We had a really great turn out this time around… which was encouraging. I don’t know how many people came but the room we rented out for the occasion was pretty packed and we completely ran out of the snacks that we brought. During these times of “celebration” we generally have some times of prayer, worship in song, read scripture and maybe have someone share a short thought… the idea is to have a time in which we celebrate our shared faith in Jesus and enjoy the chance to realize that we are in fact a part of something that is bigger than us and to enjoy the community of worshipping together as a group.

Today we did all of that… but it was also a special day because two of our Peruvian friends decided that they wanted to be baptized. Do you remember Edgar? I wrote about Edgar a long time ago… a story about how I was just trying to go play soccer and he completely got in my way by asking me about my faith. Well, Edgar has just kept “getting in my way” in a good way, dropping by and wanting to study the Bible or just talk about life and faith whenever he gets the chance. We’ve become good friends over the last few months and even though I didn’t know Edgar before, I’ve seen that God has made big changes in his life. He works in a small bus, called a combi, as a “cobrador”, the guy who collects the fare from the passengers. While riding all across town he is constantly telling people about his newfound faith and what God has been doing in his life… a natural evangelist. Along with Edgar, his wife Graciela and her mom, Victoria have been learning about God’s love and we are excited to see how God is working in them as well. Anyways, today we got to celebrate with Edgar as he clothed himself with Christ through baptism, as the scripture says in Galations 3.

Of course, Edgar is one of many of our new friends here. Also, we have a friend, Luis, who has been studying mostly with Justin, who was baptized tonight. Luis is a young single man who works as a guard on the Thompsons street and has become a good friend to us all.

Ok, well, I just wanted to share a little bit about our Celebration Sunday today and some of the stuff that God is doing in the lives of our new friends. Please keep us in your prayers, and especially Edgar and Luis as they continue along the path that God has for them.

We focused our efforts in a community in a part of Lima called Villa Maria del Triunfo and more specifically in an area known as “Paraiso” or “Paradise.”  In this, our first medical campaign, we were really just shooting in the dark on a lot of things.  Sometimes inexperience can be a blessing as well as a curse.  We decided that we wanted to have a traditional medical campaign like most people imagine when they think about such a thing.  We talked with a local government run preschool and were able to use their facilities, which turned out to be ideal.  We had several rooms with doctors, dentists and nurses seeing patients.  Plus another room for vision checks and passing out eyeglasses.  All of this enclosed in a fence with a playground for the kids and space for the adults.  It was perfect and we invited the community to come receive free exams and, if we had what they needed, free medicine.  We saw hundreds of people over the three days we were there.

Also, though, we wanted to do something a little different.  Our ministry here has been one that is not a massive, shotgun approach.  We haven’t plastered signs on billboards and played ads on the tv or radio.  While those certainly have their place, our ministry has all along been intentionally very relational.  We have gotten to know our neighbors and the people that work in our communities.  We talk on the street corners and in our kids schools and play soccer on the local “canchas.”  We do a lot of talking over lunch and generally sharing life with our new friends in a one to one kind of way.  So, we decided we would try something similar with our medical campaign as well.

We formed two small teams with a medical doctor and a few helpers that traveled on foot through the surrounding neighborhoods.  We primarily worked by word of mouth and through many of our relationships in the community, going to visit people in their homes that we knew to be sick and need help.   One of the great things about this approach is that we were able to visit many that were unable to get out of their house and come to the clinic we had set up.  Equally as great though, was that we simply had the opportunity to sit down in these peoples very humble homes and talk with about their troubles, pray with them about their concerns and their health, sometimes drink some tea… we were able to go to them and meet them where they were.

I just put up a post on our team ministry website as well… www.twentyeight19.org.  Go check it out.

Also, John Mark made a fantastic video of our weekend.  Take a few minutes and get some better insight into the kind of neighborhood I’ve been talking about and see some of the faces… of our Peruvian neighbors and our American volunteers.

Medical Campaign 2010 – Paraiso from Twentyeight19 Ministries on Vimeo.

Maybe the most noteworthy news item of late is that we had our first of hopefully many medical campaigns this July.

