with not enough gravel and had to call Iquitos and have more gravel sent in by ferry, that meant that we had to arrange for the supplier to send the gravel up river on a promise to pay. Praise God we have a reputation here that opens doors even with credit. Two days later the ferry off loaded the gravel and the guys finished the well, mixed concret and sealed it. After flushing the well, we had clear water. We still need to test it but we are well on our way.

The other thing Joel worked on, was the generator at the mission center. He found at least 5 issues that made it not run well, the major one was a broken flywheel key. Joel fashioned one from a key from another but different motor; with some filling and modification, the last day had a victory!.

All in all Joel really bonded with the Peruvian drilling staff, Joel worked so hard the the team gave him an ovation at the end of his day...it was really cool to watch......

The last day of the seminar we had all the Pastors gather up front and everyone in the church came forward for a hug and greeting, (jungle tradition) when Pastor Javier came forward and began greeting the leaders from 19 local communities, he was completely overwhelmed. For him it was the answer to a 15 year long prayer to unite the local churches as a missionary sending team. Our goal from the beginning with JungleMaster has been to unite all the tiny local churches to produce a powerful force to change this part of the Amazon, for two days in the seminar we talked about this union and now it was happening......to see that joy from answered prayer pour from Javiers heart was an amazing blessing to me...man, I love that guy.....

The Group from Dos de Mayo made the 120 mile trip to the seminar in canoe and by paddle, it took them over a week to make the trip. When we heard this we knew that we had to do something...as a group we collected an offering and purchased them a Peci-Peci outboard motor and 20 gallons of gas to make the return trip.One night we were invited to the area where they were staying and they treated us to a song...it was tribal and a bit primal but a recognizable local christian tune. We were all blown away.....all of our group watched and talked about how just two years ago no one in that village knew Christ and today the children were singing about Jesus. The Pastor of Dos de Mayo said, "we used to hear only the cries of the drunk in the village at night now we hear the songs of Jesus". This broke me and I had to turn and walk out as I was crying like a baby, only to find Larry outside with big tears running down his face too. .....Thank You Jesus for letting us be a part of that change through this ministry.....

Lastly for today....Lucho and I had a meeting today with the Doctor from Santa Rita. I have been really reluctant and apprehensive about next months medical mission to Dos de Mayo. But after this meeting I'm pumped. The doctor is a great guy with a huge heart for the people of the jungle, he is really tuned into what they need there and he was excited about having our team of paramedics and a nurse come with us. We wrote out shopping lists of equipment and drugs and now have a plan in place.

The people of Dos de Mayo said that they don't have any medicine in the village and so when someone gets sick they come to the new church there to pray over them.........

As I was posting this I checked E-Mail and had more issues that need prayer with my son. The enemy is really having a lot of fun with this, he knows our weaknesses. There has been so many different odd, wild and unexpected things this last two weeks with most all of our leadership that it makes me excited to see the results of our victory....But Pray please...
God bless...Tom

2010-04-08T20:38:00.001-07:00

7 days in the jungle now and we leave on Thursday AM aboard the Zucker….40 feet of jungle hardwood fashioned into the general shape of a boat.

I tried everything possible to get my satellite phone to work as a modem as it should and could'nt connect so this report is several days of our trip..

You just never know how these trips will go, group dynamics are the source of lots of studies, “no one returns from the jungle the same as they entered it”. This group has seen that come true, to the person they have found new strengths and insights, or discovered that they were much stronger than they had realized.

The well has been completed and we have a new source of water that is much cleaner and not affected by surface water.

We have about 30 Pastors and Leaders and 180 people attending the seminars here. People have been arriving all night, some as late as 1:00 am. The people from Dos de Mayo paddled a canoe for over a week to get to the seminar…..that’s a 10 hours a day for 10 days ….to learn more of God! We have 19 Villages and 22 churches represented at the seminar.

