Children's Ministry Tamshiyacu

Hi All,

Lucy, Gladis, Pastor Leiter and I arrived back from the children’s ministry in Tamshiyacu at 3 a.m. yesterday. We had such an awesome time with the kids. We arrived Friday and had a regular service that night then slept in the church… I will be very glad when the team comes in August to put a cement floor in as right now it has a dirt floor and it is all uneven so it is a little difficult to sleep.

The kids were waiting for us by 6:30 a.m but first Lucy and I had to find a woodcutter to start cutting the trees and cutting the wood for the parsonage that we will be building in August. We have to start now as the wood has to dry as long as possible before we build. We are trying to get as much of the materials such as the wood and sand ect as we can from Tamshiyacu to avoid having to pay transportation costs but unfortunately they do not sell cement, calimina, bricks, nails ect there so we will have to buy them in Iquitos and transport them to Tamshiyacu. The team in August will be laying a cement floor in the church and building a parsonage for the new pastor who will arrive in Dec/Jan. We also talked to a person who is going to dig us a small well and outhouse for $25 as we will need to have water to mix the cement with in August.

After our breakfast of fish and bananas, we started playing with the kids—first a soccer match, then volleyball. The kids were all pretty small so they actually thought I was a good player ha. They told us there was a spring nearby to go swimming. I had been to the swimming holes before and couldn’t remember one that was “nearby”. They all kept pointing in one direction from the church but we kept saying no, that was far away and wasn’t there one closer. Finally someone suggested a different one but when we finally got there, it was a little tiny puddle. The kids said the other one wasn’t far so we started climbing up and down huge hills, crossing logs and after we walked for an hour and a half we came to the “nearby” spring.

Unfortunately we couldn’t swim long as we had to get back to start the program. We had 26 kids with us with the youngest being 2 years old and thankfully returned with 26 after trekking through the jungle (I think that the 2 year old was better at walking than I was—I kept having to have help getting across the logs as I am afraid of heights but she would just run over them like it was nothing). The trip back was only about a half an hour. If we had listened to the kids that were pointing in the other direction earlier, we would have had much more swimming time.

The children’s ministry was great with about 100 kids attending. We sang, listened to the message, played games, had sack races, popcorn, candy and gave the girls jacks and the boys slingshots. Lucy dressed up as a clown and we had a great time. A lot of the parents joined in and it was a successful community outreach. We could have had many more kids but we really wanted to target the kids in the neighborhood close to the church.

We had another service later that night and then packed up to get on a boat that left at 11p.m. so that we could be back for church in the morning.

In October there is an election in Peru and I learned something interesting on this trip when people were talking about it. First of all, there is some fear in Tamshiyacu about their election as they have 2 strong candidates. The last time this happened 2 people were killed and one person lost there legs due to the mayhem after the election. They now have marines that come out and keep order. The other thing I learned is that in Peru, if you don’t come to the place you are registered to vote and vote, you have to pay a fine of over $100 U.S. dollars. In some areas the fine is not as much but I was surprised to learn it is an obligation to vote here.

We now only have 11 days until the team arrives inIquitos : ) We have sooo much to do before they get here but I am very excited that I will get to practice my English. We are going to meet with the man that is going to help us with the construction and start buying the materials. That usually takes some time here as the main transportation is moto taxis which is like a motorcycle rickshaw so we can’t buy very much at a time and there is no Home Depot or Lowe’s here so we have to go from place to place in search of materials. Pastor Leiter is going out with another church member to the village that we will be visiting with the team to dig an outhouse as right now the only place to go is the woods and we want it to be available for the team.

Well, I guess I better get busy. Please pray for the safety of the team and that we be a blessing to the church and community in Iquitos and especially to the Lord.

In Christ,

Kayleen

San Juan de Sinchi Cuy

June 23, 2010

Hi All,

Just got back from a quick trip out to San Juan de Sinchi Cuy and wanted to write a quick update for you. This past week was kind of difficult as the son of one of the church members in Iquitos was murdered in Lima . He was a security guard at a construction site and some people came in and beat him to death so they could rob the place. They were able to bring the body back from Lima and we went to his wake Saturday night. It was hard for me because, being the “missionary”, they sat me beside the grieving mother whom I don’t know really well and I didn’t know what to say. I finally told her that but it was a difficult night for me. The next day, Father’s Day, we went to the cemetery to bury him. That night we had a special program in the church for Father’s Day and they came which was nice.

(picture of some of the fathers in the church in Iquitos)

Monday, Lucy, Gladis and I headed out to San Juan de Sinchi Cuy. This is a 2 hour boat ride then a 3 and a half mile walk to get there. We got kind of a late start so didn’t get out there til about 4 o’clock. We played a little volleyball then invited people to the service that we were holding that night. This village is a very difficult village with a heavy Catholic influence but more than that is the alcoholism and witchcraft that is present there. We had a good turn out for the service though and at the end of the service, I told the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff and jokes to the kids. Gladis tried to pass the hat to have people pay for my jokes but I guess they were not that good so I guess I won’t make my living that way. Also at the end of the service, Lucy talked to the people about us bringing the team out for one night. In most communities, the people are anxious to have teams but as I said, San Juan is different. They said we could come but we would have to stay out at Atilio’s (Lucy’s brothers’ place). We are working hard at evangelizing this village and hopefully the team coming can help encourage some of the believers that we have there.

( Picture--Lucy preaching in San Juan de Sinchi Cuy)

Today is a holiday—Dia de San Juan or John the Baptist. It is celebrated here by making juanes which is rice cooked with chicken and wrapped biojao leaves. They are to represent the head of John the Baptist. Gladis, Lucy, Pastor Leiter, Gian Franco and I are going to kill one of our roosters which was a tithe to Lucy in one of the villages and make them this afternoon. This is a huge holiday in Iquitos . Today everyone makes their juanes and tomorrow everything is closed and there is a big party in San Juan which is a part of Iquitos . Here are some pictures of the end result.

