Change

Greetings everyone!  We hope this update finds you all well.  We are now on day 52 of total quarantine here in Peru!  The weather has turned from sunny and warm to cool and grey.  We are entering into Lima’s winter here where almost every day is grey and humid. I remember when I first came to Peru, I could not tell what month or season we were in.  Every day seemed the same to me.  Being from the Midwest, I was used to drastic changes to note the seasons.  But then, I started to look more closely here in Lima, to see if there were signs of change other than just the obvious difference of sun and grey.  To name a few, the position of the sun when it rises, and sets changed.  There are some flowers and trees that do lose their leaves in winter and come back in spring.  And my personal favorite, our house is cleaner because our windows stay shut so the dust from the mountains doesn’t enter!!  So, why do I start out this post on our update in Peru during this quarantine with this story?  Because every day of our quarantine, if may appear to be the same; but when you look closer, we too can see growth and change to mark our time.  A way to show that life continues to move forward, even when it seems like we are standing still.

The full quarantine supposedly will lift on Monday after Mother’s day, but will be in phases 1-4 to slowly start back up again.  The concern here is that our numbers of infected continues to climb so it is possible that once again we will see an extension because the hospital system here is collapsed and there is no room to receive any more sick people.  In all accounts, the church, and our family will be maintaining our quarantine status because church offices are not planned to re-open until at least July and no formal church meetings until 2021.  All our church events on Sundays AND throughout the week will be virtual until 2021.  That also includes Kaleb’s school as it was announced a few weeks ago all schools in Peru will not be in person this school year 2020.   

Before we get into all the things we are doing these days, we wanted to share in our celebration of completing 2 years since Kaleb came to live with us on May 4.  While we still wait on the day we can say that he is adopted legally into our family, we know that it is just a matter of time before God’s promise will come to completion.  We appreciate prayers in this matter.  You can see the picture above of his first days with us and then now. We are so very grateful for every day we have been with him.

We are now in the swing of things for Kaleb’s homeschooling which happens everyday M-F in the mornings.  Along with the curriculum from his preschool which is still small, we have added our own curriculum.   Thanks to a fellow missionary family recommendation, we are following along a pre-school Christian curriculum based in bible stories but also teaches about the letters of the alphabet.  Kaleb is learning all the sounds of the letters (in English) and is beginning to “read” every letter he sees.  It is pretty fun!   Kaleb’s imagination has also begun to explode so that makes play time pretty fun!!! See pictures of us playing “school” with his stuffed animals!  There are challenges to keeping us all in a positive mood while staying inside.  We continue to be thankful for the measures that are being taken but also are a little stir crazy as well.

In the area of service, we are busier now than I feel like we were before.  Clever and I continue to divide our time between our projects and attending to Kaleb’s needs.  Our responsibilities have grown and so now our workdays have extended through the afternoons as well as sometimes on Saturday and on Sundays ALL DAY.

This past weekend our children’s Sunday school ministry launched virtual small groups for the kids ages 3-11 including kids with special needs!!!!!  It was both amazing and crazy at the same time because the logistics involved in making this happen are head spinning.  There were many training sessions for the leaders of each age group in how to receive and direct kids as they entered the virtual zoom room. Plus extra trainings for all the volunteers involved.  Trainings for the parents in how to use zoom.  And then more trainings and planning on how to engage the kids of each group. Ultimately, while this was both stressful and exciting, the numbers and response to this launch was incredibly positive!!!! In total for just this past Sunday at 4 different times throughout the day, there were 380 kids in small groups with the help of 150 volunteers.  Here is the really amazing thing, these kids that attended the small group were not just kids from our church but kids who are in different parts of the world, including Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Chile, USA, Spain, Australia, Argentina,  and Mexico!!!  This truly is amazing how far the reach of our church goes beyond people who attend Camino de Vida!!!