Pastor Jorge and Ruth Arevalo, Pastor Javier, Lucho Rios, Pastor Bob Vance, Carl Angell and myself got together to plan the two days of the seminar, I quickly stepped out of the way and let them go. We ended up with two sessions each morning and afternoon and a service in the evenings. Ruth spoke on women of the bible and sung for us, Jorge cast vision and encouraged the Pastors to new levels of integrity. We had sessions on inductive bible study and the Biblical view of equality in marriage. The evenings were worship and praying for healing.

Terry Hunt had all of these jungle Pastors praying for healing over him, as I stood behind Terry touching his back, I prayed with my eyes closed, at one point I’d opened my eyes to look over Terry’s shoulder to see the 26 jungle pastors, arms raised toward Terry, as if the were holding up a wall and shouting to the Lord; interceding for Terry’s health. It was such a powerful image and I could only thank God for these men and feel as if I was in the presence of giants.

The Holy Spirit was not “just” there, but moving in a powerful way, for Terry and in worship. The second night I came into the church just as the second song had started and the power of God was flowing. How can you explain the presence of God? Electric, primal, humbling, mesmerized, powerful, intense, joyful, moving, phenomenal, active, alive, love, expectant; all would have to be in the description but I would still fall short. God was there.

All in all; the seminar went amazingly well. The Church served over 1,200 meals, housed 250 people and each member of the Missionary Church of JungleMaster was involved in some way. We ended by honoring the attending leaders and their communities by bringing them forward, taking photos of their attendees and presenting them with a bible. The seminar went so well that we committed to next year doing a Second Annual “Missionary Festival of the Amazon” The brothers in the jungle where pumped!

The team is well and without medical issues, the bugs are still biting in the Amazon though. When we arrive in Nauta we will get a bus for the two hour ride to Iquitos and there we will have a much needed real bed.

The Jungle does tend to wear you down bit by bit, almost as if it’s trying to kill you slowly. Nerves begin to fray a bit too. I called my wife Janet on my satellite phone in the midst of one of those moments. All she had to do was hear my voice and she said, “just show grace”. I didn’t need to explain or describe what was going on, she could hear it in my voice.

Its interesting two hours after I wrote this; we were in Iquitos and trying to get our rooms sorted out, we were here a day early and the Hotel was having issues with no rooms, I had figured out rooming arrangements ahead of time but with the issues at the hotel I couldn’t get the rooms needed. Now I had to rearrange rooms based on all the various issues of who snores, male and female, and who’s getting along with whom. I had several people standing over me making various requests, I was dealing with the hotel staff, while surrounded with stacks of luggage, I hadn’t slept much in the last week because I had given up my tent and been sleeping in a hammock because of various issues,…..and I popped of.... Woops, the enemy won and I had forgotten to “just show grace”. A confession or an apology means nothing if you finish it with a “but I..” so I’m sorry, no excuses.

This trip has been challenging for many reasons, Joel and I were talking tonight about how much ground we took for His Kingdom this trip and the enemy won’t give it up easily.

There is so much to tell you, I'll add stories to this tomorrow...

continue to pray….

Tom Clark

2010-03-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well its Monday, I think...not much sleep over the last two days..like 3-4 hours. We are all in Iquitos Peru and had an Alligator and Pichee Lunch. We were going to do some shopping in prep for the trip but no one has anything left in them.

We meet a young Mennonite Missionary last night in the airport and we all got together and prayed for Bobby and his little girl...Don't worry brother we will have 200+ Pastors and leaders praying for you in a couple of days......

We had the absolute most hilarious thing happen in security this morning..sorry but every way I could think of wording it, I just couldn't put the two words together and have it sound right. You will just have to ask one of the returning team members to relay the story....Just to tease you it had to do with Mike, Lucho and the possibility of .........

I'm planning on getting this phone to send data from the jungle but haven't got it wired yet..everyone is doing well and blending as a team

Continue to pray
Tom

2010-03-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

New day, everyone is getting along great. The thing that impressed me today is the amazing amount of generosity and compassion is outpouring from this group. Many people offered to pay for the extra luggage, food and other items. We are truly working as a great team.

