The Past 2 Weeks

ovember 18, 2009

Hi All,

I wanted to write a quick update about the last couple of weeks. In my last update, we had just returned from Yanashi that Saturday morning. We were in Iquitos Saturday and Sunday then Monday left for Amazonas as I am having to say my goodbyes to the churches. I am learning to be ready in season and out of season as one half hour before the service, Pastor Leiter asked me to preach and in Yanashi, as the church service was starting, Lucy asked me to preach. It is probably better that way because then I don’t think too much and have to rely on the Lord and not myself.

Tuesday on our return to Iquitos, there was a strike and the roads were closed by protesters so we stopped at a stream and swam until the roads were passable again. Wednesday we left for San Juan de Sinchicui, held a service and returned to Iquitos Thursday as we had to get ready for the children’s outreach we were having in Iquitos on Sunday.

Sunday morning Lucy, Pastor, Gian Franco and Gil who were also helping with the children’s program had to go out and look at some land while Gladis and I stayed at the church practicing with the kids. The program was at 4 p.m. and Lucy and the rest didn’t show up until about 4:30so Gladis and I were getting nervous as there were over 100 kids waiting for the program to start. After it did start, it was awesome. The kids themselves put on the program and

did a great job. We had to cut it short because our church service started at 7 but all in all it was a success.

Monday we headed to Tamshiyacu with Pastor Leiter. It was his first time in Tamshiyacu so we presented him to the church there. This church is without a pastor right now so it is struggling and the land behind the church was overgrown with grass so Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. we went out

there with our machetes to cut the grass. Three hours and several blisters later we were done. Pastor Leiter had killed a rat when he was cutting the grass so they put it on the fire for breakfast. One of the women of the church also killed a chicken so that we could have a soup for breakfast. While we were eating, the little boy that was cooking the rat said “look, it had babies” and showed me the little rat babies that were inside...my soup didn’t taste so good after that.

From Tamshiyacu we went to Santa Ana to say good bye and had a service in the new church. They have almost completed it—they redid part of the floor in the church and just have to do some of the windows, the bathroom and paint and it will be ready for their anniversary in December.

Wednesday we returned to Iquitos. I will be going with Lucy to visit her parents which is a 4 day boat ride there and 3 days coming back so I will only be able to stay a couple days since I leave for Lima on the 15^th. We are planning on taking 2 of her brothers children with us but that will depend on them coming to town to notarize papers saying we are allowed to travel with them. They have just begun to enforced this law due to the increase in child trafficking here. I am hoping they can go otherwise I will have to travel back to Iquitos alone.

I cannot believe how quickly time passes. I will be home for Christmas the first time in 3 years and am excited about that but of course sad to leave my friends here. They want me to return in April to help with some teams that are coming so I am praying about that. I have had many ups and downs here in Peru but through it all, God is always faithful and does much more than I can ever imagine. He is my rock and my fortress. Thank you all for your continued support and may you have a very blessed Thanksgiving.

In Christ,

Kayleen

Yanashi

ovember 7, 2009

Hi All,

We just returned from Yanashi this a.m. I am a bit tired from the 24 hour boat ride but also having a difficult time getting to sleep so I thought I would write a bit about the trip.

We left Sunday morning and thankfully the water has risen enough to enter into Yanashi itself instead of having to change boats so we arrived Sunday evening about 10 p.m. so we just set up our mosquito nets and went to sleep. It is a 12 hour boat ride there as it is with the current and the return trip is 24 hours as it is against the current.

At 6 a.m. the next day we began the construction of a new church. We (Lucy and I) thought we were just going to enlarge the building we already had but when we got there, it was completely disassembled and just had the new support beams put into the ground. (shown here).

A group of men who are not part of the church came to help put up the beams and get the structure ready for the roof. As they started doing it, we realized we would be short wood so we had to contact the woodcutter so he could go with the pastor the next day into the jungle to cut more wood.

On Tuesday, Lucy and I walked down to visit a little 10 year old girl that we met on the boat trip there. She had been extremely ill for 2 months and they were sending her home from the hospital to die. They said there was nothing more they could do for her, all the medicine they tried made her sicker and she was not able to eat anything, just drink. Her father (who also lost his wife and son in childbirth this year) was at his wits end and had brought her to Yanashi to see the witchdoctor.

Many people here in the jungle have a strong belief in curses and witchdoctors and if western medicine does not work, they believe the person has been cursed by someone and need to see a witchdoctor to cure them. Lucy and I asked if we could pray for her for which they consented. We later sang to her and then Lucy asked her if she wanted to accept Christ which she said she did and she weakly prayed in her own words to receive Christ.

That night we had a church service in the upstairs of the house with a good turnout of people.

The little girl’s cousin was there and said that she had started eating a bit and that her fever was down which was encouraging but when Lucy and I went to see her the next day, she had developed a deep cough and her father took her to the witchdoctor...please be in prayer for Salvith.

We finally had all of the wood Thursday which we had to bring upthe hill from the boat. Thankfully a group of children helped us.

The same group of men plus 2 more came to help put on the roof. We had a minga which is where the men work for food. This was a real blessing since all of the money that we had with us had gone into getting the extra wood. These men that helped were not Christians and wanted us to buy alcohol but we didn’t think that would be too great since they were going to be working on top of the roof. They did an awesome job and here is what we have so far of the church. We have all the wood to finish it up but we had to leave due to a commitment here in Iquitos.

Thursday, Lucy and I and the kids were upstairs in the house when Lucy jumped. I thought there was a bug or something but when she jumped again, I saw it was a snake. Lucy was telling me to take a picture, while the pastor’s wife was telling her husband to kill it. The snake was too fast for me to get a good picture until it was dead (shown here). Lucy had thought it was a grass snake but it ended up being a loro machaco

which is a very deadly snake—it is a green tree viper and usually falls from trees on its victims. We found out later that the neighbor had recently died from a bite from one of these snakes.

I have only seen 2 live poisonous snakes in the jungle and they have both been in Yanashi. The other snake I saw was the

jergón or fer de lance which I saw about 2 feet from me in the river. This snake in the house had bitten Lucy’s pants twice. Thankfully she was wearing pants instead of shorts. They also said an anacondahad eaten a dog not far from where we bathe in the river. I always try to be extra careful in Yanashi as there is still a lot of dangerous wildlife here. A huge iguana also tried to eat one of the chickens but we killed it and had it for lunch.

Thursday night we had another service and Friday morning the people came to the house to pray and see us off which was a special blessing. Today I will be practicing dramas and puppets with some kids as we prepare for our children’s outreach here in Iquitos on the 15^th. Please pray for that event and that many children’s lives are touched by Christ.

Well, looks like daylight is here and I will not be getting any sleep. Lucy will probably come to my room any minute to get me to go running with her. As I said before, every time she decides she wants to get into shape, she makes me part of the deal. Oh well, it is good for me but I don’t have to like it. Thank you so much for all of your emails, support and prayers. They really mean so much to me. I hope that you all are doing well and are richly blessed. Here is a picture of the pastor’s 2 year old son helping us cut the grass. I am getting much better with a machete but this little boy probably does a better job than I do.

In Christ,

Kayleen