Happy Sabbath (well almost)
I'm leaving on my great Christmas adventure tomorrow night. Going to be exploring the southern part of Peru for about two weeks. We are hoping to see Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, and Arequipa and of course everything else in between. It's gonna be a different Christmas away from family and all, but it will definitely be adventuresome and memorable!! Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!!
By the way, I'm feeling tons better. Turns out I had worms in my tummy. So I took some albendazol and am feeling amazing! Didn't even see any worms come out. Actually, kind of disappointed. I was kind of hoping for a worm or too. more exciting that way. Well, Kaitlin got one, practically coming out her nose. gross!! Well, that's all for now. Thank you so much for all the prayers and support. God bless and have a merry merry Christmas!!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Clinic, sick times and rabblings
Well, it’s Sabbath as I write this blog and I’m hanging out in my hammock typing away. I really love my hammock, quite comfortable in fact. I’m gonna have to figure out some way to hang one up back home in States, though not really sure how it’s gonna work. This whole day has been spent chilling in my hammock, sleeping, reading, and now typing. Well, that’s not normally how I spend Sabbaths around here by any means, but the thing is I’m sick, vomiting and diarrhea to be exact. God has been good to me and kept me from getting sick until now, which is amazing considering Tara, Kristin, and Emily have been sick off and on the whole time down here so far. So I feel really blessed about that. But being sick is no fun! Not having energy to really do anything and no appetite to eat is kinda annoying. But I am soo incredibly thankful because we just finished clinic yesterday and I didn’t get sick till this morning. God kept my sickness away until the perfect time, a Sabbath. I have been able to spend this special day reading and talking to God, actually relaxing and resting, for which I am so very thankful for, despite the frequent trips to the bathroom!:-) I just finished some broth and crackers, so I’m hoping I’m getting over my nausea at least! Most days are so crazy busy around here, even Sabbaths, visiting different churches and helping out with church activities that I really appreciate the quite Sabbaths every once in a while to spend some one-on-one time with God.
Yet another clinic week has come and past. Wow! time flies. This clinic took place in a small town just outside of Pucallpa, Luz Divina. What a fun time we all had! Another crazy clinic. We left early Sunday morning around 6:30am and drove to the site with our over-stuffed truck, at one point carrying 13 people, meds, and our stuff for the week. Don’t worry, we drove slow!;-) A torrential downpour didn’t detour about 150 patients from coming to the clinic for medical and dental care on Sunday. Sunday is usually a slower day as we must set up for clinic and figure out logistics. The beginning of the week was steadily busy and continued to pick up as the week went on for Brent, Manuel, and I in dental. By the end of the week, Brent and I (Manuel had left for km38 already to watch over the place) pulled about 64 teeth on Friday, which is quite a number of teeth I must say. Needless to say we were all quite tired, but thankful for a good clinic week, by Friday evening. With each clinic, I’m gaining more confidence, efficiency, and experience in my skills with pulling teeth, it’s exciting. The mornings were usually quite crazy in dental, with patients been seen all morning, but by afternoon I was actually kind of bored because everyone decided to come in the morning! This gave me some good time to take pictures and video, though which was quite nice. One of the highlights of clinic without a doubt though was the arrival of two dental chairs on Friday!! Wow! The coolest thing ever! Brent and I had been working all week and previous clinics with patients sitting in small wooden chairs, like you would use in elementary school. Needless to say, not the most comfortable things to sit in for the patient, making the “visit to the dentist” that much more nerve wracking! And bending over at weird angles to see inside people’s teeth, after a while takes a toll on your back, so without a doubt, when we saw those new, cushioned, adjustable, real dental chairs arrive Friday morning, Brent and I (not to mention our backs as well) were quite excited!! They are amazing! I didn’t get half as many patient complaints of pain after these chairs arrived! So, I am forever thankful for these new chairs! Thanks Dr. Filman, you’re awesome!!
Well, another highlight of the week, which I think is one of the most amazing things God has given us, the miracle of life. Not only one, but two births occurred during our week-long clinic. I was privileged to be able to witness one of them on Wednesday evening. The other happened Friday afternoon as we were finishing up clinic. This was my first time to see a birth in person, much less inside a home, so needless to say, it was quite exciting for me! Jenni, Doctor, and all us girls were able to help out and witness the birth of an adorable baby girl. Seeing this lady give birth was just so cool. To just think that this baby started from a microscopic sperm and egg and to develop into a fat, healthy, crying baby, is just so amazing to me! The baby girl was named Jenni, fitting because it just so happened to be our Jenni’s birthday on Wednesday as well. How precious! Well, Jenni got quite a surprise on Friday afternoon when the second baby landed in her lap, literally. We had gotten word that a lady was about ready to give birth, so Jenni, Kristin, and Emily went to check on the lady and see how far along she was. When the girls arrived, the pregnant mother (she already had four kids) was still walking around, so it at least appeared to be still a ways off. Not so. The girls were there for maybe 5 minutes when the lady was like, “it’s coming.” Suddenly, the head crowned and Jenni ducked down just in time to catch the baby as it came out. Quite the surprise! Well, Kristin and Emily come running back to the clinic to grab everything needed for the mother and already-born baby. I stayed back this time because there were quite a number of dental patients waiting to be seen still. But I hear the baby girl, also named Jenni, was quite adorable and precious!
