First Presbyterian Church
Peru Mission Trip
2005


Sent: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 21:21:44 -0500
Subject: Moyobamba Report from Knapps

Dear Church Family, Hola!

Greetings from Moyobamba! We have just completed our first full day in the city and already we have been very busy. This morning we worked on new church construction and children s ministry in a new community just outside the city. The church we are helping build will be the first in the area. It will be served by a lay pastor from the Presbyterian church. His name is Marco and he and his family live in a house next to the church.

The men, and Lori, made concrete and pour half of the floor in a building with four partial walls. The water had to be hauled in a barrel in a wheel barrow from a stream downhill about a quarter mile from the site. This was the same stream we drove through to get to the site, and the same stream women washed clothes in and cattle drank. It would be a great place for a bridge. When it rains, the stream is impassable.

While the men worked, the women discovered Marco had a loud speaker, so we began to invite children to come to that house. They must have heard, because we had a large group filter in over the course of a few hours. We made balloon animals, passed out toys and candy. We all learned to say Dios te beindega (God bless you). Then we got out some simple percussioon instruments and sang songs with the children "playing" the music.

Marco has Sunday SChool in his house, so tomorrow, I hope he has many new children attending. He is a carpenteer, like our Lord, with a simple workshop next to his home where he makes beautiful cabinets. The workshop has no walls, so the wind and rain blow through. He just keeps working!

We have been so blessed by the Peruvian people. Tomorrow we will worship together at the Presbyterian Church. Monday 20 of us and workers from the Luke Clinic will travel upriver to Nueeva Vida, the Aguaruna village where Anna has been hellping with the new water project. This is the same water project you have been hearing aabout and supporting for years now. It is finally nearly complete. There is still much basic health education needed but this is a tremendous blessing to the community. Lori has had a wonderfull time reconnecting with old friends from her internship last summer. Juancito, the miracle baby is a bright healthy three year old now. What a joy.

It s so different than what Betty imagined. God is so large and His presence is displayed in soo many wonderful people here.

In Christ, Betty and Jason and Anna and Lori