My trip to the campo (San Juan de Cotabambas and Colca)

This past weekend, it was my turn to experience the windy, curvy mountain roads of the countryside of Peru.  It was amazing to see these huge mountains all around us.  It made me feel so small and realize how great is our God, that he created this amazing earth, from the mountains of Peru to the Grand Canyon.  Thank you Lord for caring for us, even when we feel so small and insignificant.

 

Our goal of this trip was to give gifts to the participants of the nutrition programs in the rural towns of Cotabambas and Colca.  We arrived Friday evening to our hotel in Cotabambas after dark after about a 5-6 hour trip through the mountains.  I was excited to have a nice warm bed and a real toilet.

We got up early on Saturday morning to head to the "posta" or the medical clinic which was about a 45 minute drive further into the mountains.  We started seeing patients, children in the nutrition program, at about 8:30 and finished up around 4:30.  Jen saw 31 patients and had to have translation for only a few who only spoke Quechua.  We gave each child a bar of soap, chewable vitamins, vasoline, and a children's book.  We were also able to give some socks out that were left over from last year.  The parents and children were so grateful.  It was truly a humbling experience.  We had a few children who hated being there and cried the whole visit, but for the most part, they were cooperative little patients.

 

Dr. Jen Brubaker and I are ready for the day.

 

Our little pharmacy and supply table.  We had socks, vitamins, antibotics, books, vasoline, and soap.

Women and children outside the clinic, waiting to be seen.

We finished the day by serving hot chocolate and biscotes which is a type of sweet roll that has small pieces of fruit in it.  We then passed out gifts to the children that were in the program and we even had small gifts for the children that were not in the program, but were hanging around throughout the day.

Loving their toys, the girls got dolls and the boys got plastic trucks or tractors.

 

The entire group at the end of the day, women and children from the nutrition program.  Juana, the nurse who heads Prosim, is the first from the right on the 2nd row.

 

I just had to take a picture of this baby and her baby doll box behind her.  All the mothers here carry their children on their backs like this.  Both Katie & Danica have copied it, which I love.

Sunday we traveled about an hour to Colca where another group of women and children were ready for a hot chocolate and gifts. The women heard the gospel message and had a time of sharing.  Then we did hot chocolate and biscotes another time.  The children in the nutrition received gifts and other neighborhood children enjoyed small gifts of plastic animals as well.

Jen & I passing out bread in Colca.

We attended the church service in Colca which was in Quechua, so I listened to Juana, the nurse who travelled with us, translate it in Spanish.  We headed out after a lunch of chicken and noodle soup and ended up getting back home to Cusco around 8:30pm.  It was a wonderful and blessed trip.  We had very little issue with traveling besides the occasional herd of animals in the road, such has llamas, alpacas, and cattle.  I also learned there is etiquette when driving around the Peruvian mountains, depending where you are, the person driving up the mountain has the right of way and the person going down has to back up if there isn't room to pass on the road.  I wouldn't be one to test this, but this is what I was told :)

 Teammates, Michelle and Bethany enjoying our road trip.

 This road is why I felt carsick on the way to Cotabamabas, they counted curves and it was somewhere in the twenties.

 

Romans 12:12  Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Prayer Requests and Praises:

 

*Please continue to pray for the girls as they finish up the Peruvian school year at Promesa.  They are improving my leaps and bounds in their Spanish.  Hannah has two more test days, Monday and Tuesday, so please keep praying for her especially.  Rose had a meeting with Katie's teacher this week about her progress and it went well, praise the Lord.  Pray for Danica too as she gets ready to go to preschool in March.

 



*Please pray for Chris and I as we adjust to and try to find our best places of ministry here in Cusco.  There are many opportunities and we want to do what is best for our family and the ministries here.

*Please pray for Rose's sister Joanna, she has been having some health problems and they are unable to find the cause of her symptoms.  We are trusting the Lord in this, but it is difficult to be away.

*Praise the Lord for his faithfulness and goodness in all things.  We have felt your prayers and know that you are praying.  Thank you and God bless you!