taking off to the amazon

We arrived in Iquitos on September 23. It was so good to see familiar faces again! We finally got some rest from the quick paced 10 days in the earthquake areas. We are getting ready to go out on our first river trip which will be the longest any of us have been on yet, 25 days! We are leaving this Thursday evening (September 27) and will be returning on October 22nd. We will be doing our Bible Study ¨Yes We Can¨, training for the pastors and leaders there and giving out Bibles. We will be traveling down the Marañon river first to San Jose, then to Leoncio Prado, and last Aollata. Please pray for our safety and health and God´s direction. We won´t be able to contact home while we are out there because of lack of phone and internet communication, but we will give an update as soon as we return.

Blessings!

a broken place

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to lose everything? Your home, your job, the school your kids go to? This is the reality of hundreds of thousands of people in SW Peru. A reality that I hope no one ever has to know again.

We traveled to 4 cities south of Lima. We saw pictures of what the earthquake had done, but there is no way to describe what we saw. Churches, huge in splendor, now look like they were taken out by war. Home after home after home, sitting in remains of rubble. They are desperate but don´t know what to do next. Unsure of building for fear of another eartquake, they move blocks out of what used to be their living quarters in hopes that they will be next to recieve help from the government or NGO groups. People have had to make their homes out of tents, bamboo walls, tarp and cardboard and cold nights are a threat to these people without many warm blankets. A middle class family, now has to stand in line for food and clothing amongst hundreds of their neighbors.

As a team of 11 we went down there with an earthquake fund to help the people in the most need and serve them as much as possible. We bought groceries and handed them out in many communities where not one house was standing. We teamed up with churches and handed out clothes and parasite medicine. We cleaned up rubble, broke down walls of destroyed homes and helped build small huts out of bamboo sheets and tarps for families. In Ica we helped build a hut for a pastors Mother. Megan and I helped tie cardboard onto the inside of the walls to keep the cold from coming in. The truth is, it felt like I was building a kids play house. I began to think, what if I was building this for my mom? Nothing but thin walls, dirt floors, and a tarped roof.

Along with helping we did many outdoor services for the people. We did programs for kids and adults with dramas, testimonies and preaching. We had many opportunities to share the Gospel with these desperate people and many recieved Jesus. We had opportunities to go door to door, listen to their stories and pray for them. We also dressed up as clowns and played and danced with the children, which many parents said was a blessing because it took their kids minds of their circummstances and brought joy into their day.

One thing that was awesome was that my Dad and our good family friend Jerry Showalter came with us on the earthquake side of the trip. They were such a blessing to have around and a huge help in so many ways. It was a blast to see my Dad play with the little kids and make the people laugh with his silly sense of humor.

I look back and can´t believe that we saw and did what we did. Please, please pray for the people of the affacted earthquake area. They are in desperate need of shelter, food, water, clothes, and most of all JESUS.

Thank you for your prayers. God took care of us and we thank God for all that He did during out time in the disaster areas.

God bless.