For our kiddos with special needs it was a unique experience because it allowed us to connect with the parents and their children in a way that told them that we want to continue to support them and miss their children.  The part I loved the most was when the parents logged their children on to zoom, because I had the opportunity to talk to all of them individually before sending them off to their virtual room for their small group. Many moms were nervous because their child doesn’t sit in one place, or couldn’t talk to respond, but at the end of our time, all  of them were happy to be a part!  One mom reported on her social media page, “ Thankyou kidscdv for opening  a space so special for our kids with special needs. For us, it is like a hug direct to our hearts to see them smile and enjoy this time.  This too will be part of my memories of this quarantine time.”

Clever continues to call families in need, listen and pray with them, and help them with a small financial donation from the church. He also manages and communicates with all scholarship applicants for the foundation started by Don Schoendorfer founder of Free Wheelchair Mission in memory of his late wife Laurie who passed away a few years ago.  He also is working on other projects where he is connecting local businesses who have helped with the wheelchair distributions in the past continue to serve their community in creative ways since right now we cannot give out wheelchairs. We continue to be active in giving out food, provisions, and financial support as a church community to those in need daily.  This includes taking bagged snacks to hospitals for the medical care professionals. Cooking meals for our Kids club families who are in poor areas.  And providing non perishable items to families who have no food. 

As mentioned above, we are busier NOW than ever before.

While we long for the ability to connect with people face to face, the truth is we are connecting with more people virtually than we ever did in person.  The message of Jesus’ light and hope are being spread universally at a much faster rate than ever before.  So while this virus may seem to be slowing us down; the message of our Savior Jesus Christ continues to be spread at an even faster rate!  How incredible is our God?    

So what’s next?  What is in our future?  We are excited to be dreaming up ways to continue to reach out to those with special needs.  Not just children, but now is a perfect time to expand and see how our church can support those in other age ranges as well.  We are excited and expectant in this future season.  Will you please pray for continued vision for this? 

We thank you for your continued support of what we get to do here.  We know that times are challenging and are grateful for your continued generosity and support to allow us to continue to serve those in need here in Peru. 

Our "New Normal"

““Sometimes what we see makes us forget what we hear. Let’s not forget God’s promises. Remember that faith comes by hearing his word.” -Pastor Robert Barriger”

Our first communion as a family.

Teaching Kaleb reason why we take communion.

Kaleb watching the Kids Sunday school program online!

Pray for our beautiful country and world.

Hi everyone, I hope this message finds you all healthy and safe. Here in Peru we are both healthy and safe as we enter into day 16/28 mandatory quarantine . It was extended over the weekend from initially 15 days to now 28. Here, only 1 person per family can leave the house, walking to a grocery store or pharmacy. Yesterday was my turn to go, it was the first time I had stepped foot out of our apartment in 18 days!! With mask (required), gloves (optional) and a baby stroller to carry our weeks grocery’s home, I was thankful to have the opportunity to leave the house! Some say it is such a hassle to go out because of all the new rules and the suggested process of cleaning your food and yourself once back home, but for me it was SUCH A GIFT to be able to leave the house even like this!

Last night the president increased our curfew to 6pm-5am which means that now the places that ARE open will also again reduce their hours. While this little change does complicate life a little since there are long lines at many grocery stores (of course with people standing 3-4 feet apart from each other in line), some people have expressed concern with the new curfew. For us, for right now, it doesn’t seem to impact us much. So quickly, let me give you some statistic updates about Peru as of today.

