Newsletter Archives 2005

November 18, 2005
Well, another month has passed very quickly. This month was busy, but not quite as exciting as the last.

One fun time for me was my first bullfight. It was a fund raiser for the Association. They paired up with another group and split the profits. They set up the ring in the vacant lot next to the Association - complete with bleachers and a six foot fence around the ring. There were three matadors and 4 or 5 bulls and six clowns. We had a great time. As you can see from one picture, Ipolita (formerly Mama) and Scooter attended with us. We had no intention of bringing them, but they found us and would not leave. They were fine until the bulls came into the ring. Ipolita immediately began barking and running up and down the fence trying to get in. She made quite a lot of noise, but no one seemed to mind as the crowd was yelling too. Scooter spent the time under the bleachers eating all the food that was dropped. He thought he had it made! Food dropping from heaven - what more could a small dog ask for?

We also learned about All Saints Day in Peru. First off, on Halloween there were lots of demonstrations on our street against Halloween because it is the work of the devil. The stores still sell costumes and candy, however, but that is mostly in Lima. Then on November 1st, everything is closed (It's a national holiday) and there were huge parades in honor of All Saint's Day. Also, the people who have lost someone can put a wreath in their doorway and the priest goes up and down the streets and stops and prays at the homes with the wreaths. The floats were beautiful and the bands great.

This past week, Dave's second cousin twice removed, Austin and his mother, Jennifer (second cousin once removed through marriage) visited us. They came to Peru on November 2nd and went to the mountain area to build a church with their group. They returned to Lima on the 14th. Dave and I and Luis went to Lima the afternoon of the 14th and spent two nights at the Regency Hotel with them. The first day, we took them to the Indian Market and the mall on the side of the hill for shopping, Chinese food, and Peruvian Ice Cream. On Tuesday we went to a museum and saw the history of Peru - that was really interesting for Dave and I as well as Jennifer and Austin. Then we went back to the Indian Market for more shopping and to Dominos for pizza (2 for 1 night) and back to the hotel for bed.

Wednesday morning Alfonso picked us up at the hotel and took us to Project Hope where we saw the Adventist church there (same style as the one Jennifer's group built) and visited the pre school and the place where they make compost from garbage using worms - really an interesting process. We also saw the new library which is not yet completed. This is the same one Dave and I dedicated last winter. Jennifer and I were invited to one lady's home. She has 3 month old twin girls and two other older children. We enjoyed being there and she was excited that we came to her house. Then we went with Alfonso to his mother's restaurant for lunch. We had the best causa in Peru, plus baked chicken and rice. Causa is a cold potato salad similar to ours, but the potatoes are mashed and there are other cooked vegetables in it - onions, carrots, beans, peas. Then it has a yellow slightly tangy mayonnaise type sauce mixed in - we will get the recipe as you will all love it - especially those who like potato salad.

After lunch we caught a taxi back to Huaycan and Jennifer and Austin spent the night with us. We took them shopping in the open market on Wednesday afternoon for some things for dinner. They liked the stores on main street, but were not thrilled with the market - especially the open air meat market. Dave made his famous spaghetti for supper - it was great. On Thursday, we visited the Association, met our doggies, toured two of the soup kitchens and visited the local orphanage. We rode a mototaxi back down the hill to our house - Austin really liked that! Then they packed up and we got a taxi to Lima. We stopped again at a different Indian Market and an ice cream shop and then dropped them at the airport for their flight home. It was a great week and we thoroughly enjoyed having them visit.

I forgot to mention that before they arrived we painted our dining and living rooms a light yellow and the bathroom and the unfinished bathroom a bright blue. Everything looks so much better. We also splurged and bought two paintings in the Indian Market for our living room. They are pictures of the local musicians and instruments in earth colors - really nice. The unfinished bathroom has become our guest bedroom - Jennifer slept there. It is 5 by 9 and just barely fits a single bed and a chair, but what do you expect for free. We also have a place for any other visitors to stay when they visit.

We are also having Rudi (he built our apartment) add a sink on the roof so that I have a place to wash clothes like sheets, towels and our good clothes. He should be done this week, so I'm excited because I have been using the kitchen sink and that's pretty messy. I still have Lina doing all the other wash for me.

This month sounds like all we did was party and decorate, but we did some work also.

The Association has hired not one, but two young men to work in the wheelchair repair shop. They are José and Edwin. Dave has had a great time teaching them and they are really excited to be working. The past week they have been pretty much on their own as we were traveling around in Lima and they have done a great job. We are so happy with their progress.

A week ago we visited the Christian Fraternity for People with Illnesses and Disabilities. They operate a center where people that have had major surgery go to live and participate in rehabilitation for several weeks before they return home. Some examples might be people who have lost a leg and need a prosthesis and need to learn how to use it. They also have people who have back surgery and need care to recover or learn to walk or use a wheelchair. They are planning to set up a wheelchair repair shop also and will visit our shop on Monday to see how to start. We have agreed to help them with our knowledge to set up the shop. They need anywhere from 50 and more wheelchairs per year to supply their patients. We may also work on setting up to manufacture some parts for chairs, such as wheels and seats and backs.

