Olá! My name is Gloria Santos Reynolds. I am from the Amazon and for many years I have worked as a jungle guide along the rivers. They call me a jungle woman! When I was in Bible school in Canada, one of my teachers received a word from the Lord that I was to return to the jungle and work with the children of the Amazon. She gave me $200 dollars and told me to use that money to begin a ministry that God Himself would reveal.

When I returned to the Amazon, my father was traveling to a village called Sao Sebastião, Iranduba when a small boy ran in front of the car with blood covering his face. My father could not find who this boy belonged to so he took him to the hospital. After he was healed my father returned to the village and started asking who this boy belonged to. The only response that was given was: “This boy is the son of the crazy women.”

We later learned the boy’s name is Narciso, whose mother suffered from mental illness and whose father was an alcoholic. This family lived in a shack and were considered outcasts. My father and I decided to use the $200 I was given to help this family and in turn, start the ministry.

I had no idea how to begin this work but I knew that the Lord was calling us to that village. The very next weekend we started doing kid’s camps and nearly 100 children and 20 parents were present. At the end of the day, I will never forget a young girl came up to me and said, “Today was the best day of my life! I have never been so happy. I never knew that someone cared for me, that Jesus cared, please tell me… when are you coming back?” I had only planned to do this one camp here. But instead I told the little girl, “I’ll be back next month, tell your brothers and sisters and all your friends to come.”

The next week, a jungle pastor told me: “Do not worry, Nations will come to help you make a difference in the many needy lives of the Amazon Jungle people .” And that they did! Friends, churches and groups from all over the world began to come to the Amazon Jungle to work with us and committed volunteers. On July 19th, 2003 Ray of Hope Amazon was born!

Ray of Hope has grown quite a bit in the last 18 years. Although we continue to work with children, we also work with many different projects such as: special needs children, assistance and support of jungle pastors and missionaries, and the donation of Bibles and supplies for churches and schools. We also do relief work along the rivers to bring clean water, build wells, and helps in emergency situations like COVID-19. Lastly, we do many short term mission trips with international partners, who support our social projects and mission work all over the Amazon.

In 2010, I married Patrick Reynolds, an American biologist and member of Fellowship of Christian from Arkansas. Together with our 2 Children, Austin and Vitoria, we live in Manaus, Brazil. Patrick is in charge of the boats, water projects and the boat trip logistics. Together, by God's strength and a committed team we have have seen God pour out His grace over the ministry and the people of the jungle. There is still so much work to be done...join us!!