to tell people about the clinic. It is so different. I expected it to be, but just didn't know how different it would be. The place where the church is is very poor. Its like the pictures you see on TV with people just sitting around, children playing barefoot in the mud. The houses have no windows, some don't have doors. There is trash everywhere. Prostitution for women and children is a big problem here. One of the translators said there are a lot of people with AIDS. There are lots of natural fruits and fish, so they seem to have plenty to eat. No starving children. We talked to a family yesterday that told us the hospitals are closed and they can't get medical help. Most people were very happy to see us.
Signs Posted on the Church
We are going to open the clinic from 2 to 6 today. I don't know how many people to expect, but I'm sure it will be a lot. They are going to start on the well Monday. They think they will be able to finish it in 1 day. There is no fresh water in that area. A truck comes by and people buy the water from them.
Our hotel is nice. It is not air conditioned, but our rooms are. We have a TV ( in Spanish), refrigerator, large shower. Nothing is new or fancy, but its very clean. I have stayed in much worse hotels in America. We walk about 10 or 11 blocks to eat. The grocery store is about 3. We ate ice cream last night at a shop, I had fresh coconut ice cream. It was so wonderful! I wish I could bring some back. I think it will definitely be a nightly ritual.
We walked around a little last night. The children follow you around trying to get you to buy something. They learn very early how to sell. Children I'm guessing to be as young as 7 or 8. We had several follow us for blocks. We had the opportunity to hold a snake. I'm not sure what it was, but there are pictures to prove it.
We will be leaving soon to go to the church. I will try to at least send a short message every day. The trip has been mostly smooth so far. Thanks for all the prayers. We know that's what's doing it. Please pray specifically for Kerry, she is having bad back pain and can barely sit up. Pray also for general health. Talk to y'all soon.
For His Purpose,
Heather
Monday June 23, 2008
Wow! Monday? Everyone is confused about what day it is. It feels much later in the week than Monday.
The Church
The guys (most of the guys ,including our very own Randy Moore) spent 
the day shopping for building supplies and adding a wooden walkway on the front of the church. They will begin the well tomorrow if they can buy the supplies. They are having the San Juan festival tomorrow and we are not sure the stores will be open. The guys also installed a new toilet in the outhouse today. That may sound fancy, but there is no door (only a semi clear, paper thin, shower curtain door) and no toilet seat. Yes, even the new toilet has no seat. The old toilet did not flush. You had to pour water in the bowl with a pail out of a barrel where they were growing mosquitoes (A.K.A. Malaria). So you can't sit down, but you can flush. They plan on building a door before the week is over.
The people are so nice and the children are so sweet. We had a 23 day old baby today. She was so previous. Her name was Viviana. She had a cough. Her mother is 14. That is not uncommon here. At any time during the day you can scan the room and see about 3 babies eating, and they are not discrete about it.
The main complaint so far is fever with runny nose and cough, headache, and parasites. One of the nurses today saw a child cough up worms. You have worms real bad if you cough them up.
Please continue to pray for Kerry. She still cannot come to the church with us due to back pain. We are so thankful for your prayers and support. So many awesome things have happened and we still have so much time left.
Talk to you soon!
For His Purpose,
Heather
Tuesday June 24, 2008
Today was awesome! Every day seems better. We left the hotel at 8 and started working about 9:30. They got the sidewalk finished and got a roof over an area beside the church for the kids to play in. They were unable to purchase the supplies they needed to start the well today due to the San Juan festival. Most stores were closed. So the plan is to try again tomorrow.
We saw 208 people in the clinic today. There were 29 salvations after lunch! Don't know how many this morning.
the day shopping for building supplies and adding a wooden walkway on the front of the church. They will begin the well tomorrow if they can buy the supplies. They are having the San Juan festival tomorrow and we are not sure the stores will be open. The guys also installed a new toilet in the outhouse today. That may sound fancy, but there is no door (only a semi clear, paper thin, shower curtain door) and no toilet seat. Yes, even the new toilet has no seat. The old toilet did not flush. You had to pour water in the bowl with a pail out of a barrel where they were growing mosquitoes (A.K.A. Malaria). So you can't sit down, but you can flush. They plan on building a door before the week is over.
