Past 2 Weeks

July 31, 2010

Hi All,

Hope this update finds you all very blessed. It has been a busy time since the team left on the 18^th. First we had to go out to Amazonas on an emergency trip to encourage the church. It was a quick trip but fruitful. There is a little Kayleen (Picture Kayleen from Amazonas)

in Amazonas who just turned 2 and now is not so scared of me and the other little Kayleen from Requena turned 1 and came to Iquitos to visit so I got to see both of them which was neat.

(Picture-Kayleen from Requena)

Last Saturday night we had our first children’s lock-in here at the church with about 40 children showing up to stay the night. We sang, had a message, ate, played games, watched a Veggie Tales movie and finally went to bed. The kids all loved it and keep asking when we will do it again. We have a lot of kids that go to the various cell groups but don’t come to Sunday School on Sunday

so our goal was to get them acquainted with the kids from other areas and to get them acquainted with the church so it seemed to be a great success from that standpoint.

Monday we got all ready to go to Yanashi and when we got to the port, someone told us that the boat to Yanashi for that day had broken down. Thankfully we had not taken all of our stuff down to the boat and we returned to the church and left on Tuesday instead. Yanashi is a 12 hour boat ride to get there and a 24 hour boat ride to return as it is against the current. Lucy’s 13 year old niece and 3 year old nephew

(Picture-Carlitos, Maria and I) arrived from San Lorenzo which is a 4 day boat ride away while the team was here and are leaving Monday so they traveled with us. It was a bit more difficult traveling with them only because we had to think more about what we were going to eat and drink. Many times when it is just Lucy and I, we go hungry out in the communities but we couldn’t really do that with a 3 year old so we had to put a little more thought into the trip.

We arrived about 10 pm. Tuesday night and set up our mosquito nets and went right to sleep. The next day was the 28^th of July which is Independence Day here in Peru so we went and watched the different people march and got ready to go to Nuevo Esperanza the next day to evangelize. We took a dugout canoe to Nueva Esperanza which was about 2 hours away and found all of the people in a minga which is where someone makes a big meal and everyone works together to harvest their crops. The people there are open to the gospel though and asked us to come back some evening to have a service and stay the night. The church in Yanashi plans to go there with their youth this next month. While there, I saw 2 snakes…one living and one dead. The dead one here is a type of coral snake, (Photo--Nacu Nacu)

very poisonous and the live one is a loro machaco which is also very poisonous.

On the way back we saw some eagles, macaws and a sloth swimming across the river. It was quite the day of wildlife for us. When we returned to Yanashi, we bathed in the river to get ready for service that night. The church there is doing well and is excited by the thought that they may someday have a church plant in Nueva Esperanza. (Photo-Loro Machaco)

(Photo-sloth crossing the river)

Friday morning we had to get on the boat to return at 6 a.m. and we arrived back in Iquitos this morning. Carlitos and Maria (Lucy’s niece and nephew) have to get on a boat to return to their town on Monday so we had to get back to Iquitos to finish up some things here in Iquitosbefore they leave. I feel absolutely exhausted but tonight I have to teach the youth group and Tuesday night I have to preach in the church in Iquitos. I am not prepared for either of these things and feel like I am going to fall over right now from lack of sleep so I guess I’d better go for now and try to take a quick nap before I prepare for this evening. I keep thinking of all of the things we have to do such as visit the churches in the Tahuayo river and then get ready making the purchases—cement, food ect for the team that is coming in August to put in the cement floor and build the parsonage in Tamshiyacu. It will be more difficult logistically than theIquitos trip as many of the supplies cannot be purchased in Tamshiyacu and we will have to buy the materials, take them down to the port to ship them on the boat then make arrangements for someone in Tamshiyacu to get the materials to where they need to be. I know that it is all in God’s hands but sometimes it is difficult to get my mind to shut off. Well, I miss you all very much. Please write to me and don’t forget me. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

In His Service,

Kayleen

July Team

Hi All,

I hope this update finds you all as blessed as I have been the past few weeks. The team arrived at 9:30 am on the 9^th of July after a slight flight delay and hit the ground running.

As soon as we got back to the church and had breakfast they began the work on repairing the church in Iquitos . We started pulling down the ceiling boards, getting on top of the roof to repair it and started painting the front of the church. While the ceiling boards were off, they put in new wiring and some new sockets. The roof was the major concern as if it did not get repaired, the wiring and drywall would get wet again and the paint would be ruined. It ended up being the biggest headache.

First they tried to put silicon on it, then tar, then finally had to take off the metal, rebuild the frame and put it on again. We thought all was well until it rained. It still leaks in one spot but today Hno. Edgar is once again up there fixing it. It only leaks in one spot now which is a major change and now and he thinks it will be repaired today. All of the water pipes were changed out and new plumbing put in, the whole upstairs was repainted, beams in the ceiling were changed out. It was amazing. This team just would not stop. They cleaned up the back yard which meant 2 truckloads of old brick and garbage hauled off. They redid the whole back porch and made a chicken coop so beautiful that Lucy wants to live there.

We did not think this team would even get a third of the projects we had planned done but they did plus more. As I said, it was amazing. We worked all week then on Friday went out to San Juan de Sinchicuy and did an outreach there. We returned to Iquitos on Saturday and some of the team went to the zoo while the other part of the team rested a bit and met the other half and went shopping. We had a huge cold front in Iquitos —the coldest it has been in years. Most of the time it is very hot

and humid but it got down into the 60’s and with the humidity, it is freezing. The team left yesterday so today I feel kind of lost. We had a great time and it was hard to see them leave. It is always so hard when you anticipate something for so long and then it gets over so fast and you have to go back to the daily routine.

This week we wanted to go to Yanashi but it is impossible since we have to be back on Thursday to get ready for the lock in with the kids in Iquitos on Saturday. We will probably

head to Yanashi next Monday then return Friday as we are having a 3 day fast out on some land that was donated to the church Friday, Saturday and Sunday then I have to preach that day. Time is flying. We only have a month to prepare for the other team to get here and we need to get out visiting all of the other churches. The August team will be putting in a cement floor in the church in Tamshiyacu and will be building a parsonage. We have already started having the wood cut. It is going to be logistically more difficult than this last team as since this team was in Iquitos , we could go get supplies as needed whereas in Tamshiyacu, we will have to have it all ready there so it takes a lot more planning. I am exhausted right now so I don’t even want to think about all the things that we need to do. The team was such a blessing to the church here in

Iquitos . We are still just looking around in amazement of all that was accomplished. Thank you to all who served on this team either by coming to Peru , financially supporting, or praying for this team. May God continue to richly bless your life.

(I wish I could have sent more pictures but my internet connection is so slow that I couldn't put more up. Please get with the team so you can see more of this awesome trip)

In Christ

Kayleen