Lucho was MIA until we reached Lima. His phone was down and we had no contact, finally, I looked at Starbucks in Limas Airport....Lucho! He said that "he didn't know when we would get in but he knew that if he hung around Starbucks long enough that I would show up!"

Be praying......We couldn't find one of our team members that was expected to meet us in Lima, we had him paged, no response..finally we went to Continental desk and we found out that he didn't get on the plane. I checked E-mail and found that his daughter is really sick and he had to stay home.....Pray!!!!

More soon... we are really tired and have another 20 hours to stay up.....

2010-03-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

First Day on the way to the jungle.

Have you ever tried sticking 5 pounds of stuff in a 3 pound bag? That would be what getting all of our gear into the two vehicles was like for our trip from Bellingham to Seattle. I guess I should have a real limit on what people can bring, I always start out by saying "don't bring more than you can carry" then we end up somewhere nearer to "how may porters do we have?".... But with all of the special needs, we ended up way more bags than I hoped, Not since Orellana traversed the Amazon has so much been taken into the jungle by so few.

In the morning we break at 4am and head to the airport, flight out at 7:10 am, we will meet two more of the team in Houston, then off to Lima.....

Some bumps as the Extroverts out number the Introverts by lots, pray as we continue to grow as a team....

2010-03-28T00:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, we are ready (almost) I have just finished our taxes as I won't be home before the "15th". I got a long ways on the wiring job for the new boat I'm helping my friend Pat build. All of the arrangements are finished for this trip and the next. We head for Seattle Sunday afternoon and will be flying out early Monday......Keep in touch as I hope to post from the jungle via my satellite phone......

2010-03-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

The enemy is afoot..... whenever you are about to take ground for the Kingdom the enemy of man hates it. If you're not in the midst of a battle your not any threat, and he leaves you alone. Pray for this ministry and this team going to Peru......we leave for the jungle on Sunday.......

2010-03-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not delusional, I don't think people care about what I'm making for dinner or if I ran around lake Padden today...yet I discovered some people are reading this...I think its more about what Gods doing in the Amazon and not about me or what I'm up too....I'll be more careful what I write here though......

Beyond all that, I'm continuing to be blown away at what Gods doing.. we have just found out that there will be 250 Pastors and leaders at the seminar we are holding in the jungle next week. The only other Ministry that was on the river supporting the local church has pulled out....JungleMaster is IT in a 200 mile radius.......WOW.

Secondly we have Pastor Jorge Arevalo going to the jungle with us, Jorge has an amazing background in leadership, he is running for Mayor in Barranco, a district of Lima, and has the connections to get our Bible Institute up and going and accreditation available for local jungle pastors.Double WOW!!....JungleMaster will have a fully operational Mission sending and training center in the remote Amazon really soon...We will train and equip local leaders for ministry in the most remote parts of the jungle.

Even as God is setting up an amazing ministry through JungleMaster; as things are ramping up at an amazing rate, I still don't see the foundational support coming in to allow us to get all of this done. I know He provides where He calls. JungleMaster is an unmistakable miraculous movement of the hand of God. Only God could have pulled all of this together. So....if you have ever wanted to get involved in what Gods doing now is the time and this is the place. (that means you can give $) It may be time to stop thinking and get on board!

Ok....off the soapbox. Great meeting with the team going in May..tomorrow night is the last meeting with the April team, its a fantastic group, lots of type "A's"...Doing a major video project during the trip that 360 productions is putting together for us. Well drilling, clean water and more.

Way too busy, I continue to aim for my feet and pull the trigger...I don't have time for one on ones to raise funds, I have to concentrate on cash projects to pay bills and finish closing my business. By the time I take the April group and the May group we will be out of funds and no job..........sorry if this talk is to raw for a Missionary candidate (?) Maybe I should only talk about all the amazing blessings and out pouring of Gods hand...all true but there is the reality of where my minds at too. We chose to trust in God and His call, that says we know that he will provide.......