We also spent a day visiting the seven soup kitchens run by the local catholic church. They serve primarily the indigent and the very poor people. As you can see from looking at them, they are in serious need of repairs and updating. We met with the church social workers today to propose a plan to them whereby Dave and I would use a significant donation we have received from our friends Carole and Ralph Beckworth to help repair, replace and update these kitchens for them. We feel strongly that you cannot help people do anything else until they are properly fed and this is one way to accomplish that goal. The social worker will present our plan to the priest when he returns next week and if he is agreeable, we will meet after that to form a plan of action. In addition to repairs and updating, Dave would show them some recipes that are very economical to make and we would talk to them about forming a co-op to have more buying power so that their food costs would be less. They receive commodities of rice, lentils or peas, canned milk, dried potatoes and salt from the government. The rest they have to buy, so some days all they have is soup because that's all the money they have. The workers are all volunteers on a rotating schedule. Many times they don't have enough money to buy the propane gas, so they cook over open fires out in the back of their buildings. The government also provides each kitchen with a propane stove top with three large burners. They have no ovens, but people here don't bake much anyway, so that is not particularly significant. If this project is approved, we will probably begin in January with another tour and listing repairs needed on a priority list and then begin.

Another project we will begin in late December is a "reading room" for women and children. It will be located in a large room downstairs from our apartment. We will be installing bookshelves, tables, chairs, a whiteboard and a felt board. This is my project primarily (Kathy) and once it is ready I will begin holding Bible classes for children and women as well. I have received a very generous donation of "felts" (Bible story characters) plus a 3 year program of Bible classes to go with them from Dave's cousin Bonnie. It is a complete set of felts that had been used in a church that for whatever reason no longer needed them. The figures are anywhere from 6 -12 inches tall complete with buildings, animals, etc. to tell all of the basic Bible stories that we tell in Sunday school. Dave is right at this minute building me a felt board to use to put them on to tell the stories. I will also continue to hold English classes for men and women and possibly children. I also want to work with Luisa and the social workers at the church to plan some seminars for women on self-esteem, good nutrition, caring for babies, pre-natal care, etc. We will stock the reading room with books for children - both Christian and secular, books and resources for women - both Christian and self-help type books as well as some novels. Basically, I want it to be a place where women and children can come and relax and feel wanted, needed, appreciated and know that they are important also. If we can get one, we will have a computer and a television and DVD player so that we can show appropriate movies for children and parents. This room is being made possible by a donation from our very good friends Doug and Barbara Browne.

Our next project beginning December 3rd is the presentation of the Christmas story by the children of the Association. We will present the play on December 22nd at their annual Christmas dinner. I have created a play based on the story "The Night the Animals Spoke". It is a very old story from Latvia about the animals talking on the night Jesus was born. I wrote the script and Luis tweeked my Spanish for me. I have selected songs to sing with it and will teach the children "The Little Drummer" song to sing. Luis translated it into Spanish for me - what a treasure he is! We start practices on December 3rd. Dave will make the sets for me and I have several volunteers to help me with the practices etc.

The reason I chose that play was because they tell me to expect anywhere from 30 to 150 children to participate. The association has 65 animal head hats out of fuzzy material for children and I thought they would make excellent "costumes" since it is summer now and they won't want to wear a full costume. We will have the shepherd, wise men, Mary, Joseph and the innkeeper all just wear head costumes as well, so that part will be very easy. Pray for me that all goes well as this is the first time anything like this has been tried with this group of children. I'm going to use this project as a jumping off point to begin having Bible classes for children every Saturday morning beginning in January.

Oh! One last rather humorous thing. Ever since we arrived everyone has been telling us that we will love Christmas because they have panetones and they are really great. We kept asking them what is a panetone? They just said it was a sweet cake. We were starting to wonder if they were fruitcake, but they are not. Well, we got one last week in the grocery store and, guess what? For those of you that are Scandinavian or German, they are the same thing as Christmas Bread, but a little sweeter! I think that is really funny and it just goes to show that everybody has very similar customs and foods - they just call them different things.

Hope you continue to enjoy our stories and pictures. To all of our friends and families, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. They obviously don't celebrate it here, but the Association has a picnic that day for their anniversary, so we will participate in that.

Dios te bendiga! God bless you!

Dave and Kathy

October 11, 2005
We have been here another month almost - it doesn't seem possible - time is going by so fast. First, I have to write a correction to last month's letter. The library we dedicated was paid for by the Love for Peru Foundation - guess we got the wrong information.

This month was full of diverse activities - here are some of the highlights.

Dave and several men from the association put the roof on the repair shop this month. They got together on a Saturday and used wooden panels and wood poles to make the roof. It is temporary, but very sturdy. Dave said it was really a hoot. They had a father and son helping and the son is hearing impaired. Everytime his dad needed him, he would toss a pebble at him to get his attention! Also, another team was two guys putting the nails in the panels of wood. The one holding the ladder has had a stroke and one arm does not work well. The one on the ladder pounding has one eye and is extremely near-sighted in the other one (no glasses). Then, of course, we have Pablo in his wheelchair reminding everybody not to hit the "gringo" on the head!

Dave had a great time - just shows no matter what your disabilities, if you work together, you can accomplish quite a lot. The shop is completed except for a couple more pieces of equipment and the association has found a young man that wants to learn how to repair wheelchairs, so Dave will start training him this week. He thinks he has repaired about 30 wheelchairs in the past month - some easy things and some not so easy. The biggest problem we will have in the near future is we are running out of parts to do the repairs.

I have joined a Bible study class for ladies. My landlady, Luisa, has it at her house downstairs, so it is really convenient. We meet at 5:00 on Saturdays and stay until we are ready to go home. They do prayers first, then a short study of a Bible passage and then watch a Christian movie. I was really surprised as the movies are part of a series made by Billy Graham's group. They are very good and all the ladies love Billy Graham. I had no idea his reach went this far. He is truly amazing.