• 1065 positive cases confirmed

• 190 people hospitalized with 57 in ICU

• 24 reported deaths

• 400 reported recovered

*We are thankful that the numbers have stayed low and we are hoping that the strictness of our quarantine is helping reduce the spread.*

So how are we doing? We are doing pretty good under the circumstances. We are being intentional in making every day count. We continue to homeschool Kaleb, which is now beginning to be more fun for all of us. He really enjoys the one on one time with us. In May, it will be 2 years that we have had him in our home as his foster parents. Clever was just reminding me the other day of the fears I had at the beginning. Will he ever bond to us? Will he be happy? Will he talk and understand english? The unknown was almost unbearable. There were no books on how to care and love him like there are for new parents of newborns. Now 2 years later, we can say that all those things I worried about have been taken care of. Kaleb loves us and tells us regularly in both spanish and english! We are definitely bonded. And he absolutely can communicate in both spanish and english. Just in the past 3 weeks, he has started asking “why” and using the word "but” in both languages in very appropriate and funny contexts. Anyway, the reason I share that story with you is because, we may not know what our future holds with this virus, BUT we do know WHO knows all about our future and He wants only good things for us.

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Clever and I continue to serve in our roles under the outreach ministry and the childrens ministry. It is truly amazing how our church has jumped in full speed ahead with all the online resources and outreach projects that we are doing over the phone or online. We are so thankful to be able to be a part of what is happening here.

Here are a few of the things that Camino de Vida is doing that we get to be a part of.

• 3 live online services on Sundays with communion at the night service. This is really special because we never took communion with Kaleb as a family before this quarantine. It was an unexpected opportunity to teach Kaleb about what it means. Perfect timing leading up to Easter.

• Saturdays there is an online youth service that is live.

• A full children’s Sunday school program including adapted curriculum for children with special needs!!!! We also have a pinterest page with activities to do throughout the week, including a page for children with special needs.

• Online prayer with the pastors of the church 3 times a week

• A hotline for families to call for support, prayer , and/or express needs.

• A team of people reaching out to identified people in our church who need food and are checking in on families.

• Online small groups continue

• And a small team of volunteers (with special permission) alongside the national police have gone to the poorest of areas of Lima to give out basic supplies including food and water.

• Our team of pastors who travel all over latin american to teach how to do church are reaching out to those same churches to help them walk through this time we are in.

This is just SOME of the things we are able to continue to do as a church. We are constantly reminded that church is not the building we meet in but the people who are a part of it. That means you are our church family too! We continue to see this time as an opportunity to instill hope where there is fear. We are thankful to be a part of something so much bigger than us. How can we pray for you today? Please share with us! We really do want to know!

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I want to share with you a story of a family who we were able to talk to on the phone, pray for, and give a small donation from the church to help his family:

Jose and his family are refugees from Venezuela. His oldest daughter 16 years old had problems with her kidney function and she passed away a few weeks ago. About a week ago he and his wife welcomed the newest addition to their family, a baby boy. He worked daily to provide for his family. Now there is no source of income and the expenses of the funeral and delivery of a new baby has put them in dire need. Clever spent over an hour on the phone with Jose. Listening to him share his heart and pray for provision for his family.

We have done this for a week now. Calling and praying with families. Sometimes their stories are overwhelming. Our hope is to bring light and hope to them all. Please keep us in your prayers are we continue to encourage them.

As you know, we can not do any of this without your generosity. We continue to do our roles here from home and we are so thankful for your continued financial support during this time. May God continue to bless you and provide for all of your needs during this very different time.

Happy New Year!!!

Greetings everyone….Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you…. On this last day of 2019 I wanted to share something that God has put on my heart.  I hope you find it as comforting and encouraging as I did. 

In July 20, 2019 the lake behind my childhood home (where my parents still live) flooded due to extreme amounts of rain, and then the unthinkable happened.  Part of the road that was a dam to keep the water in gave way and all the water emptied from the lake.  Families were stranded on the other side of the lake in their homes because the only road out was washed away.  The back yard of a home near the breach was washed away and the home was then deemed structurally unsafe to return to and had to be demolished.  It was devastating to hear this news.  To see the pictures.  To hear the stories of my hometown.  I was so sad…grieving the loss of the lake that held so many memories of my childhood and even as an adult carried special memories including the most beautiful sunrise the day of Clever and I’s wedding. 

