A Big Prayer Request and a Huge Praise

This past week has presented us at Scripture Union with some difficult problems, and I appreciate your prayers for wisdom in decisions that are going to have to be made in the coming months. You may or may not have heard anything about the flooding in the Sacred Valley in the past week. CNN has been following it because the record flooding has taken out a significant part of the train line to Machu Picchu leaving 2500 tourists stranded in Aguas Calientes. Below is a link to a news story covering the flooding followed by pictures of the flooding:

More than 23,000 left homeless by torrential rains in Cusco, Peru

Pictures of the flooding in Urubamba near our boys' home

Anyways, the floods have been incredibly violent, and they have completely washed our boys' home away. There is basically nothing left of the building. The good news is that for months and months Hector (the house father for Cusco) has been saving money from his budget because he really felt like God had placed on his heart to take all of the 42 boys plus more volunteers and staff workers on vacation to one of our other campsites just south of Lima on the Pacific Ocean. Most of the children had never before seen the ocean, and Hector really wanted to see it. The vacation was originally planned for the first two weeks of January, but at the last minute a situation came up that forced them to change it to the last two weeks of January. Praise God for his timing. I know  that it was Him that put this vacation on Hector's heart, and He is taking care of the boys. The water arrived at our boys' home in a flash flood in the middle of the night that almost immediately covered over the bottom level of all of the boys bunk beds. Eventually it rose to the top level of the bunk beds too. The building is made out of the traditional mud adobe bricks, and it has now been washed away. I can't imagine the tragedy that would have happened had the boys not been on vacation. Praise God for his protection over our kids!

A few days ago Billy Clark (my boss) had a meeting with the person who donated all of the money for the construction of the boys' home in Cusco. As you can imagine Billy was not looking forward to telling this man that his entire investment in this boys' home had just been washed away. How did the man react? His words to Billy were, "Well, it's just money. We will have to rebuild--this time with cement and bricks instead of adobes." He has agreed to donate the complete amount to rebuild the home. Praise God for his provision!

Please join me in praying for the situation at the boys' home. It is a difficult situation, but what an awesome testimony to these boys of how God's hand is protecting them! Pray for wisdom as we begin to plan for the work team season in Cusco. Pray for everyone who is involved in deciding how and where to reconstruct our home. Most importantly pray for the lives of these boys who are temporarily without a home (they are currently staying at our campsite on the ocean where they came for a vacation). Also join me in praising God for his faithfulness, his provision, and his protection!

Even the Tough Times are Worth It!

As I am sitting here ready to write a new post I have to be honest. This week has been one of my more difficult weeks since I have been in Peru. There have been a lot of late nights, and a lot of early mornings.

The week started as usual. I was with a Scottish group all day on Monday at the boys' home, and they were getting ready to fly back to Lima on Tuesday morning. I called the bus driver on Monday night to confirm the transport from the group's hotel to the airport, but he informed me that there was going to be a "strike" on Tuesday. A strike here in Peru is quite a bit different than what our idea of a strike is back home. Basically, when a group of people is in disagreement with any government decision or policy, they will go on strike; this means that they will march in protest, but it also means that they will often block the roads. The idea is that if the roads are blocked, then Peru's economy comes to a standstill, and hopefully the government will start to pay attention. Anyways, my bus driver informed me that the public transport staff was going to strike for a day because they are in disagreement with a new law that increases fines for traffic violations.

The group's original plan was to leave Tuesday morning around 8:30 to make their flight on time. My bus driver told me that we would probably beat the road blocks if we left earlier in the morning--around 5:00. With no other option, I had to ask the group to wake up extra early in an effort to beat the road blocks. Everything was set until about 4:30 then next morning. I received a call from the driver telling me that he couldn't make it to our hotel because people had already started striking and blocking the roads. At that point, there was no more that we could do. The group was going to have to miss their flight back to Lima. The Scripture Union office worked hard to rebook the flights for another day, but the earliest that the flights could be changed to was Thursday. The group was now going to have two extra days here in the Sacred Valley.

Really, from the perspective of the group, there wasn't much of a problem. They would have two more days here in Cusco, and a couple less days at their second stop--Kusi. For me, the delay brought a couple of complications. Originally I was going to have one group leaving Tuesday and a new group arriving on Wednesday. Because of the plane delay, the new group was going to overlap for one night with the other group. We did not have hotel spaces booked for that many people, so I had to rush around Urubamba looking for extra rooms. In the end, I was trying to juggle between two different groups who were staying in three different hotels.

Going to pick the new group up on Wednesday was also an adventure. Normally I take a public vehicle from Urubamba to Cusco when I go to the airport to pick up a group. Because of the strike that was going on, there were no public transport vehicles running. The trek was quite an adventure. I ended up riding in the trunk of a station wagon with two other men. It was a cramped, but uneventful ride thankfully.

