Needs for our Cusco boys

I want to thank so many of you for your continued emails and messages asking how you can support the recovery efforts for our boys in Cusco. As I have mentioned before, we are very thankful for one large donation from an individual that is going to cover all of the reconstruction expenses. We hope to find a new piece of land near Urubamba to begin reconstruction as soon as possible.

Apart from the construction, though, there are many other needs that we have for these boys. Unfortunately, when our home collapsed, many things were destroyed or carried away by the flood. Sadly, there was also some looting that took place. We were able get a lot of furniture out of the house before it collapsed, but because most of our furniture is wood much of it was badly water damaged. We have now come up with a list of needs for our 42 abandoned boys in Cusco. In response to so many of you who have asked, here it is:

Our most immediate needs are the following:

• We have decided to move the boys back to Cusco's Sacred Valley as soon as possible (within the next week or two). In order to do so, we will be renting a building in Urubamba as a provisional place where they can live while their new home is being built. We do not yet know what the final monthly rent will be. It will most likely be somewhere between $350 and $530 per month. We anticipate needing the building for 12 months.
• We need approximately $250 to cover the cost of an emergency trip to Cusco that Hector, the house father, had to make.
• The boys come back from summer vacation and begin school in March. They all need shoes and uniforms before they return to their classes. The uniforms cost approximately $70 per boy (including shoes). In addition to that, we would ideally also be able to supply the kids with backpacks and basic school supplies (approximately $45 per boy).

Other needs include the following:

• In the kitchen/dining room virtually everything was lost. We need a new refrigerator and a new blender. We also need new plates, bowls, cups, mugs, forks, spoons, knives, and kitchen utensils.
• Basically all of our electronic equipment was also lost or stolen. We need a new TV, DVD player, computer, stereo, and large speakers.
• Tables, desks, and chairs for the dining room and study room.
• The boys left most of their belongings at the home, and virtually everything has been lost. They lost all of their clothing except the small amount that they traveled with (sizes 7 to 16). Many of the mattresses were destroyed. We need new bunk beds, sheets, blankets, and towels. We also need new dressers for the boys' clothes.
• We have also lost most of the boys' school supplies--backpacks, books, dictionaries, etc.
• Hector and Maritza, our house parents in Cusco, have also lost virtually everything. They lost the couches in their living room, their refrigerator, beds and mattresses, stove, wardrobe, hand tools, etc.

If you are interested in helping support our home in Cusco, then please send me an email (bgreenman@latinamericamission.org), or give be a phone call (248.677.5252). We anticipate other unforseen costs and needs as we work through this difficult situation, but we know that God will continue to provide for these children. I still find myself in awe to think about how he protected them from being at the home during the time of the flooding.

As always, even more important than any monetary donation are your prayers. Pray that the boys would see how God is always protecting them and watching over them. Pray that they would be able to make the adjustment from their old home, to their provisional accommodations, and then to their newly constructed home. Lastly, please pray for the house parents and all of the Scripture Union staff in Cusco. Pray that God would comfort them as they deal with the loss of their belongings, and pray that God would give them strength and wisdom as they provide moral support for the boys at the home.

Thank you all for all of your prayers and support!

Business Trip, Amazon Hope, and Update on Cusco

We have officially started work team season here at Scripture Union Peru. Last week I had the opportunity to host a small group of businessmen from Scotland who were potentially interested in supporting our ministry. It was a very different type of group than any that I have previously experienced. Rather than coming to do medical ministry or construction, this group came to simply become acquainted with all of our programs around the country. They had the opportunity to see three of Scripture Union's boys' homes in addition to our school for the deaf in Lima and our Amazon Hope medical ministry in the Amazon River near Iquitos. I really enjoyed the group, and I was very excited for the opportunity to go and see one of our medical boats in action for the first time.

Our medical ministry in Iquitos is centered around two medical ships that Scripture Union acquired through our relationship with the Vine Trust in Scotland. Our ships include full time Peruvian crews and doctors, but we also receive a number of medical teams each year from the United States and the United Kingdom. I have been coming to Peru with Scripture Union since 2001, but this week was my first opportunity to see the medical program first hand.

The day began at 6:45am as we boarded a small speed boat and prepared ourselves for a four hour ride down the Amazon River to catch up with the big boat. We met up with an American team who was on the boat attending to patients needs and sharing the message of Christ's love with them. Any of you who know me know that I am quite nervous around anything that has to do with blood or needles, but I kept my distance from the doctors while they were with the patients, and I really enjoyed the day. The small jungle towns that we reach have no other form of medical care available to them. We are able to do dentistry, ultrasounds, prescribe antibiotics and other important medications, and even preform minor eye surgery. Our medical program has changed many lives, and through the work that we do attending to peoples' physical needs, the door is also opened for us to minister to them spiritually!