Looking forward to sharing our facilities in the jungle with these next two groups, I'm not looking forward to the flights..once in the jungle I'm out of harms way and feel relaxed though...Keep Praying!

2010-03-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today all I have to do is; Meet with Mike for a video interview, pick-up parts at Redden, drop off pistons at Reed Machine, order parts for the volvo, work on the 32 footer for 8 hours, take checks by Larrys, May team meeting at 7pm. Start assembling the block for the 350 Chev, pick up program for taxes, start taxes, start prayerletter to get sent before I go, notify team of the meeting tonight and on Weds...............Leave for Peru in 6 days.....

2010-03-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that its been a long time since I have posted anything. I'll do better.....

In the last few years I've been working towards full-time missions. As of the first of day of 2010 my wife and I decided to pursue full-time ministry....so what does that mean? On one hand its a lot of trusting in God to provide when all else seems to say "this is a stupid idea".....the other side is "why would God have blessed so much of what we have done in the jungle if He didn't intend to provide for its completion?"

We've been killing ourselves working what has been essentially two full time jobs. Fixing boats and doing ministry. So we needed to make a change, but how do we raise funds? How do I "work" to provide for my family, "Work" to raise funds, and still manage the ministry and take groups to the jungle?

Everything I do; I shoot myself in the foot. If I'm turning a wrench to make money I'm not raising the long term support that I need to do this ministry full-time, If I'm raising funds, I'm not paying my bills. If I'm not 100% pursuing ministry, am I really trusting God?

This is my journey, It may be a bit too raw for the weak but is reality....

I leave for the jungle again in a week, before I go I have a 32 foot fishing boat to wire and install the engine, a 350 chev to rebuild and taxes to get done.................

How did I get to this financial black hole? Its a long story..... but between ministry, businesses that have failed and faltered, kids in college and a lot of bad decisions, here we are.

My wife and I are working at getting this all straightened around, we have a plan....God has a plan......its just being faithful.

2007-03-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

Missionary Advice

A few years ago I was traveling down the Shell Road just below the Ecuadorian town of Banos. I was with a group of people that had taken a ministry tour of HCJB Radio and we were headed to the Amazonian town of Mera. The road was a one lane dirt road that brings back visions of National Geographic explorer. Complete with deep mud and shear cliffs that tumbled into the jungles and Rivers that lay a short 1000 feet below. Getting back to the point, I was with Ron Cline, the current president of HCJB at the time, and he gave the the most important advice that I had ever received as a future missionary.

Ron Said, " When you start raising funds as a future full-time missionary, you will need to make two lists. The first list will be the people you know who will support you. It will include all your friends and family and most importantly the people that have been encouraging you to become a missionary. The second list will be all the people that you know won't help. Business men from the church and the little old ladies that sit in the front row every Sunday. All the folks you barely know."

Then He said, "As soon as you have the list complete, reverse them. Thats how it will be and don't let it discourage you."

Guess what? Ron was 100% correct. It really hurts sometimes to not receive any help from family or any of my close friends. Its not the money. It's what a small gift says; I trust you, I believe in you and I want you to succeed. Even Jesus had the same problem I guess, his parents and siblings didn't believe He was who He said He was until after His resurrection.

Well it's been about 6 years of ministry now and a few of my friends are helping out a bit, but my family still is MIA. Oh well.............

Keep your head up fellow fund raisers. If God is behind you, then pity those that stand in your way.

2006-02-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

Surviving The Amazon

Culturally there are a few differences that you should all be aware of and with a little bit of preparation you can avoid culture shock, either yours or there’s. It’s should be your goal to be a blessing to your Peruvian brothers and to avoid offending them inadvertently.