Time is going by so fast and we are all trying to convince ourselves that Christmas is actually coming quite soon, despite the 80-90 degree weather strongly discouraging us from that fact. Only a couple weeks more and off we will be on a new adventure exploring southern Peru. Kristin is flying home for the holidays, but the rest of us are all eventually making our way south to visit Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Arequipa, Cuzco, and Bolivia in order to renew our visas. So, Christmas will be different this year, though I actually might have a white Christmas for once because we’ll be spending much of our time in the higher parts of Peru. Work is piling up as we near the end of the year with deadlines for projects and so the next couple weeks (as the last few weeks have been crazy as well, hence no blog updates for like a month) will be crazy. God is blessing incredibly in this project, and I have been blessed so incredibly much. I am having such an amazing time here in Peru and I wouldn’t trade this time for anything! Satan is trying his hardest to discourage and distract the team and project, but with prayers and support, each difficulty and obstacle can be overcomed and used to increase faith in our Awesome Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for the packages, words of encouragement, and prayers, I really appreciate it soo very much. Please continue to keep each of us and AMOR Projects in your prayers!! God bless
Thanksgiving Day
yummy pumpkin pie
Kristin is REALLY excited about the big dinner!
All us ladies excited about all the delicious food we made!! This year I had the privilege of experiencing Thanksgiving with my friends-turned-family and despite being in a country where veggie-turkey slices, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pumpkin pie are not easy to find (impossible actually), the holiday was quite delicious, memorable and fun! Kaitlin’s family and Tara’s dad and step-mom were visiting for the week and so we were able to have quite a large get-together, minus the real turkey of course:-). My mom sent down pumpkin pie fixings and other delicious thanksgiving additions, and so I was able to make pumpkin pie, which turned out quite delicious I must say. All of us ladies spent the morning and afternoon cooking lots of food. When we were actually able to sit down and eat, it was all quite delicious. Even our Peruvian friends living with us were able to enjoy our special day of thanks with us!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
riding a pekepeke...
Future home of the Masisea SDA Church
Kaitlin really likes to color!!:-)
Kaitlin coloring with kids at Masisea for SS
pretty much the cutest couple ever
Check out them roots
Fun Sabbath afternoon ride...
The back view of our house..isn't it cute??
The boys like to cook breakfast:-)
The guys harvested over 250 pineapples from our field. yummy
A beautiful rainbow after a downpour
Donate to Emancipate
A.M.O.R. Projects’ “Donate to Emancipate” Fundraising Campaign
The Current Situation
Could somebody please free us? We are stuck in a hostel room, which we have affectionately named, “The Cage.” Spending almost all sleeping and waking hours in the same 8’x12’ room, you can see the appropriateness of the name. The problem is we can’t leave, at least not now because we have responsibilities and tasks to complete, but it sure would be nice. You see, we are trapped by the necessity of electricity, but unable to leave because we lack electricity back home at km. 38 where the rest of our family lives. Emancipate us!
Machete. Machete grass. Machete vines. I wish I had my lawn mower from home because I am feeling like one. Machete some more. I wish we had a tractor. Ouch! Got stung by a wasp. Again. Now out to the chacra to machete trees. Of course, once we cut them down we have to haul them…on our backs. We don’t have a chain. Could they be any heavier? Oh yeah, we could use a cart, which we pull by hand. I wish we had a tractor. Machete some more. If we had a tractor, we could bushog the back acres, mow the lawn, haul logs for the carpentry shop, and pull the chicken poop in a cart, all in a day’s work, not a month’s. Emancipate me!
Emancipate. What does it really mean? Freedom. Independence. Liberty from something or someone. Absence of obligation. Over the centuries, the word has been used by various religious, political, or minority groups to represent their desire for freedom from a particular cause. What if ‘emancipate’ was used to describe those who are poverty stricken, those with physical illness, or those who are struggling spiritually, but want to change and break free from the bondage of life they are currently under?
The Plan
A.M.O.R. Projects has a plan to emancipate the people in the Amazon Basin of Peru. Poverty, lack of education, health problems, and unemployment plague the jungle villagers. A.M.O.R. Projects’ purpose is to found a surgical-medical clinic and trade school to serve the villagers’ need for health care, health education and trade development. Through the clinic, health issues can be addressed and treated. With the trade school, useful skills such as carpentry, mechanics, bakery, dairy, and fish farming can be taught. The people can then use their newly learned skills to make a living, thus reducing poverty and unemployment.
In order to continue moving towards building the clinic and trade school, we have two big needs: electricity and a tractor. Electricity is vital for the development of industries, on-site administration work, use of quality power tools, project site security, and much more. Right now our volunteer team enjoys a simple lifestyle of candlelit evenings, but electricity is very important for project advancement. Below is a breakdown of the costs for electricity:
$10,450-poles, hardward, equipment, and wires
$9,000-transformer & meter
$1,700- equipment installation
$3, 850- wiring buildings/other expenses
$25,000USD
This is a lot of money to raise, but God is good and anything can happen with His leading. We are setting a goal to raise this money for electricity by Christmas Day! With God’s help and yours, we can reach this goal!!
