Diospi Suyana---Peru: Summer 2016

Dear Friends and Family!

I was blessed with the chance to share with many of you during my visit to the states. But David and I were wanting to send you a collection of photos from various events and groups ranging in time from January 2016 until present (July 2016). ENJOY!!!

Following the Cloud--- Ari's Spiritual Growth

Numbers 9:17-18, “Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp. In this way, they traveled and camped at the LORD’s command wherever he told them to go. Then they remained in their camp as long as the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle.”

This is the lesson that God is teaching me these days. I’ve been practicing medicine in Peru the last 2.5 years with an American medical license and a temporary Peruvian license. But now in order to comply more with Peruvian laws, the Diospi Suyana Hospital board of directives has decided to make it mandatory that all doctors practicing in the hospital more than 6 months either have a Peruvian medical license or at least have their application “in process.” The requirements are a headache and subjective. What they required of me they didn’t require of Will the other American doctor. Will turned in the same things as one of the German doctors, but they rejected his application and gave him a list of additional documents they wanted (all original documents with lots of stamps and signatures). The first deadline was June 30^th.

Because of God obviously working and a lot of help from friends and family in the States I turned in all my documents July 1^st, and am officially “in process.” But when I turned in my documents I realized the “Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine” is unknown in Peru. The secretary at the Peruvian medical school informed me that the school had rejected the application of another American D.O. previously. I knew there’s countless countries around the world, rich and poor, that accept the D.O. title as equivalent as the M.D. title, but I had forgotten to check if Peru was one of them when I accepted the position in Peru. So now I checked. Columbia, Chile, Brazil, etc all of these countries around Peru accept it, but Peru…no. I said to David, “I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to check the list before I came to Peru”. David responded, “I’m glad you didn’t.”

That week before we went to Lima, and even now I feel like I don’t even know what tomorrow will bring. I told David, that my entire life I had my life planned out at least 1 year if not more. But now I don’t even know if I’ll be here for another day. As soon as my application is rejected I can no longer work at Diospi. But God is faithful. One of the sermons I was listening to as I ran in the morning mentioned this picture in Numbers of Gods desire to guide us step by step, day by day. And so in child-like trust I and We keep pouring ourselves into the work God gives us each day. We’re really putting all of our hearts into our new discipleship group, even though the trajectory is that it will last a year and a half. I feel like Satan wants us to hold back because of the uncertainty of how long we will be here, but I hear God whispering, THIS is how my kingdom will grow here in Curahuasi.

My life mission - - David’s Spiritual Growth
Romans 10: 14-15 " But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

At 19-years-of-age, after visiting some Christian camps and to continue growing in my spiritual life, I felt called to serve God in missions. So decided to leave my university studies, but my mother said no. Nine years later, God has sent me into missions using my career.

The Civil Wedding….The Religious Wedding…And Cancun!

The civil wedding in Lima. Upper: judge, Yolanda (David’s mom), me, David, Rebecca (David’s cousin). Lower: Me, Yolanda, David.

Upper two: Religious wedding. Lowest: We went to Cancun, Mexico and I was in heaven because all of their hot sauces where actually spicy (unlike Peru).

Searching for Danny….FOUND!

Danny, David’s 11-year-old student, ran away from an abusive family. Uppermost: Andrea, one of David’s students helping on one of the search parties through the villages surrounding Curahuasi looking for Danny. Lower: Danny, a hyperactive, fun-loving kid playing on the swings at the Diospi Hospital.

Left: Christian (the German school director), Danny, and Caroline (the social worker who was a friend to Danny and came back from Germany to find him---and found him). Right: David’s class, the classmates of Danny after he was found a month later in an orphanage one hour away from Curahuasi.

After Danny was found, him and his sister were both placed in a Christian orphanage an hour from Curahuasi where his friends and classmates can visit him. Danny was thriving in the orphanage away from an abusive home situation. When they found him he was actually doing his homework and had gained some weight.

Mother’s Day

David strongly believes in Sunday school, because the kids eventually bring their parents. For Mothers Day many of the children who come to Sunday school alone brought their mothers to a special Mother’s Day service and breakfast at the church.

It Didn’t Rain this Year

The heaviest rains are usually in December through March. This year it hardly rained. Though it means I’m less muddy after running, for the people it means that they might not eat this year. Above is a picture of the cornstalks we run by each day. They never even grew enough to produce corn. Please pray for the people who mainly rely on agriculture for a living. They are crying out to their government for help when they should be crying out to God.

Two Worlds Apart, But Closer than it Seems in Age --- American High-schoolers

A group of American High-schoolers came for a week to serve the community here. They held a day long event one Saturday. They invited several youth groups in town as well as our Ultimate Frisbee group. Even though to our group the Americans looked a lot older than them, they were about the same age. The American group ranged from 15-17 years old. Through out the day the Americans presented various activities and messages to the teens about Jesus. They all had a great time!

The American teens also taught in Sunday school the next day.

And then they shared again during Ultimate Frisbee Wednesday.

Women: Living, Loving, and Playing!

