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Campaign and more
From Monday, April 23, until Friday, April 27, there was a group from Texas in Collique for the spring campaign. This time there was a medical team and a construction team. Kees coordinated the construction part of the campaign and Elizabett served as an interpreter for one of the doctors in the moments she wasn’t teaching, because the children in our after school program had their normal schedule.
Blanca, OSA’s program director, asked a Peruvian to be available before and during the week to help me with the purchases of materials and the transportation of these to the construction sites. She specifically planned him to help me out with my Spanish. Finally, I did it all by myself, due to the documentation of former campaigns, which helped a lot. Last year, I asked the one who trained me if it was possible to make deals and order materials prior to the campaign, but his experience was that this doesn’t work in Peru. Well, I gave it a try and it worked for me. Tuesday before the campaign I ordered the wood, which I wanted ready to pick up on Friday morning at 10 am; it was because of the line at the bank, that I wasn’t on time, but they already called OSA that they were waiting for the tall Dutch guy. So when I arrived, we only had to load the truck.
During the campaign, I walked many times up and down the roads of the community to check on the teams. In this way, I have more interaction with the people and got to know new people. I always try to listen and examine the needs. I was able to guide several of them to one of the doctors and from others I got name and address so we can visit them.
The construction team finished two bedrooms, a small house, a water tank completely installed, roof repair, and replaced half of the roof of a house. In this second campaign for me, I learned again and we hope to improve the process with the next one.
Kees with the resident at one of the construction sites.
As I wrote, Elizabett taught her normal classes and hours during the week, but in the time she normally uses to prepare her classes and to visit families in the community she served as an interpreter. She had lots of funny moments with the doctor, who was Indian, and a Russian nurse. It was her first real experience translating for a doctor and she just didn’t know most of the medical terms he used. So after a couple of patients they start talking something what I will call simple English. It made it easier for all, also the patients.
Elizabett with Maria instructing a patient.
For more photos and stories, visit OSA’s Facebook page.
Elizabett’s mother.
Elizabett’s mother is doing much better since the surgery, almost a month ago. Last weekend, we spent in Collique, after all the weekends of April with her. We thank you all for your prayers!
God is good!
“All the time!” is possibly what you think… We can tell you that we never doubted about God’s knowledge of our needs and His provision during difficult times. He provided the finances we needed to pay the hospital bills!
Prayer
Since our first weeks in Collique, we acknowledge that Satan is not too happy with our work here. He uses different arrows to stop us from doing what we are doing. Sometimes he has been successful, for a while, as we experienced sickness, but we are victorious and conquerors, because of Jesus. We have victory over all principalities, powers and dominion because of the work of the cross!
“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15:57 (NIV)
But we would really appreciate it if you pray for us regularly! And we want you to know that we pray for you as well.
What a week
That’s what counts for last week. The first days of that week were like every other week, but Wednesday was the day that completely changed our schedule. At the end of our weekly team meeting our phone rang. Elizabett went to our apartment to answer it and when I came in, she told me that we needed to leave as soon as possible, because her mother called that she needed an acute surgery. The doctor was almost hundred percent sure that her appendix needed to be removed.
We quickly ate our lunch and told the taxi driver to race to Miraflores. When we arrived there, Elizabett’s mother just had an ultrasound and blood test. Finally, the ultrasound didn’t show any bad signs, but the blood test had a different outcome. In the evening of that same day she had surgery. During the surgery the doctor also found a hernia, which he removed for the same prize.
Friday, she left the hospital and today she is doing much better. Praise the Lord! The doctor told Elizabett that if her mother had come a day or so later it could have been pretty bad.
We also thank God in the way He already miraculously provided part of the finances to pay these unforeseen bills. We trust our faithful God that He will continue to provide in our needs.
This week is another week, but also in the category of ‘what a week,’ because this week OSA is preparing for next week’s Medical Campaign. This time the group includes 10 persons for construction. That’s what is keeping me busy this week and the following. We have planned three projects that needed cement floors. For this I buy the materials and arrange the workers. Tomorrow, I go to pick up the wood which I reserved last Tuesday.
I am sure that next week is one in the category ‘what a week’ as well. During the campaign we come in contact with way more people than during a normal day, each person with his/her one history and situations. We pray that God brings people that really have needs and that we might be sensitive to these.
It was an exciting week, indeed!
What is exciting for one can be boring for another. “What makes this an exciting read for all, about an exciting week for many?” I wonder. The easiest thing is to share a link to the beautiful photos and posts on Facebook, but no, not at this point in my post.
For doctors it might be exciting to know how many patients were seen, for dentists it might be exciting to know how many teeth were pulled, for constructors it might be exciting to know how many screws were screwed, for children ministry workers it might be exciting to know how many songs were taught, for pharmacists it might be exciting to know how many pills were prescribed… Statistics, for one boring for another exciting. I am a person, who loves numbers, but I want to share correct information and since I don’t have the exact numbers on all of the above I will only share the numbers we have.
