Well you guys, it's hard to believe I've already been here 5 days.  They've been chalk-full of activities that help me know Peru like I really wanted to know it.  Becky and Robert are at the hub of everything and have tons of people swirling around them including many Peruvians.  So I will give you a little peek into what we've been doing.  Becky and Robert bought an apartment perched on the 4th floor in a neighborhood classified as middle-class although their standards are much different than in America.  It's gated and being on the 4th floor makes it a little bit safer because there are a lot of thieves.  The first day here was great because they don't have a car and so we'd just set out walking for the post-office, the bakery, the food market and over to Kelsey and Ricky's house.  The neighborhood looks more like a poor area by our way of thinking with little buildings squashed together usually several houses high, all with gates, very  little gardening since cars are small and park inside the gate right up to the front door steps.  They all look alike, pretty much square or rectangular with painted cement and brick with different colors.  Wrought iron work is used more for keeping out thieves but partly for decoration.  The streets are tiny.  There are little fruit carts that travel around even on the highways that are made out of cut-up motorcycles, which is crazy because you should see the way they drive here.  I thought Italy and L.A. was bad but they don't hold a candle to these guys.  They honk constantly and now I understand why.  They want to warn you that you're going to die within the next 2 and 1/2 seconds.  So say your prayers and make it quick!!!!  So it was great to walk around instead of ride.  There are not many white people in this neighborhood and we are certainly watched with usually keen but not unfriendly interest.  You can't really read their facial expressions but I can see things when I look into their eyes.  I think they don't mind us too much.  It's fun purchasing things at their little food market and the bakery bakes bread twice a day because the people won't eat day old bread here.  Kelsey and her family built a little apartment on top of Ricky's parent's house.  That's how they do it here, just go upwards.  Their little 1 and 1/2 year old is adorable with his little dimples and Kelsey is all grown up and makes a good mother.  Friday we went to the Embassy to tend to Robert's passport and then on for a much needed doughnut at Robert's insistence.  Then back to the house to prepare for the day's visitors which included Kelsey's family including two little nephews, a couple of young people who were here on missions, and then a couple more young women, one who is going to set up an crisis center for young unwed mothers, and the other who will be spending her life in Peru after her last year of college where she's majoring in Spanish studies.  After they left Becky led a group of Peruvians in an English class.  Wow!  That was one day.  Each day since has been just as filled.  (Oh yeah, we also went to a garden nursery.  I bought Becky a gardenia bush and pot for out in front of the little house.)  Friday we went to a more Americanized grocery store (which was not anyway near as interesting) and bought food to prepare for an assistant pastor and his wife who were coming a 5:00 but got here at 3:30.  You should see how fast we moved to get ready before they came.  They were the sweetest young couple though and come from a Peruvian church that was kind of Pentecostal in nature.  We went their last night.  Fascinating!!!  Three hours long with 5 speakers and lots of singing and clapping.  One preacher talked for 1 and 1/2 hours all in Puerto Rican Spanish.  I didn't have a clue what he was saying but loved the way he said it.  He was hugely animated and kept the audience both captivated and in stitches because he was darn funny......We're getting ready to leave on a 3 hour trip so I'll write more later......Love you all, Mom/Esther

 Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 Subject: Re: Greetings from Peru