The association had a birthday party on September 22nd - they only do it once a month for the whole group - there were about 8 birthdays in September - that's a lot. I got to keep the candle - I guess that makes me special.

We were invited to the President of the Association's home to celebrate the baptism of his children - 1 and 5. We had a really nice time with them and some of the people from the association who were also there.

We also took one day and went with Luis to visit the people way up in the hills. In particular, we went to see a man that wanted a wheelchair. We found a man with really bad arthritis living in a wooden house with his wife. He spends most of every day in bed and his wife works. He can't have a wheelchair because his home has dirt floors and very small door openings, so he wouldn't be able to get around with it. We gave him a walker instead. He seemed to be able to walk a little and will get stronger as he uses it more.

We met two wonderful ladies who work with the Catholic church to provide medical care to the people in this area. It is unreachable by car, has no running water and limited access to anything else. They do have electricity. Dave and I may see if there is anything we can do for this area as they are desperate for many things.

Mostly being here is great - the biggest drawback is the dirt, dirt, dirt everywhere. I can start at one end of the house cleaning and by the time I get to the other end which isn't very far, the first end is dirty again and it's a really fine - like baking powder or corn starch - dirt that just sifts into everything. I finally broke down and bought a vacuum cleaner - a real small one, but pretty powerful - because I felt like all I was doing is pushing the dirt around with the broom or the dust mop.

Other than that, it is good, especially now that we have gotten used to the food enough so we can eat salad after we clean the lettuce of course. I never dreamed I would have such a craving for salad as I did the first 6 weeks. I have eaten salad twice a day for over a week now and still crave it all the time. They make their salad really simply - lettuce, tomatoes, sweet onions sliced really thin, sprinkle it with white vinegar and squeeze lime juice over the top - try it some time - it's the best salad and so easy. Make sure the lettuce is nice and crisp. Of course limes are 25 for about 10 cents here as opposed to your price, so makes it much easier.

We spent a day at the end of August in Lima finishing our paperwork for our Visas and applying for a national identification card for Peru. That process was very interesting - we did it through Interpol - fingerprints of all fingers and both hands, plus pictures! What a hassle. But the interesting thing was we found out that our FBI processes all the background checks for all the countries no matter where you live, where you are going, etc. I had no idea they did that, but I guess they have a databank of everyone in the world that has ever done anything good or bad! Does that sound like Big Brother or what?

We also had our mama dog spayed on September 15th. She was really in bad shape the first few days, but she is great now - acts just like a puppy again. We did not know until after they operated that we would have to take her home with us and watch her for 48 hours - they don't have a hospital. So Mama got to be with us for a while - she liked that. Luis and I brought her home in a mototaxi - she laid on the seat next to Luis and I walked behind because there wasn't room to ride - then we carried her up the stairs to the house - what a riot. I'm sure people thought we were nuts.

On September 28th we were notified that our Visas had been issued and we could go to Machala, Ecuador and retrieve them. So we made plans for our trip. We bought bus tickets to leave on October 4. We had a very luxurious bus - double decker with leather seats that laid back so we could sleep and two meals - dinner and breakfast - included for about $25.00 each one way.

The trip to Tumbes, Peru took 20 hours. We left Lima at 3:00 p.m. and arrived in Tumbes at 11:00 a.m. the next day. Tumbes is the last town before the border where there is an immigration office. We stopped there and got our passports stamped for leaving Peru. Then we took a taxi to the border. That was an experience. The border is chocked full of little markets and people everywhere trying to sell stuff. We had a wonderful taxi driver who guided us through blocks and blocks of people to the other side of the border. He also got us a taxi to take us on to Machala. On the way we stopped at the Ecuador immigration office and had our passports stamped for arrival in Ecuador.

We had to use the restroom while we were there, so we were directed to this little restaurant. They took us out back to the chicken yard where the toilets were - they were in a building with regular plumbing - we just thought it was kind of odd that they were in the chicken yard.

We arrived in Machala about 1:00 p.m. and went directly to the consulate. Our taxi driver waited for us there to take us to a hotel. It was a good thing he did because we found out upon arrival that Machala doesn't issue permanent visas - we had to go to Guayaquil. Little stress here as Luis has never been to Guayaquil either, so we are the three amigos and none of us are sure where to go. Luckily our taxi driver says, no problem, and takes us to the bus station where we can get a bus to Guayaquil. It leaves in 5 minutes, so no time for lunch and we are getting pretty hungry. We buy our tickets and are assigned seats 3, 4, and 5. Our bus turns out to be a 7 passenger minivan. That was a pretty wild ride as drivers in Ecuador drive just as fast as in Peru and take the same chances. But we made it to Guayaquil by 4:00.

The "bus" dropped us off downtown and we called the consulate to tell them we were going to get something to eat and come the next day. They said we are waiting for you (Machala had called ahead). So, off we go in another taxi to the consulate. Oh, I forgot to mention in Machala they told us we would need a passport picture when we picked up our visas. Again, we had a marvelous driver and he helped us get the pictures and waited for us at the consulate and took us to the hotel. He is an Assemblies of God member and was very interesting to talk to as well as being interested in us and making sure everything went well during our stay.

I have to tell you Peru has the worst pictures of both Dave and I. The ones they took for our national identification were taken on a very windy, misty day, so my hair was a mess because it had been sort of wet several times. The one in Ecuador was just as bad because, again, it was raining, we had been traveling by that time for 24 hours, and I didn't have a brush to fix my hair and no make up. I look like a mad woman and Dave looks like a fugitive.

