Kevin

The phone rang at 8:03 am on Sunday morning. We were just getting ready to leave for the first of 5 Sunday School classes that we have on Sunday. It was Ruth (You may have read about her in earlier blogs, and about her father, Felix and his glasses, too.). She was distraught and I couldn't understand exactly what she was saying, so I passed the phone to Luz. Luz was talking and listening, and I was hearing (in Spanish of course) "What? How? How? Okay, we are coming!" So our first Sunday School class was scheduled to start at 8:30 am, but this was an emergency!
At about 8:22, we stopped at the corner of Ruth's street. We had to walk two blocks to her cuarto (Most people here don't have houses; they rent a room, usually about 12x12 for their entire family. This is especially true for young families). All we knew was that Kevin, Ruth's husband, was sick.
We were just ready to enter her "yard", when Ruth came running toward us from the house of her mother-in-law. She fell into Luz's arms and began sobbing. For about 5 minutes we stood there trying to comfort a very distraught wife.
When she was able to gain her composure, Ruth began telling us the story of what had happened in the last week.
The previous Sunday, Kevin had gone to play soccer in the afternoon. At one point in the game, he collided with another player in the game and broke his collarbone. They went to the hospital and had x-rays. They found out from the x-rays that not only was it broken, but it was out of position, so if he didn't do anything, it would heal badly. So they thought they would begin treating that.
Well, the next day, there was a red spot on his leg, and it hurt, but they just thought it was a bruise from the collision, and so he ignored it. The next day, however, the red spot had spread, and the pain was excruciating. So, being the good jungle family that they are, they went to the local witch doctor on Wednesday, who mixed up a mud paste and put on it. The mud didn't help, and so he cleaned that off and cut open a toad and put on it. Well, you guessed it...that didn't help either. So, he cleaned that off and mixed up an herbal water and heated it up and made a compress to put on the leg. That made it lots worse, not to mention that all this invited Satan in to work. So they went home and waited.
Kevin continued to get worse. On Thursday, he was in so much pain that he wrote a good-bye letter on the back of a receipt asking Ruth to take care of their little girl, Estrella (almost 2), and that he was sorry for anything he had done that was bad, but he needed to end his life because the pain was so bad. Fortunately, Ruth found the note before he could follow through, and he continued to get worse over the following days and was too weak to follow through.
So after Ruth told us all this, we entered into one of the most troubling scenes of my life. Had I not known him before, I would have thought that Kevin was a severely handicapped individual that was at the point of death. It is true. He was at the point of death, but I know Kevin. He is a normal, active, vibrant, 24 year old young man. Here, we walked into the room and Kevin lay on the bed with his eyes rolled into his head. His mouth was partially open, and his breathing was in short gasps. His head was twisted to one side, and Ruth had laid a Bible on his chest. He was not the Kevin we know!
Ruth showed us his leg. What had been a red spot on his lower, inner thigh, had spread to his ankle and waist. His leg was nearly doubled in size. We immediately told her he needed to go to the hospital, which is only 7 blocks from the house. But, they didn't want to take him to the hospital because they didn't have any money to pay. That is one thing about living here. I don't know if it is the Third World or just Peru, but if you don't pay first, they don't treat; Even in an emergency like this!
We called Hermano Jose, the leader from the central church who is helping us in Yarinacocha. He said he would come and help them get Kevin to the hospital.
Luz and I prayed with Ruth over Kevin, and a few minutes later, Estrella came in and before I could stop her, she touched Kevin's leg. He began to scream, (again in Spanish) "No, my little girl! My leg is hurt! My leg is hurt! Please, my little girl!" Up until that point, he had been semi-conscious. Now, he was wide awake and in tons of pain. But, it gave Luz a chance to really talk to him and tell him that Jose was on the way to take him to the hospital, as well as pray with him. He wanted to say the sinner's prayer, so Luz began to pray, and as Kevin was praying and repeating her words, his voice began to get stronger and stronger. When they finished praying, Luz prayed for him again. Then he asked for some water, which he hadn't had anything to eat or drink for a long time because of his unconscious state. As we left, Kevin was smiling and thanking us for coming and helping him. He was a totally different person than when we came in. So we left with the promise that Hermano Jose was on his way.
Luz went on to Jhon Hocking Weeks to lead the second and third Sunday Schools, and I went to the church in Yarina for the fourth class.
Later in the day, Jose called and said that Kevin was being treated at the hospital, but that the infection was so bad the doctors were debating taking his leg. They were just waiting to see how he responded to the medicine.
The next time we saw Kevin was on Tuesday afternoon at visiting hours. He continues to be in pain, but his spirit and life are changed. His leg actually looks worse, with a black area and blisters where the infection originally started, but he is thankful to be alive. And the doctors say that it will take time and medicine, but that his leg should be fine. We are planning to go and see him again on Saturday, after we help with a grilled chicken dinner to raise money to pay his bill.

Continue to pray for Kevin, Ruth, Estrella and their extended family. This experience has been an opportunity for us to minister to the family more, and it has been a tool to help anchor their faith in Jesus Christ. There will be no more witch doctors for this family. Their faith is in Jesus!

