Another Week...

We have had another interesting week at POPPY's house. This week I learned that one of our girls, new and deep from the jungle, didn't realize the world was round, she also thought that if you pull your hair it helps the gas get out or your body and yesterday she told me that she wanted to take her underwear off and beat them against the fruit trees so that they would produce more fruit!!! It is sad to me the amount of superstition and ignorance still in this area. This week, the girls have had no school for 3 out of 6 days of school. Why, you may ask? Well, it seems like it is the norm here to have no school when there is a dance to put on! It is the 74th anniversary or our little town of Santo Tomas. The school had a dance competition and so the time has been spent on getting ready for that. Last night it finally occurred and because the teachers were too tired, there is no school again, today. And maybe, there wont be on Monday...you know, too much partying by the teachers. They just may be too tired to show up.

There have been evangelistic series going on out our local church. Most of our girls have been going every evening, last night the Pastor told everyone about a little boy of two, a  hemophiliac who had fallen and knocked out a tooth, who was in desperate need of a blood transfusion. Aaron, one of the other volunteers here, asked if it needed to happen now. He said no...however, late last night he went with one of our girls that had O+ blood and another lady to give. I get a phone call at 1:00am asking what kind of blood type I am. Unfortunately not the right kind! The girl that went couldn't give because she is too tiny and the other lady couldn't because she has just been vaccinated for Hepatitis B. So that left them in a lurch! They found someone at the hospital that matched, but he demanded 300.00 soles(100.00 dollars) if he was going to give any of his precious blood!! Praise the Lord Darin, another volunteer, went in and donated his. We are still praying for this little guy. I am wondering if vit. K or platelets are  used here? Not sure, wasn't there to ask, but God can heal him and so we are praying for a miracle today!

Here are some random pictures taken this week....hope you enjoy. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We miss you all, especially you, David and Michael!!!

raw sewage/drainage ditch on side of road in Santo Tomas

part of our town!

Kristi enjoying time with the youngest member of our home

Susana on left...the backbone of our home. Couldn't do it with out her!

Organization that installed the wells in our town. What a blessing they are to the people here.

The well in use!

fish for sale in the early morning...

walking the girls to school in the morning

Juanes...a local jungle food, wrapped in banana leaves for sale

the river near our home...so VERY low!!!

Out getting some cremoladas with Jessica our resident student missionary and friend!

Matthew doing school!

Kristi doing school!

Back at POPPY's House

Well, we are back! What a wonderful feeling to be back in Peru with the girls and friends at POPPY's house. Matthew, Kristi and I(Kathi) are back to do more work down here. We were blessed with a good trip and had fun sharing all the goodies we brought from the US for other missionaries here.  We were a little distraught to find our little house we moved into a few weeks before we left, was covered with some white, chalky substance from painting and sanding done while we were gone. Yes, everything we had left behind was a TOTAL mess. I am always surprised that no one thinks of moving things from one room to another if work needs to be done. Protection of property certainly is not a high priority. So, due to the fact that we can hardly breathe in there, not to mention who knows what is in this product, and that the water pump at the house has been disconnected for some reason, we are back in the dorm room! We are slowly going through our things and cleaning them up, and bringing them over to our dorm room.  A mess!!!
 
Here are some of the pictures we have taken since we have gotten back. ENJOY! Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's leading personally to how long we should stay here and also for the organization. They are struggling financially, as are a lot of self-supporting organizations. If you are interested in donating, learning more about it, or interested in coming down as a volunteer go to http://peopleofperu.org/

Keyla in our box 

 

Meri and Vivian with their dark glasses on as we are unpacking

Kristi and Vivian on our bed...relaxing

The girls playing UNO and trying on clothes in our room soon after we arrived

Sarai's 6th birthday party!

Marco's and Ermelinda at the party with brand new PJ's from the States!

Pot-luck at the church...this is where the little ones meet for Sabbath School

Waiting to eat!

Some of the  Gringos!!

Chilling on Saturday night!

So, now what?

We are heading to Peru tomorrow, September 14. The kids have been desperate to go back and see their Peruvian sisters and friends. We really can't wait to see everyone we have come to love. The sad news is that since we last posted, our lives have taken an unexpected change. Last April, when we took God's call to Peru, we accepted for the whole family. David was going to take some time off and also do some work remotely from Peru. The rest of us were going to plunge full force into Peruvian life and mission. The kids and I spent almost 3 months there with the expectation that when we came back this time David would be able to join us. However, it looks like that will not be happening now. We are sorry to say that some unexpected circumstances have changed David's ability to join us. Because of this, we have been desperately seeking God's will on what we should do. Do we stay in Peru without him? Do we not go back at all? How do we handle this unexpected change in our plans. Well, as of now, we don't know what the plan is. The kids and I are going back to Peru, feeling like God called and we need to go back, at least for a little while, after that, well, we really need to see God work a miracle and get our husband and father to join us!! We crave your prayers for our family as we try to sort all of this out. Until then, we will do our best to keep you posted on God's work and fun in PERU!

So What Happened to Michael?

We finally, after much prayer, decided that Michael should go to Fountainview Academy. There are so many miracles that happened to get him there that I could spend quite a bit of time on this blog just on this! However, God worked miraculously and off David and I went to drop him off in BC, Canada!! What an opportunity for our son and what a hard time we parents had driving away without him!! Here are just a few pictures of our trip to drop him off.

Michael in his dorm room

The boy's dorm and the beauty around!

Eating in the cafeteria

Michael, his cousin and his bike

saying "Good-bye"

Just to fill you in, he is having the time of his life! He truly is enjoying academy life and although we miss him, we are so happy that he is doing so well.

Where has time gone?!

Here we are, two months since our last blog! We left Peru in the middle of July, a little earlier than we thought due to Michael's swollen ankle and inability to get the medical care we needed there. Since we've been back, our lives have mostly revolved around getting Michael's life figured out.

View from Daystar Academy

The Grand Canyon

Arches National Park

Arches National Park

First, we had his ankle checked out with an MRI. That showed some significant bone bruising from his motorcycle accident 4 months ago. However, he was so thankful the doctor told him he could stop using his crutches. YEAH!! From there it was a crazy 5,000 mile trip out west to check out an academy for Michael. Yes, what we wont do for our kids! This did provide us with some wonderful family time that we had been craving for the last 3 months we had been separated. However, I wondered at times if we would make it alive. Something about close quarters and three siblings :) We did enjoy some scenery that was spectacular, from the Grand Canyon, the arches in UT, to the Rockies in Colorado and the beauty of New Mexico! What an incredible creator we serve!