Hi all.....We just got back from the 3 hour trip to Chincha where the earthquake two years ago hit the hardest.  We visited two locations, one where Becky and Robert helped repair homes that were damaged including a little church whose pastor and family they befriended.  They also were responsible for getting electricity established but they don't have running water yet.  The houses in this little community are built of thatch and straw and plastic roofs and adobe and the government provided some wood structures after the earthquake.  Trouble is the houses are the size of my living room or dining room.  One story.  For whole families.  And they're almost connected one to the other.  Their floors are dirt.  But the families are so sweet.  We stayed overnight in a little hotel.  Spent a little time at a fabulous food market where we picked up rice and lentils for 160 families. (Just wait till I show you the great pictures I took of a pigs head and some octopus tendrils!!!)  Then we went to another little church that was being rebuilt and bagged the 160 bags of lentils and bags of rice.  Then we filled up several taxis with the bags and went out to a little community of refugees from the earthquake who live in those tiny little dwellings.  They all share some community bathrooms and sinks for water and washing.  People started trickling out from every corner and got in a long, long line.  Robert and I worked together to give food to each family as they filed by.  The people really touched me. They hugged us and thanked us with such feeling.  I got to look into each of their eyes.  Becky told me one lady would go every day and sit on a rock and just look at the destruction and rubble that used to be her life's home.  Such sadness.  The children are sweet little munchkins.  We then went into one of the homes and spent a couple of hours with a family they know.  A little girl attached herself to Robert and a little 9 year old boy who helped me give out the rice set beside me and put his little arm around my shoulder.  You know my heart melted.  There were two deaf grandmothers and the deaf husband of one of them and they were great.  One showed her prowess at some string games.  There was a woman named Julie who reminded me of Aunt Marguerite.  Well, I just loved them all.  After that we went to a little restaurant with the pastor who helped us with the food.  He and his family live in one of those small shacks just like the others.  He was so kind and humble.  He and Robert talked a lot in Spanish.  Becky and Robert go to help these people in Chincha about once a month.  The government stopped helping the earthquake victims about 6 months after it happened even though they lost everything.  So churches and donators find alot that needs to be done.  So much!!!!  So.....another amazing day in Peru.  I'm sleepy and dirty so nite-nite.  Oxoxoxoxox

Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Subject: Last of Peru Trip

 Hi you guys.....We've been gone for a couple days and boy do I have stories to tell..... We took an 8 hour bus ride to the highlands in the Andes mountains and it is my favorite place yet.  We got some hotel rooms in a small town called Huaraz, where in 1970 an earthquake destroyed all but 10% of it.  It registered 7.7 on the Richter scale and killed 70,000 people in central Peru.  The town has been largely rebuilt all though there is still a lot of building going on as there is in most of Peru.   (People will start and stop building depending on when they run out of money so it's always an ongoing process.)  The weather was crystal clear.  In Lima it's winter right now but in the highlands it's summer.  We took bus tours on the 1st two days of the trip.  The tour guide spoke only Spanish so we missed a lot of the history but I was so busy drinking up the country-side I didn't much care as we were winding up dirt roads past beautiful terraced farm land perched on the sides of the mountains.  And, oh the mountains!!!!!!  Spectacular!!!!!  There are about 700 in that mountain range we were told.  Amid the tiny little adobe brick villages was terraced farming, sheep and goat herding, floppy-eared burros, chickens, a mother pig and her little piglets, ducks, and guinea pigs, (which I ate one of, by the way since it's a great delicacy in Peru), and you can believe I got pictures of everything.  Except the eaten guinea pig of course.  The highest mountain in Peru (6768 meters), Huascaran, with its snow-capped top kept peeking in and out of the fluffy white clouds with all the other mountains in it's shadow and we climbed higher and higher.  Our first tour took us to a small town that was buried in the l970 earthquake/avalanche, killing 18,000 people.  There was a cemetery/memorial for that town that we visited.  I got lost while we were there and they had to come back and find me.  I know....Figures, Huh???  Anyway, I didn't cry, and everyone on the bus cheered for me.  Besides, while I waited for them I got to bond with two of the cutest little sheep, and got to watch a Peruvian funeral procession march by me on up the dirt path to the cemetery.  Isn't that something?  We also inadvertently got to see a wedding happening in one of the little towns we stopped at.  Then we went on up the mountains to see two lakes fringed by the most amazing mountain view.  On the way back down we stopped in three villages, one for dinner, one to pick up some Peruvian desert and one to watch a potter make and earthen pot on his potters wheel.  Robert bought a pretty vase for their table.  I loved all those sweet little villages.  It was like stepping back hundreds of years.  The people live with very little money and only need about $2000 a year to live.  They have no electricity but lots of running water since it comes down in abundance from the mountains.  It was so strange to look for miles and see no lights at night and yet know all those little towns and farms were dotted across the country-side.  The women were all dressed in their brightly colored skirts and shawls with tights and "practical" shoes with long braided hair topped off with distinctive hats that depicted what village they were from.  (The men often wore hats too.)  We met a little old woman carrying a bundle of alfalfa on her back, in full native garb surrounded by a couple  of sheep.  She had a sweet friendly face, kindly allowed me to take a picture of her, and talked to us through Robert who speaks Spanish quite well.  She had tiny little feet with the shabbiest of shoes, totally worn through.  Robert, concerned, asked her how much shoes cost, and she said 70 soles (or about $24.)  She explained she had been widowed two years ago and couldn't afford new ones.  In Peru there is no welfare system to help these poor women.  Robert told her when he came up next trip, (he had a young pastor friend in that town, he would take her to the village and buy her new shoes.)  We wrote down the address of her little adobe home and I gave him half the money for the shoes.  Such a small thing for us, such an important thing for this dear woman.  When you see her picture you will fall in love.  We had been walking up a little dirt road in the village and were able to observe them tending their small plots of land which is how they made their living.  As we wandered up through this lush farm land we were greeted by chickens and two burros (who let me pet them), a pig and all her babies and some sheep.  All on one dusty village road.  And children playing, a man leading a burro who carried a big bundle of sticks, an old woman by the side of the road sifting through some sort of beans in a pile, another woman washing some clothes in a stream.  What a lot to see on one little walk.  And most of the people were friendly to us.  Even when I pestered them for pictures they were kind enough to say yes.  Farther on up the road we stopped in at one of the farm houses, which are a little bigger then the houses not up in the hills, and spent some time with a young Peruvian pastor named Pedro.  The day before this we had taken our second bus tour which took us to a partially buried temple that served as a religious site as well as for civil ceremonies.  They believed in human sacrifices and had underground rooms with 3,000 year old engineering of a ventilation system that provided the rooms fresh air even though there was only one entrance and no windows.  We also went to a museum in the town of Chavin near by. We also went to a mountain town called Mancos where we had the privilege of visiting a youth pastor and his family, including 5 children plus father and mother.  There was a tiny courtyard that consisted of a sink for hand washing clothes as well as for cooking and washing up.  In the same small courtyard they were also housing two chickens, a duck, dog and cat, and 4 guinea pigs as well as a regular pig.  All in the space of my living room, maybe.  There were lots and lots of flies and chickens roamed through the rather open house at will.  This was a rare look beyond the adobe house fronts that give no clue to what lies beyond.  They are extremely poor but as generous as they can be.  As soon as we came the mother and daughter started cooking us a special meal of noodles and potatoes (Peru is where potatoes come from originally and there are many varieties,) and yes, fried guinea pig.  Because that is used only for special occasions they prepared it for us but would eat none themselves.  The woman and daughter didn't eat anything, nor sit at the table (not sure why) but did stand around us and visit while the father, his son, Becky, Robert and I ate.  They were endearing.  I took pictures to show you the family and all the animals.  We were lucky to be invited into their home.......Do you see how amazing my trip has been, thanks to my daughters and Robert and Becky.  I am so grateful!!!!!!!!  Tomorrow's my last day and I'm flying home so I can show you all mine, Becky's and Roberts photos and to tell you much more, and to take a rest. :o)   ------You can see the rest of the photos in the "Browse My Photos" link to the left------

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells how he will separate the people when he comes in his glory and sits on his throne.  He will put the righteous on his right and they will receive their inheritance, the kingdom that was prepared for them since the creation of the world.   The unrighteous will be placed on his left and will go into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  Of the righteous, he said, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Jesus speaks of giving the hungry something to eat and the thirsty something to drink and clothes for those who need them.  He spoke of sharing their home with those in need, taking care of the sick and visiting those in prison. 

As I read this passage this morning, I thought that Duane Counts would be a good example of someone who cared for "the least of these brothers of mine". 

Last October AIM scheduled 4 Earthquake Relief Mission Trips to Chincha.  Duane was on the 3^rd one.  While he removed rubble from properties in Los Jardines,… " he bent over a wheelbarrow and breathed in some dust that burned his lungs (his daughter, Kim, wrote 3 days later). He began to loose all of the feeling in his hands all the way up to his elbows and in his feet also; he couldn't even hold a cup of water. A local pastor (Pastor Nestor) prayed over him and while he ran to get anointing oil, the translator asked why he was praying about the angel of death. While the pastor anointed my dad, all of his feeling began to return. The next day my dad found out that the pastor had seen a vision of the angel of death before my dad got to Peru. He realized the angel of death was coming for my dad. Basically the prayers of the pastor saved my dad's life.