The consulate was in a huge bank building - very nice and very well protected. Luis went up to the guard and told him what we wanted. He called to the 14th floor and then told us to go up. When we got there, the door was locked. Luis hit the doorbell and this man answered and said they were closed for the day. I thought Luis would lose it before he realized the man was kidding. They let us in, processed our paperwork, and put a little stamp in our passports that says we are missionary residents, non-Catholic. We went back out to the taxi and he took us back downtown to a Best Western Hotel. We had a nice dinner at a small restaurant down the street and walked around the central park and then turned in.

Guayaquil is a lovely city on the coast. It is very modern and all the streets downtown are landscaped with trees and flowers and either brick or tile roads and sidewalks. It would be a good place for a nice vacation. Also, forgot to mention, Ecuador uses dollars for money - we didn't know that - all we knew was that we couldn't use Peruvian soles when we got there. I think they also have pesos.

We also took a few minutes to stop at a bus company to buy tickets back for the next day. We were told there were no vacancies until Friday (this was Wednesday night). No problem the taxi driver says - you just take a bus to Tumbes and you can get a big bus to Lima from there. The bus company with the small buses to Tumbes is right next to the hotel, so we stopped there on our way to eat dinner and got tickets on the 7:00 a.m. bus to Tumbes. We could have gotten them for later, but we didn't know what time the buses left Tumbes for Lima and didn't want to miss them. We were assigned seats 4, 5 and 6 and, guess what - it was another minivan. We had the back bench seat.

I should say a little about Ecuador. I know why it is called the "Banana Republic" - there are banana groves everywhere. There are also huge rice fields and pineapple groves. Ecuador is very lush and green and much more humid than Lima.

At 7:00 we were on the van and on our way. We stopped at immigration to sign out of Ecuador and once again, we had to go through the border market. This time we didn't have a taxi driver to guide us, so we were on our own. Luis told us to keep a firm hold on our stuff as there are lots of pickpockets in this area. There was also a parade going on, so all the thousands of people that had been everywhere two days ago were now confined to the sidewalks. I have not been pushed and shoved so much in a long time. Dave also almost had his wallet stolen from his pocket. If he hadn't been aware of how pickpockets work, it would have been gone because the guy had already gotten it out a couple of inches before Dave grabbed it. That would have been a mess! We got to the other side and across the border and weren't sure what to do next. Luis asked a police officer where to find a taxi and he called one over to help us. So off we go again the rest of the way to Tumbes.

We got there with no problems, again went through immigration to re-enter Peru and on to Tumbes. We took another taxi for this part of the trip. We went directly to a bus station and bought tickets, again on a luxurious bus, to Lima. It would leave at 5:00 p.m., so we took the afternoon to explore Tumbes town square, eat a lovely lunch and buy souvenirs. We also ran into a couple from Seattle - Kathy and Craig - they were in Peru birdwatching with a small group of people. It was nice to talk to them.

Tumbes is a lovely little seaside town. It has a beautiful town square and a mosaic of the conquest of the Incas by the spaniards that is wonderful. It is the picture with the Inca at the top looking down on the conquest. It is huge and the pieces are about ½ inch squares - it must have taken a lot of time to do that.

We finally boarded the bus about 5:00 and left Tumbes. By this time we were exhausted, dirty and hungry again. The humidity was real high in Tumbes, so we got pretty warm walking around. We had been on the road for about 2 hours when we were stopped by the national police. They were searching all vehicles on the road that night. We were in line for about an hour as there were three buses ahead of us. Cars and trucks were in a different line. Luis told us we would have to get off the bus and leave our stuff on it when they got to us. As it turned out, only the men had to get off, so I stayed on. It only took a minute to look through the bus, the men got back on and we were on our way. I don't know what they were looking for, but guess we didn't have it.

By this time we figured we should get dinner now and we would have except as we were traveling down the road, a rock or something hit one of the side windows and shattered it. Glass was everywhere. Luckily no one was sitting in that seat. It was very dark, so no one knows exactly what happened, but Dave and I figure the hills by the road in that area are very steep and probably a rock just let loose and fell down the hill and hit us. Nevertheless, we had to stop at the next police station, cover the window and file a report with the police. That took another hour.

Finally, we were on our way again and the rest of the trip was uneventful. I forgot to mention on the way up and back we got to watch old grade "B" movies on the bus - some in English, some in Spanish. The terrain between Tumbes and Lima is like nothing I have ever seen before. It is huge hills (small mountains) of sand, sand, sand with nothing growing on it. It is the most desolate area I have ever seen. Every once in a while there would be a small settlement of people either right next to the road or on the beach. We also saw some oil wells pumping oil from the area. It is so sandy, I'm not sure what keeps the hills from collapsing. I know the sand moves a lot in the wind because we could see the ridges where it had moved and resettled. The road is 500 to 1000 feet above the ocean and the cliffs in many places are straight down to the water. Then you have another hill just as big on the other side of the road continuing upward. It is just amazing.

We arrived in Lima at 1:00 Friday afternoon, went to Pizza Hut and had pizza for lunch, picked up a few groceries at Plaza Vea and were home by 4:30 p.m.

That was yesterday. I'm sure glad we got the two year residency and don't have to do that every three months. It is good to be home again. We visited Mama and Skooter this morning and they were glad to see us - tried to follow us again, so back in the toilet they went.

Now we can get back to normal - repairing wheelchairs, teaching English, starting work on a census for Project Hope and whatever else comes our way. We're sure God has some other plans for us and are anxious to get started.