This deserves and will get it’s own post in the next day or two. But the short version of the story is that we had a group of thirty some odd visitors from all over Texas and Tennessee… Among them we had five doctors and five nurses. Those health care professionals plus all the other amazing visitors we had really made our first stab at a medical campaign go about as smoothly as it could have possibly gone… way smoother than I ever expected.

The other big news of late is that we’ve had family visit! First, Stacy’s brother, aka Uncle Ben, is a doctor and came as part of the aforementioned medical campaign.

And then, this week we’ve had Stacy’s parents visiting. The boys have just been beside themselves with Gran and Grandad here in the flesh and not just a picture on the computer via Skype. Unfortunately, grandad had to leave already, but we’ve still got gran here until Wednesday night. Our days have been full of going to the parks around town, visiting the zoo, etc., etc.

Of course our car broke down the day before they got here. So, we rented a car for a couple of days while it was in the shop… we got the tiniest little Fiat you’ll ever see. It didn’t even have power steering; but it was the cheapest thing they had and it got the job done. I also promise more details from the Gran and Granddad visit coming soon.

Oh yeah, one more thing… We’re moving… Again. Of course. If you know us well enough to be reading this, then you probably didn’t just fall out of your chair in shock. But, this isn’t what we expected to be doing when we moved in to our current house almost a year ago. Anyways, this certainly deserves its own post too. So, more to come later in the week.

Yeah, yeah, I know you don’t believe me about all the updates I’ve been promising… But really it’s going to happen. Really.

UNTIL…he got to eat some cupcakes and open his presents!  Then he decided this whole party thing was worth it and perked up like normal.  Thanks to all of our friends here that made his jungle birthday special!  He loves every single one of his new toys (and so does Jake).

***Sorry for the lesser quality photos in this post.  Wes’ camera wasn’t working right and then mine wasn’t either until the last minute.  Thanks again, JM for taking pictures for us.  You did a great job with our little point and shoot camera that finally started to work.

The lion CupCake and monkey cupcakes, too.  (I did eventually find that food coloring since Jake’s party.)

Jake helped me with the monkeys.  He insisted that one of them have arms.

Wes made a monkey to play pin the tail on the monkey, but then we ran out of time and forgot to play.

Family from Texas at the party via skype.

After cupcakes and presents we all paraded over to the park to kick off our 4th of July celebration with our first annual Home Run Derby!  Pretty sure that was the first home run derby that park has seen.

We all had a blast and can’t wait to play again next year.  Although Wes wants to play everyday and I’m sure would take anybody up on it who’s willing.  After the derby Wes grilled burgers for us.  And thanks to our teammate Stephanie, we had 2 half gallon tubs of Blue Bell ice cream for us all (that she scored from the Embassy)!

How could it be a complete 4th of July celebration without fireworks??  We didn’t think it would be too hard to find them.  They were homemade and a little sketchy (as in when Wes went to buy them the guy said wait here, and came back with bundles in his and hand and starting wrapping them up in masking tape–NO JOKE).  So, Wes took them to the roof to set them off instead of our backyard where they might have taken out a kid or two.  All was well and they were LOUD.  Our neighbors thought so too, since they called the police and Wes had to have a little visit with them.  REALLY??!  This is Peru, remember??!  All in all it was totally worth it.  Even though one of the last ones went off in our neighbors yard.  It’s probably a good thing we are moving in a couple of months.  :)

Click here for more pics from the party.  And for pictures of the fireworks check out the Fletcher’s blog, because Stephanie got some good ones.

For some background, Gloria has lived here for about eight years, she just got electricity for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  Like her neighbors, she has no running water and no sewer system.

We’ve been working on her “house” a little at a time a coule of days a week for last couple of weeks.  Somehow or another, Gloria’s little house ended up about two feet onto her neighbor’s property and was causing a great deal of drama and stress.  Think along the lines of piles of rocks being dumped on your doorstep.  Anyways, we volunteered to chop off one end and add on to the other… improving and making it a little bigger in the process.

Our trusty wizard of videography, John Mark, made us a video of the beginning of this project…

Today we went out and started painting.  We’re almost done.

