Thanks for your prayers and caring for our team as we walked in Peru. IT was just an amazing experience that we each need to process and listen to God to determine what He wants us to do with what we experienced.
Each of us has been challenged to:
1. Relate to at least 1 of the people who we met in Peru for the next year, so we need to determine whom and start (or continue) this relationship;
2. List to God's still, quiet voice about one thing we want to bring back, want to change or do because of our time together.
Please pray with us that we hear God on these things, and have enough courage to walk in them. Again, thanks for your love and prayers for us in this walk.
Phil, our last post for this trip
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Arrived in Lima
Friday: We had a great day finishing up construction projects, relating to our friends we had made, and making plans for LIMA. We arrive in Lima 45 minutes after we left cold Pucallpa (it was the coldest day that Olga and Julio has had since they moved to Pucallpa!) so that was better than driving over the mountains again!
Today (Sat) is a day of sight seeing in Lima.
Thanks for your prayers! See you tomorrow (Sunday) We leave here at 10:30 tonight on Contential Airlines.
Today (Sat) is a day of sight seeing in Lima.
Thanks for your prayers! See you tomorrow (Sunday) We leave here at 10:30 tonight on Contential Airlines.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Last full day in Pucallpa...
LAST FULL DAY IN PUCALLPA!! Wow, we just can't believe it has been a little less than 2 weeks: with all that we have done and experienced, it seems like we have been here much longer. But the end is coming tomorrow... :-(
Today we came to the compound expecting to complete some concrete work, but by the time we arrived, Abraham, our local concrete expert, had left already since it was rainy and overcast, and would not be a good day to pour more concrete. It did rain on and off all day, probably did not get out of the 60's all day: it felt cold!
So, what did we do on a rainy day?
- Bob was helping Christian (SAM Missionary with Mil Palmeras) some more at his house with electrical and other issues.
- Phil was working with Van (independent missionary we met in Huanuco) at replacing the electrical box in Julio's house. Last night Julio and Olga's house lights were blinking on and off and as they checked the electrical box, it was sparking at one of the incoming wires - not a good thing!
- Eric and Rick continued some sanding of bleachers at the Mil Palmeras church so they could varnish these bleachers to help with stand the weather better.
- Gwen and Katrina arranged and organized the arts and crafts supplies in the book room at SAM academy, the school for missionary kids on the SAM compound. Then they help Olga make lunch for the crew. After lunch they went to the Crisis Pregnancy Center that Olga had help start, and helped to sort through donated clothes.
- Jeremy, Ashlee, Joelle, Jerry and Bonnie flew out of Pucallpa at 5:30 am to Lima, and then caught a 9:20 am flight from Lima to Cusco. The instructions given to all people coming into Cusco is to take a nap and just relax as your body adjusts to the high altitude. They were met by Dr. Derek Brubaker (Mennonite medical missionary in Cusco) at the airport and probably spent some time with them later in the day.
As work slowed down (4:30 or so), Rick, Erik and Phil joined some of the Mil Palmeras folks as they came to the church to play soccer and basketball together. We chose to join the basketball game. As it got dark (about 5:30 - 6:00 pm) the games wound down and we ended our time together praying for John Carlos who is going with his wife and child to Israel to start a life there.
This evening we walked to some of the local shops to try to find some things to bring home to our friends and families that remind us of our time in Peru. Finally after being here two weeks, we feel comfortable enough to venture out on our own with our spanish translators or locals who know where to go. I guess we finally are feeling "at home" here ... just in time to leave...
Please pray for us in the following ways:
1. As we say good bye to those who have blessed us sooooo much in the last two weeks; 2) as we travel to Lima tomorrow night, and as Jerry, Bonnie and Joel fly from Cusco to Lima on Saturday afternoon to join up with us at the airport to fly out at 10:30 on Saturday night; 3) for the continued work of Mil Palmeras as it ministers to the folks here in Pucallpa, but encourages their members to reach out to places like Angasmarca and Bella Vista and to their neighbors around them; 4) for continued healing of Julio's broken collar bone as it heals; 5) for Olga's ministry at the Teen Pregnancy center; 6) for Jeremy and Ashlee as they explore other mission opportunities and relax (yes, the have great surfing locations in Peru that they want to check out with "Christian Surfers" - ask Jeremy about this when you see him next)
I don't know if I will have access to internet in Lima, so this might be the last post in Peru! Thanks for following us with this blog, but more importantly for praying for us! Hope to see some of you on Sunday after church when we get back!