We were welcomed at the village, and the local people painted our faces as they showed us their traditional dancing and artwork. Honestly, I kept thinking to myself that the entire day seemed like a program off of the Discovery Channel. After the dancing we had to get back onto the speed boat in order to make it back upriver to Iquitos before dark. It is rainy season right now, and that means there are a lot of logs and driftwood floating throughout the river. Definitely not a journey one wants to have to take after dark!It was a beautiful day, and a great week in general!

 Flying past Huascaran (Peru's tallest mountain)

 

 On the Amazon River

 

Little boy in a canoe

 The locals showing their traditional dances

 

Scripture Union's Amazon Hope 2

 

At the helm (I forgot I was wearing face paint still!)

Please Keep Praying for Cusco

I have really been encouraged by hearing how many of you are praying for our boys' home in Cusco. I continue to praise God that everybody is safe. For now, the kids from Cusco are still at our campsite on the beach, but we are in the process of identifying new land so that we can reconstruct our home. Thankfully, a very generous man has already volunteered to cover all of the construction costs, and we will be able to begin the project as soon as we acquire the right piece of land.

I know that a number of you have asked how you can donate to Scripture Union in support of the Cusco boys. While the construction is covered, we lost a number of clothes, materials, and equipment. Your donations are more than welcome. Anyone interested in making a donation can make a wire transfer to us using the following bank account information:

BANK: BANCO CONTINENTAL BBVA 

 ACCOUNT NUMBER: 0011-0154-01-00012667   

 SWIFT: BCONPEPL

PHONE: 511 4332671

After you make the wire transfer, you MUST send a confirmation email to me (bgreenman@latinamericamission.org) and to my boss (peruworkteams@gmail.com).

I have embedded a video below showing the destruction of our home. If you can't see it for some reason, then click here.

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!

A Visit from Aaron and Lauren

Only a few days ago two of my friends from IWU, Aaron and Lauren, were married. Living in Peru there are a number of things that I have had to give up, and one of those things is the opportunity to attend most of my friends weddings. I was really sorry that I couldn't make it, but there is good news. They have decided to travel around South America for their honeymoon, and Lima, Peru is their first stop. Over the past couple of days I have had the honor of showing them around some of the sites in Lima and taking them to Kawai--one of our boys' homes on the Pacifc Ocean.

I know that it sounds kind of funny that I have been hanging around with them during their honeymoon, but we have had a great time. They have been an encouragement to me in the middle of some busy moments. It is always a comfort to see some familiar faces from back home. Yesterday we had the chance to go and see some of Lima's most common tourist attractions (the main square; the main plaza; a Franciscan monastery and catacombs; and a park filled with large water fountains). Today we spent the entire day at Kawai. In addition to enjoying the beach and the pools on the property, I had the pleasure of introducing them to the boys in our Girasoles program. We had a great time spending time with the boys and the house parents. It was a neat experience because Aaron and Lauren will soon be starting a job as house parents for at risk children. They enjoyed listening to the wisdom of Scripture Union's house parents here.

I have had a great couple of days catching up and relaxing with old friends. I love showing people around Peru and sharing my ministry experience with anyone who wants to listen. I love to see friends. If you are reading, consider yourself invited anytime!

 

Aaron and Lauren Cloud

 

At the water park

 

Aaron and I

A Trip to the Ocean with Girasoels Ica!

Earlier this week I had the joy of going to the beach with all of the boys from the Casa Girasoles in Ica! I was incredibly surprised to learn that even though Ica is just a short drive from the beach, many of the boys had never actually gone to the beach. It was a beautiful day, the swimming was great, and we enjoyed spending the time together.

It was also a great way for me to say goodbye to the boys in Ica. My time working in Ica has officially come to an end. From the end of this month through the end of February I will have another month full of work teams who are coming to support us here at Scripture Union Peru. After two and a half months working with the boys in Ica, it was hard to say goodbye. It was such a privilege to work with these kids, get to know them, and share God's love. I was blessed by the kids, and I was happy to help at the home and share some of the kids' burdens as some of them began to open up to me. They remain in my prayers, and I look forward to a number of opportunities that I will have to visit them in the year to come.

Here are some pictures from the beach:

In the bus excited for the beach

Augusto and I on the way to the beach

At the beach with the boys