Every testimony TOUCHES a different SOUL

Dear Friends and Family,

  God continues blessing and teaching us daily.  The longer I’m here the more God convinces me to Be and Know people and focus less on Doing.  The words of Paul stick out in my head, “I didn’t use clever messages or attention-grabbing tricks to convince you that Jesus Christ is the answer, because I wanted the Holy Spirit to be who was working so that your conversion would be real” [my version and interpretation of 1 Corinthians 2:4,5: “And my message and my preaching were very plain.  Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.  I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.”]. 

Currently we’re hoping to be able to come to the USA in January.  Consequently, we’re in the process of leaving leaders to continue in our stead when God’s sent us elsewhere.

Below are pictures of Ultimate Frisbee. Each week we have 15 minutes devotional message.  David tries to invite different people to share their testimony or other message during this time. His theory is that we each have at least one testimony to share about what God is or has done in our lives.  Each of our messages touches different hearts and souls.  My testimony will not impact everyone.  So, the more testimonies these teens hear the more likely that God touches the souls and leads them down a new path.

                    Above: the team captains of the day getting ready to choose their team.

                Above: Natalie the daughter of Klaus and Martina sharing a message with the kids.

                Below: Dana, an anesthesia nurse at Diospi, sharing her testimony with the kids.

                Below: Xiomara and Ingrit, two of our discipleship teens sharing their testimony.

Running with the farm animals

Lucmos Kids Club

Picture of the kids sitting on their balloons to pop them.  Each balloon has one words of their memory verse on it.  After each balloon is popped they have to be able to say the verse with the missing word.

Since Martina has returned to Germany for her furlough (until February) our load has gotten considerably heavier.  David and I are now in charge of the Lucmos kids club (not just helping out).  Pray for the kids’ hearts and this extra responsibility for us.

SIXTH GRADE

Below: David’s class learning about how to preserve foods with vinegar.

Above: The Peruvian shield made by David’s students by painting wood chips.

Below: Fredy (5^th from the left), one of David’s students who moved to Arequipa (>12 horas away) returns to visit his classmates.

First Aid/CPR

I was asked to teach the teachers at the school first aid, but in the context of an earthquake drill.  “Hands on” the director told me.  These two photos are from the part where I explained step by step how to manage each basic problem.

Part two, the went outside to find David’s students painted with blood and strung out on the pavement of the courtyard.  The teachers had to organize themselves in how they would address the need and control the panic of the students.  If a serious earthquake did occur, our hospital would be super full.  The houses here aren’t built to resist earthquakes (even though we live in the Andes mountain range).

The teachers panicked.  “How did that go?” I asked. “A disorganized disaster,” they replied.  I gave them a second change to run through the exact same simulation.  “And now?” I asked at the end. “That’s the first time I’ve taken this course and learned anything!” some of them replied.

 

Frogs for Sale

Frogs have a medicinal value. Blend them up and drink them and it will cure you of almost everything!  Or at least that's the belief here.  David snuck a picture of the frogs being sold in the Sunday market.

A Friend’s Visit

I was blessed this last month by a visit from my dear college science buddy Trixie.  I think the recommendation is to sign up for a class where you’ll be the smartest so that you can win more scholarships.  I think no one ever told me that.  As much as possible I signed up for classes together with Trixie (the most OCD, diligent, studious person I’ve known).  And at the end of each year she won all the scholarships for the highest notes in each class.  (Maybe my professors felt bad for me, so them gave me the scholarships for the “good effort.”)

Her and her husband, Grant, came down to celebrate their wedding anniversary and visit an old friend! 😊

So blessed! There are some experiences that only a fellow science nerd can understand.  Thanks Trixie and Grant for your visit!

Medical Fun

So now that we have an orthopedic surgeon I’m learning (and seeing) so much more.  A wound care specialist was taking a tour of the hospital and asked me if there was need in Diospi for her specialty.  I said there were several cases a week, but that if she comes more cases will come than she will be able to attend.  The word gets out fast around here.  Since the orthopedic surgeon arrived the patients are coming out from the cracks!  I see chronic complications of mistreated fractures weekly, which I’d never seen before the orthopedic surgeon got here.  This finger below is a 14 year old boy who was sent to us by a mission clinic in Cusco.  The family is poor and that’s why he was sent to us.  He had a rope which was connected to a horse wrapped around his finger. The horse started up and took the skin right off his finger and broke the bone of his finger.

This 30-year-old female, Maria, presented with swelling of her leg since May. She says she fell of a horse and broke her femur. They operated her femur in another hospital and place a rod.  Then the leg swelled up.  Her doctors said it was normal and that it would get better with time.

But it didn’t get better. So, Maria’s family took her to Arequipa and they took the MRI. They said it looked like a cancer and that they needed to amputate the leg.  Maria was young and neither she nor her family wanted an amputation so they come to Diospi.

  Talking to the orthopedic surgeon on the phone he though it could be a hardware infection.  But looking and the blood work and talking to Maria it became more evident that it was most likely a sarcoma of some sort.  She had had a small tumor of the thigh before falling. Most likely the tumor made the bone weak and so it broke.  When the opened the leg to operate it the doctors most likely spread the cancer all over and that’s why it grew so fast. 

After explaining the situation to Maria, she decided to return to Arequipa where there’s a great cancer hospital for people with SIS (like Medicaid).  There she would receive treatment for free. The cancer hospital had access to pathology and chemotherapy and the best cancer specialists.  She agreed to receive an amputation if they recommended it again.

FAMILY

Before marrying David, Dr. Martina gave me advice about Peruvians. She said, their family is a big part of their identity.  How they relate with their family and their role in their family plays a big part in the self-worth.  I don’t know if David would ever be able to come up with that truth on his own, but I do think it’s true.  Maybe David was tired, maybe he felt trapped in Curahuasi by my call schedule, maybe he was missing his family…but consequently we traveled across the country and visited more of his family members than I even know of my own family. 

As a child, he spent some time in the village of his mom’s parents.  This village (and the surrounding villages) are mostly distant relatives of David.  This village, Jajachaca, has a soccer tournament each year during Peruvian Independence Day (celebrating the village’s anniversary). Teams are formed representing the different families.  David competed on a team with the grandchildren of the siblings of his grandmother.

Keep praying for us, our daily sacrifice of who we are to bring glory to God, and our future.  David’s visa is still in process. We’d like to come to the USA in January, but only the Lord knows his plans for our lives.  Thanks to each of you for your thoughts and prayers! My God bless you all as much as He richly blesses us!