Today we came to the compound expecting to complete some concrete work, but by the time we arrived, Abraham, our local concrete expert, had left already since it was rainy and overcast, and would not be a good day to pour more concrete. It did rain on and off all day, probably did not get out of the 60's all day: it felt cold!
So, what did we do on a rainy day?
- Bob was helping Christian (SAM Missionary with Mil Palmeras) some more at his house with electrical and other issues.
- Phil was working with Van (independent missionary we met in Huanuco) at replacing the electrical box in Julio's house. Last night Julio and Olga's house lights were blinking on and off and as they checked the electrical box, it was sparking at one of the incoming wires - not a good thing!
- Eric and Rick continued some sanding of bleachers at the Mil Palmeras church so they could varnish these bleachers to help with stand the weather better.
- Gwen and Katrina arranged and organized the arts and crafts supplies in the book room at SAM academy, the school for missionary kids on the SAM compound. Then they help Olga make lunch for the crew. After lunch they went to the Crisis Pregnancy Center that Olga had help start, and helped to sort through donated clothes.
- Jeremy, Ashlee, Joelle, Jerry and Bonnie flew out of Pucallpa at 5:30 am to Lima, and then caught a 9:20 am flight from Lima to Cusco. The instructions given to all people coming into Cusco is to take a nap and just relax as your body adjusts to the high altitude. They were met by Dr. Derek Brubaker (Mennonite medical missionary in Cusco) at the airport and probably spent some time with them later in the day.
As work slowed down (4:30 or so), Rick, Erik and Phil joined some of the Mil Palmeras folks as they came to the church to play soccer and basketball together. We chose to join the basketball game. As it got dark (about 5:30 - 6:00 pm) the games wound down and we ended our time together praying for John Carlos who is going with his wife and child to Israel to start a life there.
This evening we walked to some of the local shops to try to find some things to bring home to our friends and families that remind us of our time in Peru. Finally after being here two weeks, we feel comfortable enough to venture out on our own with our spanish translators or locals who know where to go. I guess we finally are feeling "at home" here ... just in time to leave...
Please pray for us in the following ways:
1. As we say good bye to those who have blessed us sooooo much in the last two weeks; 2) as we travel to Lima tomorrow night, and as Jerry, Bonnie and Joel fly from Cusco to Lima on Saturday afternoon to join up with us at the airport to fly out at 10:30 on Saturday night; 3) for the continued work of Mil Palmeras as it ministers to the folks here in Pucallpa, but encourages their members to reach out to places like Angasmarca and Bella Vista and to their neighbors around them; 4) for continued healing of Julio's broken collar bone as it heals; 5) for Olga's ministry at the Teen Pregnancy center; 6) for Jeremy and Ashlee as they explore other mission opportunities and relax (yes, the have great surfing locations in Peru that they want to check out with "Christian Surfers" - ask Jeremy about this when you see him next)
I don't know if I will have access to internet in Lima, so this might be the last post in Peru! Thanks for following us with this blog, but more importantly for praying for us! Hope to see some of you on Sunday after church when we get back!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Back in Pucallpa: Hoovers & Hess/Zehr's leaving
Wow! What a mind blowing last two days in the jungle...
We left yesterday morning (through the day since we had 4 hour long flights to get us all there) for Bella Vista, almost directly north of Pucallpa. As we flew in SAM's 6 seater float airplane, we quickly left civilization and for the next 45 minutes flew over virgin jungle with just a couple rivers and NO roads. AS we looked down on the jungle, it looked like the top of a broccoli plant: green for ever! Finally we approached a river and were quick to put down on the water, coming up to the bank just 100 feet from the house where we were staying in Bella Vista.