But just like most events that are considered disasters, the positive was to see the entire community come together to support those stranded.  It was comforting to hear and read the stories on social media from afar.  After 4 long months the road was rebuilt, and the families returned to their homes.  The one thing that remained was that the lake was still empty because they put in 2 very large drain pipes where the breach initially happened.  This changed the entire trajectory of the small current that flows through that area…. From what I heard, that meant no hope to refill the lake at any point. 

For me, that meant more grieving. Knowing that it will never look the same as it was.  That all you would see now is emptiness…. Honestly, that was incredibly sad to me.  BUT THEN I had the opportunity to go back to visit my parents for a week in early December.  The night I arrived it started to snow and the next morning I woke up with a blanket of beautiful snow everywhere.  I decided to walk around the lake to see what it looked like now in person.  To say goodbye to the way it was before…

As I was walking, I saw signs of the life it held before the flood.  Boats docked on dry land.  People with fishing equipment now unused…..and then the empty space of the house that had to be demolished.  A house I used to walk by every singe time I would make that route. I was sad.  But then, as I got to the bridge to look over the entire lake, something I had done so many times in my life, God showed me something new….He showed me that there was still water running in that lake…LIVING WATER.  A small channel of water that filtered through the middle of the now dry lake.  My heart was SO happy!!! God spoke to me in that moment saying, it may seem dead, but there is still LIFE.  Don’t you see the living water that is passing through?  Yes, it is NOT the same as it was before, but it has taken on a new form and it still brings LIFE.  Just wait and see…

You see this year has been a lot like this lake to many people, including me.  Maybe like me, you are grieving the loss of something, someone, or the way it used to be.  This year has been a weird year with a lot of changes in our lives. Some that we had hoped for and others that we didn’t.  But in that moment when God reminded me of His presence…. His living water even though it is in a different form, gave me a peace and a joy for what is to come in this next year. 

So, this is what I imagine….in the springtime, there will be new life and growth on that lake.  Maybe the wildflowers that once were along the banks of the lake in the field near our house will now venture out into the middle of the lake.  Maybe it will be a home for many creatures who are looking for that water to drink.  In summer, I can see full grass out there that is so green that maybe it will not be a place that the geese come to float on the water but will be a grazing place for other forms of life.  In fall, the same trees that surrounded the lake with their beautiful changing colors will still be there.  Surrounding the beautiful field that was once green and is now a golden color…still with the living water running through it. 

When I imagine what the new area behind my parents’ house will be like from now on, I don’t grieve…because I now see new life.  A chance to grow and have something new take place.  As we end 2019 and enter 2020, I am choosing to look for growth from what has taken place in 2019.  Will you join me?

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing: now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV

But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness.  I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.  Isaiah 43:18-19 NLT

Thank you for all who have supported us through prayer and finances this past year. We feel blessed by your generosity. Because we are missionaries with the church, we do not receive a paid salary. We are only able to be here doing what we get to do because of the generosity of others who believe in what we are doing here serving the population of people with disabilities in Peru. There is still time to make an end of the year donation that is completely tax deductible, or you can make a commitment to support us in 2020. We are so excited to see how this next year will be! Please consider joining us! Information on how you can do that is on our blog page marked FAQ. Thank you and God Bless you all.

Thoughts from Lisa

A few weeks ago, Kaleb had to have his blood drawn for his 3-year checkup.  The actual event of drawing blood from a little who you love so much is hard because you know it is necessary, but you still don’t want to intentionally inflict pain on them.  It was hard to see his little face of shock as his dad held him still and then see the little tears roll down his face as he cried in pain of what just had happened.  But then with a big hug and kiss from us, and a few pieces of candy (you do what is necessary ha ha) to sooth the hurt, he was better… Until later that day when he woke up from his nap and saw the bandage still on his arm.  Suddenly, he remembered the pain and stopped using his arm altogether saying that it hurt. We knew that it didn’t really hurt, but it was the memory of the hurt that he was experiencing.  We knew, that we needed to take off the bandage to help get him over this visual reminder of the pain from earlier that day.  But the tape they used was so sticky that is was hard to remove.  We used baby oil, water, whatever we could think of to try and make the removal less painful.  Eventually we had to just pull it off.  Afterwards, we continued with our day and about 30 minutes later he totally forgot about his arm “hurting” and returned to normal.

