During spring break in March 2006, students from Rio Lindo Academy set out on an adventure for God. The group of 51 people teamed up with “People of Peru Project” with the goal of being the first group ever to work with a remote village five hours up the Amazon River from Iquitos, Peru.

Three teams — medical, dental and vacation Bible school — traveled together by boat to different villages along the Amazon River. The teams would pick a hut in the village in which to set up a dental and medical clinic. A village building or nearby grassy area would serve as a place to host a vacation Bible school. The students worked side-by-side with the doctor, Dan Dubose, and the dentist team, Kirk Specht and Gloria McKelvey. The students checked blood pressure and even pulled some teeth. Other students led out in VBS, telling stories of Jesus, doing puppet shows, and singing songs in Spanish about Jesus.

On one of these trips, Abraham Baldenegro, a junior who speaks Spanish, decided to bring along his Spanish Bible. As he went into the hut where the people were waiting for the doctor, an elderly woman from the village asked if anyone had a Bible to read to her in Spanish. So Abraham grabbed his Bible, which had been a special gift from his mother.

After he read the 23rd Psalm to her, she informed him that neither she nor anyone else in her village had a Bible, and she would be willing to buy it from him. Even though it was a sentimental gift from his mother, Abraham gave her the Bible for free. When she received it, she hugged it to her chest, and promised him she would share it with others. “It was so cool to be able to leave that behind,” said Baldenegro. “I can get another Bible, but after we leave, God will stay back and teach them through His Word.”

A fourth team worked on construction near base camp, building a house for “People of Peru Project.” They also cleaned out the area of the land that they stayed on, pulling out posts and leveling for more building. With heat in the upper 90s and humidity in the 90s, this proved to be a challenging task.

Every day, before supper, the teams would come together and go across the tributary to San Jose. The people of this little village wanted to know about Jesus. At the first meeting, the group taught them songs about Jesus in Spanish, and some students told the story of David and Goliath, which the villagers had never heard before.

After the meeting, the village chief’s wife and her friends asked some of the students if they had more stories from the Bible. So for the next hour, the students sat in a circle on the hut floor and, with a translator, told some of the stories they had heard since childhood. When one story was done, they would ask to hear another one. “It was so cool to see how much they wanted to know about Jesus and the Bible,” said senior Sarah Dubose. “I’ve never seen that excitement from people their age. It was incredible!”

From that day on, the group went back to San Jose every day. They held a VBS program, had Bible studies and made friends with the people. At the end of the week in the jungle, the entire village came out to see the group off. The chief and his family asked the group to pray and dedicate him, his family and his village to God. So they all crammed in his hut and prayed a prayer of blessing, protection and dedication over their new friends. “I have never felt God like I did at that moment in that hut,” said Tara Eagan, a junior. “God was so real. It was awesome.” Before the group left the village that day, they all signed a soccer ball and, in Spanish, wrote with big letters: “See you in Heaven.”

After a week in the jungle, the group headed back to civilization and spent the rest of their trip in Iquitos doing clinics, VBS and other humanitarian efforts with “People of Peru Project.”

With no electricity, clean water or toilets, the trip proved to be life-changing in many ways. The most life-changing thing, the students say, was being able to tell the people in the Amazon jungle the story of redemption and show them Jesus.

For more information about “People of Peru Project,” go to peopleofperu.org.