“When you arrive in Ama village, do you have a place to stay?” I have been asked this question at least dozen times. The fact is, there aren’t any hotels or houses for rent in Ama. The local people live in bush houses made from branches, tree bark and leaves tied together with vines. In Ama, every man builds his own shelter and plants his own garden nearby. Many families have more than one bush house. When they eat up the produce from one garden, they move to the next one. Such is the life of hunter-gatherers.
So where will we live? The Ama people will expect me to build our house like they do. All I have to do is take a machete and axe and cut what I need out of the jungle. They have done this all their lives, but they don’t realize that I have never built a house like that before!
Realistically, to construct a house that keeps out malaria-carrying mosquitoes and venomous bugs and reptiles, I will need a chainsaw and a mill to cut lumber. This will take some time. I will need help from a builder with local knowledge and experience. With a small crew, he could get our house constructed much faster. If the builder gets started before we arrive, we could have a home waiting for us. If not, we have the option of living temporarily at May River a few hours away and commuting by boat.
One of our first tasks will be to plant a garden. As we build our garden and our house, we will publicly dedicate them to God, asking for His protection and blessing. This will be our first sermon!

• Twitter