A tractor is essential for the development and maintance of our 249 acres of land. Hauling logs, cultivating, upkeep of dirt roads/driveways, and pulling out stumps are just some of the many jobs around the property that would be made a lot easier if there was a tractor. Below is a breakdown of the costs for a tractor:
$28,500-John Deere 5403 tractor
$5,000-attachments (bushog, boxblade, cart, etc.)
$1,500-transport from Lima to Pucallpa
$35,000USD
A huge project, yes, but definitely possible. Goal is to raise the money by New Year’s Day 2008!
You can help
Each and every donation, small or large is very much appreciated. To help with electricity or tractor, there are two ways to donate (all donations are tax-deductible):
1. Send donation by mail (please make checks payable to A.M.O.R. Projects and mark electricity or tractor) to the following address:
A.M.O.R. Projects
P.O. Box 212
Loma Linda, CA 92354
2. Online donations possible mid-November at: touchofloveperu.org
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please share this with a friend, family member, or someone else who has the same vision of helping others. We are so excited to see how God will lead in this fundraising campaign. Please continue to pray for God’s guidance as we work towards emancipating the people of Peru!
In His Service,
The A.M.O.R. Projects Team
(Dr. Richard Mathews, Jenni Goodwin, Laura Clark, Kaitlin Elloway, Kristin Goodin, Emily Moore, Brent Sherwin, David Skau, and Tara Weeks)
The Current Situation
Could somebody please free us? We are stuck in a hostel room, which we have affectionately named, “The Cage.” Spending almost all sleeping and waking hours in the same 8’x12’ room, you can see the appropriateness of the name. The problem is we can’t leave, at least not now because we have responsibilities and tasks to complete, but it sure would be nice. You see, we are trapped by the necessity of electricity, but unable to leave because we lack electricity back home at km. 38 where the rest of our family lives. Emancipate us!
Machete. Machete grass. Machete vines. I wish I had my lawn mower from home because I am feeling like one. Machete some more. I wish we had a tractor. Ouch! Got stung by a wasp. Again. Now out to the chacra to machete trees. Of course, once we cut them down we have to haul them…on our backs. We don’t have a chain. Could they be any heavier? Oh yeah, we could use a cart, which we pull by hand. I wish we had a tractor. Machete some more. If we had a tractor, we could bushog the back acres, mow the lawn, haul logs for the carpentry shop, and pull the chicken poop in a cart, all in a day’s work, not a month’s. Emancipate me!
Emancipate. What does it really mean? Freedom. Independence. Liberty from something or someone. Absence of obligation. Over the centuries, the word has been used by various religious, political, or minority groups to represent their desire for freedom from a particular cause. What if ‘emancipate’ was used to describe those who are poverty stricken, those with physical illness, or those who are struggling spiritually, but want to change and break free from the bondage of life they are currently under?
The Plan
A.M.O.R. Projects has a plan to emancipate the people in the Amazon Basin of Peru. Poverty, lack of education, health problems, and unemployment plague the jungle villagers. A.M.O.R. Projects’ purpose is to found a surgical-medical clinic and trade school to serve the villagers’ need for health care, health education and trade development. Through the clinic, health issues can be addressed and treated. With the trade school, useful skills such as carpentry, mechanics, bakery, dairy, and fish farming can be taught. The people can then use their newly learned skills to make a living, thus reducing poverty and unemployment.
In order to continue moving towards building the clinic and trade school, we have two big needs: electricity and a tractor. Electricity is vital for the development of industries, on-site administration work, use of quality power tools, project site security, and much more. Right now our volunteer team enjoys a simple lifestyle of candlelit evenings, but electricity is very important for project advancement. Below is a breakdown of the costs for electricity:
$10,450-poles, hardward, equipment, and wires
$9,000-transformer & meter
$1,700- equipment installation
$3, 850- wiring buildings/other expenses
$25,000USD
This is a lot of money to raise, but God is good and anything can happen with His leading. We are setting a goal to raise this money for electricity by Christmas Day! With God’s help and yours, we can reach this goal!!
A tractor is essential for the development and maintance of our 249 acres of land. Hauling logs, cultivating, upkeep of dirt roads/driveways, and pulling out stumps are just some of the many jobs around the property that would be made a lot easier if there was a tractor. Below is a breakdown of the costs for a tractor:
$28,500-John Deere 5403 tractor
$5,000-attachments (bushog, boxblade, cart, etc.)
$1,500-transport from Lima to Pucallpa
$35,000USD
A huge project, yes, but definitely possible. Goal is to raise the money by New Year’s Day 2008!
You can help
Each and every donation, small or large is very much appreciated. To help with electricity or tractor, there are two ways to donate (all donations are tax-deductible):
1. Send donation by mail (please make checks payable to A.M.O.R. Projects and mark electricity or tractor) to the following address:
A.M.O.R. Projects
P.O. Box 212
Loma Linda, CA 92354
2. Online donations possible mid-November at: touchofloveperu.org
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please share this with a friend, family member, or someone else who has the same vision of helping others. We are so excited to see how God will lead in this fundraising campaign. Please continue to pray for God’s guidance as we work towards emancipating the people of Peru!
