The Georges in Peru

I haven't posted for a while.  But I have a good reason.  It seems I've been dead!  I've been feeling surprisingly normal all things considered.  It came to light when I tried to electronically file my taxes and it was rejected.  

So I skyped the Social Security Administration's 800-number where, after three 50-minute waits on hold I was told various things, such as, "You need to go to Costa Rica to the Federal Benefits Unit there."  (As humorist/columnist Dave Barry would say, 'I'm not making this up!').  I checked my social security online account and found that the money I paid to SS in 2017 appeared as $0.  I called SS again to be told that a trip to the Costa Rica unit was my best chance for sorting things out.

I called the IRS 800-number and a very helpful employee (as if the 'S' in IRS really stands for Service) finally found the problem.  When Amy died, they turned the death indicator on for me instead of for her!  And since I didn't owe anything on my 2017 return they just 'discarded' it!  Though it isn't really discarded.  It is still in the system, but I still have to refile a paper copy.  Her manager is supposed to call me back to explain why I have to refile when they have it on file and it was their fault.  

You may have heard that Alan Garcia, one of Peru's former presidents, killed himself last week to avoid a tribunal that was investigating him for bribery and misuse of public funds.  Many Peruvians feel that he faked his death, paid off the appropriate people and escaped to Argentina.  That doesn't seem so impossible to me anymore, just unnecessarily complicated. 

Mine is Quechua.  I speak a teeny bit of it and it has magical powers here (okay, theologically I know it's not magic, just go along with the literary device!).  This morning we gave a ride to three girls that recently started attending our church.  When we were dropping them off at their house a filthy drunk with a shovel approached the car, yelling and waving the shovel agressively.  Paul and I thought he might start hitting our truck.  "Girls, get out on the other side of the car!"  While they got out I distracted the drunk on my side of the car.  "Allillanchu, papay!" (How are you, my daddy?) I asked him in Quechua, not sure that he even spoke Quechua.  I figured if he didn't understand Quechua he'd just assume I was speaking in English and it wouldn't make any difference.  He suddenly looked a bit less violent.  "Iman sutiki?" (What's your name?) I asked.  The angry shovel-wielding man was suddenly smiling.  I told him to watch out for a bus coming by and he said jokingly, "Those buses don't kill, I do!"  We continued exchanging pleasantries (okay, I guess he wasn't really pleasant!) and he mentioned how much Paul has grown while the girls escaped to their home.  "Tupananchiskama!" (see you later!) I said as I drove off marveling at the power of language.

If you are in the Omaha area on January 27th, please stop by Christ Community Church for an open house!  Feel free to drop in anytime from 12:15 pm to 2 pm in the accordian-door rooms off of the kitchen (D126/D127) to meet Mary Beth, hear about our ministries in Peru and get a couple of bocaditos (snacks).

Yesterday, we crossed back into the USA from Manitoba after lengthy questioning from the border-control agent.  We think because there was no line and he was bored, an American and Canadian with Peruvian kids was the most interesting thing he had seen that afternoon.  After confiscating our lone clementine orange he let us in.  

We had a great visit with the Talleys (residency classmate) in Grand Forks before heading on to Fargo to stay with Amy's brother's family.  The temperatures are already warmer, though it didn't feel like it today when we toured NDSU campus where Mike (Amy's brother) is the dean of the engineering department. 

In front of the Bison.  Pronounced, "Bye-zin".  Don't call it a 'Buffalo'!

I (Mary Beth) heaved a sigh of relief when I saw my friend Cinthya come to meet me at the door of the Christian school where I was supposed to give my missions talk Saturday afternoon.  Running a bit late, I hoped I was early enough to get the needed materials onto the tables before the event started in 10 minutes.  She led me past a few parked cars into a gym buzzing with life as people put a last-minute coat of paint on the railings and walls.  There was a pick-up truck in the middle of the space where I expected to see tables and chairs, and people were swarming everywhere trying to scramble the event together.  Hmm, not quite what I had anticipated, but I rolled up my sleeves and got ready to help.  In half-an-hour the place was transformed.  Desks had been taken out of classrooms and grouped together.  Fancy flag center-pieces had been strategically placed.  The scaffolding had been put back onto the truck, which was successfully (after a few tries) started and manoeuvred out of the gym area.  Flag banners appeared from nowhere and a world map was stuck on the wall behind the stage.  The last thing to get working was, of course, the technology.  The projector didn’t have a cable to hook it up with the sound system.  In spite of this slight delay, they started the event only 1 hour late and it went very well. 

Afterwards, one of the church leaders said “I never gave much thought to missions before.  In all truth, I didn’t think it was very important, but you have opened my eyes.” Another person asked, “Do you really think it’s possible for us Latinos to be involved in missions?”, “For sure!” I answered.  “We have several Peruvian missionaries with SIM as we speak!”  What a great opportunity.  Thank you, God.

The venue at 2:37 pm.  It was scheduled to start at 2:30 pm!

Ready to go at 3:14 pm!

This summer, Medical Ministries International of Peru bought a property to build a clinic for their physical therapy, optical and dental ministries.  I sit on their board of directors.  Before we can build the clinic, we need to design one that will have room for everything we desire and fit it in a 470 square-meter lot.  On October 10th, I was reading the Christian Medical and Dental Association's E-Pistle newsletter and there was a notice that a semi-retired architect named Ken Gray was offering his services to ministries around the world.  I quickly wrote him and told him the general characteristics of the project and he said he'd like to help us!  Monday he arrived and since then has toured our current rented facilities and seen our new property.  He has been making lots of measurements and looking at how similar projects have been done in Arequipa.  Today, we went to a physical therapy clinic for disabled children that had an exercise pool, but they don't use it because the plumbing doesn't work.  The person who built it designed it poorly and it can't be drained without calling the fire department to bring in their water pumps.  Story is, the builder took the money he was paid and disappeared! 

I guess we don't have to worry about Ken taking the money and disappearing, since he is doing this project for free as a ministry!  Pray that the final design will fit in space for all of the ministries we want in the land area that we have.