Since that day, I keep going back to that example that we all experienced and can’t help but relate it to our own hurts. Sometimes, when we have been hurt or sick, we act like Kaleb.  We keep remembering the pain that happened in a past hurt or sickness and it keeps us in a state of victim.  We walk around with that bandage on giving reasons on excuses why we can’t move on.  “But I’ve been hurt” you might say.  “How can I move on and do X, Y, and Z, if I have been hurt?”  The answer is simple…. You need to start by taking the bandage off the wound.  This may be hard to do, and you may need to use multiple resources like we did with Kaleb to remove it.  Maybe that means forgiving the person who hurt you or taking responsibility for your part. Maybe it is starting to do exercises to recover from an injury.  Maybe it means removing stuff from your life that continues to cause you to stay in this state of victim.   This could be poor influences in your life, or habits you have formed that are unhealthy, or even the thoughts you have in your head that only you know about. 

Once the bandage is removed, just like we told Kaleb that he is ok there is no more pain, we need to all decide to speak words of life to ourselves and others.  Tell them to yourself in a mirror, write them in your journal or on paper and post them where you can see them. Then, also begin to build up others in the same way. 

On this day before Thanksgiving, when all of us gather as family we can be thankful that our awesome God is the great healer of all our hurts.  He loves every one of us the same and He wants us to be healthy and whole and full of His light instead of being held down by past hurts that keep us in a state of victim.  I encourage you in this season of Thanksgiving to take time to ask God to show you your past hurts and THANK Him for healing you so that you can walk in freedom and joy.

 Happiest Thanksgiving to all of you.  We are grateful for your prayers and support today and every day! 

 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul,

And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name.

Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul,

And do not forget any of His benefits;

Who forgives all your sins,

Who heals all your diseases;

Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy;

Who satisfies your years with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.

The Lord bless you, and keep you [protect you, sustain you, and guard you];

Psalms 103:1-5 AMP

Monthly update!

Hi there everyone! Thanks so much for your patience with us and the new format that we have for our newsletter and blog. Since this is new, we are trying to learn as we go. So, if something doesn’t look right, let us know so we can try to adjust it!! So, here goes our update from the last 2 months. We hope that we can decrease the lengthy updates by doing it more regularly in the future!

Wheelchairs:

At the beginning of September, we hosted a wonderful church from Houston, Tx for a week of Free Wheelchair Mission distributions. We visited many people in their homes to deliver their wheelchairs and also had a large wheelchair distribution at the end of the week. One of my favorite deliveries was to a sweet little boy, Diego, who was dressed as Spiderman when we arrived. He was shy and didn’t want to take off his mask at first, but then eventually he felt comfortable with us and let us see the real Diego under the mask. He was really excited for this wheelchair so that he could go to school and move around more independently!

We also had the opportunity to host a special volunteer with Free Wheelchair Mission and fellow Occupational Therapist, from Sweden, Pia. She is partnering with FWM to help provide recommendations and improvements to serve the needs of wheelchair recipients all over the world, not just in Peru. It was an intense week of interviews of past wheelchair recipients, hospitals and government offices dealing with people with disabilities throughout Peru. It was a wonderful week helping her to understand the needs of Peru!

In that week before Pia arrived, Clever taught the 4 day Free Wheelchair Mission Certification course to volunteers in the church who are invested in wheelchair delivery program but have not yet been certified. The goal is always to increase the amount of volunteers who have the ability to complete the entire distribution process not only in Lima, but also in provinces of Peru where the need continues to grow. Training the volunteers in an ongoing process, not just during the 4 day training program.