Bella Vista is a small village of 160 people surrounded by jungle and river. It was started 100 years ago as a logging village, and the first missionary family arrive 5 years ago, taking the boat 10 DAYS from Pucallpa or Iquitos to get to the village for their first 2 years. Then they heard about SAM Air and were just amazed that they could get there in 1 hour!! Presently there is a small church meeting there, and Mil Palmeras has sent a family and a single person out to work with this village.
As we arrived during the day, the Medical group got started working with the villagers who expressed medical needs: with only 160 people, it did not take all day to meet their needs. The construction folks started to work with the church members to paint their new Sunday School structure.
That evening we met with the church for a time of worship and a time where Julio shared from God's word. The vigorous singing and drumming (on a wooden box with a hole - no traditional drum of leather) lasted for half hour and showed a church full of life and connecting with the songs. It was a really wonderful time of connecting with a small church in the middle of the jungle, being supported by another Peruvian Church far away.
That evening as we walked the 100 yards from the church to our home, we saw a shooting star and marveled in the bright stars in the sky as we walked through the moonless night. No machine sounds were heard (the only machines we heard over the two days were the planes and the "peki peki" boats that would go up or two the river): this we a truly quiet place to be!
We slept with the Peruvian missionaries in their wonderful home (ask us the story of this home), which felt like an adult sleep over: guys in one room with all the snoring, and the ladies in another room. It was a rough night of sleep for most of us...
The morning came quickly for the first load to return back to Pucallpa: they needed to be up and on the river by 6 am, going down stream for 45 minutes to where they picked up the plane. The plane could land in the river just in front of our house, but this area was not long enough to take off, so we each got a ride down stream in our "peki Peki" along a river that we did not see any person during the whole trip until we hooked up with the SAM Pilot for our trip home. A couple of the flights actually flew through a rainbow, which we found out wraps around the airplane in a full-circle as you get nearer the rain.
For those of us that were on later flights, we finished painting the exterior of this structure, went on a walk around local farms to visit with some of the church folks doing the preparation of their favorite food which was a dried starch. We also heard the stories of the local present day missionaries and God's calling them to work this this remote village.
Food while we were gone? We had some local boar that was shot and prepared, fish from the river and this local starch. Besides these exciting foods, we also had rice and beans, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and oreo cookies we had brought from Pucallpa.
We were fortunate folks in the village to have solar power lights in the house, the rest were candles of lanterns.
What struck most of us was the amazing time of worship with folks half the way around the world in the remotest part of Peruvian jungle: our God is big enough to work with these extremes and everything in between.
Tomorrow morning, Jeremy and Ashlee, Jerry and Bonnie and Joelle take off to Lima and Cuzco to visit with the Mennonite Mission folks there and to see Machu Picchu on Friday.
Please pray for safety in travel and for all the bug bites that are driving many of us crazy from our time in Bella Vista!
We left yesterday morning (through the day since we had 4 hour long flights to get us all there) for Bella Vista, almost directly north of Pucallpa. As we flew in SAM's 6 seater float airplane, we quickly left civilization and for the next 45 minutes flew over virgin jungle with just a couple rivers and NO roads. AS we looked down on the jungle, it looked like the top of a broccoli plant: green for ever! Finally we approached a river and were quick to put down on the water, coming up to the bank just 100 feet from the house where we were staying in Bella Vista.
Bella Vista is a small village of 160 people surrounded by jungle and river. It was started 100 years ago as a logging village, and the first missionary family arrive 5 years ago, taking the boat 10 DAYS from Pucallpa or Iquitos to get to the village for their first 2 years. Then they heard about SAM Air and were just amazed that they could get there in 1 hour!! Presently there is a small church meeting there, and Mil Palmeras has sent a family and a single person out to work with this village.
As we arrived during the day, the Medical group got started working with the villagers who expressed medical needs: with only 160 people, it did not take all day to meet their needs. The construction folks started to work with the church members to paint their new Sunday School structure.
