It is a gentle dawn and with a sweet voice heard in our hearts the Lord calls for us to wake and work in His vineyard.

After breakfast this morning, Barbara Dixon led us in worship and prayer and the day has begun. It seems that all it takes is for the sun to come up and the noise of this city escalates instantly. There are 2 million people here but it is unlike any city in the USA. There are no signs anywhere. No street signs, traffic lights or stop signs. We are near the center of town and all of its noise. I probably haven’t seen as many taxis anywhere else other than N.Y.C. but even there they do not use the horn as much as here. Of course here the car has the right of way and the horn is used more as a politeness so you can jump out of the way before you are run over rather than as an angry gesture. Here in Trujillo and Casa Grande the rules of the road are a simple suggestion and are not mandatory. There are no street signs saying what the speed limit is and when I asked about it I was told that you learn what speed you should travel when you study for your test. I am sure the correct answer for the test would be fast and wild. Bob and I had been on the road with Pastor Antero when I inquired about this. I mentioned that in America the speed limit for the type road we were on would be about 35. When I glanced over and saw we were doing 100klm I decided it would be best not to look and just pray.

On the way to Casa Grande we pass ancient ruins, but without some one to point it out few would know what it is. Looks more like hills of sand which are everywhere, but in this sand is buried a village of adobe houses from long ago. You can drive a long distance without seeing very many signs of life with the exception of the high tech offering of plastic being tossed by the winds and settled with other garbage along the road. Farther along there will be a little row of open market stores that are selling sweets and beverages and a few other small items. As we gaze over the rolling hills of sand. the site of the immediate area is not particularly pretty, and it is easy to get downhearted. But when we take our eyes off the surrounding condition and look off in the distance, we see painted in the skyline the majestic out line of the start of the Andes Mountain range and we gasp in awe. What a spiritual lesson we have here. We must never let our eyes settle on the here and now but rather look into the distance to see the whole picture and our heart will leap for joy at the glimpse of that glorious site

As we get closer to Casa Grande, population 33,000, we see rows of large fico trees lining each side of the street which is a pretty site particularly after seeing nothing green or flowering for such a long stretch. Each of the trees is painted white from the bottom to about 5 feet high. The reason for this is to let the vehicles be able to spot them easily as people drive during the night. There are no street lights. On the way we also pass fields of sugar cane which is irrigated by drenches dug by hand. They will use this to completely flood the field at the proper times, using water from the run off of melting snow on the tall mountain range. It is extremely hard to get any grass or flowers to grow in this desert condition and anyone who has either, at their dwelling or in town have it only by a great amount of hard work and continual care. The grass next to the church building has been planted twice now still trying to get it to take root. It has to be watered by hand daily. There is about a ten degree difference in temperature between the two cities and in
Casa Grande there is always a haze to the air. It is also incredibly dusty at all times. The poverty of the area strikes us very quickly and yet there is a sense of pride to the people for what they have accomplished. All the houses are adobe and all have dirt floors, little furnishings but they do have electricity and televisions. When we stopped for gas or elsewhere we found the workers were looking at us with such interest. I asked the Pastor’s wife if she knew why and she said they have never seen an American before. It dawned on me later that all the programs these humble adobe dwelling folks watch on television which show the American way of life must seem to them like a science fiction movie.

The church we are building will be the first cement church in the area. Pastor Antero is so thrilled over it and wanted to thank us. He talked to us last night at dinner and told us when he first saw our group and all the women that were with us, his thoughts were, oh…they have brought a lot of women to cook for them. But when he went to the work site and saw all these little ladies wearing hard hats, hauling cement and putting down block he was so surprised he couldn’t believe his eyes. He had no idea women could do this. Ah, welcome to the American woman 101.

Magda Saleedo de Jimenez is being a great help in the kitchen, she has come from 4 hours away to help in our kitchen and to renew her relationship with her dear friend Betty. She lived with Dwight and Betty Taylor while she worked her way through school. Dwight Taylor was the Mission President here in Peru many years ago. They have many friends and happy memories of this area. They even remember doing ingathering in Casa Grande. The Lord is so good to us bringing us in and out of situations that are dear to our heart and gives us strength to continue on with a fire that burns brightly.

Dr. Eloise Price is one of our new volunteers along with Erica Flynn P.A. They have both enjoyed there first days in the field and are being blessed. We had no idea that Dr. Daniels or Chet Parboo PA would not be able to be with us this year due to illness. But the Lord did and supplied others to fill in. We still have and always will have a place for Chet and are looking forward to seeing him working side by side with us next year. We are praying for you Chet.

Dr. Clark had an excellent day. This is his 2nd mission trip. He had one fellow come in that brought Spanish to English dictionary and he pointed to the word nervous to let him know how he was feeling about seeing a dentist for the fist time in his life. The fellow then asked the Doctor to pray with him, of which he did and then proceeded to pull 8 of his teeth with no trouble. What more can you ask than to have a dentist that will pray for you before he works. I am sure this helped ease his fears and made it easier for him to go through the dental work. Plus you know there were angels there when prayer is made.

Doctor Bainam had a very sad story to tell me about an 80 year old woman who had the worse case of cancer on her nose he had ever seen. She has no one to take her into Trujillo for an operation. How we long to help all the people but some things are just out of our reach.

The medical clinic saw over 425 people

In the dental clinic 80 patients were seen and 60 teeth pulled between yesterday afternoon and today.

The construction team put down 327 blocks and also spent a lot of time checking and planning for the cement fence that will go around the church for safety purpose.

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The children in this area have been said to be the most polite and well behaved of any area we have been too. The medical staff has found them to be just a joy to work with.

Don’t forget to P.U.S.H. (pray until something happens)

May the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified and praised eternally.

Because of Him I smile always,

Jennifer Young

Berkshire Mission reporter