God bless, we miss you all.

September 14, 2005
Well, in a few days we will have been here two months. Time has passed very fast and spring is now just around the corner here. The days are warmer and the nights not quite so cold, but still cool. A lot has happened in the past month, so I'm not sure where to start.

We have spent the last month working on the inventory of wheelchairs, crutches and walkers and parts. It is finished, except to get it into the computer and print out a report. Dave has spent considerable time setting up the repair shop which is now complete and we have turned out our first chair. The chair was for a 7 year old boy that broke his thigh right below his hip and is in a full leg cast. He will need the chair for several months. It took Dave 4 days to build the chair because we only had one basic chair seat that was small enough for a child and he had to adapt everything to fit it. Plus, the chair is one that was made in China which means we have no parts to fit it and none of the American parts fit it, so everything had to be drilled, pounded and manipulated to fit this chair frame. Dave is not very happy with the Chinese at this point.

Another big event this month was the start of my English class for adults. I have class every Tuesday afternoon from 2:00 to about 3:30 or 4:00. We have had 3 classes so far and every week there are more people. I may have to split the class as we don't have enough chairs or tables - we have 18 people now. Besides, I think it would be easier if the class were a little smaller - we could practice saying the words more, etc. But, they seem to like it, so we will see. I enjoy doing it and plan to start one for children after Christmas. One funny thing - about half way through the second class I was listening to them repeat words after me and all of a sudden I could hear the Scandinavian accent! I'm teaching a bunch of Peruvians to be Scandinavians!

The plans for the rehab complex hit a little snag yesterday. We have some supporters that are large donators that are not happy with our timeframe. They are going to send in a group to do a market study and see if what we want to do is feasible. Our plan is very ambitious with a small restaurant, small bakery, several small businesses (including the wheelchair repair) plus a large addition to the actual rehabilitation area. It will probably be years before we can get it all completed, but we will start soon. Unless, of course, they pull their support - then we will start again and see what to do.

We met a special family this month - Rosa Canto and her six children. She lives way up in the hills of Huaycan and is a single parent. She washes laundry to make a living. She lives in a 12' X 20' one room house made of plywood type walls with corrugated steel for the roof and a cement floor. It's the same type house we build in Project Hope. The house was given to her by the local Catholic Church when they learned of her living conditions. She also has a small gas stove for cooking; but, unfortunately, can't afford the gas, so she buys wood and cooks and heats water over an open fire in the back of her lot. You can see by the pictures that she has the bare minimum in her home.

Her children are wonderful - they all go to school, except Tadeo who is only 4. They are bright and very happy children. Tadeo was born with congenital eye problems that will require him to have glasses and wear sun glasses when he is outside as he is extremely sensitive to the light. We thought it was much worse, but when we took him to the doctor, it wasn't as bad as we thought. My friends at OBE suggested transition lenses for him and are trying to work something out to get them for him.

We will be actively involved with a shipment of over 100 wheelchairs which will arrive the end of October and has to be distributed. They are coming through the Wheelchair Foundation in the USA, but are shipped from China, so will need to be counted, sorted, distributed and some put together when they arrive. That should keep Dave busy.

This month we had a new experience with something called a "pollada" - a chicken party. This is something everyone can do as it is a fundraiser. A family, for example, can have a party to raise money for medical expenses. The family makes a chicken dinner and sells it for 6 soles each. The people come and eat, drink, and are merry until the wee hours of the morning. We had one on our street that was loud, loud, loud until 4 a.m. in the morning! The neighbor said she would have complained, but the police were at the party! What can you do! We have been invited to 3 of them, but have just bought the chicken and not attended the parties as we are not comfortable going out at night alone yet.

Luis's family had a surprise birthday party for him last week - he was 32. We went and had a great time. They had karaoke and Beetles songs to sing to. It was great! Just like being in the USA. We sang and danced until quite late and ate lots of food too.

Speaking of food, we had our first fresh vegetables in the way of a salad this week and didn't get sick! I guess we are getting used to the food! It was great - I have been so hungry for lettuce! That was at our favorite restaurant.

Also, we have to tell you about our new "family". The rehab center has a mama dog that had 10 puppies about 2 months before we arrived. The first week we were here 7 of the puppies were adopted. In the next two weeks, 2 more were taken. There is one left now and he is a hoot. Dave named him Scooter (the rehab center calls him Pedro). He got an infection in a lesion on his back a week ago, so we took him to the vet and 37 soles later, he has stitches, shots, etc. He is doing well and will get the stitches out today. He follows both of us around the center the whole time we are there and lays on my feet while I work. He is also ravenous and eats everything we give him. He has huge feet, so I think will be pretty big.

Then, his mama (her name is now Mama) is Dave's best friend. We are going to have her spayed next week as she has had several litters of pups and doesn't need any more. Her owner said it was okay. We had a surprise visit from her yesterday when she followed Dave home from the center and he didn't know she was following until he was home. She came in the apartment and made herself right at home. What a hoot! So we took her back to the center - then today when we went to lunch, we were up the street and around the corner and here she comes again - following Dave. She stayed right with us to the restaurant - waited for traffic with us and all. She tried to come in the restaurant, but the owner's dog ran her off. When we came out an hour later - there she was sitting waiting for us! Today when we left, we locked her and Scooter in the restroom so they couldn't follow us. Hope Pablo remembers to let her out!