That evening we met with the church for a time of worship and a time where Julio shared from God's word. The vigorous singing and drumming (on a wooden box with a hole - no traditional drum of leather) lasted for half hour and showed a church full of life and connecting with the songs. It was a really wonderful time of connecting with a small church in the middle of the jungle, being supported by another Peruvian Church far away.
That evening as we walked the 100 yards from the church to our home, we saw a shooting star and marveled in the bright stars in the sky as we walked through the moonless night. No machine sounds were heard (the only machines we heard over the two days were the planes and the "peki peki" boats that would go up or two the river): this we a truly quiet place to be!
We slept with the Peruvian missionaries in their wonderful home (ask us the story of this home), which felt like an adult sleep over: guys in one room with all the snoring, and the ladies in another room. It was a rough night of sleep for most of us...
The morning came quickly for the first load to return back to Pucallpa: they needed to be up and on the river by 6 am, going down stream for 45 minutes to where they picked up the plane. The plane could land in the river just in front of our house, but this area was not long enough to take off, so we each got a ride down stream in our "peki Peki" along a river that we did not see any person during the whole trip until we hooked up with the SAM Pilot for our trip home. A couple of the flights actually flew through a rainbow, which we found out wraps around the airplane in a full-circle as you get nearer the rain.
For those of us that were on later flights, we finished painting the exterior of this structure, went on a walk around local farms to visit with some of the church folks doing the preparation of their favorite food which was a dried starch. We also heard the stories of the local present day missionaries and God's calling them to work this this remote village.
Food while we were gone? We had some local boar that was shot and prepared, fish from the river and this local starch. Besides these exciting foods, we also had rice and beans, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and oreo cookies we had brought from Pucallpa.
We were fortunate folks in the village to have solar power lights in the house, the rest were candles of lanterns.
What struck most of us was the amazing time of worship with folks half the way around the world in the remotest part of Peruvian jungle: our God is big enough to work with these extremes and everything in between.
Tomorrow morning, Jeremy and Ashlee, Jerry and Bonnie and Joelle take off to Lima and Cuzco to visit with the Mennonite Mission folks there and to see Machu Picchu on Friday.
Please pray for safety in travel and for all the bug bites that are driving many of us crazy from our time in Bella Vista!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Pucallpa Day 6
We said good-bye to Doreen, Lindsey, Gary and Sue, last night so today we were missing them as we went through the day. Like usual, this was a day of many different types of activities in and around the Mil Palmeras/SAM Compound:
Early start with social construction finishing crew: Eric, Bob and Jerry took off around 9 am to complete the house that was worked on for the blind person over the week-end. They were reassembling a wall that they had taken down over the week-end when they move this house back into vertical position again. They can back around noon hot and sweaty from a busy morning of cutting and refitting the boards on the wall.
Gwen and Bonnie went through the medical supplies that they had to prepare for our out reach to Bella Vista over the next two days. We will be flying out in a small mission airplane, landing in the river beside this village of 200 people. So the weight we carry with us is very important, so they figured out a bag for the first flight and then the rest of the supplies for the second or third flight (we will need 4 flights to get us all there, including the local Peruvian missionary going out from Mil Palmeras to work in this small village)
Katrina and Ashlee were busy in the "book room" at the school that they have on the SAM compound. They were sorting with Amy Listra (another Mil Palmeras church planter from SAM) through what textbooks they have for each subject and in each grade for this small school for their children.
Rick, Phil, Jeremy and Jerry were busy helping the hired folks complete the concrete floor of the "cafeteria" area just off the covered basketball court that Mil Palmeras calls home. This covered little addition of 30 by 30 feet will provide some area for them to meet and eat informally before or after the service and will provide a wider variety of ways their structure can be used. Yes, we mixed by hand 33 wheel barrows full of sand and rooks with the concrete and wheeled it over to the folks laying the last quarter section of the floor. Yes, we are happy that task is over with, but realize we will probably be mixing more concrete on Thurs and Fri for a side walk that they are trying to put around their structure for when it rains they will not have to walk in mud!