 My dad came back to the US on Thursday and was admitted to the

hospital. They found out he had a heart attack (losing 40% of his heart function, how much of this he will recover we do not know), and he had 3 stints put in Friday morning. He also caught pneumonia at some point before coming in the hospital (caused by what he inhaled on Monday). Last night they also discovered he had a stroke sometime after the heart attack (blood clots formed in his heart after the heart attack and later dislodged and went to his brain) which is what is causing his migraines and unbalance."

Duane himself wrote: "I got out of the hospital yesterday.  Before I was released, I heard  the same statement from two medical professionals (an RN and a Neurologist) that I have heard from numerous doctors and nurses over the last week: "I'm looking at your chart and your test results.  You have had a very serious stroke, heart attack and chemical attack on your lungs.  The person I am looking at cannot be the same person. You cannot be doing the things you are doing.  It's just not possible."  I've told these people they don't know the power of our Lord nor the faith the people in Chincha have!  After Pastor Nestor's prayers, I have never doubted my full recovery. Nestor walks closer to the spirit than anyone else I have known.  In addition to healing prayers, he also gave me some insights on other  parts of my life in which I have been seeking God's guidance.  He knew things about me he through the Spirit that he would not know as a man. What a gift he is to me and the people of Chincha."

At Thanksgiving, a little over a month later, Duane wrote: "Since returning home, I have been sharing my testimony with anyone willing to hear the message.  My Church recorded my testimony and put I it on "my space"  http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=26356918.  I have tried to think of an eloquent way of saying this but I just can't get there.  I'll just say simply that I don't think I would be alive nor be as spiritually strong if I had not made the trip to Peru.  Thank God.  God willing and with my wife's understanding I hope to return someday." 

Well Duane has come back twice now since his recovery.  The first time he helped women in Chincha learn to make jewelry to sell and earn a living.  He is in Peru this week seeking out other crafts that the people in Chincha can make to sell.  He has begun a website to help make a difference in the earthquake ravished cities in Peru.  You can see it at: http://web.mac.com/dacounts/PSM.  He states that his purppose is to "Increase God's Kingdom in Peru through: Conducting mission trips, funding of local Church projects and missionaries, support rebuilding efforts, and prayer."

I am pleased to have been a tool used by God to introduce Duane to Peru through AIM where he can draw more Peruvian to the Lord Jesus!

My second Mother's Day in Peru was really very wonderful.  It started off a bit strange, though.  I went out our apartment door to wait for Ricky, Kelsey and Sammy who were bringing me to church.  Before heading down the four flights of stairs, I noticed that my fern plant had a frond on the floor and dirt beside it.  This was unusual so I looked closer to see what could have happened.  In peering through the foliage, I notice a small brown furry animal had found refuge from the cold by burrowing itself deep into the dirt of my plant.  I went back into our living room and said, "Heh, Robert, there's an animal in my plant!"  He came to investigate along with Pastor David who was visiting from the jungle.  Pastor David asked, "Una rata?"  I said, "I don't think so".  It seemed to be too small and brown to be a rat and I couldn't imagine there would be a rat in my plant.  Pastor David came out and looked into the plant and poked the animal.  It didn't budge.  I began to think, if it is a rat I'd better close my apartment door.  Soon Pastor David had the animal on the move and it was scurrying down the stairs but Pastor David cornered it and I hear the animal squeak.  He asked for something to kill it and Robert brought his hammer.  Pastor David made short work of it and I brought him paper towels and a plastic bag to dispose of it.  He said, "Una rata!."  Pastor David became my hero from that time on.  (We invited him over on Wednesday for a spaghetti meal with Ricky, Kelsey & Sammy, Jason and his two friends and David a young gringo ministering in the jungle.)  We all went together to church for a wonderful time of praise and a great sermon by a young professional woman.  When we got back to the apartment, I was so relieved to see the bag sitting in the same place at the top of the stairs that we'd placed it.  It hadn't revived and taken off so I'd have to worry about it showing up again.  Robert brought it down to the garbage truck that evening.  It is actually the first rat I've seen here in Lima....thankfully!

