The babies

This was my third mission trip to Peru and I always come home with images of the babies in my head. Fortunately the babies we saw in Chincha were chubby and happy.

One day, I was helping a woman who had a precious little year old boy with her who kept falling asleep in the chair as we tried to take her blood sugar. Finally I picked him up and rocked him in my arms as we walked around to the doctor station thinking about how beautiful he was and how he slept so soundly in the midst of all the commotion. I asked her how old her grandson was and she said that he was adopted. He was the product of a rape of a 16 year old girl who then abandoned him and this woman had taken him in.

We all hit the wall at some point when the situation overwhelms us. This was my hit the wall moment. I had to quickly hand the sleeping toddler over to another person in our group and ran to the rest room and had a really hard cry. (Yes, we had a bathroom with three toilets and running water...a true luxury!) I went next door to the dental office for tissue and after telling them about the little boy, we all had a group hug and group cry.

The displayed picture is of a different child later in the week but was just so precious I wanted to share the picture.

Re-entry problems

For me, it has been hard getting back into "real life". I had a staph infection in my finger and had to go immediately to the ER and have it lanced. After two more visits to the doctor, it is looking much better.

When I got home, I called to go get my big dog out of where he was being boarded. I was told that he had died on Tuesday before we got home despite all efforts to save him. I am really struggling with this as he was such a happy dog and a real joy in my life. I am so sad and miss him terribly.

I promise I will write more about the special time we had in Peru and the victories we shared in order to recapture the joy of the mission trip.

Tonight was the celebration ceremony

I have been so exhausted the last two nights, I have not had the energy to post here. I will recap the last two days in another post but wanted to let you know that we have completed the clinic and the evangelism. The celebration ceremony tonight was beyond description! We were in a small soccer field and filled it with joyous singing and dancing. Then lots of tears and hugs as we said goodbye to the wonderful people we met this week. You will just have to see the video to understand what I mean.

We are going back to Lima in the morning and then some of us will go onto Cusco and others will return to the US. It has been a glorious trip! I have so many stories to tell and don't have the strength to tell them right now.

To our friends and families...thank you for your prayers...we have really felt them and needed them.

Will post more later...

Again, we had such an incredible day. It started when we got off the buses at the medical site. We had a good line already waiting for us when we arrived. We set up shop and then went back outside for an opening devotional and prayer.

We "warmed up the crowd" with a few simple songs and Bill Powell gave a wonderful devotional about living a life of peace and serenity thanks to the grace of God and gave a demonstration with the small plastic vials that are then heated and blasted into two litre bottles for softdrinks. Two litre Coke bottles are things that anyone in practically any country can relate to.The prayer time was really meaningful and set the day off on a perfect note.

Today I got to work in the vitamin and worming station outside the pharmacy. That is one place where EVERYONE comes to get the anti-parasite medicine and their vitamins. So today was a little more hectic than yesterday but I can sure say"take one vitamin every day with your breakfast" really really fast now in Spanish.

According to our dentist, Bill Powell, there was one little boy about six years old whose teeth have all become rotten and will have to be pulled. He pulled some today and over the next couple of days, the poor little boy will have all of his teeth pulled.

One little girl about 8, her face painted with flowers on each cheek, came up excitedly and asked if we were going to be there in her neighborhood "for ever". Her little face fell when I told her today was the last day.

We ended our two days at this location with a really large Bible study and the attendees will hopefully be the core of a new church established in that neighborhood. I was fortunate to meet a number of really strong women over the last two days and hopefully they will be leaders in the new congregation.When we left, a group of about 30 people lined the little road and waved goodbye to us! It really touched my heart to see their faces.

Tomorrow we go to a new location and I understand it is actually inside a newly built church. The conditions at the last location were not that bad except for the dirt floor. There was a functioning toilet which makes life a LOT easier.Tonight was our first free time and Veronica, Egla and I walked down to the main Plaza and of course, found an ice cream parlor. I had something called maracuya and it was delicious.

I will write more tomorrow but we are leaving extra early as the new location is on the far outskirts of town.