But first a little bit about my part during the week. I was involved in the construction. We planned to build a bedroom on the second floor of a house, a bedroom and kitchen behind a house, and a new enclosure around an existing bathroom. First, the idea was that I was going to be part of one of the teams, but there were enough builders, so it ended up that, with Petry, I made sure the teams had the materials and equipment they needed to do the job. In a way, I enjoyed it, as I walked the streets of our community several times a day, so I got more acquainted with the area and the people. It was exciting for me to realize that I was able to answer questions and converse with the people better than two months ago.
On Friday, all three initiated projects were finished and there was time to work on some small projects that were added during the week.
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Elizabett had her own consultation room in the community center, where she talked with over 50 people during the week. They all came to see a doctor, but while they waited to be seen Elizabett started a conversation and if she sensed that they wanted to talk more she invited them to her room. Others were sent by the doctors who recognized a need for prayer/pastoral care.
Many who participated in last week’s Medical Campaign can probably share exciting stories too, but we believe that the most excitement was in heaven. The Bible clearly states: Jesus says: “I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10 (NIV). We rejoice that there were 24 fiestas in heaven the past week. We are humbled by the way God used Elizabett and others to reach these people, who we can call brother and sister now. It seems that the harvest in Collique is plentiful…
In a later post Elizabett will share some of her experiences.
Friday afternoon, we said good-bye to the group. For six days we served the people of Collique together. It was an exciting time. We believe that the Lord of the harvest will bring us more excitement as we start working with these new believers. We also want to ask you to pray to God to send out workers into His harvest field. (Matthew 9:37-38)
I hope it was an exciting read. Click on the highlighted words, if you want to see photos of the week or read posts about the experience of others.
Already exciting!
I titled last Saturday’s blog post “Exciting week ahead of us,” and after the first day of the Medical Campaign we can already share exciting news.
Yes, it’s exciting to get to know the group that is here for this week a little better. It’s exciting to serve together with them for this week. It’s exciting to see how many people get some kind of physical help. It’s exciting for me to serve the construction team, which split up in three small teams. It’s exciting to see smiling faces leaving the dentist room. And I can go on and on…
In the last post I shared the news that Elizabett will be in the community center to provide the necessary pastor care and prayer for the patients who are waiting to get attended by one of the doctors. Elizabett struggled a bit with her health over the weekend, so I was concerned about her well-being today. BUT, when I got the construction teams going I went to the community center to check on Elizabett. At that moment, she was in a conversation with a lady. After that she came to me and when I asked her how she was doing. She told me with a bright smile “Great, two persons accepted Christ in their hearts!” At the end of the day there had been one more time “rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God” (Luke 15:10). Now, that’s exciting! Beside that she has prayed with others and listened much to stories we don’t really want to hear.
Elizabett sharing the gospel while getting the EvangeCube out of her pocket to support her evangelism effort
We are sure that others have exciting testimonies of God’s work as well and we are looking forward to tomorrow!
Exciting week ahead of us
Tomorrow morning we will visit a church in Lima where we will meet the group of Americans who will serve in Collique the coming week from Monday till Friday. Among them, nine doctors, a gynecologist, an optometrist, two dentists, eleven ‘constructors’ (or do-it-yourselfers;)), a group for VBS and others. In total the group exists of over 50 people. Yesterday, most have them arrived in Lima and the rest followed today.
After the service tomorrow morning we will have lunch and then we all will come to Collique. In the afternoon, we will have a service for which the families of the OSA children are invited as well. After that some final preparations for the work that will start Monday morning.
The medical campaign is how the work of OSA started here in Collique. Each year there are still two of those weeks. One in March and the other in October. In October, the group is usually larger, we are told.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, people could register. The registration began at 9 a.m., but the first were already at the door at half past nine the night before. At 9 am there was a long line.
In a day and half the schedules of all doctors were filled, so we could post a sign that the registration was closed.
During the week, Kees will be involved in the construction work. In general, we look at the needs of the OSA families. This time we will build in three places. One bedroom on the second floor of a house, a bedroom behind a house that was destroyed by falling rocks and a bathroom behind a house that currently only has “walls” of plastic. Last Friday, we brought all material to the construction sites with a mototaxi. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures, because it was quite a challenge on the sloping unpaved streets of Collique.
First, Elizabett was planned to be interpreter for VBS team, but after today this has changed. When we asked whether there is a place where people can go for prayer/pastoral care, it seemed not the case. So now, that’s the place were Elizabett will be. Ultimately, that’s one of the reasons we are here at OSA…
For daily news about this campaign we refer to OSA’s Facebook page.
We also hope to post some news about the happenings during the week.
We ask you to keep this week in your prayers.
