Mastercard?

Do you have those times in your life when everything seems to be going TOO good? That's where I've been for a while now. I have a wonderful family that brings extreme joy to my life. I love my job where God allows me to assist in the health and well being of people daily. I have the privilege of teaching youth Sunday school and enjoy the fellowship of a wonderful church family. Seriously, I would have to think long and hard to find anything that was less than ideal. And, you know how I was handling it? It scared me to death!!! I could never remember a time when everything was like this and it just didn't seem natural. Not that I don't believe that God wants only the best for us; but the world, in general, doesn't operate that way.

I've been looking forward to going back to Lima, Peru since I left last year. It was one of the best mission trips I had ever been on. But, it's only been within the past month or so that I have been diligently working towards preparing to go. What has been the result of that? Well, I've gotten alot accomplished I think. I've also noticed that my perfect world was far from being perfect any longer? Does that surprise anyone? Satan does have a way of trying to distract us when we strive to do more of what God wants us to do. Don't get me wrong. I have had no tragedies in my life, just one annoying (and somewhat expensive) incident after another.

A couple weeks ago, Holly hurts her leg running hurdles and exacerbates it playing in a basketball tournament - doctor bills and MRI to follow. On the way home from the tournament that weekend, the engine light comes on in Phillis' car - the glow plug and some other gizmo has gone out. The next week, the air conditioner goes out in my car. The disposal quit working in our kitchen sink. A drainage problem in our back yard causes us to put in a French drain to keep our house from washing out into the street!

Are the "struggles" associated with me going to Peru? I can't say for sure, but it does remind me of the Mastercard commercial:

Engine trouble - $165.00
Garbage disposal - $125.00
Air conditioner - $365.00
Holly's medical bills - $1,850.00
French Drain for the back yard - $2,500

Going to Peru and being a part of expanding God's Kingdom - PRICELESS!!!

Please continue to pray for our team as we prepare for out trip in June. Thank you!

Planning Continues

One of the big tasks we have in preparation for our trip is to try and figure out what drugs we will need to stock our "farmacia" for our patients. Last year, we saw nearly 500 patients in three different locations. Each location seemed to have needs different than the others. So, you can imagine the difficult situation. Fortunately, we all understand God is in control. So, while I believe He expects us to work hard, plan ahead, and be good stewards of our resources, I always thinks He expects us to have faith that if we are doing this for His glory, He will take care of the little details. How do I know? Let me tell you about last year's trip!

About March of last year, our fearless leader, Kyle Ray; our resident nurse, Geertje de Jong; and myself, gathered together in the Holy confines of the Pine Street Baptist Church conference room. Our mission - to make a list of the meds we would need to treat an unknown number of people for unknown diseases that we may or may not see in a land to which we had not worked. No problem. We diligently scrolled through pages of discount drugs that we could order through Blessings International for just such a purpose. Several hours and a few thousand dollars later we completed the task. The drugs were ordered, received, and forwarded to Lima, Peru a couple of months early to be sure they would clear customs in PLENTY of time for our arrival.

I'll spare you the details, but as I'm sure many of you have already surmised, by the time we arrived in Peru, our drugs were still in customs. Great! We're having a free medical clinic to treat people who cannot afford to go to the doctor... only to tell them that we don't have the medicines that can help them get well and they have no money to buy. Are you catching all this?

But, wait! We're not in control, God is, remember? No sooner had we landed when a gentleman heard about our group and why we were there. He contacted the local missionary, John Pham, and asked if we could possibly use the suitcase full of medicines he just happened to have left over (not sure from what)? Miracle number one! Next, we learned we were able to stop by any local farmacia and purchase whatever other medicines we needed - no prescription necessary - at a cost much lower than what we purchased beforehand. Miracle number two! So, each day we were able to treat our patients and give them the medicines they needed. And, each day we would go to the farmacia and purchase the additional drugs we felt were necessary to have on hand.

After our trip back home, Kyle decided he would calculate the cost of the drugs we purchased. I thought he approached this very well. He knew how much money we had to start with, and he knew how much we ended up with. So, he took the total amount of money we had to start with, deducted the cost of our hotel bill, deducted the cost of our transportation for the week, deducted the cost of our translators, deducted the cost of our meals.... and the difference between that figure and the money left over would be the cost of the drugs. Still with me? He did this several times to confirm his findings and then sent the figures to me to double-check. Sure enough we both came up with the same figure. The drugs for the week - that we purchased with cash each morning before clinic - cost us a -$6.00! For those of you who are not math oriented, that means that we had $6.00 MORE than we should have even if we didn't spend a penny (or in this case, a sol) on drugs. Miracle number three and God saved the best for last! Is it any wonder why I am so excited to get back to Peru!

But, the planning continues. Geertje and I spent about an hour yesterday doing our due diligence with our medicines once again. We're still planning and trying to be efficient, but we're not fretting over the details! More to come.....

Team Members

Final preparations are being made for our 2nd medical mission trip to Lima, Peru. In the days leading up to our departure - 54 days from now - I will share some of the experiences from last year's trip, request prayer for special needs as they surface, and give some insight as to planning taking place for the trip.

Today, I would like to introduce you to our team for this year's trip:

Kyle Ray
Toey Courtney
Donnie Stone
Geertje De Jong
Amy Gearner
Jennifer Wilson
Amanda Edwards
Glenda Duncan
Wiepe Youngsma
Holly Stone
Angela Watkins
Chelsea Coleman
Jayne Haney
Glenda Salinas

Please beginning praying now that God will use this group to not only meet some physical needs of the people we encounter, but more importantly, meet some spiritual needs and expand the kingdom of God.

Thank you for your faithfulness!

Testing

This is where we will give daily testimonies to the work God is doing in Peru.