We also have launched a special training program for volunteers who already have received the 4 day certification to learn how to do special adjustments for children or adults who need additional modifications to the wheelchairs. Over the past 2 years our sweet friend Gladys has been Lisa’s right hand gal for these adjustments. We have been giving her more responsibilities including teaching special adjustments workshops to volunteers in the provinces, as well as being in charge of the ongoing workshops that we now have 2 times a week here in Lima. Gladys is so invested and motivated by the service she has learned and can now teach others that it has motivated her to start to study to become a physical therapist! We are so excited that she has taken this next step as she continues to find her purpose that God has put in her. PS, Gladys is with me in the picture with “spiderman” above. She is the woman to the left of spiderman!

Kids with Special Needs (KIDS HD)

This has been an exciting time of growth and new opportunities in the special needs area we provide on Sundays at all campuses. The children’s ministry here called KIDS, and the church as a whole comes together on the 31st of October to have a HUGE costume party and fun festival. This was the first year that we as the area serving children with special needs had a special area with a designated team. The event was from 4pm-9pm! Over 2000 kids attended that event with 20 of them being kids with special needs. Our team was able to provide 1-to-1 support for a few kids who needed extra support including a single mom with 2 boys with autism. We were able to give preferential status in lines for those who could not wait in line, as well as we had our own trampoline that was designated for the kids with special needs. When talking to a mom whose son has special needs, she said there is nothing like this anywhere else in Lima and are so thankful we found ways to consider her son’s needs.

Another special project that is upcoming is the possibility of having the first ever family camp for families with children with special needs. Lisa and one of her leaders were able to travel to a province of Peru to learn how a family camp was run by a non-profit christian organization who has been doing it for years. we are praying and expectant to have our first annual family camp sometime in 2020 Lord Willing. Please be praying for all the details for this to occur to unfold as they should.

Lastly, we are launching our very first trial run of a specialized curriculum designed by 2 teammates and Lisa for Christmas specific to all our kiddos with special needs over all 6 campus locations. We are excited to see how this adapted curriculum will help provide a tangible and easy way to learn about the Christmas Story during the month of December!!!

PERSONAL UPDATE

The past few months we have celebrated many things!

My mother in law, and 2 sister’s in law and I attended the annual women’s conference at the church while Clever served at home by being with Kaleb and then at church in the Compassion International stand.

My sister and brother in law came down for a visit. It was a beautiful time of reconnecting after a year long hiatus.

Kaleb participated in a celebration at his school to honor the national day of Peruvian song, and also enjoyed dressing up in his Marshall costume for our church festival on the 31st.

All 3 of us have celebrated another year of life, of course with Kaleb’s 3rd birthday closing out the celebrations with a bang!

We continue to wait on any movement for his adoption and ask for your prayers for favor and efficiency with his case. We will be spending the holidays here in Peru as we continue to wait on this process. We also ask for your prayers for patience and living with joy in the season of waiting that we are in. It is very easy to see the things we are missing out on while we are waiting, and so we appreciate prayers to remind us of what we have already gained by having him in our home to celebrate each passing day.

We thank you for your continued support of what we get to do here with your help. If it were not for your support , we would not be able to get to do what we do to help support and serve those with disabilities.

WAITING by Lisa

​Greetings!! I hope this update finds you all well. I need to apologize for such a long delay in an update. I pray that most of you know that we are continuing to serve here in Peru based on our social media updates. It amazes me how fast this year has flown by, maybe you have felt that too? It is hard to believe we have just 4 months left in 2019!!! Anyway, here is what God has been teaching me lately.
Have you ever waited on something for a really long time? How long is long? 1 year? 5 years? 10 years or more? Well, for some funny reason, I thought that after the LONG time I waited to find the right match for me (my awesome husband, Clever), for some silly reason, I thought my waiting days were OVER. I was mistaken. Over the past few months, many things have come into our lives with the message of "wait". I'll be honest, waiting is HARD. It frustrates me at times to have to wait yet again for something that is beyond our ability to do anything to help speed up the process. But then, that is the point right? The truth is, we really don't have control in the waiting and so the real question, is what do you do in the waiting? How do you handle life? What is your attitude?

