I was seven months pregnant, and it was another of those unbearably hot summers in northern Brazil, near the equator. Michael, a fellow volunteer from the Family, and I were taking a riverboat up the Amazon to share God's Word and love with the people in another town. The trip would be dangerous, we knew, because the riverboats were old and notoriously unsafe and the river was full of piranhas--small carnivorous fish with ravenous appetites and sharp teeth, which in large numbers often attack living animals much larger than themselves.

We were traveling at night, so we were each given a hammock to sleep in. I tucked in my four-year-old son who was traveling with us, then settled in for the night. For the first several hours everything seemed to be going smoothly, but then for no apparent reason the boat stopped. After some time, Michael decided to go and try to find out what the problem was.

Down below, he found the crew frantically bailing water from the bilge. The boat had hit something that had torn a hole in the hull. The boat was sinking! To make matters even worse, the sailors explained, they had lost their way and didn't know where we were on the river. The crew members were desperate and frightened, so as Michael helped bail, he prayed with them and tried to encourage them to have faith in God and His ability to protect those who call on Him.

Here I was, carrying an unborn baby, with one of my three children with me on a boat that was obviously in distress, somewhere on the piranha-infested Amazon River, and I didn't know how to swim!

I still didn't know what was going on, but as time passed and Michael didn't return, I concluded that something must be terribly wrong. I couldn't remember ever having cried out to the Lord so desperately. Here I was, carrying an unborn baby, with one of my three children with me on a boat that was obviously in distress (the other two children were safe at home, thank God), somewhere on the piranha-infested Amazon River, and I didn't know how to swim!

Moments after that heartfelt prayer, a huge boat, filled with light, appeared directly in front of us. One man came aboard our boat and quietly helped the crew repair our hull, then showed them which way to go to find a dock.

Then, just as mysteriously as the man had come, he left. The crew, other passengers, and I all looked for him to thank him, but he and his boat were nowhere in sight! But how?! There was no way a boat that size could have left our sight in only a few seconds. Could that man and the others with him on that boat have been angels? However God chose to do it, what really matters is that He answered our prayers and saved our lives that night!