One of the really special things Dave and I got to do this month was dedicate the new library in Project Hope. It was built by the local people with mostly their money and has taken a long time, but it is done now and they are very proud of it. You can see the pictures of it and Alfonso on the roof - he was taking a picture of me while I took a picture of him.

That same day he took us to his family's restaurant for lunch - what a feast. His Mom is a great cook! We had this cold salad made of mashed potatoes with other vegetables in it and some kind of seasoning that was wonderful. I asked for the recipe, but she said she would have to come and show us how to make it, so guess we will do that as I know especially all you Scandinavians will love this one.

While we were there, we also toured their compost making operation. It is very impressive. The quality of the compost is being tested right now by the university and if they like it, the saleability will be increased substantially. This is a good thing for them to do because they have lots of garbage and it doesn't take much money to operate the compost area. We bought some of it to plant our plants in, so will see how good it is.

Of course, since we had bought compost, we had to buy plants. We made a trip to the local market and bought a bunch of house plants, large and small, plus pots and soil. We had to take two mototaxis home because we had too much stuff for one. It was great. The big diffenbachia (spelling?) I bought cost me $3.00 - it would cost at least $20 or more in the USA. The fern was $1.00 and it's huge! I was so excited - will go back there again.

We also went to church two weeks ago at the Union Church in Lima. It is English speaking - American minister - non denominational. It was really nice to be able to understand the whole service. We were invited as the guests of Gert and Ada. They are a couple from Holland that after spending years being transferred by Shell Oil all over the world, settled in Lima to retire. They are some of the supporters for the bakery. We went to their home for lunch after church. They have a beautiful condo overlooking the very green golf course in Lima. Their condo is way up on the side of the hill, so is quite a view. He made barbecued chicken, rice, two salads, apple fritters, chocolates, Italian ice cream, wine, beer, coffee. Everybody feeds us way too much, but we had a good time.

There was also a couple there from Canada. He works in the embassy and they just arrived also. They are very nice - Ed and Kathy. Also Esther the rehab tech from Holland has returned for one year and was there. She is a lovely young lady. There were also two student doctors from Holland there. They were on their last day in Peru and left the next day to return home. And the last couple were a young man from Holland and his wife (Peruvian) who work with the water and well digging industry here. Very nice. It was great to talk to people about other countries and ways of life and what brought them all here.

Guess that's about all the news for now. Write and let us know how you all are.

August 18, 2005
July 22nd we moved into our apartment and the mission group left on July 23rd. Our apartment wasn't quite finished - tile on the counters in the kitchen and floor was not completed, but they finished in just a few days.

We spent most of the first week here shopping for furniture, appliances, dishes and pots and pans and, of course, food. Shopping is a real experience because everything involves bargaining for the best price. We are not very good at that, but Luis and Erith made sure we got good deals. We allowed ourselves one splurge - a microwave. Everything else is very basic.

Oh, I neglected to mention that we only have hot water in the shower (because we insisted we at least have that), so whenever we wash dishes or clothes, we have to either heat water on the stove or carry it from the bathroom to the kitchen. I do not have a washer or dryer, so Dave put up clotheslines on the roof (flat) and I have a lady that comes once a week and washes the clothes and hangs them up and then I take them down and fold etc. It costs about $5 - $6 a week, so it's cheaper to do that than buy a washer. Besides, I forgot how good the clothes smell when they are hung outside to dry. Even here where it is dusty, dusty, dusty, they smell good.

On July 26th, we had our first meal at a local restaurant - The Hidden Restaurant. It's called that because all you find is an opening between two buildings and you go down this hallway and the restaurant is at the end. The food was great and it's a family atmosphere - so much family that there were a cat and dog roaming around inside! You'd never find that in the USA!

We have been there many times since (costs $1.50 for a full meal including soup or salad, entree, dessert and drink). One day we tried to go there and they were full. The next day, we went back and the owner told us that she would have made room for us - we should have stayed. That day we tried another restaurant - it was good, but unusual. There is a picture here of the chicken soup - notice the foot! They eat everything!

We live in the oldest part of Huaycan - the upscale part. That means we have water and electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, we also have roosters crowing every morning, and street vendors calling out their wares from 7:00 a.m. to 9 or 10 p.m. We do have a little store across the street - like a general store - that has a little of everything from Coke to candy to clothespins to nails.

We also have the privilege of having a small private elementary school at the end of our block. This means we wake up to the Peruvian national anthem every morning at 7:30. They sing outside and then have exercises outside after that. The teacher has a megaphone that I think you could hear in Florida if you tried! The school was funded by an author - I forget his name, but he was the first author to write books about the history of Peru and is world famous for that. The picture of the school was taken from our front window, so you can see it is very close.

I also sent a picture of the school's "lunch program". Private schools don't get money for lunches and so they are provided by street vendors that come and park by the school every day. They sell really nutritious things like potato chips, ice cream, candy, sodas, etc. I know all you teachers will love that!

The first week we were here we were invited to several homes for lunch as a welcome. To repay them, we had them all over for dinner on Sunday night the 31st. We made black beans and rice and biscuits and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They all loved the southern cooking and they especially liked the cookies. Cookies here are very good, but they are bought in the bakery and are expensive and very small.

The pictures from the party are some of our friends. Luis is our shadow and helps us with everything. He speaks pretty good english, so he is a major help. Erith is the one that helped us with all of our furniture purchases. Luisa is the lady that owns our building and is my new "sister". She's terrific. Freddy is a young man that plays in a band in Lima. He is very talented and makes pretty good money at it. His mom is the lady that does my wash and was a professional singer before she married and had a family. She's great too.

