Prayers and Officialdom

By Carolynn Sharp

One o'clock in the morning. Elizabeth Bream, a teenager on a missions trip from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Mechanicsburg, PA, and Athena Fardig, a nurse arriving to serve on a short-term assignment at the Amazonas Baptist Hospital and I had just drifted off to sleep in our hammocks six hours into our boat trip down the Amazon River. Right on schedule, the Brazilian federal police and customs officers boarded the river boat, this time without the dogs they usually brought to sniff out drugs. I had an inkling of what was to come. We were carrying five boxes of medicines and four duffel bags of hospital supplies in addition to our suitcases.

An officer started to poke around my baggage. "Sir, I have documentation for those bags," I offered. He started questioning me and directed me to follow him to the dining table. As I bent over to put on my shoes, I whispered to my traveling companions, "Start praying. I don't like his questions."

My paperwork was correct as were my answers regarding my work, identity and possessions. Yet, the official said he could confiscate the medicines. The Lord gave me calmness as I waited and he talked on and on. Finally he let me return to my hammock. When the officers left the boat without further incident I realized our prayers-and yours-had been answered.

Between Brazil and Colombia we went through six detailed customs checks, with officials reading every pharmaceutical and generic name of every medicine. One time our packages were slit open, but through it all the Lord gave grace, peace and protection.

Carolynn Sharp arrived in Brazil in 1981 and has worked as a nurse at the Amazonas Baptist Hospital.

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