Welcome to Calvary Pres from Virginia! What a great group of people. They are doing daily updates on their
website. To follow along, check it
out here: http://www.calvaryrpc.org/
We’ve had a great week so far. Monday we went to Magdalena de Cao and conducted a
Clinic. The dentist pulled 20
teeth! It was a great medical
campaign, but also a reminder of why we are here. It is not just mercy ministries. The last dental patient was a 10-year-old boy that needed a
tooth pulled, but was deathly scared.
I had seen him in triage crying and then again back in the dental
area. I was around to clean up and
start packing up and he was sitting in this chair crying a river. Lora Karaker is one of our short-term missionaries
that helps translate. I noticed
she too was getting visibly upset and asked what was wrong. She explained that the mom was telling
the child he needed to get the tooth pulled or his father would beat him when
he got home. I then was also about
to cry! To see this fear on this
child’s face! Gut wrenching is not
even close to how I felt. So, as
Lora is talking to the mom and trying to explain that she cannot keep saying
that and why that is wrong and trying to counsel her on some parenting skills
as well as ways to help the situation, I look over and this boy is just sobbing
in the chair. I can take it no
longer and just walk over and hold him and try to comfort him. I end up with this 10 year old boy
sitting in my lap as I am praying for him, telling him no one will hurt him,
that God loves him and we love him and we will not let anyone hurt him. He did stop crying and calmed down and
eventually we got the tooth out, but not after a few more tears. The dentist, Bill Griffin, did a great
job of using this as a witnessing tool.
As the boy was starting to cry again and Bill was trying to work, he
told the boy, why don’t you pray while I work? God tells us we can worry or we can pray. What do you think is the best
choice? The boy chose to pray and
we got the tooth out. We were all
exhausted. I was so proud of the
boy and was telling him so. And
again Lora and I are both in tears as he and his mom leave. I was only in the clinic for that one
patient and it wore me out. I do
not know how the dentist did it all day.
Of course, the others were not so traumatic!
On a brighter note, we went hoping to do a VBS with the
children, but had not planned one.
So, in good Peruvian style, we show up and just ask if we can go into a
school. The mayor’s office gets us
admission to a secondary school and we went in and had an impromptu VBS! What a joy to be with those kids.
That afternoon we went to El Brujo, an archeological complex
housing the Woman of Magdalena de Cao.
It is a mummy that was discovered in 2005 and unwrapped in 2006. It was extremely interesting and very
well done. The huaca was a great
end to our day in Magdalena de Cao.
This week we are in Trujillo each day dividing and
conquering the city! Part of the
group goes to the Universities here in town and lectures morning, afternoon and
evening. The medical part of the
team goes to the clinic each day and works all morning and into “lunch” (i.e.,
they work from about 8 to 2 every day non stop). The VBS side spends mornings preparing for VBS or at Larco
helping prepare the foundation for the new church. In the afternoon we have VBS out at Clementina. And then we are all together again for
dinner in a missionary home.
Whew! Yep, it is quite a
schedule! But oh so rewarding!
Thanks to Calvary Pres for all of your hard work. It has been great to get to know you
and serve our Lord with you here in Peru!
They are here until Sunday so still lots more work to do. Be sure to check out the church’s web
page noted above for the day-by-day reports from the team themselves.