Ricky invited us to his sister's for their family's Mother's Day fiesta.  There was a large gathering of family members, a Peruvian meal, music and dancing.  It was an enjoyable time.  Then when we came home I talked with Julia then Jennifer then my mother.  It was a perfect day spent with all my family. 

Another different aspect to this Mother's Day was that I participated in two school Mother's Day events.  One was at the Hogar de Ninos' in Chilca and the other at a school in a San Juan Lurigancho, a poorer area in Lima, where I've been helping in their English classes.  There were a lot of decorations and flowers to honor the mothers and a long program of poems, dramas, & songs from the different classes of children.  They ended both programs by giving the moms a meal.  I felt very honored to be a part of their Mother's Day event.  I love working with the children and meeting their families. 

Robert came home from Chincha, a city hit the worse by the earthquake last August, and told me about a beautiful little girl named Carol.  He said that something was wrong with her, she couldn't walk or talk though she is 2 1/2 years old.  He was struck by her beauty and wanted to help out the family who lost their home, belongings and even their land in the earthquake.  He had gone to Tamba de Mora to ferret out stories of the people who were still suffering from the earthquake.  The World Race Team was coming soon and they were doing a documentary on the earthquake and how the government has done little to help the victims of it.  When you see the devastation to the buildings you are struck with the force of the earthquake but it isn't until you speak with the people and hear their stories that you see the real extent of the effect of the disaster.  The World Racers came and have reached out to this family.  The mom told Robert that others have come and said they would do something to help them, but they never return.  When Robert returned with 27 World Racers, he told her "I came back".  The team has ministered to this family for 4 weeks now, praying for baby Carol (though she is 2 1/2 years old, she is at the level of a little baby and it is used as an endearing term) and the rest of the family and they have raised $1250 to get her to the doctors to see what is wrong with her and how she can be helped.  Last Friday, I had the priviledge of going to the hospital with baby Carol, her aunt, 2 sisters, 3 World Racers and an interpreter.  A brain scan was done and a blood test to see if a virus was causing the problem.  Later we returned to hear the analisis by the doctor.  It turns out that her brain was injured when she was around 8 weeks in the womb.  The damage is permanent and the medical community say there is nothing that can be done for her, that she will always be like she is.  She lays limp in her aunts arms but Jenn, a World Racer, was able to raise the biggest smile from her.  It just melts my heart to see it.  The family had such hope.  The doctor gave Jessica, the aunt and main caregiver, perscriptions.  Today, almost a week later, I was able to go with the mom and have those perscriptions filled.  The doctor says a wheelchair could help and well as physical therapy.  She'll need medication for convulsions at some point, too.  The World Racers want to do more.  They've found a doctor who will try to get a specialist in the states to look at the report and get another opinion.  I was able to scan that tonight and send it to Caroline, the World Racer, who will send it to her doctor friend.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord would choose to heal this little girl when everything else says recovery is not possible.  Whatever he chooses to do, I know that he has already given her a family who loves her dearly and an incredible beauty that causes many others to want to reach out and help.  Please pray for baby Carol. 

We just finished an incredible week of ministry in Chincha.  We cleaned up rubble in Pastor Desi's church and Compassion project compound from his house and classrooms.  Then we went to a baby church from this church's pastor's home and did a bunch of tearing down walls, saving adobe bricks, and removing mountains of rubble.  Some neighbors came and helped, also.  After we finished with Pastor Nestor's home, we helped his neighbors on either side of him and then the group went out into the neighborhood doing some evangelism.  Several people responded positively to the gospel and several relationships were started.  The next day the team went to one of the neighbor's home that helped with Pastor Nestor's and did the same kind of thing there.  Afterwards the team went out to visit the same people they met the first day they went into the neighborhood and then afterwards they played volleyball with folks in the neighborhood.  The people laughed, played hard, had fun and wanted to play game after game.  After dinner that night, we came back for a church service.  It was the second service we'd attended there in a neighbor's home.  The place had over twice as many people as the first day.  Working on the homes, talking with the people and buying bibles and blankets for them really made a difference with their willingness to listen and check out the church.  The church had only met 3 times before.  Robert preached at both the services we attended there and at both services at Pastor Desi's on the two Sundays we were there.  Each time he knew about preaching about 5 minutes before hand except the last time when he heard about it when the preacher invited him to come up during the service. 