On Thursday the group that got delayed finally left, and it was back to the normal routine--or so I thought! One of the ladies from the new group arrived quite sick. She hadn't eaten for a number of days, and she was incredibly weak. On Friday we decided that she was going to need to go back to Cusco to get checked out at a hospital. We left on Friday morning expecting to be at the hospital for 3-6 hours, but when all was said and done she was kept in the hospital for just over 24 hours, and she was diagnosed with Typhoid Fever--a bacterial disease caused by a certain strain of salmonella that is usually a result of drinking contaminated water. It was a nice hospital, and there was an extra bed in the hospital room, so I just stayed the night there, but I was woken up every 30 minutes or so when the nurses came in to check on the lady from the work team. Thankfully the hospital was very nice, and the lady is feeling much, much better now that she has medicine to treat the illness.

This week back in Michigan was our church's Kids' Kamp that the children's ministry puts on every year. I grew up going to this camp, and I loved it so much that when I was too old to be a camper I began working there as a volunteer. To this day, some of my best friends are the families that are involved in Kids Kamp. I found myself feeling a little bit homesick and missing friends and family back home. It was a long and exhausting week, and I think that all of the business wore my immune system pretty thin. I came down with a fever and nausea last night. I won't go into the details, but I was fairly unwell. It must have been just a 24 hour flu or something because thankfully I was feeling much better by this afternoon.

It has been a difficult week, and I appreciate all of your prayers. But as I was feeling down today, God reminded me exactly why it is that I am here in Peru. After taking the morning off to recuperate from my sickness, I made it back to the Girasoles home in the afternoon. Today we celebrated all of the boys who had birthdays during the months of June and July. There were games, songs, dancing, and lots of cake. They even made a pinata! I got the see the joy on the boys' faces as we celebrated their lives and as we reminded them that they are important and loved by God. I left the home today feeling tired but refreshed at the same time. When I signed up for this job, I knew that it wasn't always going to be easy, but I know that even in the midst of the more difficult times IT IS WORTH IT. God has me here for a reason, and he has a plan for the lives of the kids at each one of our Girasoles homes.

Just for Fun

Well, things are still going well here in Cusco and the Sacred Valley. For this post, I just wanted to share a small list of fun, random, happy, or just plain funny things that have happened over the last month. Here we go!

--To start off, I want to give you an idea of the scenery here in the Sacred Valley. I see views like this on a daily basis. What a great reminder of how powerful and mighty our God is!

The Sacred Valley

--Hector, the house father at Cusco, invited me to climb a small mountain that sits right next to the casa girasoles with him and some other guys. It is by no means an incredibly tall mountain, but it is not small either. Thankfully, Hector and the boys are good guides because there were some pretty steep passes. Everyone climbed up and down quite safely, except for the fact that it was almost impossible to avoid all of the spines and sharp leaves of the plants that grow there.

The Mountain Climbing Crew

--A few weeks ago, Kate Bruder and I traveled from Urubamba to Cusco (about and hour and a half drive) in a station wagon called a collectivo where you pay just for your seat, and the car leaves the station when it is full. Well, about half of the way through the trip we were coming close to a police checkpoint when the driver suddenly slammed on the breaks, parked behind the truck, got out of the car, and had another man who was riding in the trunk of the station wagon get behind the wheel. Our original driver proceeded to nonchalantly walk past the police checkpoint where we picked him up and continued onto Cusco...a little shady if you ask me!

--Kate and I happened to be in Cusco during the week of Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun. They celebrate during the week because it is their winter solstice (our summer solstice). Even though we weren't there for the biggest festivals, we still managed to accidentally run into about 10 different parades. I kind of lost count. They were all separate local parades with their own patron saints, dancers, bands, men in costumes. Gorilla costumes seemed to be a favorite.

Little Boy in Gorilla Costume for the Parade

Another Parade

--That same week, Kate and I ran across a fireworks show that was about to get underway here in Urubamba. I am not sure what it was celebrating, but it involved men wearing a cardboard form of a bull on their backs that were covered in different fuses for fireworks, and once they were lit, the men ran like mad people through the crowd shooting fireworks everywhere and at everyone. The evening culminated with a big tower of fireworks that was lit off--again with many of the sparklers and fire landing in the crowd. It was quite a site to see, and I have to say that half of the excitement of it all was the adrenaline high that you get, knowing that you might get hit by something! I dubbed it firework roulette. :-)

--I have enjoyed attending church in Urubamba with Hector and the boys during my time here. Last Sunday was particularly interesting because the elementary school children did a very hilarious skit about Abraham and Isaac. Some really good up and coming actors in that church.

--The same night as the funny skit in the church, there was a big parade/celebration in the main square of Urubamba.

--I am enjoying hosting quite a large number of Scottish groups this year. I have picked up a whole new vocabulary.

--I discovered that as a resident of Peru, I am entitled to take the local train to Machu Picchu. The cheapest tourist class train costs approximately $80 round trip. As a resident, I can do it for less than $7!

--Today I took advantage of the local train, and I accompanied the work team as far as Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu) for their work day. Because I didn't actually enter the ruins, I had some spare time on my hands while the group toured around. I decided to test myself and see if I could climb up the path from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu. By bus, the cost is $7 each way. Walking it is free! The only issue is that it is quite a hike. You begin at Aguas Calientes (6,700 feet), and then proceed to walk down the valley for about 20 minutes to an elevation of about 6,500 feet. After crossing a bridge that goes over the Urubamba River, all that's left is a long uphill hike...probably thousands of stone stairs, although it seemed like millions. Arriving at Machu Picchu at the end of the hike, your final elevation is about 7,900 feet. It is like walking down the stairs of a 13 story building, and then up the stairs of a 94 story building in the middle of the jungle! It definitely felt good to finish.