In His Service,
The A.M.O.R. Projects Team
(Dr. Richard Mathews, Jenni Goodwin, Laura Clark, Kaitlin Elloway, Kristin Goodin, Emily Moore, Brent Sherwin, David Skau, and Tara Weeks)
Monday, October 29, 2007
a little trip to the post office
I just got back from the weekly trip to the post office. Visits to the post office are always exciting for each of us, wondering who got something (and in Tara's case, how many boxes did she get this time:-)??)? Thanks everyone for the steady stream of letters and packages. There always seems to be something in the box for me whenever I visit the post office, which just makes my day!! Thank you soo much:-)
The deal with packages is that when one arrives at the post office, the workers somehow decide whether it should be sent to customs or not. I really don't understand how they make that decision, but I'm pretty sure it's random. I have gotten all of my packages, except for one, stuck in customs. The thing with customs is that if your package is stuck in customs, you can only pick it up on Mondays and Thursdays between 10am-12p. Not too much time to pick from and much of the time, the lines for the customs official are quite long, so being there at or before 10am is optimal. The fait of your package and it’s contents lies in the hands of the customs official. There is one guy who works there that is really nice. He barely opens the box, takes a couple things out, looks at them with a quizzical look on his face as to what most of the stuff in the box is, then puts them back. I find it quite amusing to watch the different expressions on various customs officials’ faces as each item is examined. Then there is the other customs official. He is a lot more picky, wanting my original passport to look at, examining each of my documents with a careful eye. Not only that, but he has a little helper, who opens the boxes and tells him each and every item in the package. He carefully examines everything. Sometimes I have to try explain in my broken Spanish what something is. They are usually satisfied and quite amused by my explanations. This second official also the one that told me last time I visited, that in order to pick up packages for other people, I not only needed a signed letter explaining why the other person couldn’t make it, but also it needed to be notarized.
So today I go to the post office, with a signed paper to pick up Kaitlin’s package, but without it notarized, because it’s expense, quite a hassle, and I was already running late. I found out I also had a couple packages to pick up, which was super exciting!! My camera lens came!! Quick tangent, my camera lens broke a couple months ago, so Kaitlin has been kind enough to let me use her camera. Well, my family decided to send down a old cheap lens to hold me over until someone was coming down who could bring a nicer one. Knowing that the package should be coming soon, I was praying hard that the customs guy wouldn’t charge me for the cheap lens because if they think an item holds any great amount of worth (at least in their eyes), they can charge you. Well, I walk into the room where the customs guy is and low and behold it was the tough, stern, picky guy who looks through the whole package. “Great!” I said to myself, “how am I gonna explain this camera lens to this guy?” Well, I sent another quick prayer to God, and walked calmly into the room. He went through my first package. No problem. Food. Second package. The camera lens was right there, plain as day. I had mentally prepared a little speech about the lens not being worth that much, but the guy didn’t even really listen. He simply put it back in the case and continued on to the next item. I was amazed!! God is so awesome! I was so estatic I didn’t have to pay anything!!
Well, I was able to both of my packages with no problem. Now for Kaitlin’s package. I prayed again, knowing this was gonna be pretty much impossible. As I started to ask about getting my friend’s package (for which I didn’t have a notarized paper), the guy was already shaking his head, NO!! This was the same guy on Thursday who specifically told me I needed to get a notarized, signed paper before I try to get someone else’s box for them next time. Well, here I am facing the same guy a couple days later with a non-notarized paper. No wonder he’s saying no!! I pleaded with him, saying Kaitlin works all day long teaching at the school and doesn’t have time to come in. Besides, I told him, the box is very important because it has a dictionary for her to use at school. Therefore very very important. As I tried to explain this to the man, I could see he was softening up, hinting at the slight possibility of being able to get the package. Then he asked why couldn’t she come in on Saturday. Well, I then explained that as Adventists we don’t come visit the post office on Sabbath, because it is our day of rest. So, somehow, I know it was all God, he gave me Kaitlin’s package!! I couldn’t help but shed a tear as I watched the official fill out the customs form, knowing that God totally softened this man’s heart, just for me I was so shocked! God totally answered my prayers right in front of my eyes! It was soo cool!
I couldn’t help but smile at everyone I passed as I walked down the street proudly carrying my packages, knowing I just witnessed a miracle. It may not seem like such a huge answer to prayer, but to me, it’s the coolest to see God caring for the little things in our day-to-day lives.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” –Matthew 10:29
The deal with packages is that when one arrives at the post office, the workers somehow decide whether it should be sent to customs or not. I really don't understand how they make that decision, but I'm pretty sure it's random. I have gotten all of my packages, except for one, stuck in customs. The thing with customs is that if your package is stuck in customs, you can only pick it up on Mondays and Thursdays between 10am-12p. Not too much time to pick from and much of the time, the lines for the customs official are quite long, so being there at or before 10am is optimal. The fait of your package and it’s contents lies in the hands of the customs official. There is one guy who works there that is really nice. He barely opens the box, takes a couple things out, looks at them with a quizzical look on his face as to what most of the stuff in the box is, then puts them back. I find it quite amusing to watch the different expressions on various customs officials’ faces as each item is examined. Then there is the other customs official. He is a lot more picky, wanting my original passport to look at, examining each of my documents with a careful eye. Not only that, but he has a little helper, who opens the boxes and tells him each and every item in the package. He carefully examines everything. Sometimes I have to try explain in my broken Spanish what something is. They are usually satisfied and quite amused by my explanations. This second official also the one that told me last time I visited, that in order to pick up packages for other people, I not only needed a signed letter explaining why the other person couldn’t make it, but also it needed to be notarized.
