¡Leche, por fin!

We can't believe it, but we have actually found a milk that resembles the taste of precious milk at home! This may not seem like a big deal to some of you - but if you were drinking shelved milk out of boxes and most of them tasted a bit like cheese - you, too, would be rejoicing with us! :) You don't know how excited we were to taste this milk. Lora opened the box, took a sip, and out loud said, "No way..." She took another sip and, sure enough, it was a miracle in a box. With a cow on it. Thank you, Laive!

Health News on the Home-Front

Praise the Lord for some final relief from sickness! Lora has been sick for the last month and we are happy to finally be back to life as normal. 

In the middle of June, Lora ended up with an intestinal infection not officially named - but assumed as Salmonella or E. Coli. After the first week and a half and the first round of antibiotics not working, she was prescribed a week of daily hip injections of an extremely strong antibiotic. Unfortunately, after a few days of injections, she began experiencing a severe reaction to the antibiotic. Lora was under “house arrest”, stuck at home for two more full weeks recovering from the serious reaction to the antibiotic. After a full month, many prayers, and trusting the Lord to take care of us - Lora has finally fully recovered and is excited to be out of the house and back to work!

Thank you so much for those of you that prayed with us! 

THE SMALLER PICTURE - LORA

I’ve been working out at a very small, humble clinic in Wichanzao, an area on the outskirts of town - a 20-30 minute commute from our home. Wichanzao is in a very needy area where many people are in extremely harsh economic conditions. Our clinic is a short walk from the foothills of the Andes which are dotted with squatters and shanty towns. 

We work in connection with the church and we try to serve the people with compassion that isn’t found in most other Peruvian facilities. We employ a Peruvian doctor, two nurses, an obstetrician, a lab tech, a pharmacy student, and a dentist. The staff is wonderful. They are full-time and work hard and whole-heartedly for a competitive pay of $50-70/month. It’s amazing to see the genuine love they share for the people out in Wichanzao. We charge minimal fees for our services, and many times let the patients pay what they can if they cannot afford the full amount. For instance, we charge the equivalent to $1.75 USD to see the doctor, and $0.75 for a consult with the dentist. Our pharmacy is able to sell medication donated from doctors in the U.S. for next-to-nothing, which is an incredible blessing. We also host American doctors who volunteer a week or so at a time to treat patients in the clinic. Peruvians travel far for the luxury of being seen by an American doctor. I’m consistently amazed at the turnout for our “campañas” or medical campaigns when American medics grace our clinic. These weeks we lower our fees and often go out into the community to treat those that may not be able to come to the clinic. 

I’m working at the clinic 5 days a week helping with daily tasks. I register patients as they come in, handle the payments of patients as the walking cash register, etc. I have also recently been put in charge of tracking the daily ‘ingresos y egresos’, or, keeping up the clinic’s financial spreadsheets. It’s exciting learning more and more every day and gaining more and more trust from my new Peruvian friends. I am also translating between American doctors that come to volunteer and the patients they attend. Although I’m still waiting for some of my spanish to come back to me, hands-on translating in a third-world clinic may be my favorite part of the job...

I also love organization and administration and hope to, in time, help think through and revise some of the  antiquated systems to help the clinic run as efficiently as possible. (The clinic recently got a computer and I’m in the process of entering two years worth of patient information into the system!!! :) ) It’s exciting to be a part of something in the infant stage and dream along with others of what it just may be in the future...

Please pray for:

• Protection and Safety - Wichanzao is a somewhat dangerous area. Young women are often targets of theft, and at times physical and sexual assault. Please join us in prayer for protection in my daily commute. 
  

• Relationships - That the Lord would bless the relationships with my Peruvian co-workers and members of the Wichanzao community and continue to grow them. 
  

• Diligence - That the Lord would allow me to work well and truly contribute to the development of the clinic.
  

THE SMALLER PICTURE - ERIC

We’d love to give you the inside scoop of Eric’s work here. He’s being stretched and developed as he takes on many new tasks...

One of his jobs is to create an e-bulletin every month that’s sent to supporters of Peru Mission in the states. It’s an extremely important task as it keeps everyone up to date on what's happening here in Peru. He highlights one of the ministries or an exciting event that has taken place, interviews people, and writes and designs the bulletin. It’s currently being mailed to almost 900 friends of the mission in the U.S. (If you’d like to receive the ebulletin let us know! We can get you set up!) He’s excited about this part of his job as he gets to dabble in all the ministries here and be in the know of what’s happening around the mission.

Eric will be in charge of a 8-12 page print bulletin that goes out in the mail twice a year to the subscribers. This bulletin highlights major events and more fully documents what the Lord’s doing here. This project takes quite a bit of preparation and coordination as it’s compiled, designed, and printed here in Peru, and then mailed stateside. He’ll begin writing for the print bulletin in just a couple of months.

He has also been elected to head-up research on capital campaigns and fundraising. The mission has many projects in the works and is in need of major funding for their completion. Eric is making contacts and gleaning as much wisdom as he can so that the team can begin to work towards a well-planned, well-organized capital campaign looking to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gulp.

Eric is also now on the website/logo development committee. Peru Mission is looking at a complete website/logo overhaul and the committee is working together to try and make some of the big decisions in order to have an innovative, organized, up-to-date, and interesting website that represents us well.

A side-note worthy of mentioning, is that Eric stepped into these roles with virtually NO experience in graphic design, no knowledge of graphics software, etc. My brave husband is teaching himself graphic and web design (a daunting task), honing his photography skills, learning spanish to be able to conduct interviews, work with Peruvian graphic designers, etc., and trusting Jesus, nonetheless. He’s doing a great job juggling all of this newness!

Eric would LOVE for you to pray for:

• Discipline and Efficiency - that he would work hard and work well at his job. 

• Discernment - That he would be able to discern which tasks deserve priority and which can wait. 

• Confidence and Encouragement - As Eric at times feels inadequate and lacking confidence, please pray that he would be encouraged, that he would extend grace and patience to himself, and that he would learn these new skills quickly!
  

Thanks to all!