The people are so nice and the children are so sweet. We had a 23 day old baby today. She was so previous. Her name was Viviana. She had a cough. Her mother is 14. That is not uncommon here. At any time during the day you can scan the room and see about 3 babies eating, and they are not discrete about it.
The main complaint so far is fever with runny nose and cough, headache, and parasites. One of the nurses today saw a child cough up worms. You have worms real bad if you cough them up.
Please continue to pray for Kerry. She still cannot come to the church with us due to back pain. We are so thankful for your prayers and support. So many awesome things have happened and we still have so much time left.
Talk to you soon!
For His Purpose,
Heather
Tuesday June 24, 2008
Today was awesome! Every day seems better. We left the hotel at 8 and started working about 9:30. They got the sidewalk finished and got a roof over an area beside the church for the kids to play in. They were unable to purchase the supplies they needed to start the well today due to the San Juan festival. Most stores were closed. So the plan is to try again tomorrow.
We saw 208 people in the clinic today. There were 29 salvations after lunch! Don't know how many this morning.
I was just thinking you might like to know how things work. Well, we are teamed with a group called Operation Mobilization (OM). They are a missionary 
organization with full and part time missionaries. We have about 12 OMs with us. When we arrive in the mornings the OM seat the people and tell the gospel. The people have to attend the service to see the doctor. After the service they go to triage where they get a general idea of what is wrong with the patient. Temp, bp, record the complaints. Then they line up on a bench and wait to see the doctor. After they see the doctor, they take their prescriptions to the pharmacy. The pharmacy fills the scripts, then comes my job. Prescription label (I've been called the label Nazi). I translate the directions into Spanish. Then they get put in line to be double checked and given to the patients. And that's about it.
Tomorrow we are taking off half a day to go to the market and do some shopping. A much needed break for some in the group. Thanks again for all the support. Talk to you soon!
For His Purpose,
Heather
Wednesday June 25, 2008
Hola Peru prayer team!
What an awesome day! It started the same as any other day. We got on the bus, went to the church and had the medical clinic. But today we left at 1 to eat lunch and go to the market. Even though we left early we saw 137 patients and there were 52 salvations! Awesome!
You have to remember, most of the families we see have 2 to 5 children. So the adults are outnumbered. Now think about how many salvations there were.
The guys got the door for the toilet finished today. They also finished the patio and walkway. They got the supplies for the well, so digging commences tomorrow.
We went to the market in Belen to do some shopping. Belen is the poorest place in Iquitos, I believe in all of Peru. The houses are built on stilts. The river floods and the people get around in boats. It was very eye opening. The area were the church is is very poor, but Belen is worse. They don't have anything. Trash is in piles floating in the river. It is very sad.
There were lots of strange things in the market. They were grilling some kind of worms. Like giant grubs. There were plucked chickens laying on tables with flys on them. There were dogs eating things I can't even imagine. They were playing Kung Foo Panda on a TV (its in theaters now in America). They make these colorful juice drinks and serve them in plastic baggies with straws. There are table after table of salted fish. It smelled fairly bad there.
I'm already getting sad that there are only 2 days of clinic left. I wish we could stay longer and help more people. I know the lasting effects of what we are doing will be here long after we leave, but it would be nice to see them first hand.
Talk to you soon!
For His Purpose,
Heather
Thursday June 26, 2008
Hello Mission Prayer Team!
Let me start by refreshing your memory. We have been seeing approximately 200 patients every 7 hour day. Around 28 patients per hour between 3 doctors. Today when we arrived at the church people were lined up to about 3 houses past the church.
Now, there have been people waiting every day, but this was by far the most. So we go in and get set up and Dr Moore comes to the pharmacy and tells us there are 300 people waiting outside. So he asks "do you think we can see 200 patients before lunch?". Now remember, we have been seeing 200 patients in a full day. But, we decided we could do it. We finished our 200 patients by 1:00! How amazing is our God! Same amount of people working, but twice the turnout. We finished the day with 391 patients seen and 81 salvations! That's around 56 patients an hour.
The bad news today is the well drilling is not working out. The drill itself is working fine, the problem is clay. If you think the clay in north Texas is bad be glad you don't have this. Its like modeling putty. It sticks to everything. They got about 12 feet down and hit clay. It kept gumming up the drill bit. Our resident mud expert says this is impassable by our small drill. We need professional help. So , they have given up. There are still some options there though.
What an awesome day!