Monday nights the women keep coming J It’s a time to connect, knit, crochet, cook, do other crafts and study the Bible together. This year the break down has been one hour of crafts/activites and 30 minutes studying the Bible. We’ve been slowing reading through Mark this year, story by story, responding to the questions: 1) What happened? 2) Why? 3) How does this apply to me? (with some variation). My desire and hope is that they learn to actively read the bible and listen for what God is telling each of us. Because we open with crafts, there’s been more time to talk and get to know the women and relax. We now have a faithful group that continues growing each week because the enjoy the environment and learning new crafts.

Above: Karla (a doctor from Bolivia), Damaris (the psychologist), Ruth (custodial worker in the hospital, and her son, Igor, is in David’s class and in our discipleship group), Yulisa (works in the Diospi lab, her daughter Paola is the little girl in the picture), Pricilla (a 2^nd year internal medicine resident from Switzerland), me, Maria (the mom of Katerina, a girl who started coming to the women’s group over a year ago and then started bringing her mother), Sarah (below me, the sister-in-law of Maria).

Above: Mary Cruz (the wife of the Peruvian co-director of the Diospi School), Karla, me, Elizabeth (the 2^nd grade teacher at the Diospi school), Hipolita (a nurse in the Diospi school), Yulisa (face hidden), Katerina, Paola.

Cleaning Up Curahausi---!Lister, you just collected the garbage from your house!

The Diospi Suyana school had a “Clean up the Community” day. Each student was given a large garbage bag to fill up. Lister (a energetic student known by many in town), showed up with trash from his own house! :)

Camping…is Marriage counseling?!!

I’ve been studying with Rossmery for years now, though not always every week like before. But now we’re studying with both her and her “husband,” Rafael. Sometimes at our house sometimes at their house. Through this study God has given me Rossmery as a good friend. Of all of the nurses (she works mainly in physical therapy in the Diospi hospital), I feel like she’s one of the few who feel at least as much compassion as I in the hospital. You don’t have to be a Christian to work in the hospital, and for that reason work-ethic varies from worker to worker. I can’t do everything as a doctor, and especially with my Quechua speaking patients, but I can always depend on Rossmery to do the very best for the patient with lots of patience and love. David has gotten to know Rafael, and they play soccer together Friday nights. The picture above is of Jose (their 6-year-old son) and Rafael in the background. Us five went camping together to a nearby hot spring during Easter weekend. David and Rafael went midnight fishing while the rest of us slept a little.

During Ari’s trip to the USA….David adopted a son!

Me, Elysia (my youngest sister), a friend and Shalina (the oldest of my younger sisters) at a Mariners game!

In Abril and May I was in the USA for 2 short weeks. Visiting and trying to “get stuff done.” Thanks to every single person who opened their home, and shared a meal or a moment with me. I was very blessed. There’s nothing like a 1.5 years outside of your country to make you really miss the American people and culture. Thanks all for being crazy Americans like me. There’s no other culture like us J!

While I was in the states, David invited Frank Yohan to stay with him for a week. Frank Yohan was held back last year and now is in 5^th grade again, but this time with David. Frank Yohan is one of those kids that lacks motivation or desire to succeed. He’s the youngest of 5 siblings---all the others are out of the house and one in jail. His father is in Argentina. His mom makes her living selling Chicha (a homemade alcoholic drink). Frank Yohan’s skills include: climbing trees to pick off fruit, playing marbles, Ultimate Frisbee and forward flips. His weaknesses include: thinking before acting, empathy, doing his homework, concentration, attention, critical thinking, and comprehension. He’s at the point of failing again and getting kicked out of Diospi. So David thought a little more attention and accountability would help him. But sometimes we don’t see how God works or if God works. Frank Yohan is struggling and the only thing that can help him is a new heart. Please pray for Frank Yohan.

One of Frank Yohan’s homework assignments while with David was to make a homemade guitar.

The FIRST Ultimate Frisbee Tournament in Curahuasi! (told by David)

"Ultimate Frisbee" What is that? This sport was first played in mid-2014 here in Curahuasi among a group of friends and missionaries. Gradually it gained popularity. This last year we’ve had approximately 50 people---including children, adolescents, and adults---every Wednesday coming out. So we said let's organize a championship.

We chose captains and formed seven teams of seven players. We had the shirts designed and made in Lima. We made reservations for the municipal stadium, etc...
And start playing (18 June 2016).

It's amazing how God is using this sport to create communion between children and adults, Peruvians and foreigners, Christians and non-Christians--- all coming together to be part of this event.

After a day of frisbee (each team played each other team once, six games in all) and a time of meditation on the Word of God, the results of the championship were given:
-- In 2nd place, team green holding the silver trophy.
-- In 1st place, team black holding the gold trophy. It is worth noting that it was a team of six players and one of the six was the littlest player (Gorki, 8 years).

The Lucmos Kid’s Club---The Life of Jesus

Thursday afternoons we continue to teach the children of Lucmos (a village nearby). We just finished teaching the life of Jesus. Our time with the children includes games (upper left), songs (upper right), and a story (lower left), which the kids often times help us act out (here the story of the four friends who lowered their paralytic friend through the roof to Jesus to be healed.

Project’s Week: Sources of Energy (told by David)

Project’s week is a week in which the students of Diospi leave their regular classes and explore the world in a practical way. My theme was "Sources of Energy." No person can create energy; but with God all things are possible. THEREFORE: God created the energy---this is the conclusion at which my students arrived.