First Day in Chincha

Wow...what a day this has been! God was really at work in our lives today during our first day in Chincha.

We saw about 240 people in the medical clinic and about another 100-150 people in the eye clinic. I don't know how many people the dentist saw, but there was always a line as his station too.

Everyone who did door to door evangelism talked about how well received they were everywhere they went.

Tonight, I got to give my testimony at a church located on the ourtskirts of Chincha. The pastor, Carlos de la Cruz (Charles of the Cross) led a most enthusiastic crowd in singing songs of praise for half an hour before I gave my testimony. Afterwards the pastor graciously acknowledged those of us from the U.S. and as we left, the singing and dancing started again. We were told that the service could continue as late as 10:30pm. Their enthusiasm was so energizing. I will go back there on Wednesday to do door to door evangelism.

In the cab ride back to the hotel, I spoke with the taxi driver who told me he lost his house in the earthquake and a year later, there was just a shell of his house rebuilt with plastic for a roof. He said the worst thing about the earthquake was that his two year old daughter is now so fearful that the earth will move again in such a destructive way.

We have another day of clinic in our present location which is not too far from downtown. We will be moving to a location further out of town where they are erecting a new town for people who lost their house in the earthquake. They are using prefabricated housing donated by the Red Cross.

As always, it is the children that really touch your heart. Today, thank you, Lord, we did not have any seriously ill children. Instead, we had dozens of preschoolers having their faces painted, making crafts, singing songs and learning about Jesus. How delightful!

I can't wait to see what amazing things God has in store for us tomorrow!

We are in Chincha!

Everybody arrived in Lima last night and this morning we set out on a bus for Chincha! The drive was at times breathtaking with the ocean on our right and the desert on our left. Occasionally we had pockets where greenery beat out the desert.

We checked into our hotel and then got everything organized for tomorrow. The hotel is nice and even has wireless!

After a delicious dinner of Chifa...which is a type of food that combines Peruvian flavors with Chinese food, we set out for the opening rally at a local church.

It was a great worship service ...a lot of celebrating...good music and welcoming people. It was held out under the stars as the church has only a straw roof. Tomorrow we start the clinic and the door to door evangelism and this rally was a delightful beginning to our week.

Driving down to Chincha from Lima, it is amazing that they have repaired the Pan American Highway since the earthquake and obviously there is a lot of construction going on. Over 500 people were killed in the earthquake in Chincha alone. You see buildings in ruins right next to buildings that weren't seemingly touched. One house I saw, only the green garage door was standing ...the rest of the house was in piles of bricks around it.

Please keep us in your prayers as we set out this week to minister to the people of Chincha both physically and spiritually.

Meeting the group in Lima

I left early for Peru and actually arrived in Lima late on July 12th. I came to visit dear friends...one of whom will accompany us on the mission trip. She is an LPN and will be of great help in triage. Her name is Veronica too ...we will have two Veronicas with us.

The weather in Lima has been warmer than expected. I have not needed even a sweater at night. We actually had a couple of sunny days and the kids got to play outside in the sun. I sat in the park and watched the dogs. There is a neighborhood dacshund that thinks he is a Doberman!

Only two more days until I meet the rest of the group when they arrive late Friday night. I have been studying the Bible to find verses to reassure people that have lost so much in the earthquake that God loves them. Frankly I was worrying that they would think that it is easy for me to say coming from the U.S. Veronica reminded me of the simple fact that God would give me the words that I need and that each person would need different words of reassurance.

I am so looking forward to this trip to Chincha. Last year in Arequipa, the hand of God was so obvious as we set out each day. I wonder how God will amaze us this year!

I have often wondered why it is easier to see God at work while on mission trips than at home in my daily life. I think that it is because I get out of my comfort zone and I have to lean on the Lord...at home, often I am on autopilot and not recognizing who is the real Pilot.

I pray that the Lord blesses this trip and all who are on it. It is not just a physical journey of six hours and five minutes from Atlanta to Lima, it is a journey for the Lord and with the Lord. It is a journey in which I feel that I receive much more than I give. For that, Lord, I am grateful.