The Path Up to Machu Picchu

Looking Down from about Half-way Up

--The town of Aguas Calientes literally means "hot waters," due to the fact that there are natural hot springs that you can enter into. I had my first experience with them today, and it was a blast hanging out there with the group after a long hike. We will just ignore the fact that the water was quite yellow and so cloudy that you couldn't see the bottom.

--Tonight after boarding the work team onto their train, I had a few hours before my train left. I killed time walking around the town, and I ran into another parade that was followed by a huge dance/music/comedy/magician performance. Are you starting to notice the pattern with the parades and celebrations here in Peru?

--Lastly, as I was waiting to board the 9:20pm local train to go back to the hotel tonight, I was approached by one of the staff people at the train station. He asked me if I was traveling alone, and when I said yes, he asked me to follow him. He then proceeded to board me on the front seat of the 8:55pm Vistadome because they had a few empty seats (a tourist train that comes complete with panoramic views, music shows and dancing, and food service...not to mention more leg room and more comfortable seats). Usually this train costs people $70 - $80 one way. I paid just over $3!

Well, it is getting late, and that is all I can think of for now. Don't forget that you can subscribe to get my new blog posts sent directly to your email inbox by clicking here or typing your email address into the box near the top, right corner of this page. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

God is Faithful!

Well, I am still here working with the different groups and work teams that come to support the boys' home here in the Sacred Valley of Cusco. I am really enjoying my time with the teams as well as my time to get to know they kids, the workers, and the house family here in Cusco. I arrived last year for just over a week to translate with some of the work teams, but other than that short time, I am just now having the opportunity to deepen relationships and get to know everyone out here.

Last year when I arrived at the Girasoles home here in Cusco, there was a whole lot going on all at once. This is Scripture Union Peru's newest home for abandoned kids. It was opened near the end of March 2008. Hector and Maritza are the house parents for Girasoles Cusco, and at the time that the home opened in March, Maritza was 6 months pregnant. Just a few weeks after the opening of the home in Cusco, she had some major complications with her pregnancy, and she gave birth to baby Marcelo almost a full 3 months premature. Life all of the sudden became very difficult for Hector and his family. In the midst of trying to open a new boys' home, the family was now trying to take care of a new premature baby in a hospital about an hour and a half away from the home.

I know very little about medicine, but ask my sister Mandy. She knows her stuff, and I am sure the she can confirm these facts. Some of the very last organs to develop inside the mother's womb are the lungs, so when a baby is born premature, getting him enough oxygen is a very high priority. This issue was compounded by the fact that the city of Cusco is one of the highest altitude cities of its size in the world, and because the air is thinner, oxygen is even more scarce (elevation of nearly 12,000 feet). I am told that none of the doctors in the hospital expected the baby to live for any long period of time, but they did everything that they could and kept the baby in an enriched oxygen environment for a number of weeks.

Hector's worries did not end with the opening of the new boys' home and with the health of his newborn son. During childbirth, his wife Maritza slipped into a coma due to the problems that surrounded her pregnancy. At one point, the doctors did not know if she was going to live either. For more than a month, Hector and his 3 year old son, Adam, were continually driving back and forth between the boys' home in the Sacred Valley and the hospital in Cusco to visit Maritza and Marcelo.

As I have gotten to know Hector better during this year, I have learned even more about the struggles that the family faced during this time. It was a very dark and difficult period for the family, but Hector has told me how much this situation has taught him to fully rely on God. There was really nothing else that he could do but to trust that God knew what he was doing, and put Maritza and baby Marcelo into God's hands. Thankfully the story ends well. During the time of difficulty friends from all over Scripture Union showed their support. Other house parents and volunteers from some of our other boys' homes stepped up, traveled to Cusco, and helped out taking care of the boys and running the home. A work party that happened to be visiting the home bought the family a small, poratble oxygen tank that made transport to and from the hospital in Cusco much less risky for Marcelo.

THANKS TO GOD, after 15 days in a coma Maritza woke up and quickly came back to good health. Also, Marcelo pulled through after many long, trying nights at the hospital. When I left the home in August, there were 17 boys living at the home. Today that number has more than doubled, reaching the cap of 42 boys at the home here. What a testament to the great work that God has accomplished here in Peru. Hector and his family found themselves trying to begin a new ministry, and they were being attacked in full force by the flaming arrows of the evil one. God is stronger, and he will ALWAYS triumph! Hector remained faithful, and during the times of weakness the body of Christ was there to lift him up in prayer and in providing for his needs.

Healthy baby Marcelo (about 1 year and 3 months old)

God has a purpose, and even in the midst of great trials He is able to work everything for the good of those who love him. The story isn't always one that ends as happily as this one did, but we can rest in the fact that God IS faithful, and He has a purpose and a plan that is more far reaching than we could ever imagine!