The Georges in Peru

Alejandro lives in a difficult situation.  Crippled, 84 years old and without work, he depends on his $80/month pension and the compassion of others to survive.  I visit him weekly to talk, bring him food and water (his room has no running water) and again to take him to church.  His room is cluttered and noticeably dark because of the dark walls and the lone light bulb (his landlord nephew won't allow him to have more than one bulb because of the cost of electricity!) Mary Beth went with me to visit him a couple of weeks ago and remarked, "You know what would make his room better?  A new paint job!"  "I was given the wrong color of paint a few months ago when I was painting my bedroom, so I've got some nice ivory-colored paint to use!" I noted.  So today we painted the back wall of his room, making it much brighter and him happy.  Sometimes it helps to have some new eyes look at a situation.

The mayor of one of the districts in Lima is a Christian.  SIM Peru partnered with several local churches and the mayor to provide relief to people affected by the flooding in an area of Lima called Paramonga.  SIM helped with the purchase of blankets, cans of tuna, diapers and insect repellent for these efforts.  You can see a video of relief efforts here.  Thanks for your donations and prayers!  Pray that people are introduced to our Savior Jesus during this difficult time!  I accidentally posted this on my blog instead of the flooding blog which you can see here.

Peru is currently experiencing some of the worst flooding in years.  Riverbeds that are often dry are spilling over their banks in the capital city of Lima.  Many people, including missionaries, are ironically without water as the canals have been damaged.  The death count is currently (18MAR17) at 62.  Please pray for opportunities to use this crisis to share about the Living Water that Jesus provides and to show compassion to our fellow man. I am currently helping coordinate funds for relief efforts in Lima to help provide food and water to those that have lost their homes.  

Please pray for those who have lost everything.  Give praise that our water came back last night after being cut off since Tuesday (except for a couple of hours Thursday morning).  Pray for wisdom in knowing how we can help most in this crisis.

Yesterday, Mary Beth and I went to a funeral/burial of Elizabeth's mother who died in a freak auto accident on Thursday.  Mary Beth was Elizabeth's camp counselor in the past, so they have grown close over the years.  I was amazed at Elizabeth's dad who directed a lot of the funeral himself without a tear or quivering voice.  I think people here get so used to tragedy they become hardened to it.  

This year we have had an unusual amount of rain for the desert and yesterday it continued.   We got rained on at the cemetery and were thankful that another friend loaned us her umbrella.  Since the city isn't prepared for rain, the streets become rivers and on our way home the traffic was so bad that at one point it took over 30 minutes to go half a mile.  Since we were sitting in traffic we decided it was a good time to change our 'relationship status' on Facebook.  We had initially thought we would do it on Valentine's Day, shortly after we started going out, but there were a few people that we needed to tell in person, and Elizabeth was one of the last ones.  

So yes, it's true!  I have an 'enamorada' now.  Mary Beth is a fellow SIM missionary from Canada, whom I have known for about 12 years.  Over the years she has spent a lot of time with my family, working with the horses with Sarah out at camp and coming over after youth events.   She puts Christ first in her life, has a servant's heart (at yesterday's funeral she got up to help serve drinks), is sincere and genuine, and funloving.  I feel so fortunate and think often of James 1:17: Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

I feel even more blessed than usual!

Thursday, Ben went on his first college campus tour.  While in Peru he used the internet search engines to look for good engineering schools, and Colorado popped up repeatedly.  Since it is kind of on the way to Amy's parents' home, we went to Boulder and stayed with our friends the Henzes (Gregor is an engineering professor and their daughter Sophia is an engineering student at Colorado so we felt like we got a bit of an inside look at things).  It is an impressive program with a good reputation so Ben is still interested in finishing the application process.  Boulder is a beautiful city with running/biking trails all over that contribute to its ranking as the 'fittest city in America'.  One can even skateboard to class and lock up his board on the rack (I've never seen one of those before):

Pray that God guide Ben to a university where he will grow spiritually and be academically prepared for the world.