We had a very special visitor last week - Blanca. She is 13 years old and was born with one leg 2 inches shorter than the other and both her hands had just two digits - a thumb and a large finger. Her left thumb faces the right way, but her right one was backwards so she had a hard time grasping things. Thanks to one of St. Paul UMC member's, she had surgery 3 weeks ago on her right hand and they turned the thumb around and separated the fingers so she now has a thumb the right way, a pointer finger and then the other finger. As you can see she is very happy about that. She is trying to learn english (get some in school), so I know she would love if any of you wanted to send her an e-mail. You can send it through me. Her parents send her to a private school which costs them a lot of money each month, but she is very bright, so I think it is worth the money.

Last week Dave and I visited the local Catholic Church soup kitchen. They had three 50 lb. bags of split peas that they didn't know what to do with. So Dave spent a morning with them teaching them how to make split pea soup. They were very excited as they exist mostly on commodities from the government and don't need to be getting things they don't know what to do with.

There are also some pictures of the central park. All towns in Peru have a central park, or in the case of Lima, each neighborhood has one. They are used continuously by the people I think because most of their homes are very small, some don't have electricity or water, and they are basically not real pleasant to be in. Therefore, they congregate in the park. The young adults go there to spend time with their boy and girl friends away from their parents. They don't have cars, so they can't park, I guess. The central park in Huaycan also has a vendor that rents bicycles to the little kids to ride around the park. He has a great business - lots of bikes and they are always almost all in use. I took the picture of the bikes just as he was opening one morning.

We spent several days in Lima over the past weeks trying to get a missionary visa. If we don't get one, we have to leave the country every 90 days and come back. We got letters from St. Paul's and from Magdalena Methodist in Lima (that's the little church we attend). It was pretty interesting as we had to take the letters to the Bishop of the Methodist Church for the entire country of Peru. He is at least 80 years old, but very gracious. He interviewed us to see what we were like, fed us pie and coffee and then told us that it would be 3 weeks before he could do the letter.

As we got up from the table, the minister from Magdalena church (he accompanied us along with Luis) asked if either of us played the piano - there was one sitting in the corner. Dave said I did, so the Bishop wanted me to play. I explained that it had been a long time and I could only play with music. Well, Pastor Figuero disappeared and came back with a hymnal. So I played a couple of songs - then they asked me to play "Oh For a Thousand Tongues To Sing" - those two old guys sang along for 4 verses and had a great time. It was wonderful! Not only that, but when we left he said to come back in 4 days and he would have the letter. Who knows what 4 years of piano can do for you?

So in 4 days we got the letter - then we had to go to the Peruvian National Council of Churches for the actual application. We had another interview, presented the letter and I guess are okay. We have to wait for 30 days for the application to be approved and when it is we have to go to Ecuador and then come back in with the new visa. Luis will take us by bus to Ecuador - over the mountains and along the ocean. I have visions of a bus like the one in "Romancing the Stone" - chickens, goats and all. That should be a hoot!

We have not had much time to work at the association yet - with all the moving and visa stuff and lunches, but have done some stuff the past few days. We will do more in the future. We are members of the committee which is doing the final plans for the entire complex. We hired the architect last week and will have preliminary plans in two weeks. Then once they start building again, we will be really busy at the site every day.

We have started on the inventory of wheelchair parts and Dave repaired one chair yesterday and one today. Life here is so much slower and less hectic, we are really enjoying the quiet and the new Peruvian time which means you show up anywhere from 1Ú2 hour to 2 hours after you said you would.

Two funnies among many - when we were shopping last week, we wanted to get corn meal for muffins. We now have 2 lbs of corn starch - must read those labels more carefully! Also, Dave bought some rice and asked for 2 kilos. Check it out sometime and see just how much that is. We will have rice for a long time!

Last week we were walking to the association and passed a bunch of school kids - they all yelled "Hi" and "Good Morning" to us. They love speaking english and, of course, can spot us a mile away.

Today we had a really great day. We spent the morning in our apartment cleaning and I washed a few things and hung them to dry. Then we went to the rehab center about 12:00 and worked for 2 hours on wheelchair parts and accomplished a lot. Today was a miracle day. Since we arrived here Dave and I have been talking to the management at the association about the need to be clean and organized. I guess they understood us because today at their weekly meeting instead of meeting they organized work groups and cleaned the whole place from top to bottom. They created a corner for the wheelchair repair shop, removed the rust from the bakery racks and repainted them. Over the past few days we had noticed the ground around the trees was cleaned up and raked and we saw the regular maintenance man cleaning like crazy yesterday. It was fun to be a part of the organization growing into a real business venture. They are very hard working people and can accomplish a lot with all manual labor in a very short time. It was a great day and we are tired!

I have enclosed pictures of some of the work and the people at the association. Just look at those faces. They are so special to us already.

More later - God bless.
Dave and Kathy

July 16, 2005
Our journey begins today. We leave Pensacola, Florida at 12:30 and go through Houston, Texas to arrive in Lima, Peru about midnight. Our last week in Florida was not quite what we thought because Hurricane Dennis visited and many people left town, so we did not get to see all those we wanted to, so we apologize for that. We had a great time with those we saw and thanks again for supporting us in this journey.

