Post 14 First canoe trip: fourteen hours upstream on the Machupo River

Immediately after the Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS) Jim made his first trip to San Ramon by canoe, in company with three other fellows. The canoe was a hollowed-out cedar tree trunk about 25' long and with four paddles they fought the swiftly flowing Machupo River from 6.30 a.m. until 10 p.m. when they finally reached the town.

Although they hugged the banks, weaving in and out of trees growing on the water's edge seeking to escape the current, progress was slow. Jim described it as a solid day's work!  

The object of the visit was to get the believers together as the work was at a very low ebb because of immorality among the church members. The leader who had been very faithful and had done much Gospel preaching over the years, had fallen into fornication, and the matter was hushed up for some time.

However, the testimony of the church had suffered as a result, and he himself told Jim that he wanted to make a public confession of his sin, because he was deeply repentant.  

About fifteen members gathered in their little church building and things were set right before the Lord. The following day Jim held two children's meetings in San Ramon, and that evening about ten believers celebrated the Lord's Supper after a message and time of prayer.

At 5.30 a.m. the next day the return trip was made in a smaller canoe, taking only seven hours of easy paddling - downstream of course!  

In the thick forest growth on the banks of the river Jim saw wild turkeys, wild geese, wild ducks, monkeys, turtles, while a river seal bobbed his head and shoulders out of the water to take a look at the canoe.  

A big fish, much like a porpoise, surfaced every now and then, and an alligator nosed its way across the river in front of the craft. The river also contained plenty of palometas (piranhas), a small flesh-eating fish about the size of a bream; if they attacked in their hundreds they could eat a man in a few minutes.