Peruvians tend not to be loud in the public arena. To yell across the street at someone would be considered rude. A Peruvian would just hold up a hand and wait till they are noticed. In general the pushy out-going nature of most Americans is not considered good manners there. Women are very reserved and take a subservient role in public. At the same time, they tend to be stronger leaders in the family and church. If you have a tendency to take charge and tell others how things should be done, then you will have to moderate and sit back much more than you are use to.
Please also note; to go with an agenda, will lead to great frustrations. Nothing goes according to schedule in South America. Ferry’s run late; if they even have a schedule at all. Meeting times are usually approximate, church services go until God is finished and dinner, is, when its served. It may just be, that we accomplish nothing that we plan, and God has a different goal for us through this trip.
We will be going to Peru to serve and encourage, not to lead. Nothing that we take with us as gifts or accomplish has anything to do with our works or talents. We have not given, God has. Everything that is done, is done by God, and for God.

Worship in the jungle church tends to be on the Pentecostal side. Its not that they do anything Really odd, or would make a conservative evangelical feel uncomfortable, but it is much more alive and interactive. When we first participate in the worship, our hosts may think we are very exhausted or dead spiritually. The people clap more enthusiastically, smile more, sing louder, and bounce more. The services last as long as God is leading. There may seem to be no order of worship. We may start with song then give testimonies, sing, more testimonies, preach, sing whatever. We will be done when God is done. The church there tends to be much more open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and less to the schedule of man.

Everywhere we go we will be recognized as Americans. Therefore, it is naturally assumed that we are rich. By Peruvian standards we are; but, with that comes the chance that you will be asked for money; maybe even from the leadership of the church. Please be careful here. Ask me before giving anyone anything. When we leave we will take an offering for the church that will be distributed by the mission as they see best. We already pay some of our hosts for the time that they devote to us, as they have taken time off of raising money for their families to serve us. When they take offering at church, use the leading of the Holy Spirit as what would be appropriate. The people we are working with make about 200.00 usd per month, and the prices of things are close to the same as in the USA. The appropriate tithe maybe 5.00 usd or 15 soles (The Peruvian dollar). Never pull out large sums of money in pubic, be discreet, our hosts will help us in the exchange of money and various purchases. Gringos normally are charged more, so ask before making any deals.

If you have not paid the full amount to JungleMaster for the trip, be prepared to cover the costs of food and transportation as we go. We have estimated that we will spend about 2000.00 for food, rentals and boats. Lastly you must have 25.00 USD in cash to leave the country as an exit tax.

IQUITOS

Iquitos is a large city of about 200,000 people. It is land-locked, with impenetrable jungle surrounding it, the only way to get there is by boat or airplane. Yet it is the hub of commerce in the Peruvian Amazon. Iquitos has a rich history dating back to the 1800s when it was the center of the world for rubber exports. European aristocracy would make the trip up the Amazon to Iquitos and vacation there. Iquitos is 2500 miles from the mouth of the Amazon by boat, and at 725 feet in elevation. Today, Iquitos still remains a frontier town that is working at becoming the hub for Ecotourism in the Amazon.

Food And Safety

Malaria meds are recommended, mefloquine is the meds for South America, but you may consider this; http://www.organic-pharmacy.com/ARG.Artemesia.htm you should also think about yellow fever vaccination, Hep-A, and Hep-B. The people we will be with feel that these are very rare diseases and we would be fine with out them. But I don’t want to be the final word on your health. Ask your doctor.

CDC recommends the following vaccines (as appropriate for age):
See your doctor at least 4–6 weeks before your trip to allow time for immunizations to take effect.
• Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG).

• Hepatitis B, if you might be exposed to blood (for example, health-care workers), have sexual contact with the local population, stay >6 months in the region, or be exposed through medical treatment.

• Rabies, if you might be exposed to wild or domestic animals through your work or recreation.

• Typhoid, particularly if you are visiting developing countries in this region.

o Occurrence
An estimated 16 million cases of typhoid fever and 600,000 related deaths occur worldwide each year. Approximately 2.6 cases of typhoid fever were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention per 1 million U.S. citizens and residents traveling abroad during the period 1992–1994.