We have our sweet boy Kaleb with us in a foster care situation. We have had an incredible 16 months with him and we love him as if he is our own. We hope and pray that soon we can be his forever parents, but the wait seems like it is going on FOREVER. It has been a challenge of the heart. To dream of our future together but also know that maybe it won't happen the way we hope it will. For a long time, I spent so much time and mental energy with the "what ifs". It got me nowhere. So, this is what we decided. We gave it to God and every day that we are waiting on answers, instead of being frustrated with the system, we thank God for giving us one more day together. We TAKE EVERY DAY CAPTIVE. Nothing is taken for granted.

So, while we are waiting on this answer and many other things in our lives, what we chose to do while we wait matters. We can sit and sulk or complain to others and God about the wait. With a bad attitude the waiting can feel so heavy. Or we can CHOOSE our attitude to be one of being grateful of what has been given. Remembering and enjoying ALL the things that God has given us. Being reminded that God WANTS to give us good gifts. Psalms 103:5 says, He fills my life with good things. He is not withholding what we are waiting for to intentionally hurt or frustrate us. We often don't understand the reason why we have to wait until AFTER the waiting is over. I remember wondering why I had to wait 3 years from the time I decided to move to Peru and the date I actually left. I am 100% sure now that the reason was because I was not yet spiritually and emotionally ready to handle what was ahead of me. Had I pushed and gone earlier, I would have failed within the first 6 months....But God knows what we need and gives it to us in his perfect timing.

So, here is a question for you. What are you in waiting for? Have you given the control up to God. Have you thanked Him for what he is giving you NOW? What is your attitude.

​So in our waiting of greater things to come, here is an update of what we have been able to do here in all of 2019.

In the area of wheelchairs, we have been quite busy.

In the first part of the year, Clever traveled to 4 different provinces in Peru to do 4-day trainings with churches that are connected to Camino de Vida. The idea is that we help them learn to distribute wheelchairs so that they can serve their own community. Our pastor, Pastor Robert loves encouraging other churches to serve their own community. That way it is the local church serving them and there is a better chance they will get connected into the local church.

Clever and I both led a training in Lima where 26 new volunteers spent 4 days learning how to properly build, adjust, and deliver a wheelchair including giving the message of Christ. It was our biggest training yet! We have also done follow up trainings both in Lima as well as in the provinces to teach volunteers how to do special adjustments for children. We have trained 2 incredible women who are now part of the special adjustment training team who do most of the trainings for the special adjustments.
At the end of January, Camino de Vida celebrated their 30th anniversary as a church!! It was an incredible celebration that started with an all day serve day all over Lima on Saturday. While there were many volunteers serving in various projects over the city, Clever and I served and help lead in giving away 170 wheelchairs in 3 hours. There were weeks of preparation to review the paperwork asking for wheelchairs. It was an incredible day!

The following day (Sunday), Clever and I had the honor to host 3 of the recipients who received the wheelchairs the day before at the 30th anniversary celebration in the National Stadium. It was an unforgettable event where we celebrated our Pastors, Robert and Karyn Barriger for starting the church 30 years ago.

We have also been able to help identify potential Free Wheelchair mission recipients for a scholarship (Laurie Schoendorfer Endowment for Education (LSEE) to help pay for the education of technical/university level students. At the beginning of March we were able to give the good news to the first in Peru to receive the scholarship. His name is Juan Jose. He is 24 years old with a spinal cord injury from a stray bullet that hit him as he was driving a taxi a few years ago. This young man has an incredible attitude and determination to move forward in his life. He even adapted his taxi with hand controls so he could drive himself to pick up his wheelchair. It was the first time he drove since his injury. We are so excited to have the ability to follow this young man through his studies and see where he goes in life.