(picture--juanes)

Friday we are headed to Tamshiyacu to have a children’s event and then we will begin buying the construction material for the team which arrives in a couple weeks. Hope you have a very blessed day.

In Christ

Kayleen

(Picture--The juane makers)

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Amazonas

June 18, 2010

Hi All,
Lucy and I returned from Amazonas yesterday. It was an awesome trip. The church there is really growing and flourishing. Sometimes I like to go there for selfish reasons as it is nice to get to see some positive results from the work here. The church there used to be mostly children and women but now there is a fairly large group of men and they are doing all of the teaching and preaching and have just started a discipleship program from some material that I downloaded off the Spanish Wesleyan website.



When we arrived, we did a children’s service and then I went swimming and played with the kids then had a service that night. The next day, I taught computer classes to the kids until their batteries ran out. They are simple little computers but have quite a bit built in. They have a microphone, video camera and quite a few programs but isn’t your basic windows interface. I had a lot of fun teaching them although some of the kids already knew most everything. A lot of adults came too and we had a great time.


Last year the church bought the house next to it so that Lucy and I would have a place to stay when we came and so they could use it for Sunday school classes. This was the first time we slept in it. When we came back from bathing, I was in the other room changing when I heard some kids screaming. When I went out to see what it was, I saw a huge tarantula on the wall. Lucy kept telling me to get closer and closer when I was taking the picture but then she tells me to be careful because they can jump a good distance. The neighbor came with a broom to kill it but when she knocked it off the wall, it came right after me (maybe it didn’t like it’s picture taken) and I started to scream as well as the kids so it was pretty chaotic. The woman’s husband told me the bite from a black tarantula is like a snake bite and that some people die from their bites. I was glad that we had seen it and it wasn’t in my bed that night.


Little Kayleen is going to turn 2 on Sunday. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone here. The other little Kayleen in Requena is going to turn 1 in July and they are going to travel here so I can see her.(pictured here: Little Kayleen with her sister and another little girl)


We arrived back in Iquitos last night and will be heading out to San Juan de Sinchi Cui on Monday. From there we will be going to do the children’s outreach in Tamshiyacu and then the July team comes… I am so excited.

Lucy, Pastor Leiter, Gian Franco, Gladis and I have been having devotions every Monday and Friday. I was talking last week about all the tourists that come here looking for drugs, shamans, witchcraft ect. and we decided that we are going to pick a time when the five of us go out and talk with these people. We want to let them know the church is here if they need help. We don’t really have any financial help but we could always help make phone calls ect. in case of emergencies.

Well, I guess I better get busy. The women’s group here is going make a meal for Father’s Day and I need to help. May God continue to richly bless you.

In Christ
Kayleen

Nuevo Triunfo, Santa Ana, Tamshiyacu

June 11, 2010

Hi All,

Hope this email finds you all well. Lucy and I returned today from visiting 3 churches along the Amazon and Tahuayo rivers and I wanted to send an update about these villages. (Some children in Nuevo Triunfo)

We first traveled to Nuevo Triunfo. I had never been to this village before so I was excited to get to see a new place. The pastor from the village came to the conference in Amazonas last October and expressed interest in affiliating with the Wesleyan Church. We left on a boat from Iquitos at 9 a.m. and pulled up to an empty bank at around 3 p.m. We then had to walk about a mile and a half over logs and up hill to the tiny village. We were, as usual met by the children and taken up into the town. As soon as we got there, we found out that we had missed the pastor as he had gone into Iquitos to say goodbye to his son as his son is moving to Cuzco and would be leaving the next day. We had a children’s service with about 25 children attending then held services at night. There is no really good water source in this village. We bathed in about 6 inches of water which is also the drinking water, the water for washing dishes and clothes and where the cows, pigs and ducks drink. It also had noticeable worms in it so I was glad that Lucy had convinced me to bring bottled water this trip. She said she didn’t even feel comfortable drinking this water and she usually doesn’t complain about that type of thing. Here is a picture of the waterhole at the bottom of the hill.

We left the next morning for Santa Ana where the team built a church last year. When we got there, we found out the pastor had gone in a boat to get his daughter but would be back later that day so we washed our clothes and bathed in a stream and had a children’s service. The pastor arrived about 8 and we had a night service announcing a meeting with the church board the next morning at 7 am. Lucy was nervous as she had to discuss some difficult issues with the church but thankfully everything worked out well and we left from there to Tamshiyacu.

We planned to have a service that night in Tamshiyacu but it began to rain and I have been sick with bronchitis and ended up having to go get an injection and nebulizer treatment. We had a service the next evening with over 60 children and a few adults. We do not have a pastor at this church at this time but have a few people that have been keeping it going until the pastor graduates in December. They are all excited that he will be coming and the missions’ team in August will be putting in a cement floor in the church and building a parsonage. We will be returning to Tamshiyacu on June 26^thto have a children’s outreach so we began to make arrangements for that.

All in all it was a fruitful trip. We are going to try to have a class in Iquitosto train the Sunday School teachers from the rivers as many of the villages have been requesting this.

Lucy and I will be headed to Amazonas on Monday where I am going to be teaching a computer class as I said in my last letter, the government gave the children laptops but no one knows how to use them so I am excited that I will be able to help in that area. Please continue to keep the churches in prayer as they continue on in adverse circumstances and please pray for me to be used how God wants me to be. Thanks for all your support.

In Christ

Kayleen