Gloria and her little boy now live in the little house on the hill… just a little to the left of where it used to be… it’s easy to spot… it’s the bright yellow one.

More photos here.

Calling ALL friends and family back in the USA! We are desperately in need of your help for a blanket drive! Peru is creeping into winter and it is getting chilly. Our friends in Villa Maria who live on the side of a mountain in homes that are not adequate to keep warm, are in great need of some blankets fast. Team Lima is launching it’s first annual Frazalatera (blanket drive) in order to help the families and especially those kids keep warm during the next few months.

The deadline to raise $1000 is June 15th! We know this is fast but these people are cold, enough said. You can send your tax-deductible checks made out to The Crossing Church (with “Frazaletera” or “Blanket Drive” in the memo line) at the following address:

The Crossing Church
Attn:  Missions / Frazalatera
10815 Bentsen Palm
San Antonio, TX 78254-5365

Also, check out the Frazalatera Facebook page.

It’s hard to express in writing or for that matter, on a blog how crucial this is but hopefully we will be able t0 show you in pictures after we deliver the blankets and you are able to see their faces. We will have a short video of Villa Maria going up in the next few days to help you picture the conditions in which these people live in but we wanted to go ahead and start our drive today to get your minds, hearts and hopefully your wallets spinning

Well… let’s see… right now I’m sitting in bed.  It’s 5pm and I’ve only been out of my bedroom once in the last, oh, 17 hours or so.  I’ve got some kind of stomach bug or something.  Not cool.  But, already feeling better… I just ate some toast!

Obviously, I’m not going to be able to get you all of the details of life since the last post.  So, lets go with some highlights.

Work here has continued to go well and life seems to fly by at an uncontrollable pace sometimes.  We have tons of new friends and relationships that we are continuing to develop.  It’s hard to complain when people say things to me like, “My friend is having a really hard time right now… I told him he needs to be praying and he needs God in his life.  I also told him you would be happy to read the Bible and pray with him. Was that an okay thing to say?”  We’ve been helping a friend rebuild her “house” in a poor neighborhood… which has been a sobering blessing.  In the process I was reunited with a long lost friend that I haven’t seen in months, Ephrain!  And we’re continuing to make lots of preparations for a medical campaign in July.  Our plates are full.

While most of our friends and family in the states are now enjoying warm sunny days of baseball and hamburger cookouts, we’ve begun the long overcast and dreary winter of Lima.  Most days now are 100% overcast with surprising bone chilling temperatures in the low 60′s.  It’s hard to understand until you’ve experienced it.  But, when it’s 60 degrees in your house with 100% humidity it can be a lot colder than it seems.

With the end of Peruvian summer also comes the beginning of the Peruvian school year.. and we are mired in the process of looking for a school for our boys.  Peruvian public schools are horrendous and not even an option.  That leaves home schooling or private schools.  We’ve never had the desire or motivation to home school our kids… so, we’re looking for a reasonably affordable private school.  There is a lot more to this that will get it’s own post soon… let’s just leave it to say that this is our biggest source of stress at the moment and could really use prayers.

Another thing, my camera broke.  Again.  So, after waiting a couple of weeks I took it to the shop here… after keeping it for two weeks they told me they couldn’t repair it without a new part that would cost $400!  Well, I said no thanks and brought it home, depressed.  Then, just looking to see if it would work at all… it does!  I don’t know what happened but they didn’t charge me anything but it seems to be fixed… woo hoo!  That being said… not many pics of late.

Oh, a HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! to Stacy.  Stacy celebrated her first birthday in Peru on April 23rd… wow… exactly a month ago.  Hmm… what else? Stacy’s been taking some new Spanish classes at a school here in Miraflores… that’s been good.

One more thing, we finally went to the zoo here in Lima.  We’ve always enjoyed going to the zoo as a family… not sure why it took us so long.  The zoo was small but pretty good for the most part.  The boys loved it!

Well, obviously, there’s so much more to share.  Just know that we’re alive and well… still kicking down here in the Southern Hemisphere.

For more… Click here for more of Derek being cute and here for more zoo fun.