Finishing up in Yarinacocha

Well, we are happy to say that Yarina has a pastor. She is Lucilita Rojas (as far as we know, no relation to Daniel, one of the 40/40s here in Pucallpa). She started working in Yarina in January, and has been visiting, and holding services in the same cuarto that we began renting in Yarina. Luc is here for her year of practicum from the Seminary in Chiclayo. After they finish with their studing, they complete a year of practicum before graduating. The timing was great, and Brother Jose is still helping with visiting, which is very good because he visits the men. We went to see some of the people that were our contacts in Yarina, and they all love Luc, so it is going to be a good fit. Please continue to pray for this group of new believers and for Lucilita.

Estas son las últimas actividades en La nueva Iglesia Yarinacocha, algunos hermanos participaron del ayuno en la iglesia central, celebramos el nacimiento de Jesús con los niños presentamos una película y terminamos con un culto especial con los adultos, entregamos sus certificados a los que terminaron su discipulado, Nos vamos contentas por lo que dejamos pero tambien pensando que nos falto mucho por hacer, creemos que Dios Guiará los nuevos lideres a continuar con el crecimiento y fortalecimiento de la Iglesia.Gracias por las oraciones que nos fortalecen, y nos animan a continuar nuestra misión Dios los Bendiga.

La Obra debe Continuar

Son las últimas semanas en Yarinacocha, hemos logrado iniciar la iglesia pero queda mucho por hacer, creemos que los Lideres que tomen esta obra continuaran en el crecimiento y fortalecimiento de esta nueva obra , con mucha nostalgia nos despedimos de este hermoso lugar . Dios nos enseño mucho y nos permitio llegar a los hogares de muchas personas a las que ahora podemos llamar hermanos quienes han aprendido a buscar a Dios y tambien a dar y compartir aún los niños con sus pocos recursos dan para la obra, aún estan en su etapa de crecimiento espiritual pero estamos seguras que muy pronto se levantaran grandes lideres y la Iglesia del Nazareno en Yarinacocha seguira con su Gran comisión Id y Haced Discipulos . Gracias Señor.

Los Primeros frutos l

Es lindo ver como va creciendo la obra, nos queda poco tiempo en este lugar de Yarinacocha,en unos dias mas tendremos mas bautizados recibiremos nuestros primeros miembros y es urgente un siervo de Dios que se haga cargo de esta nueva Iglesia Oremos que Pronto nuestro buen Dios envie alguien a Continuar con el crecimiento y fortalecimiento de la iglesia en Yarinacocha.

Yarinacocha y sus primeros frutos

El trabajo es arduo, cansado cuando el intenso calor del sol no ayuda mucho
Pero ver los resultados es como recibir un viento fresco que alivia nuestra fatiga.
Tenemos un lugar que se ha convertido en nuestra casa de oración y alabanza
Martes y domingos, escucharles cantar los himnos con alegría, ver esos nuevos
Rostros de grandes y pequeños alabar a Dios es la mayor recompensa que podemos
Recibir .Gracias le damos a Dios por bendecir nuestras vidas. Aun queda mucho por hacer
Oremos por el crecimiento espiritual de nuestros nuevos hermanos.

New Meeting Place for Yarinacocha

This is our new church building in Yarinacocha...okay, it isn't new, but it is new to us...we have someplace to call "home" now, and the people are glad too. Maria and her husband, Wilmer are who we rent the room from. This day was her birthday, and the day that we moved everything into our "Temple". The little kids in the neighborhood come over everytime they see the door open, so we have been able to help some of them with homework and just have a chance to talk to them too.

Empe "welcoming" people to the "templo".

My first Sunday School class in the new room. These are three cousins, Levi, Tricia, and Fresia. Empe teaches the younger kids in the front row.

This is our first service in the new room. We had 23 people in that service. Some others passed by and watched for a while at the door or window, and some of our regulars had to stand at the window the whole time because there was no more seating. That little room was hot with that many people. So, the next Sunday, September 12, we had the kids make handheld fans in Sunday School, like we used to get from funeral homes and use at camp meeting, as an offering to the church (we had talked about offering in the Tuesday service). Because many of them don't have money to give, but they all have talents they can give, we thought this may be a good way to let them help with things that the new church needed. The fans turned out really good...we haven't taken pictures of them yet because the glue was still drying when we left. I want to take pictures of them with the kids that made them and post those pictures.
As I said, we talked about offering in the Tuesday night service. This is a big deal because now we have rent to pay... anyway, we talked about tithe and offerings, and I spent a good portion of the week making this wall hanging. It has three rows of pockets for envelopes...tithe envelopes. Here, a person has the same tithe envelope for a whole year. It has a chart on it for them to write how much money they put in each week or month, and they put it in the offering. Then, when the money is taken out of the envelope, the envelope is returned to the wall hanging so that they can pick up the envelope the next week or month to put their tithe in the offering again. "Diezmos" is the word for tithe. By the end of the 4 days of working on it, I was wishing I had a sewing machine...or at least a good thimble...sore fingers in the end, but a beautiful "Diezmos center", if you ask me.