Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice; let them shout for joy, because thou defendest them. PS. 5.11 These words have proven true. The Lord has been our Champion once again.
All that went through customs with us will witness to this.
It had been a long flight with little sleep for most of us and we had been told long ago that there would be no chance of our bringing medicine into Peru, but our faith was great that the Lord would see this effort though.
The Mayor of Casa Grande was waiting to help us, along with Manuel, the local Maranatha worker. Customs decided they would open and go through all
68 crates. The medicine was not going to be allowed through. Bob Young, with Joan Notghi to translate headed to the officials in the city of Lima to plead our case. Several hours later they came back with the Mayor and a Congressman. and the approval of our medicine! Praise the Lord! It was only by His grace that this took place, and we are very aware of it. The Mayor of Casa Grande told Renita Turner that his faith in Christ had been lacking but after seeing all that we are doing in the name of Jesus, it has bolstered his faith. This man's heart has most certainly been touched and it will be so exciting to learn how Jesus uses this trip to bring this man to the foot of the cross.
Melissa Rousseau had lost her wedding band during the customs search in the crates. Prayer was sent up after finding this out and later that night she found her ring in one of the crates. If you were able to see how filled these crates are you would understand the miracle in ever finding that ring.
We had arrived at Berkshire Hills church on Monday at 1 pm, and after finishing the packing we had some delicious soup, bread, fruit and dessert that the ladies of the church had prepared and Bea Shepard once again saw that it was ready and waiting for us. Our baggage along with the crates were loaded into a large U-Haul that was rented and Steve Sobon and his friend Scott once again drove to our departure area which this time happened to be in New York City at J.F.K. airport. They left about an hour ahead of our very luxurious bus and it was a good thing they did as we hit icy roads on the way down. There was so much electric in the air from our excitement that we probably could have run our own generator. Everyone was set and ready to go to Peru. We boarded our plane at 10:30pm and headed out. Dr.
Roy Kellerman ended up doing volunteer mission work earlier than the rest of us. There was a woman on the plane that had become sick and he went to her aid.
The flight was 7 hours long and then the wait through customs was 5 hours, taking up most of our wait until the next plane ride from Lima to Trujillo.
From there it was a 30 minute bus ride to where we are staying in Trujillo.
Those of our group who did not depart from J.F.K. with us, met up with the group in Lima as planned.

We are staying at Las Terraza hotel and we heard many sighs of relief when our folks heard each room would have its own bathroom. A real luxury even if the water only trickles out of the faucets and the toilet paper still isn't allowed to be put in the toilets. So we are 65 people put into 21 rooms, but we have a fan in each room and feel we are certainly living high on the hog here.
As we came into the hotel we were met with wonderful exotic aromas billowing from the outdoor dinning area. The President of the Adventist Mission along with all of his ministerial officials came to greet us at the hotel. And it was their wives who had provided this out right feast for us. I am always so taken with the fact that each country can take a product such as rice and make it taste totally different from the last area visited. We even had gluten steaks that were boiled in a cilantro sauce that was like nothing we have ever sampled before. We were served plums that must have been tree ripened to be that good because when you bit into it the sweet juice just flowed down your hand. Am I making you drool yet? You should be as it was that good of a meal. Papaya with fresh lime, avocado slices and tomatoes that were not only a beautiful red but the ladies had even peeled them for us. We sat by the pool side and ate our meal while hummingbirds dove for drinks of water just a matter of feet away.
We are filled with thanksgiving for what the Lord has done for us and will do through us in the upcoming days. We want to let you know with out a doubt the Lord Jesus is alive and working in Peru. We have seen the evidence of this clearly in the last two days.

Because He lives we continue on. Oh what joy there is in service for Him.
Pray for us as we labor for the Master, we will be praying for you.

Smiles as always,
Jennifer Young,
Mission reporter
We are at the Las Terrazas Hotel in Trujillo, Peru Phone at the hotel is 011-51-44-23-2437 for emergency contact