After lunch, the tasks changed to going to the bank with Julio (took 3 hours!), sanding down benches that Mil Palmeras uses for part of their seating (yes, by hand only!), helping Christian Listra do little plumbing and tear out a wall in his house on the SAM compound; doing our wash and more book room and library work. By 5 pm, it is starting to get dark and we need to start getting bug spray on so the mosquitoes don't eat us alive.
Supper was at a local restaurant down town that we walked to from our hotel and had some "American" food: hamburgers, ham and cheese sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, fried chicken, etc. The food we have been eating all along has been truly outstanding and unique, so it was interesting to see us struggling to figure out what we wanted for supper since we had american options!
Tomorrow, we have four flights to Belle Vista: 7:00, 9:30, 12:00 and 2:30. It will be a very interesting and different experience again, and we really don't know what we are getting into! All we have heard is that they have some nasty bugs that light to bite like "no-seeums": should be interesting! We will truly be in the jungle in this location: no electricity or running water I believe. Sleeping on small air mattresses (swimming pool style). We travel back on Wednesday, so I will not be communicating with you on Tuesday night since we will be gone that evening.
Doreen, Lindsay, Gary and Sue should be arriving back into Lancaster about noon time tomorrow, but I am sure they will be beat since they fly through the night tonight. Please pray for them and during our times of flying over the next couple days.
I have started to post some pictures on Facebook so you can link to them through this link below and do not need to be a facebook member to see them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=230905&id=525772322&l=c7689f62c1
Thanks for your prayers!
Early start with social construction finishing crew: Eric, Bob and Jerry took off around 9 am to complete the house that was worked on for the blind person over the week-end. They were reassembling a wall that they had taken down over the week-end when they move this house back into vertical position again. They can back around noon hot and sweaty from a busy morning of cutting and refitting the boards on the wall.
Gwen and Bonnie went through the medical supplies that they had to prepare for our out reach to Bella Vista over the next two days. We will be flying out in a small mission airplane, landing in the river beside this village of 200 people. So the weight we carry with us is very important, so they figured out a bag for the first flight and then the rest of the supplies for the second or third flight (we will need 4 flights to get us all there, including the local Peruvian missionary going out from Mil Palmeras to work in this small village)
Katrina and Ashlee were busy in the "book room" at the school that they have on the SAM compound. They were sorting with Amy Listra (another Mil Palmeras church planter from SAM) through what textbooks they have for each subject and in each grade for this small school for their children.
Rick, Phil, Jeremy and Jerry were busy helping the hired folks complete the concrete floor of the "cafeteria" area just off the covered basketball court that Mil Palmeras calls home. This covered little addition of 30 by 30 feet will provide some area for them to meet and eat informally before or after the service and will provide a wider variety of ways their structure can be used. Yes, we mixed by hand 33 wheel barrows full of sand and rooks with the concrete and wheeled it over to the folks laying the last quarter section of the floor. Yes, we are happy that task is over with, but realize we will probably be mixing more concrete on Thurs and Fri for a side walk that they are trying to put around their structure for when it rains they will not have to walk in mud!
After lunch, the tasks changed to going to the bank with Julio (took 3 hours!), sanding down benches that Mil Palmeras uses for part of their seating (yes, by hand only!), helping Christian Listra do little plumbing and tear out a wall in his house on the SAM compound; doing our wash and more book room and library work. By 5 pm, it is starting to get dark and we need to start getting bug spray on so the mosquitoes don't eat us alive.
Supper was at a local restaurant down town that we walked to from our hotel and had some "American" food: hamburgers, ham and cheese sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, fried chicken, etc. The food we have been eating all along has been truly outstanding and unique, so it was interesting to see us struggling to figure out what we wanted for supper since we had american options!