Cristoforus Columbus Hotel--two weeks from today is our first clinic.

I found the website for our hotel. It is in Spanish and English too. http://www.cristoforuscolumbus.com/index2.htm

Today in two weeks will be our first day of the medical clinics.

In reading through the devotional book "Prepare your Heart", I was really struck by the scripture Mark 10: 43-45 when Jesus is talking to his disciples when they were exhibiting a distinct lack of humility:

(Mk 10:43) Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, (44) and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. (45) For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I often get so busy preparing for the trip or preparing for the day, I forget to stop and think about how this "busyness" is not why I am going. I truly want for God to create in me a servant's heart.

In my past trips, I have truly come to love Peru and the people there. I pray that God will grow my heart even more to serve not just their physical needs but to serve as God's conduit for the good news of Jesus who will meet all their needs.

I am leaving early for Peru. This time next week, I will be in Lima visiting Veronica and family. I am so excited that I am almost packed already. I will meet up with the team when they arrive on the night of July 18. Then I will come back on the same flight with them on July 26th.

It is hard for me to pour out my feelings in this format but perhaps using this blog to chronicle our journey will free me from that fear too.

Please feel free to add comments to this blog. It is meant to keep you informed of our trip but it is also meant to be a collaborative effort with our friends and family.

Only 17 more days to go!

Only 17 more days and we are off to Chincha!

As a reminder, our final team meeting prior to departure will be at DAWSON on Sunday, July 13, and the room location will be 257N.

For those team members not familiar with Dawson, this room is on the second floor of the North Building, which is the building directly behind the sanctuary. We will plan to begin counting medications about 11:15 am (for those attending "early" church), break for lunch and a team meeting at about 12:15 pm, then resume counting meds at about 2:00 pm. After the medications are counted, we will need 1-2 members of each team (eye, childrens, pharmacy, etc) to remain and help pack our team bags. If you have an "old" duffle bag or suitcase that you would like to "donate" for team luggage, please bring it with you to the meeting. This would need to be a piece of luggage that you would not want to be returned.

Mission Trip Meeting Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

Our next team meeting will be this coming Sunday, June 22, 12:30 - 3:30 PM at Dr. Bill Rogers' house. Lunch will be served at 12:30 pm.

This will be an IMPORTANT MEETING because Pastor Pat Powell and Dr. Rogers will be reporting on the Leadership Development Conference in Peru last month and their Site Visits to the July mission sites. You will also be provided much logistic information about what and how to pack for the trip. We will continue with our music ministry, evangelism training and practice, Spanish lessons, and study of the Discipleship material. Devotional material to study before departure will be distributed.

Please bring the following items with you:
1) your Bible
2) one EvangeCube

Also, please review Step 2 from the Discipleship material (see related links on the right.

If you CANNOT come, please advise Dr. Rogers as that will help us in planning for the meal and other logistics.

Songs to learn for Peru

I have found a place where it is easy to hear and learn some simple songs in Spanish to sing while we are in Peru. Please take time to learn these three so we can sing them as a group.

God is so good or Dios es bueno

I have joy joy joy or Yo tengo gozo gozo gozo

Jesus loves me or Christo me ama (chorus only)

We will practice them in our meetings. If you find other songs that you would like to sing, please add them in a comment to this post.

Learn more about Chincha, Peru

Here are links to learn more about Chincha, Peru, and its devastating earthquake.

Peru Mission Trip to Chincha

This blog is to keep friends and family up to date on our mission trip to Chincha, Peru...an area devasted by the August, 2007, earthquake that registered 8.0 on the Richter scale.

Trip dates are July 18-26, 2008.

This mission trip is a joint effort of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church of Birmingham, AL and Emmanuel Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, AL, in partnership with e3 Ministries.

Leaders are Patrick Powell, Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Dr. William Rogers, cardiologist at University of Alabama in Birmingham; and Claudia Adame of e3 Ministries.