Risk for Travelers
Typhoid vaccination is not required for international travel, but it is recommended for travelers to areas where there is a recognized risk of exposure to S. Typhi. Risk is greatest for travelers to the Indian subcontinent and other low-income countries (in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America) who will have prolonged exposure to potentially contaminated food and drink. Vaccination is particularly recommended for those who will be traveling in smaller cities, villages, and rural areas off the usual tourist itineraries. Travelers should be cautioned that typhoid vaccination is not 100% effective and is not a substitute for careful selection of food and drink.

• Yellow fever vaccination, if you will be traveling outside urban areas.

o The risks of illness and of death due to yellow fever in an unvaccinated traveler are estimated to be 1:1,000 and 1:5,000 per month, respectively. (For a 2-week journey, the risks of illness and death are 1:2,000 and 1:10,000, respectively.) These estimates, which are based on risk to indigenous populations, may overestimate the risk to travelers, who may have a different immunity profile, take precautions against getting bitten by mosquitoes, and have less outdoor exposure than do indigenous residents. Based on data for U.S. travelers, the risk for illness in a traveler due to yellow fever has been estimated to be 0.4–4.3 cases per million travelers to yellow fever-endemic areas.

• As needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria and measles. Hepatitis B vaccine is now recommended for all infants and for children ages 11–12 years who did not complete the series as infants.

To stay healthy, do...
• Wash hands frequently with soap and water. Don’t bite your finger nails.
• Drink only bottled or boiled water, or carbonated (bubbly) drinks in cans or bottles. Avoid tap water, fountain drinks, and ice cubes. If this is not possible, make water safer by BOTH filtering through an “absolute 1-micron or less” filter AND adding iodine tablets to the filtered water. “Absolute 1-micron filters” are found in camping/outdoor supply stores.
• Eat only thoroughly cooked food or fruits and vegetables you have peeled yourself. Remember: boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it.
• If you will be visiting an area where there is risk for malaria, take your malaria prevention medication before, during, and after travel, as directed. (See your doctor for a prescription.)
• Protect yourself from mosquito bites:
o Pay special attention to mosquito protection between dusk and dawn. This is when the type of mosquito whose bite transmits malaria is active.
o Wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and hats.
o Use insect repellents that contain DEET (diethylmethyltoluamide).
o Read and follow the directions and precautions on the product label.
o Apply insect repellent to exposed skin.
o Do not put repellent on wounds or broken skin.
o Do not breathe in, swallow, or get into the eyes (DEET is toxic if swallowed). If using a spray product, apply DEET to your face by spraying your hands and rubbing the product carefully over the face, avoiding eyes and mouth.
o DEET may be used on adults, children, and infants older than 2 months of age. Protect infants by using a carrier draped with mosquito netting with an elastic edge for a tight fit.

• To prevent fungal and parasitic infections, keep feet clean and dry, and do not go barefoot. .
To avoid getting sick...
• Don’t eat food purchased from street vendors.
• Don’t drink beverages with ice.
• Don’t eat dairy products unless you know they have been pasteurized.
• Don’t handle animals (especially monkeys, dogs, and cats), to avoid bites and serious diseases (including rabies and plague .

Your major threat will be bug bites. The tics and chiggers are in the grasses and rocks everywhere. One team member had over 300 individual bug bites on just their legs. I have yet to find anything that is real effective to stop from getting bit. .
.

Do not jump into any water or swim unless the local people say that is a safe place to swim. Don’t urinate in the water. There are fish that will be attracted to your urinary track if you do. Don’t wander into the jungle alone. Don’t put your hands into anything that you can’t see into first. Open and inspect clothes and bedding before putting on or getting into. Look were you put your feet when in the jungle, be aware and you will be safe. Keep your food and bedding closed and zipped. Be careful around the water at night, some types of snakes come out then.
Watch the locals and do as they do and you will be safe. This may seem like a lot of dos and don’ts but these are things that I have learned from my trips to the Amazon and with a little fore warning we will all be that much more safe and comfortable.

Sunscreen with the highest protection factor possible and deet type insect repellant must be applied daily and often. Bring your own. Insect bite cream or anti ich cream should also be brought with you.