While we were walking back to Pastor Nestor's house to play volleyball, people were asking us to help them.  One woman's son's glasses broke in the earthquake.  She said he would go blind if he didn't get some help.  Robert and our translator Dana went with the mom and son to a local optometrist.  He indeed had eyes in very bad shape.  It'll take 3 different sets of glasses to get his eyes to the strength he needs his glasses.  The doctor said he would have lost his sight totally.  It was good to be able to help and there's a good chance we'll be involved with the other 2 sets of glasses, too.  Other people came up and asked us to pray for them.  Two older daughters asked us to come with them to pray for their father who looks like he was paralyzed on one side of his body.  He was maybe in his late 30s or 40s and was working at a recycling (Peruvian style) area.  One of the men on the team prayed for him as he and I laid hands on him.  It was beautiful to see the daughter's hope and faith that they'd bring us all the way to pray for him.  The folks in the area said that we brought hope and light to the neighborhood.  What a wonderful privilege!!!!!!!

We visited another area that was hit even harder than the area we were in.  It was closer to the sea and the homes literally sank about 3-4 feet into the ground.  The government won't let the people rebuild there.  We visited folks and heard their stories.  One 82 year old woman comes there every day to sit and look at where her house is just a big pile of rubble.  She says she misses her home.  Thankfully she's able to stay with her son about 15 minutes away.  We asked how we could help and she said that many of her family have moved in with her son and they need more blankets.  We got the address and brought back 3 heavy llama wool blankets and some rice.  Another man talked about how dark warm water started coming up from under the ground before the earthquake started.  People were bailing water out of their homes.  Suddenly the earthquake happened and they all ran out of their community.  A jail was close by and a wall fell down and all 400 inmates escaped.  The man we were talking to said he was running with a baby in each arm and an inmate grabbed a baby and helped them get to a safer area.  We asked more people how we could help and they said they could use food most.  We bought four 110 pound bags of rice and brought them back to the area.  Enroute, we poured the rice into smaller bags so we could hand it out to more people.  After we handed out most of it in one area, we were leaving and folks were running along side asking for rice. We handed out the last of the bags as our driver was leaving.  It was all an amazing experience to us.  There's nothing so dramatic as being there to actually see it and incredible to talk to the people who lived through it all.

On the way home, after a 3 hour bus trip, as Robert was getting ready to get off the bus, he discovered someone stole his camera.  His expensive camera he bought right before we came to Peru.  He was bummed as were the rest of us.  He walked the several long blocks home with a couple others on the team while the rest of us took a taxi with all the baggage.  When he got home he said that it didn't hurt as much as when he lost his little camera in 2004 in the Andean highlands and that God was really teaching him about holding our stuff lightly.  He said that God had his good purpose in all of it and knew God would provide him another camera if he wanted him to have one.  Kelsey and Ricky looked at each other amazed and I was very proud of him and pleased how the Lord's worked in his life. 

As our ministry team walked around Santa Domingo with members of the church, we knocked on doors and talked to folks we came in contact with.   We approached an old man standing on the street to share Christ's love with him.  He pulled out his small worn Bible and told us of his faith in the Lord Jesus.   The young people chatted with him and shared their testimony then left a New Testament with him.  

We continued on our way to talk with more people and the gardener walked over to pick up his tools at the security guard's shed.   He told the guard about us and showed the guard his new Bible.   As we walked on, the security guard asked us, "Can I have a Bible, too?"    Encouraged and excited, we turned around to give him a Bible and the youth shared with him the love of the Lord Jesus.   As they talked about his need for salvation, the guard asked how he could ask Jesus into his life.   Amazed and overjoyed, they guided him into the Kingdom.   As we knocked on doors nearby, I looked back and saw the guard reading his Bible as though he couldn't take his eyes off it a moment to let cars through the gated area.     The youth we amazed at how many people asked Jesus into their lives that day and how ripe the harvest is in Peru.