For His Purpose,
Heather
Friday June 27, 2008
Today was a short day. We were running out of most meds, so we shut it down. After we packed up we spent some time with the people of the church before we left. It was so bittersweet! I was missing home, but didn't want to leave.
One of our team members brought his personal guitar to give to the pastor there. He had the guitar for 25 years! It was very personal to him. I think everyone cried.
It has been an emotionally and physically exhausting week. I will see you all soon!
For His Purpose,
Heather
Saturday June 28, 2008
Our last day in Peru. We spent the morning packing, then we loaded up on the bus for our last adventure. We went for a boat ride on the Amazon River!
First we rode the boat to a zoo way down the river. Not like a zoo 
in the states! We got off the boat and were bombarded by monkeys! I kept my distance. They climbed around on people and picked in their hair. From there we walked a little way to a "cage" on stilts where they kept a large 
snake. From there we went to a similar abode with another large but poisones snake. After that we went to see a creature that resembled a giant rat. I don't remember what it was called, but I would not want to meet it out of it's cage. We saw turtles, crocodiles, turkeys, chickens and exotic birds, even a dog.
After this we re boarded the boat to go back the other direction on the river to Belen. Wow. I could not imagine living like this. Imagine building a floating home made of whatever you can find laying around. Doing your laundry in a dirty river. It was eye opening.
After this we turned back around to go back to the bus. This was about 1 1/2 hours into the boat ride. I had a "headache hangover" from the night before and was fairly uncomfortable by this point. We did manage to make it back to the bus about 30 minutes later. It was a great experience.
We went straight to the airport from there to begin our journey home. Lima, Miami then Dallas. I am as sad to be leaving as I am happy to be going home. I will never forget my time here and will be forever changed. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be a part of your work!
For His Purpose,
Heather
It has been an emotionally and physically exhausting week. I will see you all soon!
For His Purpose,
Heather
Saturday June 28, 2008
Our last day in Peru. We spent the morning packing, then we loaded up on the bus for our last adventure. We went for a boat ride on the Amazon River!
First we rode the boat to a zoo way down the river. Not like a zoo 
in the states! We got off the boat and were bombarded by monkeys! I kept my distance. They climbed around on people and picked in their hair. From there we walked a little way to a "cage" on stilts where they kept a large 
snake. From there we went to a similar abode with another large but poisones snake. After that we went to see a creature that resembled a giant rat. I don't remember what it was called, but I would not want to meet it out of it's cage. We saw turtles, crocodiles, turkeys, chickens and exotic birds, even a dog.
After this we re boarded the boat to go back the other direction on the river to Belen. Wow. I could not imagine living like this. Imagine building a floating home made of whatever you can find laying around. Doing your laundry in a dirty river. It was eye opening.
After this we turned back around to go back to the bus. This was about 1 1/2 hours into the boat ride. I had a "headache hangover" from the night before and was fairly uncomfortable by this point. We did manage to make it back to the bus about 30 minutes later. It was a great experience.
We went straight to the airport from there to begin our journey home. Lima, Miami then Dallas. I am as sad to be leaving as I am happy to be going home. I will never forget my time here and will be forever changed. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be a part of your work!
For His Purpose,
HeatherWhen we returned from Peru we were asked to share our experience with the church. This is the challenge I gave the church before this video was played.
The first time I remember hearing this song was on a plane from Lima, Peru to Miami, FL. I'm certain I had heard it before, but it hadn't had meaning until then. We often have ideas about what we would like to do for the Lord. Places we would like to serve Him, places we wouldn't want to serve Him, but the Bible says in Proverbs 19:21 "You can make plans, but the Lords purpose will prevail." Are we spinning our wheels making our own plans, or are we seeking what the Lord is already doing?
I want to share with you some of the lyrics of this song, so you will know why I chose it.
- Somewhere between the hot and the cold.
- Somewhere between the new and the old.
- Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be.
- Somewhere between my heart and my hands.
- Somewhere between my faith and my plans.
- Somewhere between the alter and the door.
- Somewhere in the middle you'll find me.
We truly are stuck in the middle. We are not where we began, but we are also not at the end. The song goes on to say "With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is, but will we trade our dreams for his." Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans good and not for disaster. To give you a future and a hope.". What are we missing by following our own plans and dreams? Are we willing to trade our dreams for His?
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