I always keep a supply of protein / food bars with me. I take enough to have two a day. Buy some now and test out the kinds you like. It helps you keep control of your stomach and less reliant on people to prepare food for you. If you control your stomach everything else will work out.
What you need to bring with you:

• Long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and a hat to wear while outside whenever possible, to prevent illnesses carried by insects (e.g., malaria, dengue, filariasis, leishmaniasis, and onchocerciasis).

• Insect repellent containing DEET.

• Over-the-counter antidiarrheal medicine to take if you have diarrhea.

• Iodine tablets and water filters to purify water if bottled water is not available. See Do’s above for more detailed information about water filters.

• Sunblock, sunglasses, hat.

• Prescription medications: make sure you have enough to last during your trip, as well as a copy of the prescription(s).

• Voltage is 220 v so bring adapters if you need to.

• After You Return Home:

If you have visited an area where there is risk for malaria, continue taking your malaria medication weekly for 4 weeks after you leave the area. If you become ill with a fever--even as long as a year after your trip--tell your doctor that you traveled to a malaria-infected area
The primary thing is being careful. I never eat anything that’s not Hot. Unless I just picked it off a tree or have just prepared it myself. Water must only be put in your mouth if it was bottled or purified. We will ensure a good water supply for everyone at all times. You should have at least two Nalgean type water bottles; Always keep them full and with you. It will be very hot and extremely high humidity. If you get thirsty you are already dehydrated. You will drink a gallon of water a day or more in these conditions. Never open your mouth in the shower or brush your teeth from the tap water or river water. Drink soda from the bottle; do not use ice or the glass unless you are in a North American ready restaurant. In Lima and Iquitos we will be able get safe reliable food and water but in the jungle it gets a little harder

When in the city be careful as to how you handle money and your gear. You average camera is worth a years wages in many parts of the world. Put it in your pocket when not in use. Keep only the money you may spend for the day in your wallet or pocket, if you get robbed you will only lose a little. I keep my wallet as a toss-wallet, nothing more than a few dollars and things that I can live without. My Passport and my money I keep in a waist pouch. I never take it off. Your US Passport is worth $10,000 on the open market, never lose it or let someone have it. Keep a copy of it in another place in case it gets lost. I take a copy of mine and E-mail it to help@junglemaster.org. That way; I can get a copy anytime from anywhere in the world. Just be aware that many things we do flaunt our affluence, and invite being robbed.

You will NOT need a visa, but you will need a Passport.

Equipment

You will need a backpack that you can put everything you own in. Rolling a piece of standard luggage won’t work in the jungle. Have all your stuff in bags with handles or backpacks. When we get to the villages in the jungle you may have to pack your gear ½ mile or so at times and you will want to be able to throw on one pack and go. One pair of socks and underwear per day that are fresh, T-shirts or loose fitting shirts are a must. Nothing heavy, Dry-leet or similar fast drying materials are recommended. In the jungle we will not be able to get anything dry. Everything will be damp and sticky, tight underwear will chafe and glue to your rear end. Put socks and underwear in plastic zip lock bags. Anything that can’t get wet should be protected. You will need a towel and washcloth. We will be bathing in the river in the jungle. A super light poncho is good to have or you can go Indian style: Get wet and let the sun dry you off. If it rains while we are in the canoes EVERYTHING will get wet. Everything in the backpacks that should be dry must be protected from water and rain

Sun precautions Again: We will be on the equator, burns happen instantly, a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen are your friends.

ALWAYS have toilet paper with you. I keep some of those small packs of tissues in my pocket. Only in nice, North American friendly restaurants or hotels will you find toilet paper. It’s just not around anywhere else. Public restrooms are available in the cities but you won’t find T.P. there. In the jungle, it will be a matter of hovering over two boards over a hole in the ground. There may or may not be any screen around that hole. I am looking into a portable privacy screen that we can take with us

You will need a hammock with a built in bug screen. They can be found at Campmor http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/
ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=39148948

Or
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/
ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=7568

Clark Hammock
http://www.junglehammock.com/features.php

If you are on the ferry or in huts we can always hang a hammock up. In the city you will have real beds. Sleep in the hammock once before you take it to the jungle. There is a trick to how taut they need to be. Bring a fleece type or ultra light sleeping bag. You need the protection from mosquitoes, they will get you through the hammock into your rear unless you have that extra layer. In the mornings it will seem cool and the bag will feel good to curl up in.

