Called to Peru: And there is more....

It has been awhile, again, since I have written so you are getting a bundle of posts today. Life has gotten a little more complicated with the loss, this last week, of dear friends and volunteers that have been here for two years. Aaron and Kelly Linfoot left Sunday evening to head home. What an inspiration they have been to me. Our family has laughed, cried and prayed together with them over the 5 months we have been here. I know that God will continue to lead in their lives, but they have left a hole in not only our hearts, but in all the girl's hearts at POPPY's house. Not to mention that we are now just a tad more busy without their help :)

My kids have been sick this week. I am convinced the local whatever flu that comes around this jungle community is a whopper! Matthew has been running high fevers, horrible cough and generally not feeling good. Took him to the local little clinic and for $1.00 had a Dr. check him over and had him checked for Malaria, a quite rampant disease in our little town. Praise the Lord, Malaria turned out negative. And we are just waiting for him to get better.

This monday our gardner came in after worhip and said that he was so sorry that he had been late for worship. He explained that his neighbor had come by early that morning and told him that he was the cause of their son being sick. Juanito, our gardner, told me that his neighbor's son had gone up river to visit a witch doctor trying to find a cure for whatever disease he had. I guess this 20 year old young man had been sick for awhile and had tried other routes of getting better, to no avail. So, they gave him some hallucinagenic potion and he saw Juanito and his wife and was told they were the cause. So poor Juanito was unsure what to do. I told him that we should go over and pray with the young man and his mom and see what God would do! That night it poured! Due to the bad roads we postponed our trip. I called the local pastor and he couldn't join us, so I called the head elder of our church and he said he would join us. We headed out the next day around 5pm. Juanito somehow let them know we were coming and they said they would be waiting for us. What a sad, little community we arrived in. Sad in that there are so many poor, destitute people that have no hope, no earthly comforts and yet keep on keeping on. I had to duck to get in the door, sat on a little stool in the dark little dirt-floored house, and began talking with the mom. It seems the young man was gone. Didn't want to see us, I presume. We talked about Jesus, His power and the importance of choosing him. the elder read some verses and in the end the mom gave her heart to the Lord!! What a blessing...I just pray that she can keep her faith, sent a Christian book for encouragement and she already had a Bible. So many lost and needy people. The devil is ready to take them all...we so need to help!!!

Oh, I forgot! Aaron, Matthew and Juanito went and picked up the wood we helped purchase for one of the houses in the neighborhood. This wood has been hand cut with a chain saw! Amazing...

One more thing...we tried to go to a HUGE get together with all the Adventist churches in town this last week. We were excited about it. What a mess!! There were so many people, it was sooo hot, and noisy that we turned around and came back home to have our own church there. Just part of the fun in Peru!