So today I go to the post office, with a signed paper to pick up Kaitlin’s package, but without it notarized, because it’s expense, quite a hassle, and I was already running late. I found out I also had a couple packages to pick up, which was super exciting!! My camera lens came!! Quick tangent, my camera lens broke a couple months ago, so Kaitlin has been kind enough to let me use her camera. Well, my family decided to send down a old cheap lens to hold me over until someone was coming down who could bring a nicer one. Knowing that the package should be coming soon, I was praying hard that the customs guy wouldn’t charge me for the cheap lens because if they think an item holds any great amount of worth (at least in their eyes), they can charge you. Well, I walk into the room where the customs guy is and low and behold it was the tough, stern, picky guy who looks through the whole package. “Great!” I said to myself, “how am I gonna explain this camera lens to this guy?” Well, I sent another quick prayer to God, and walked calmly into the room. He went through my first package. No problem. Food. Second package. The camera lens was right there, plain as day. I had mentally prepared a little speech about the lens not being worth that much, but the guy didn’t even really listen. He simply put it back in the case and continued on to the next item. I was amazed!! God is so awesome! I was so estatic I didn’t have to pay anything!!
Well, I was able to both of my packages with no problem. Now for Kaitlin’s package. I prayed again, knowing this was gonna be pretty much impossible. As I started to ask about getting my friend’s package (for which I didn’t have a notarized paper), the guy was already shaking his head, NO!! This was the same guy on Thursday who specifically told me I needed to get a notarized, signed paper before I try to get someone else’s box for them next time. Well, here I am facing the same guy a couple days later with a non-notarized paper. No wonder he’s saying no!! I pleaded with him, saying Kaitlin works all day long teaching at the school and doesn’t have time to come in. Besides, I told him, the box is very important because it has a dictionary for her to use at school. Therefore very very important. As I tried to explain this to the man, I could see he was softening up, hinting at the slight possibility of being able to get the package. Then he asked why couldn’t she come in on Saturday. Well, I then explained that as Adventists we don’t come visit the post office on Sabbath, because it is our day of rest. So, somehow, I know it was all God, he gave me Kaitlin’s package!! I couldn’t help but shed a tear as I watched the official fill out the customs form, knowing that God totally softened this man’s heart, just for me I was so shocked! God totally answered my prayers right in front of my eyes! It was soo cool!
I couldn’t help but smile at everyone I passed as I walked down the street proudly carrying my packages, knowing I just witnessed a miracle. It may not seem like such a huge answer to prayer, but to me, it’s the coolest to see God caring for the little things in our day-to-day lives.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” –Matthew 10:29
Thursday, October 18, 2007
I'm a Hostage
Right now, I'm feeling a little claustrophobic. I haven't left the small hostel room for about 2 days, except to visit the bathroom down the hall. I look out the window and can only see rooftops and gray skies, but I can hear shouting and police sirens. There is a demonstration march in progress. I walk down the hall and look out another window, which has a view over the main plaza. I watch the people march by, shouting words I don't understand and blowing whistles so loud it hurts my ears. It's a strike.
Pucallpa and surrounding regions are on strike for 48hours for various political reasons. Jenni and I are staying in a hostel, staring at our computers all day, trying to work, without going insane. While on strike, the city shuts down. Shops are closed, taxis don't drive their routes. Everything is closed down. People still walk around and a few motocars and motos drive around, but Jenni and I have stayed inside the hostel the whole time because we aren't sure how safe it is to be outside during this time. We had been in Pucallpa for a couple days already, but when we found out about the strike (the afternoon before it was to start), we drove back to km 38 gathered up some food and headed back to the city. Because this strike is only for 48hours, it is not deemed really dangerous to be in the city. However, if it was a full-blown strike, we would definitely be back at km. 38. There is a good chance that a big strike will hit our region in a few weeks, and if that is the case, Jenni and I wanted to get as much done now as we could. So here we are, staring at the same four walls for the past couple days, finishing up the last of our food from the house. It's kinda fun actually!
Please keep this whole situation in your prayers, as an exteneded strike would create many challenges for our team and the progress of A.M.O.R. Projects!!!
Pucallpa and surrounding regions are on strike for 48hours for various political reasons. Jenni and I are staying in a hostel, staring at our computers all day, trying to work, without going insane. While on strike, the city shuts down. Shops are closed, taxis don't drive their routes. Everything is closed down. People still walk around and a few motocars and motos drive around, but Jenni and I have stayed inside the hostel the whole time because we aren't sure how safe it is to be outside during this time. We had been in Pucallpa for a couple days already, but when we found out about the strike (the afternoon before it was to start), we drove back to km 38 gathered up some food and headed back to the city. Because this strike is only for 48hours, it is not deemed really dangerous to be in the city. However, if it was a full-blown strike, we would definitely be back at km. 38. There is a good chance that a big strike will hit our region in a few weeks, and if that is the case, Jenni and I wanted to get as much done now as we could. So here we are, staring at the same four walls for the past couple days, finishing up the last of our food from the house. It's kinda fun actually!