Okay, so now about Easter, or Pascua, as they call it here.  We had seven of our new Peruvian friends come celebrate with us!  Including us and Mark, there were 10 adults and four kids there.  We were very excited that God brought them here even on such a short, one day notice.  Here’s a quick run-down of what our afternoon looked like.  I made two pans of my trusty Baked Spagehtii, because I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like it.  And even though they all said they liked it, I think it would have tasted better if I had actually gotten to bake it instead of cut it all into pieces and put it on plates in the microwave, because we ran out of gas for the oven!  Minor detail that the enemy would have loved to drag me down with, but I stayed calm and didn’t freak out.  :)

Anyway, so before the meal, Wes read a scripture passage about the Passover meal, and Mark prayed for us.  The conversation between all of us flowed really well and we all felt comfortable being there together, just enjoying each others company.  It was awesome.  After lunch Wes and Edgar hid the boiled eggs (that Wes and the boys dyed in food coloring that morning; yes we did finally find food coloring by the way) in our backyard.  They don’t have egg hunts here in Peru, so this was all new to them, and the kids were beside themselves excited about it.  So also, as you can tell in the pictures, we couldn’t just run to Wal-mart and pick up some Easter baskets, either.  We had to go with bags from our Wal-mart substitute, Wong, instead.  And made do with just putting some candy in the yard, since they don’t have those hollow plastic eggs here, either.  Regardless, the kids had a blast!  And we did, too, watching them!

After the egg hunt Wes took pictures of everyone.   Now you can have a face with the names.  Which is great, especially for those of you joining with us in prayer for them.  Also, a funny story.  The day after Easter we were talking with Edgar and he told us how his little girl, Danna (sounds like Donna), went home and told her grandma about the Easter egg hunt.  She said, “Grandmother!  We went to The Gringo’s house and hunted for eggs in their yard and got candy!”  We laughed pretty hard.  And Edgar said that Danna’s grandmother didn’t believe her!  Maybe it won’t be too long before we won’t just be The Gringos.  :)

Anyway, Edgar also told us that day that he and his wife, Graciela, were talking and wanted to ask us about some ideas they had.  He said they thought it would be great if we could get that same group together every Sunday and not just have a meal, but have a Bible study and sing some songs, too.  Then he asked us, “Do you think that’s a good idea or a bad one?”  Needless to say, Wes and I jumped on board with that and told him we had had almost the exact same conversation as well!  Our prayer all along has been that our relationships with the people we meet would serve as a foundation for introducing them to Christ.  In our minds we pictured that happening and then finding ourselves in a position with new friends who would want to start meeting together for Bible study.  God has answered our prayers!  The next Sunday not everyone was able to show up, but those that did, taught me how to make Lomo Saltaldo and Ceviche, two Peruvian dishes.  After the meal, Wes led everyone in a Bible study that went really well.  We have been so blessed by their interest in the Gospel, participation in discussions, and in taking ownership to our gathering together!

Sergio

Sergio is 17 years old, lives in a neighborhood close to ours, and he works on our street as a guard.  He is far away from his family, because they still live in the jungle, where he spent a good portion of his childhood.  He has been playing soccer with the guys on Monday nights and we get to talk with him often.  Sergio told Wes this week that he wants to be apart of what we are doing here.  It won’t be long before he finds out what that means, and Lord-willing, his life will change forever because of it!

Graciela, Edgar, and Danna

Wes met Edgar on his way to Monday night soccer.  You can read that story here.  Wes meets with Edgar to study the Bible every Tuesday.  We have been so encouraged by Edgar’s desire to know God more and to become more like Jesus.  You can pray that Edgar continues to grow closer to the Lord and that his wife, Graciella, will come to desire the same thing.  She and Edgar have been reading the Bible together and learning together.  We are excited about her desire to want to be apart of what we are doing, also.

Derek, Juan Carlos, Maritza, Jake

This is Jaun Carlos who is also a guard on our street, and his girlfriend, Maritza (sounds like Mar-eeska).  Wes has been studying the Bible with Jaun Carlos every week and has been getting to know his family and friends in his neighborhood district called, Villa Maria.  Both Jaun Carlos and Maritza have shown a great interest in studying with us and getting to know us better.  (And Maritza thinks Derek is the cutest thing she has ever seen!  I happen to agree with her.)