A good alternative is a small tent that can free stand, you will want a pad as jungle huts have bamboo round poles as flooring and its hard on your back.

Bring

• Backpack
• Flashlight
• Hammock or alternative
• Plastic bags for your gear
• Toilet paper
• Proper clothing
• Sleeping bag, Very light fleece is OK
• Any special needs (meds ect)

2006-02-24T20:04:00.000-08:00

Hi
My name is Tom and I'm a missionary. Not your average missionary either, I'm a missionary with an attitude. I will say what every other Christian is thinking. Usually, in the name of being at peace with our brothers, we close our mouths about our wacked out brothers and sisters in Christ and never tell them they suck. Not ANY MORE! I'm here to tell the truth. Jesus would have told them to change their ways: read Revelation 2-3.

Things that drive me crazy
1-Trinity Channel: big hair, too much make up and looking like a 75 year old hooker. Who do you think you're kidding. If I was wondering who Jesus was, and saw you first as a believer, I'd think He had to be a pimp. Folks; if you are what Christians are about who would want them

2-Cheap Christians that don't tip, don't give and are always trying to get you to lower your price. All in the name of good stewardship. You know who you are; you take your kids to micky "Ds" on three bucks. Order; waters, one large fry and two plain burgers. To split between your 4 kids. You make all Christians look bad. You horde your money to your own destruction. It becomes your idol, there never is enough (is there?) Non-believers see through your crap, your driving a wedge between them and Christ by your love of money.

3-People that give you lip service. These are the people that tell you; "how much they want to help you in your ministry. I can do this and that, I will be there every day to help", they say. They call you for three days straight, then you never hear from them again. They don't return your calls or answer e-mails. You guys really suck. What if Jesus didn't return your calls, answer prayers or do what he said?

Enough for today.....

2006-02-23T23:18:00.001-08:00

We are doing a service in a small village about 150 miles up river from Iquitos Peru. It is on the Maranon River but the Maranon, Ucayalli and the Negro come together at Iquitos to form the Amazon.

Tom Clark

2006-02-23T23:18:00.000-08:00

Hannah on the Amazon

My daughter Hannah and I have traveled through out the Amazon. We have taken a small boat down the Napo River. Run canoes on the Pastaza River and slept in the jungles of Ecuador and Peru.

2006-02-23T23:16:00.001-08:00

Streets of Santa Rita Peru

2006-02-23T23:16:00.000-08:00

Morning on the Rio Marranon, its one of three rivers that make up the Amazon

2006-02-23T23:14:00.000-08:00

Miraflores Peru

2006-02-23T23:12:00.001-08:00

Asleep on the ferry

2006-02-23T23:12:00.000-08:00

Miraflores Peru on the Rio Negro

2006-02-23T23:09:00.001-08:00

Hammocks on the Amazon

2006-02-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hannah and friend

2006-02-23T23:08:00.001-08:00

With the Bora Indians on the Rio Negro. The Amazon

2006-02-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

Anaconda

2006-02-23T23:07:00.000-08:00

Sloth and Hannah on the Rio Negro

2006-02-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

Sleeping on the ferry, on the Amazon

2006-02-23T23:03:00.001-08:00

Beginning of construction of the church in Iquitos

2006-02-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

Typical Transportation in the jungle. Rio Marranon. Hannah, Jesus and Ernan

2006-02-23T22:59:00.001-08:00

Playing Volleyball with the kids in Santa Rita Peru. On the Rio Marranon

2006-02-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

In the Amazon near Santa Rita, Peru

2006-02-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

Pastor Ernan, his wife, daugher, Lael and Hannah