Please keep this whole situation in your prayers, as an exteneded strike would create many challenges for our team and the progress of A.M.O.R. Projects!!!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Cuidad Constitucion Campaign: Medical Clinic
Well, our second campaign of the year is already underway. We just got back from a week of clinic at Constitucion. I was really touched by the overwhelming kindness and generousity shown to our team in this town. It was such a blessing!! Arriving early Sunday morning, still groggy and sore from an overnight 8hr. truck ride, we were greeted with open arms from the Adventist church members. We were quickly taken to one lady’s house for breakfast, which was absolutely delicious, then to the church for another breakfast provided by the church. The whole week I was completely taken aback by how warm and inviting everyone was, it was really amazing!! They were the sweetest people ever, always so concerned with caring for our every need and making sure we had plenty of food! Wowzers! Ok, so the food was pretty much amazing!! Lots of food too! I definitely got my fill of yuca! Every meal had either platano or yuca with it. Good thing I like them!!
So this town is about 7hrs by truck. It is only accessible by 4-wheel drive and traveling on the road at night could be quite dangerous. Around 12:30am Saturday night-early Sunday morning, 11 of us all piled into two pick-up trucks with all our stuff and medical supplies for the clinic. Tara, Kaitlin, and I crammed into the extended cab of a pick up truck, along with two Bible workers and the hired driver. For the next few hours, we kinda slept, kinda watched the road, kinda slept a little more.
This was the most layed back clinic ever. No rush or line of people at 6 o’clock in the morning, most didn’t start arriving until 9 or so. Dental was much busier this clinic, which is great because it gave Brent and me lots more practice. Thankfully, Manuel was there to handle the hard cases and help teach David about extracting teeth. Each day we pulled between 50-70 teeth. I’ll highlight some of our more memorable patients:
- 9yr-old boy came in to have his teeth pulled, except he didn’t didn’t want to. He was pretty much forced by his mother. He cried, kicked and screamed the whole time. Manuel, who has seen thousands of patients, said this was his hardest patient ever! I felt so bad for the kid, but it was really hard explaining to the poor boy that he wouldn’t be in so much pain anymore if we were just able to get a couple of the teeth out. With me holding the boy’s hands down, Manuel was able to inject some anesthesia into the kid’s mouth. Between the kicking and screaming (despite being numb), Manuel was able to expertly extract the boy’s tooth. By this time, 45 minutes had passed and there was no way to get the second tooth out, so that was it for the day. The boy and his mother came back on Friday and we tried to get the other tooth out, but we didn’t get too far. Spent 30 minutes trying to calm the poor boy down, but he was just too much to handle a second time.
- I had a young patient who came in with a tooth quite far into the hard palate. I had never seen something like that before, but with God’s help and guidance, it turned out to be quite easy to get out and the boy felt much better afterwards. I saved the tooth! J
- I worked on a patient’s tooth for about an hour, trying to get the roots out. I finally asked Dr. Mathews to come help (Manuel was gone for the afternnon). He spent a good amount of time on it as well. I felt bad for the girl. I’m pretty sure her jaw was quite sore for a while after that experience, but thankfully we got it out and she was ok!!
So, we have this cute little monkey, Frankie, as our pet. However the same affection for him is not shared by all of our team members. Case in point: On Wednesday of clinic, about mid-morning Kailtin noticed that the monkey was unusually tired, slow reaction time, and loss of grib strengh, among other things. She freaks out, knowing that some of our beloved team members (mostly Manuel and Dr. Mathews) have a strong dislike for the little thing, she asks around, trying to figure out if anyone had done anything to the monkey. Of course, it didn’t really help the situation knowing that the monkey had been tethered to a table leg in the pharmacy area, and the possibility of him finding a random pill or liquid on the ground could be pretty good, considering the little creature loves to eat almost everything (at least it seems like it).
Well, as time passes it quickly becomes apparant that the monkey is acting quite drunk and cannot for the life of him walk, much less in a straight line! It’s really funny, though sad/scary not knoing exactly why he is suddenly acting this way. Kaitlin is still probing Manuel and Dr. Mathews trying to find out if either one of them did it, but of course they’re not going to admit anything (at least not right away). With pressue building against the guild-ridden face of Dr. Mathews (Manuel had been busy with dental the whole morning so he couldn’t have done anything), the pieces to the mystery puzzle of what happened to Frankie slowly are put together.
Despite Dr. Mathews proclaiming his innocence, he is in deed quite guilty. Somehow, in the course of the morning, he found the time to sneak over to pharmacy, pop a Diazepam (Valium) pill from the container and try to feed it to the monkey. The monkey for some reason wasn’t too excited about eating the pill straight so…the doctor calculates the “correct” dosage a monkey should receive of the stuff, dilutes it in Amoxicilian/water solution, puts it into a little water bottle cap and gives it to the monkey. Of course, being that this monkey is willing to try anything and with his love for sweet things, quickly downs the whole solution! Somehow, Dr. Mathews is able to do this whole operation without anyone seeing him. Crazy!
So for the next 36hrs. The monkey came in and out of conscienceness, sleeping lots and not being able to do anything else. Though whenever a platano was shoved in his mouth, he would suddenly come alive and eat like mad! Finally after acting drunk and just completely out of it for over a day, the monkey finally came out of his hazy state, much to the relief of everyone, including doctor!!