Sonya, Davidson, and Martin

Martin is a gardener and works for many people in our neighborhood (including us).  He is also the head guy over the guards on our street and does other side jobs like painting.  We found out early on that Martin is well respected in our community.  Wes describes him as a “person of peace.”  His wife, Sonya, is one of the hardest working women I know.  She has the heart of a servant and an awesome laugh!  Seriously, I love to hear her laugh!

You may have noticed Sara and her kids missing in all these pictures.  Well, she hasn’t been able to join us on a Sunday yet, but we are still keeping in touch with her.  We’ve had her over for a couple of meals during the week and are hopeful that our relationship with her will continue to grow.  Thanks so much for all of your prayers for us and our new Peruvian friends!

]]> http://theyoakums.net/blog/our-pascua-passover-in-spanish-celebration/feed/ 4 http://theyoakums.net/blog/humbled-by-hospitality-part-2/ http://theyoakums.net/blog/humbled-by-hospitality-part-2/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 06:51:27 +0000 Stacy http://theyoakums.net/blog/?p=686

Sara has three daughters and two sons; ages 15, 13, 10, 6, and 4.  At about 11:00 AM on Good Friday two of her daughters showed up at our house.  We all piled in our car and they directed us to their house.  Manchay is the kind of district that reminds Wes and I of a small country town.  It is quiet, pretty small, and just outside of the big city.  Only it is desert country, so don’t imagine grass and horses.  More like dirt and dogs.  It took us about 30-40 minutes to get there.  We passed through the main part of town and kept going.  Pretty soon the only kinds of houses we were seeing were shacks.  My stomach just kind of dropped as it occurred to me where exactly we were going.  We got off the main road and passed through a valley.  No more roads, just dirt paths.  And lots and lots of wooden shacks that look like the outhouses you see in Western movies.  The sun that day was strong and hot.  It was a beautiful day.  But there was little beauty outside our windows.

When we arrived at their house we were going to park outside, but then we saw Sara open her gate made of tin and motioned for us to pull inside.  We literally parked in their living room.  But it was a dirt floor, and there was no furniture, and most of the ceiling was missing.  We found out later that the wind blew it away.

There was a small area that was a concrete slab.  She had two small dining tables on that part and that’s where we ate our meal.  They had two bedrooms and one bathroom without a door.  One side of the house had a brick wall.  And they have a small area where they keep some ducks.  (Jake and Derek were looking forward to seeing the ducks.)

In the kitchen was a stove, a small counter space, and a small cabinet that held their dishes and other things. Later I noticed that the two barrels outside their house were full of water.  There is a water truck that comes by every day to fill them up with water.  They use that water for everything–drinking, cooking, cleaning, flushing the toliet, feeding the ducks, etc.  Though most of the floors are made of dirt, we could tell she takes care of their home, because it was clean and organized.

The sink.

Well, she prepared a FEAST for us.  It is tradition here that everyone eats fish during Holy Week.  When she was at our house she was asking me what we liked to eat.  She made ceviche for Wes.  And I told her I don’t like fish very much, but that I do like fried fish.  Of course, I was talking about the fried fish you get from Luby’s.  It never occured to me that her version of fried fish is to put the whole fish in oil and fry it in the pan–head, tail, eyeballs and all.  Sure enough, there it was.  An entire bowl of fried fish staring back at me.  All I could think was, “Oh, Lord, help me!  I have to eat this!”  Along with the fish she prepared corn on the cob, rice, green peas and potatoes.  And lucky for Wes he had a side of seaweed with his ceviche.  Everything was made on her gas stovetop.  We were absolutely blown away by her generosity!  We found out she left at 4 in the morning to take a 2 hour bus ride to the fish market to buy the fish that morning, and then another two hour ride back home.

Derek, Stacy, Sara.

