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!

Student Missionary Recruit Video (short/quick version)

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)

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

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!!!