Watching God Work in His OWN Time!

 Wobbly Man

A man presented to my click a little unsteady of gait.  Neuro examine was a little strange. Hyperactive patellar reflexes, positive Babinsky. Nothing else.

   CT scan showed the above. Huge hydrocephalus (“extra cerebral spinal fluid accumulated in the brain) because of obstruction by calcifications from old Neurocistercicosis (a parasite from eating contaminated undercooked pork which is common here).

Woman’s Group

We continue advancing various projects. Right now the majority are croqueting a giraffe. 

Below are Milet (the little girl) and Nelson (the boy).  Nelson presented to the hospital with a deep cut in his leg during a motor taxi accident.  His leg then infected so he returned regularly to the hospital for wound care.

Nelson had been attending the Sunday School at our church sporadically because his parent’s carpentry shop was located in front of the church. I got to know his family more through his hospital visits.  His mom started attending our woman’s group, and he and his sister started attending Sunday School regularly.

During women’s group his mother, Meluska (center of the photo above with her back turned towards us), has shared how she’s begun to see the presence of God in her life.  Meluska has a childhood of pain that God’s going to have to heal bit by bit.  She’s started evening classes to finish high school (she’s 23 years old. Nelson, her oldest is 10.) so she’s stopped coming to our Women’s Group.  She did visit the church for Mother’s Day.  Please pray for their family.  For her relationship with her “husband.” And for God’s work in her and her children.

 

                                                        Above: Millet

                                                      Meluska is in the middle with her back to us.

                                                  Front on the left: Meluska

                                                Above: Nelson

Miqui’s Wedding

Our longtime friend Miquias (Miqui), who works in IT at the hospital Diospi, finally got married to Damaris, the psychologist at Diospi. 

                                 Above: With David’s Friday night men’s soccer group.

My Peruvian Medical License

I took a 40-question comprehensive medical exam in Spanish.  Got at passing score and applied for a Medical license through the office of Doctors.  Within 4 days they called me to invite me to their graduation in 3 days.  And just like that God worked a miracle and I now have a lifetime medical license to practice in Peru.

Edgar, one of the teachers at Diospi, says that I have an expression of disbelief in these photos, like I can’t believe that they’re actually giving me my medical license after 1 year of prayer, frustration, and fighting.

DISCIPLESHIP  (Above)

 After summer vacation we started our discipleship group back up.  Cristian graduated last year, and two of the girls: Maria Pilar and Andrea, decided to not continue with the group.  So we invited several new teens and started with a review to help them remember to first book which taught what it means to be a disciple of Christ and the disciples involved.  Then we reviewed up to where we were in the second book titled, the Personality of a Disciple (which we are now about to finish).  Currently our group is: Paola, Juliana, Xiomara, Yeny, Ingrit, Edy, Briseda.  Please pray from them and their faith.

Family Visit

The family of Edy (from our discipleship group.  His mother, Hipolita, works as a nurse aid in the Diospi clinic.  She’s begun to attend the church regularly this last year, bringing along her two boys: Edy and Dino.  She’s now on the team of Sunday school teachers as well.  Her husband, Ubaldino, is not a believer and doesn’t come with them to church.  Please pray for this family and our friendship with them.

 
                              Above (left to right): Ubaldino, Edy, Hipolita, me, Dino (front)

And the Rains ARRIVED

This year the people have been blessed with an abundance of rain. But even now some will continue to complain.  Normally it stops raining in Abril, but it’s continued raining until the end of May. This is evidently bad for certain crops.

Erythema Multiforme

“They come in threes” is the saying in medicine. Here was the first. A child with a viral infection who developed a Steven Johnsons like allergic reaction call Erythema Multiforme.  Then Dr. Martina had a twenty-year-old girl present with a chronic version of this with no identifiable cause.  And then same day I had a patient that I had treated the day before present with the same rash after starting his medicines.

SUNDAY School

The first picture is our new teen class (11 and up). We’ve formed two separate Sunday school classes to try to build up our number of older kids/teens. Please pray for this group.  We have about 2-4 regulars, and all the others visit from time to time.  Please pray as we build up this group.

The other photos are from Easter Sunday.  The kids (the two classes together) had a competition of putting on “grave clothing” ie. Toilet paper the fastest.

Please pray that God continues to provide us with teachers.  With the teens we have three pairs that take turns teaching every third week.  With the younger kids we have  four pairs but three teachers are leaving next month.

Easter Presentation at the Diopsi School

David’s class prepared an Easter skit and dance about the freedom that the death of Jesus on the cross has brought us.  Many of the parents weren’t able to come, so David planned a second event in the church along with the praise songs his students had been learning in his class each week.  His students where able to present the skit and dance again for their friends and families, and meet a local church (many don’t attend church each week).

 

Baptizisms

I’ve mentioned before the cultural complexity of baptism here in Apurimac, PERU. But praise the Lord two regulars of the church where baptized.  

 

Alvino (wet white shirt), was also baptized.  He is one of the teachers at the Diospi school. He came to know Christ after being my patient at Diospi a couple of years ago.

 

Above: Soledad with her husband and three kids.  The two girls: Andrea (left) and Maria Pilar (right) have been regulars at Sunday school and were part of our discipleship group last year.  They first came to the church and then invited their mom and dad.

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a great day at church. Many of the children have the opportunity to invite their mom to church and breakfast.  So we have many mom’s in the church that usually do not attend, because their kids are about to motivate them to come!  A great opportunity to both appreciate the moms and evangelized 😊

My Parents (Above)  JedidiahGrace

My parents came to visit us again for the month of June.  We visited several nearby sites and invited several of our discipleship teens (Yuliana on the left and  to tag along (which they enjoyed)!

Leishmanias (below)

I’ve had three cases of patients these last months whom had leishmanias in the throat come with holes in the back of their throat.

Weird!!