Tomorrow, we have four flights to Belle Vista: 7:00, 9:30, 12:00 and 2:30. It will be a very interesting and different experience again, and we really don't know what we are getting into! All we have heard is that they have some nasty bugs that light to bite like "no-seeums": should be interesting! We will truly be in the jungle in this location: no electricity or running water I believe. Sleeping on small air mattresses (swimming pool style). We travel back on Wednesday, so I will not be communicating with you on Tuesday night since we will be gone that evening.
Doreen, Lindsay, Gary and Sue should be arriving back into Lancaster about noon time tomorrow, but I am sure they will be beat since they fly through the night tonight. Please pray for them and during our times of flying over the next couple days.
I have started to post some pictures on Facebook so you can link to them through this link below and do not need to be a facebook member to see them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=230905&id=525772322&l=c7689f62c1
Thanks for your prayers!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Church with Mil Palmeras
Today was a day of worship and celebration with Mil Palmeras. We finally saw the church in action today.
Worship started at 10 am with 15 - 20 minutes of choruses with some in English to include us, but it was a time were the Spirit was evident in their singing. They commissioned or sent off three groups of people: a couple to live in Israel, a family that visits a mission outpost for a month at a time (Belle Vista) and a missionary kid returning to Switzerland after living many years in Pucallpa. The sermon by Julio and translated by Doreen (Are you a believer or a disciple?) was on Matt 7, and was on the 3 Tests/Marks of a disciple: following the narrow way, bearing appropriate fruit, building on solid ground.
The service was finished by the moving testimonies of 6 people who were to be baptized during this service. They varied in ages from 6 or 7 years old to mature adult, with a variety of different stories bringing them to baptism. The baptism was just off the basketball court where Mil Palmeras meets, and was an immersion baptism experience with lots of celebration when they came out of the water. Julio indicated to us that they try to have baptisms 3 or 4 times a years.
Lunch served under their mango tree since the electricity was off and we wanted some coolness. The meet was roasted lamb done over an open fire right outside of Julio and Olga's house, with potatoes of course (we have had potatoes every day in this country since it is their staple food), yucca, and veggies.
After lunch, we had to round up a generator and gas so we could watch the all important final game of the World Cup in Soccer. This motivated Bob and Lindsey to play some soccer with other church folks after the game, while some of us went on a road trip to visit TEC, a site were some of us had done other short term missions work.
A quick supper of chicken, and you guessed it, french fries, some shaved palm tree heart and alvacado for veggies and a birthday cake for Joelle Hess, turning 10 today. Then it was the sad good-byes for Doreen, Lindsey, Gary and Sue, as they took off to fly to Lima to catch a plan tomorrow for the states.
Tomorrow: more construction work on the compound and finishing up a social construction worksite...
Prayer requests: safety in travel for Doreen, Lindsey, Gary and Sue; continued relation building with church members, SAM Missionaries and Mil Palmeras staff; continue health for the team (we thank the Lord for no sickness on the trip so far!); continued openness by the team to God's speaking to them, and leading them in actions and conversations.
Worship started at 10 am with 15 - 20 minutes of choruses with some in English to include us, but it was a time were the Spirit was evident in their singing. They commissioned or sent off three groups of people: a couple to live in Israel, a family that visits a mission outpost for a month at a time (Belle Vista) and a missionary kid returning to Switzerland after living many years in Pucallpa. The sermon by Julio and translated by Doreen (Are you a believer or a disciple?) was on Matt 7, and was on the 3 Tests/Marks of a disciple: following the narrow way, bearing appropriate fruit, building on solid ground.
The service was finished by the moving testimonies of 6 people who were to be baptized during this service. They varied in ages from 6 or 7 years old to mature adult, with a variety of different stories bringing them to baptism. The baptism was just off the basketball court where Mil Palmeras meets, and was an immersion baptism experience with lots of celebration when they came out of the water. Julio indicated to us that they try to have baptisms 3 or 4 times a years.
Lunch served under their mango tree since the electricity was off and we wanted some coolness. The meet was roasted lamb done over an open fire right outside of Julio and Olga's house, with potatoes of course (we have had potatoes every day in this country since it is their staple food), yucca, and veggies.