At the halfway point of the year, Camino de Vida was part of a very large event where we distributed approximately 500 wheelchairs in all parts of Peru during the same week. It was part of a larger event that provided medical care and evangelism in all of Peru called One Nation One Day.
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We are preparing for 2 short term missions teams who will be coming to give out wheelchairs in September and November. We love hosting these teams since this is really part of our story of how Lisa arrived in Peru and how ultimately we met!

KIDS HD
We continue to lead and develop the special needs area on Sunday mornings. We offer one on one volunteers at all 6 campuses. We also just began offering support on Thursday evenings during the women’s service that meets once a month.
Lisa was able to attend and help support 3 kids with special needs at our children’s ministry summer camp in March with a team of volunteers. It was really fun to see the children enjoying the summer camp, however it was clear after the camp ended that God was brewing up something in our hearts for something MORE. Read below in Plans for the future……

In June, we received for the 2nd year, a team from a nonprofit called Miracle 139 from California. This year they poured into our ministry, leaving us with many tools, trainings, and recommendations for individual kids who attend our Sunday program. We are incredibly grateful for their support this year and are excited to begin to use the tools they have created.

Every August in Peru they celebrate Kids Day (generally the 3rd Sunday in August). This basically is equivalent to Mother’s and Father’s Day, but for kids. Camino de Vida goes ALL OUT for this day. All the morning services are converted into Kids Church Service, and following the service they had inflatables, face painting, and sweets at each campus. It really is a wonderful opportunity for our team of volunteers to connect with the parents of the kids they care for each Sunday. Here are a few pictures and comments from parents and volunteers…

In the campus Lince: “ We are good! We just finished the 2nd service and Alani and Manuel are VERY happy!”
In the campus La Victoria: “Cielo, Valeria and Marcos all enjoyed the inflatable slides.
Cielo’s mom commented as she was going down the inflatable slide:” The truth is that it is incredible to see her progress! Only those who have seen her years before can believe in what a joy it is to see her now! Blessed be our Lord and THANK YOU Camino de Vida and your volunteers!”
In the campus San Miguel: “Our kids loved the face painting. We even had a new kid (Zacari) come for the first time!”
In the campus Surco: “ Carlita, Zoe and brothers Rafael and Facundo happy in Surco.” “All 4 kids with special needs in the trampoline together. I LOVE seeing how the parents united all at the same time without any help from the volunteers to connect!”

We are also just finishing a 3 month sign language certification class! We now have 12 volunteers who will be certified in Peruvian Sign Language!
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Kids HD Plans for future….

• Our hope for 2020 is to have our very own overnight family camp for families of kids with special needs. This will be an adjunct to the parent retreat we normally host in November each year. This year, we have decided to take off this year, so that we can keep planning for this major plan for 2020. Please keep us in prayer for this as we keep investigate how we can do this.

• The children’s ministry has begun writing their own curriculum!!!! KIDS HD is part of this so we will have our hand in adapting each age group curriculum plus have an individual curriculum for our kiddos who are not able to integrate into the classroom!

• Online trainings for our volunteers

PRAISE REPORT AND PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Kaleb started preschool in March and LOVES his school. He asks to go every single day. His vocabulary has skyrocketed in both English and Spanish as well!

• Clever has his green card so we are thankful that he is able to travel freely back and forth to the US now as needed.

• We are all excited for a visit from Lisa’s sister and brother in law at the end of September! It will be her sister’s 3rd time visiting, but a first for her brother in law!!!

• We have been accepted by the judge to be 1st to be considered in Kaleb’s adoption. This recommendation also needs to be approved by the public ministry in order for us to formally petition for adoption. We hope to hear an answer by the end of August or early September. We don’t know how much longer it will delay but ask for prayers for a final decision to be make before Kaleb’s 3rd birthday on Nov 2 so that we can then apply for a tourist visa for Kaleb and then come to the US for Christmas!!!

Therapy in Perú-A Journey for Long Term Mission