So this town is about 7hrs by truck. It is only accessible by 4-wheel drive and traveling on the road at night could be quite dangerous. Around 12:30am Saturday night-early Sunday morning, 11 of us all piled into two pick-up trucks with all our stuff and medical supplies for the clinic. Tara, Kaitlin, and I crammed into the extended cab of a pick up truck, along with two Bible workers and the hired driver. For the next few hours, we kinda slept, kinda watched the road, kinda slept a little more.
This was the most layed back clinic ever. No rush or line of people at 6 o’clock in the morning, most didn’t start arriving until 9 or so. Dental was much busier this clinic, which is great because it gave Brent and me lots more practice. Thankfully, Manuel was there to handle the hard cases and help teach David about extracting teeth. Each day we pulled between 50-70 teeth. I’ll highlight some of our more memorable patients:
- 9yr-old boy came in to have his teeth pulled, except he didn’t didn’t want to. He was pretty much forced by his mother. He cried, kicked and screamed the whole time. Manuel, who has seen thousands of patients, said this was his hardest patient ever! I felt so bad for the kid, but it was really hard explaining to the poor boy that he wouldn’t be in so much pain anymore if we were just able to get a couple of the teeth out. With me holding the boy’s hands down, Manuel was able to inject some anesthesia into the kid’s mouth. Between the kicking and screaming (despite being numb), Manuel was able to expertly extract the boy’s tooth. By this time, 45 minutes had passed and there was no way to get the second tooth out, so that was it for the day. The boy and his mother came back on Friday and we tried to get the other tooth out, but we didn’t get too far. Spent 30 minutes trying to calm the poor boy down, but he was just too much to handle a second time.
- I had a young patient who came in with a tooth quite far into the hard palate. I had never seen something like that before, but with God’s help and guidance, it turned out to be quite easy to get out and the boy felt much better afterwards. I saved the tooth! J
- I worked on a patient’s tooth for about an hour, trying to get the roots out. I finally asked Dr. Mathews to come help (Manuel was gone for the afternnon). He spent a good amount of time on it as well. I felt bad for the girl. I’m pretty sure her jaw was quite sore for a while after that experience, but thankfully we got it out and she was ok!!
So, we have this cute little monkey, Frankie, as our pet. However the same affection for him is not shared by all of our team members. Case in point: On Wednesday of clinic, about mid-morning Kailtin noticed that the monkey was unusually tired, slow reaction time, and loss of grib strengh, among other things. She freaks out, knowing that some of our beloved team members (mostly Manuel and Dr. Mathews) have a strong dislike for the little thing, she asks around, trying to figure out if anyone had done anything to the monkey. Of course, it didn’t really help the situation knowing that the monkey had been tethered to a table leg in the pharmacy area, and the possibility of him finding a random pill or liquid on the ground could be pretty good, considering the little creature loves to eat almost everything (at least it seems like it).
Well, as time passes it quickly becomes apparant that the monkey is acting quite drunk and cannot for the life of him walk, much less in a straight line! It’s really funny, though sad/scary not knoing exactly why he is suddenly acting this way. Kaitlin is still probing Manuel and Dr. Mathews trying to find out if either one of them did it, but of course they’re not going to admit anything (at least not right away). With pressue building against the guild-ridden face of Dr. Mathews (Manuel had been busy with dental the whole morning so he couldn’t have done anything), the pieces to the mystery puzzle of what happened to Frankie slowly are put together.
Despite Dr. Mathews proclaiming his innocence, he is in deed quite guilty. Somehow, in the course of the morning, he found the time to sneak over to pharmacy, pop a Diazepam (Valium) pill from the container and try to feed it to the monkey. The monkey for some reason wasn’t too excited about eating the pill straight so…the doctor calculates the “correct” dosage a monkey should receive of the stuff, dilutes it in Amoxicilian/water solution, puts it into a little water bottle cap and gives it to the monkey. Of course, being that this monkey is willing to try anything and with his love for sweet things, quickly downs the whole solution! Somehow, Dr. Mathews is able to do this whole operation without anyone seeing him. Crazy!
So for the next 36hrs. The monkey came in and out of conscienceness, sleeping lots and not being able to do anything else. Though whenever a platano was shoved in his mouth, he would suddenly come alive and eat like mad! Finally after acting drunk and just completely out of it for over a day, the monkey finally came out of his hazy state, much to the relief of everyone, including doctor!!
An outline of a campaign
During the time us student missionaries are down here in Peru, A.M.O.R. Projects has divided up the time into about 5-6 major campaigns. A major campaign lasts for six weeks, the first week being the medical clinic and the last five weeks being a public health program called Familias Saludables aka Healthy Families. Throughout the entire six weeks is the evangelistic meetings, with a children’s program each night before the main program. Communities of around 1000-3000 residents are usually good places for the campaigns.
The medical clinics consist of seeing patients for 5-6 days with medical and dental needs, performing basic/simple surgeries when needed. The Familias Saludables program is run by our two lovely nurses, Kristin and Emily. They live in the community for five weeks working with about 20-30 families to educate them about ways to improve basic hygiene/sanitation, nutrition, home environment, and help with family planning (financial, goals, etc.). In the evenings the girls run the children’s program which consist of lots of singing, a Bible story, and a craft or coloring (which the kids LOVE). Peruvian Bible workers run the evangelistic meetings in the evenings, but have Bible studies with contacts and make home visitations during the day.