After lunch, we had to round up a generator and gas so we could watch the all important final game of the World Cup in Soccer. This motivated Bob and Lindsey to play some soccer with other church folks after the game, while some of us went on a road trip to visit TEC, a site were some of us had done other short term missions work.
A quick supper of chicken, and you guessed it, french fries, some shaved palm tree heart and alvacado for veggies and a birthday cake for Joelle Hess, turning 10 today. Then it was the sad good-byes for Doreen, Lindsey, Gary and Sue, as they took off to fly to Lima to catch a plan tomorrow for the states.
Tomorrow: more construction work on the compound and finishing up a social construction worksite...
Prayer requests: safety in travel for Doreen, Lindsey, Gary and Sue; continued relation building with church members, SAM Missionaries and Mil Palmeras staff; continue health for the team (we thank the Lord for no sickness on the trip so far!); continued openness by the team to God's speaking to them, and leading them in actions and conversations.
Week-end Pucallpa
Saturday was a busy day of social outreach, world cup, church connections and ice-cream!
We started our day with 6:45 breakfast and were off to divide up into our social out reach teams again, adding our medical team into the mix. We had 3 different places that we helped again today. One house was leaning terribly, so they removed some wood and doors, and pulled the 15 x 25 foot house back into vertical position, and tried to put everything back in place. The other two houses were homes of disabled individuals that we helped to make them more accessible and safe for the individuals. We also replaced screens on most of the homes to help with the mosquitoes and other flying/crawling insects. We also replaced or fixed holes in roofs of many of these homes. The bonus of the outreaches was that we were working along side other Mil Palmeras' church members, so got to know them a lot better in the process. This social outreach idea is a fairly new idea for them, so you could see the excitement in their eyes of helping others as well. We fund raised $300 for each of these homes we helped fix up, and the team just wants to say "thanks" for helping us make this possible. The money was well spent on these projects.
The afternoon, after the World Cup game of course, was a time for the church families to come to Mil Palmeras and play soccer, volleyball, talk and eat. Reminded me our our old church picnics: all afternoon until it got dark. Katrina and Ashlee led the group in a couple games and Jeremy gave his testimony. They enjoy our balloon launchers and tried to get the soccer players as they were busy playing: we were not successful!
On our way back to our hotel, we stopped for some ice-cream: our first since we have arrived. What a great way to end our busy day. Tomorrow, church with our good friends at Mil Palmeras... and the finals in the world cup (the world stops for them down here!)
Thanks for your prayers for our safety and growth as a team.
We started our day with 6:45 breakfast and were off to divide up into our social out reach teams again, adding our medical team into the mix. We had 3 different places that we helped again today. One house was leaning terribly, so they removed some wood and doors, and pulled the 15 x 25 foot house back into vertical position, and tried to put everything back in place. The other two houses were homes of disabled individuals that we helped to make them more accessible and safe for the individuals. We also replaced screens on most of the homes to help with the mosquitoes and other flying/crawling insects. We also replaced or fixed holes in roofs of many of these homes. The bonus of the outreaches was that we were working along side other Mil Palmeras' church members, so got to know them a lot better in the process. This social outreach idea is a fairly new idea for them, so you could see the excitement in their eyes of helping others as well. We fund raised $300 for each of these homes we helped fix up, and the team just wants to say "thanks" for helping us make this possible. The money was well spent on these projects.
The afternoon, after the World Cup game of course, was a time for the church families to come to Mil Palmeras and play soccer, volleyball, talk and eat. Reminded me our our old church picnics: all afternoon until it got dark. Katrina and Ashlee led the group in a couple games and Jeremy gave his testimony. They enjoy our balloon launchers and tried to get the soccer players as they were busy playing: we were not successful!
On our way back to our hotel, we stopped for some ice-cream: our first since we have arrived. What a great way to end our busy day. Tomorrow, church with our good friends at Mil Palmeras... and the finals in the world cup (the world stops for them down here!)
Thanks for your prayers for our safety and growth as a team.
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