Our boys had a great time playing with the kids and playing in the dirt, of course.  I think the highlight of Jake’s visit there was the fish on the table.  He was so curious and amazed at the fish and all its bones.  He wanted to know what was inside the heads, too.  We asked Sara, “Can you tell that he doesn’t eat fish often?”  She was hilarious, because Jake was sitting next to her, practically sitting in her lap trying to see the fish on her plate.  So she picked up her fish head and opened it’s mouth and made the fish talk to Jake saying, “Hola, Jakob.  Como estas?”  (Which means, “Hi, Jakob.  How are you?”) I wish we had a picture of Jake’s expression, because it was priceless.  He was elated and laughed so hard!

After lunch we sat around and talked.  I was amazed at how comfortable it was to be there.  She and her family were so welcoming and totally at ease with us being there, which made it easy for us to relax.  Wes brought a Bible for her to have and he briefly explained the outline of it and the order of how it’s written and how there are different versions.  He suggested that she start reading Mark and they planned on picking up there the next time they met together.  We also met one of her neighbors while we were there, who invited us over to see her brand new baby puppies.  We were there for at least four hours and the only reason we left was because Derek was exhausted as it was well past his nap time, and he’s been fighting a cold.  So after taking a bunch of pictures we headed back home.

I had the rest of the afternoon and evening at home to take it all in.  I thought about how Sara barely even knew us, but invited us into her home and gave us more than she could probably afford.  I thought about how I couldn’t think of the last time I showed such an act of kindness and sacrifice like that.  And I thought about all the people we’ve been meeting and wondered what kind of Easter weekend they were having.  God used Sara that day to humble me and teach me what kind of person He wants me to me for His people.  I told Wes that we should try and invite as many people as we could over for Easter lunch and have an egg hunt with the kids in our backyard.  I told him that at like, 10:00 at night on Friday.  So we had one whole day to invite people and prepare everything.  We didn’t know who or what to expect.

I love the way God works.  We’ll tell you about it in our next post!

(See all the pics here.)

Then I met Sara.  A couple of weeks ago Edgar showed up with Sara at our front door (here, though, it was actually at our front gate, not door).  Edgar knows Sara through their jobs working with the bus system.  This particular day Edgar noticed that Sara looked sad and he asked her what was wrong.  She basically said, “Well, I am a single mom of five kids, my husband left me a few years ago, I work all the time, and life is hard.”  Edgar looked at her and said, “You need God.”  And she laughed at him thinking he was joking!  But Edgar said, “No really, you do and I know a guy that can help you.”  Realizing that Edgar wasn’t kidding and recognizing that there had really been a change in Edgar’s life and he seemed much happier, she followed him and they walked to our house.

Doesn’t that just make you say, “Wow, God, You are so amazing!”

Wes met with Sara and Edgar for a little while and listened to part of her story, then they planned a Bible study for the following Sunday, when Sara would have a day off of work.  Well, Sunday came and we were not sure exactly what time Sara was planning on coming over or if she was still coming.  Wes left to go help Mark with a meeting of Peruvians at his house.  Not three minutes after Wes left, Sara showed up at our gate with five kids.  I was in a panic!  I knew that she lived pretty far from here and that it takes her almost an hour to get here on a bus, and I didn’t know how to communicate to her that Wes had just left.  I didn’t want to send them home, either.  I called Alison and asked her to translate for me.  Sara was really sweet and kept offering to help me clean up and it was clear that she didn’t want to be a bother to us.  (Since she showed up unexpectedly there happened to be plenty for her to help me clean up all over the floor.  Jake loves to use the scissors.  And tape.  Need I say more?)  She wouldn’t let me take the broom away from her, so after we cleaned up the floor we went and sat in the living room.  We watched the kids play and I talked to her as much as I could.  I was able to talk more than I thought I could, but we mostly just talked about family, food, and what the kids were doing.  Her kids were really well behaved and they were all so kind-hearted.  Which is not surprising, because I could already tell that their mother is such a great example for them.  Before she left she asked if we had plans for Semana Santa (Holy Week).  I said no and she asked if we could come to her house for lunch on Friday.  I said that sounded great!  Then she kept saying that her house is muy feo (very ugly) and not pretty like our house.  I guess she wanted to warn us of the differences.  I remember Wes saying he thought that she lived in a house that had no running water or electricity.  Well, we did just that.  We had a traditional Peruvian lunch of fish at her house on Good Friday.  But, that deserves it’s own post… more to come.