The medical clinics consist of seeing patients for 5-6 days with medical and dental needs, performing basic/simple surgeries when needed. The Familias Saludables program is run by our two lovely nurses, Kristin and Emily. They live in the community for five weeks working with about 20-30 families to educate them about ways to improve basic hygiene/sanitation, nutrition, home environment, and help with family planning (financial, goals, etc.). In the evenings the girls run the children’s program which consist of lots of singing, a Bible story, and a craft or coloring (which the kids LOVE). Peruvian Bible workers run the evangelistic meetings in the evenings, but have Bible studies with contacts and make home visitations during the day.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Suzy Homemaker
Well, the last couple weeks have consisted of me staying at the land almost the whole time and just working on the computer. When I run out of battery life (no electricity at our house), usually cooking meals, shopping at the market for food, doing laundry, random stuff usually takes up the rest of the day. Either I go into town and I am able to charge my computer or sometimes if it has been sunny enough outside, I am able to charge my computer at the house by our solar-powered charger. Since Tara and Kaitlin are both gone every morning teaching English and music at various local schools in the area. David and Brent spend their days, at least recently, cutting down trees and clearing the jungle. After even just a few hours of working, they come back covered in soot and dirt from burning and carrying wood. Quite a sight! Their pearly white smiles really shine through!J So that leaves me to hold the fort down! It gets really quiet at times, such a change from eight people all talking at once!!
This last Friday I was Miss Suzy Homemaker! Haha…David, Brent, and Manuel left in the morning for Masisea (former campaign site that we are doing some follow-up work at) for the weekend. Jenni had been town the last few days and who knows really when she’ll be back! Tara and Kaitlin had left for the day on a field trip to the zoo with one of their classes. So that leaves me!! Mauro and Edwin (two of the Peruvian workers) were outside working and since they speak pretty much no English and I speak very very little spanish, it made for a pretty quiet day. Cleaning house, making lunch, washing clothes pretty much took up Friday. I got stung by a wasp in the morning, which was a new experience for me, but it was all good. Thankfully it wasn’t a lot of African Killer bees, of which we have hives close to the house. Bad idea! I really had a lot of fun though on Friday cause it totally reminded me of Fridays back home: listening to music while cooking and cleaning, making it quite fun preparing for Sabbath. Yesterday, was a really great Sabbath! First off, it was absolutely beautiful outside! The last few days had been quite overcast with smoke, so not so pretty. Sabbath was crystal clear blue skies with white fluffy clouds high in the sky. Of course, it also means it’s gonna be hot, but that’s ok every once in while. I was able to play the piano for church, which was fun, but since the piano is out of tune and some of the keys don’t work, it was interesting. It has been such a blessing to hear these people sing. Some of them don’t have the greatest singing abilities, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from singing. It is so great to come to church and hear everyone singing their hearts praising God! I had a lot of fun playing the piano, mostly because they are all so forgiving with all my sight-reading mistakes, not to mention that Spanish songs are written differently from English, at least it seems like it. In the afternoon, the church had choir practice and so I played the piano for that as well. I am so blessed every time I go to visit the church because they are all so thankful and blessed by all of us SM’s singing/playing talents or attempts as they may be. It really is amazing!!
This last Friday I was Miss Suzy Homemaker! Haha…David, Brent, and Manuel left in the morning for Masisea (former campaign site that we are doing some follow-up work at) for the weekend. Jenni had been town the last few days and who knows really when she’ll be back! Tara and Kaitlin had left for the day on a field trip to the zoo with one of their classes. So that leaves me!! Mauro and Edwin (two of the Peruvian workers) were outside working and since they speak pretty much no English and I speak very very little spanish, it made for a pretty quiet day. Cleaning house, making lunch, washing clothes pretty much took up Friday. I got stung by a wasp in the morning, which was a new experience for me, but it was all good. Thankfully it wasn’t a lot of African Killer bees, of which we have hives close to the house. Bad idea! I really had a lot of fun though on Friday cause it totally reminded me of Fridays back home: listening to music while cooking and cleaning, making it quite fun preparing for Sabbath. Yesterday, was a really great Sabbath! First off, it was absolutely beautiful outside! The last few days had been quite overcast with smoke, so not so pretty. Sabbath was crystal clear blue skies with white fluffy clouds high in the sky. Of course, it also means it’s gonna be hot, but that’s ok every once in while. I was able to play the piano for church, which was fun, but since the piano is out of tune and some of the keys don’t work, it was interesting. It has been such a blessing to hear these people sing. Some of them don’t have the greatest singing abilities, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from singing. It is so great to come to church and hear everyone singing their hearts praising God! I had a lot of fun playing the piano, mostly because they are all so forgiving with all my sight-reading mistakes, not to mention that Spanish songs are written differently from English, at least it seems like it. In the afternoon, the church had choir practice and so I played the piano for that as well. I am so blessed every time I go to visit the church because they are all so thankful and blessed by all of us SM’s singing/playing talents or attempts as they may be. It really is amazing!!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
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