Our first week in Lima was spent with a mission group composed of people from about age 10 to well past 60 from St. Paul UMC, Gulf Breeze UMC and the Rotary Club of Destin, Florida. Our mission was to provide homes for 10 families in the Project Hope area on the outskirts of Lima. Project Hope is an area filled with people living in poverty. The land is harsh - gray dirt everywhere with very little green. Where it isn't dirt, it's huge rocks. The people live in grass cloth or wooden shacks. Some are fortunate to have brick and plaster, but they are few. There is no running water for the people on the hills, minimal electricity, no paved streets or sidewalks - just dirt paths. Water is delivered to them several times a week by truck and it is stored in large barrels at the bottoms of the hills or sometimes in front of the house. Through a grant several hundred outdoor toilets have been installed for the people to use; as far as I know very few families have indoor plumbing.

We spent the week doing two parts of the construction. First, the men carried the prefab walls and tin roofs to the sites and erected them. Second, the rest of us carried pails and pails and pails of sand to the sites to be used for the floor. Each home is about 12 by 20, four window openings and a door. They all have a cement floor, but the owner provides steps, windows, doors, partitions on the inside and any other stuff they want. People are chosen for homes by a committee based upon their need. They must provide a lot which they have proved up on and it must be smooth and large enough for the home. Basically, it would kind of like our homesteading did back in the 1800's. The colored houses in the photos are the ones our groups have been constructing over the past three years.

You will see from the pictures that we had help from many people of the community. A "house raising" is a big event in their lives and they want to help - especially those that have already gotten homes. Even the women with babies on their backs helped us haul sand - it was truly amazing. We worked so hard and accomplished so much in that week - 7 homes completed.

I want to say a little about the people themselves. They are so happy to see us and such a blessing to us every day. Their lives are very hard, but they have more hope, sincerity, faith and support for each other than you can imagine. I think because they have minimal possessions, they have really well developed personalities and coohesiveness within the group.

While we were there one of the women lost her husband to cancer. He had worked the day before he died, so it was really sudden. She and her family were devastated, but the community rallied around them for support and comfort. Dave and Doug did a short service for the family the day after he died. She had no money for the funeral or burial. The community took up a collection for her so she had money. It was awesome to see these people who have nothing still give for someone else.

Two of the hardest working women in the group were Laura and Maria. They both got homes and were so thankful. The day we left, Laura gave me her earrings and Tracy her ring. This woman has nothing and yet she insisted that we take her gifts. I will never forget her. She is truly one of God's angels.

We also made friends with Henry and Rose. They were two of the children who were around and helped us every day. Henry was so upset one day because his mom made him go to school and he wanted to haul sand with Dave. Rose made Dave and I each a necklace out of the shell. They are very special to us. We hope to go back and see them and Laura and Maria in the next month or so.

On Thursday we took the day off from Project Hope and visited Huaycan where we are living. The Association for the Disabled had a party that afternoon with two purposes: 1) It was a going away party for Esther. She is a 20 something young lady from Holland. She has been donating her time as a physical therapist for 8 months and will go home for 3 months and then will return to stay as she has a job at one of the clinics in Lima. What a special young lady she is. 2) It was a celebration of our arrival. As you can see from the picture, they did a welcome on the wall, speeches, etc. We were given a bouquet of flowers and a huge bean pot for our new home. It was fun to see all of our old friends again.

Then we came over and saw our apartment before we went back into town. Thursday night we had a huge party in the conference room at the hotel complete with band, great food and wonderful friends. We danced the Peruvian dances, ate Peruvian food, and had a great time.

The rest of the week was spent at Project Hope and doing some site seeing in Lima. Saturday, Dave and I left the group and moved into our apartment. So much has happened in the last two weeks, I will put it in the next newsletter. We have our internet up now, so please send us messages and we will do the same. Here's a funny - you know how we say someone is "nosey" - well here they call it "froggy".

The first sunday we were in Lima, we went to church at a small Methodist Church in Lima. They have been very supportive of Dave and I and our endeavors and will sponsor us for missionary visas. While we were at the service three of our young men had the opportunity to play one of our praise songs for the congregation. They were great and everyone enjoyed the music. I think all of Peru loves music as everything they do has music involved some way.

I have included a picture of our street, our apartment and the dog on the roof of the house across the street. He barks at us and protects the neighborhood from the roof. He's really sweet.

God has truly blessed us so far and we hope he has done the same for you. Enjoy the pictures.

All our love,
Dave and Kathy

July, 2005
Our adventure in Peru is about to begin. There has been a lot of preparation to get ready to leave (more than we ever thought). We have sold our home and a good portion of our belongings. We have packed everything we will keep and stored it safely in my parents' basement until our return. We have spent time with our families and friends so that we have many great memories to take with us. We have set up our e-mail and web pages so that we can communicate with everyone while we are gone. We have found temporary homes for Coco (with my cousin Lisa) and Nat (with my parents). We have studied our Spanish. We have learned today that our apartment in Huaycan will be completed this week. Magali is making arrangements for our travel with our church group to Peru. We will leave on July 16th.

Most important, we have continued to read our Bibles and search for what God has planned for us during our stay in Huaycan. We pray that we will be a blessing to the people in whatever way God plans for us.

Our newsletter page will be set up to provide current information on what we are doing, how we are doing. Basically, it will be a narrative to our family and friends about our life in Peru. We will also include contribution/donation ideas and how to send them to us. Each month we will try to update the pictures on our site so that they will be current. We also include links to Love for Peru, St. Paul United Methodist Church and our e-mail so that you can get further information or contact us.

That's all the news for now. We leave Wisconsin on July 7th to return to Gulf Breeze, Florida where we will join our church group for Peru. Check in every once in a while to see what we are doing.

Kathy