As dawn appears over Trujillo, Peru our hearts are reminded of His words... “if ye have done it onto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it onto me” and it becomes easy to arise with zeal for the opportunity before us.

At 6 a.m. Manuel, Elizabeth and Carolina Berenes arrive with a truck load of souvenirs for our perusal. They are beautiful and typical for Peru. There were intricate woven tapestry, rugs of all sizes made from Llama and Alpaca fur, bags, dolls and carvings. Manuel sells these to groups like ours to raise money for various local projects and all profit goes for this support. Some of the projects they have already finished, such as sending a young girl who was born with a tragic deformity on to Lima for surgery. Another project they are working on presently is to buy a boat for Pastor Victor Schocket whose area is the length of the Amazon River from Peru to Brazil and north to Columbia. He is the only Pastor in this very remote area. Another project is to buy a portable saw mill for some in the area to be able to sell the finished wood that is so plentiful. Wonderful projects and we were happy to help support it.

After leaving the hotel for the morning our group stopped at the company sugar cane factory for a two hour tour. Half of the group would go first and then the second half. The guide separated the women from the men and lined them up and like a marching army they were brought into the factory as they put on the required hard hats. One section of the factory where the steam was very heavy, the men workers wore knee high rubber boots and a swim suit and nothing more. They were drenched with sweat from the heat. Every portion of the sugar cane is used for something, including the scum on top of the steaming vats. Cough syrup and alcohol as well as sugar for the table are by products of the cane. It looks like Turbinado sugar as it is brown and dry. Not brown and moist as what we think of as brown sugar. The smell was an intense, sickly sweet and some of our group felt nauseated from it. They are giving each person a small bag of sugar to bring home but we also asked if we could buy about 150 bags to bring back home as gifts. We should be able to pick this up on Friday.

Pastor Antero Blass, the young Peruvian minister that we are building the church for has told me more about his duties and life style. Since he has been Pastor in this area which has been 3 years, he has baptized over 600 people! He is 30 years old and his rate of pay is $250 a month. His house is paid for by the mission but he must pay 10% of house expenses plus all of his electric and water bills. Obviously money is always in very short supply. He has 21 churches and 1,800 members that he oversees and Pastors. There are 2 in Casa Grande and the other church that is being built now in another town by Maranatha is also under his jurisdiction. He makes his rounds faithfully to all of the churches in order. His furthest church is 4 hours by car ride and then another 8 hours of walking up into the mountains of Peru to reach his congregation. What an honor and privilege to know this young man who loves Jesus so. The Latin people are so devoted and have such zeal for Jesus and that is why it is the fastest growing church. How often we in America will forgo church on a day that is snowy or rainy and yet our counterparts will walk 8 hours up a mountain trail to have worship and fellowship and encourage the brethren.

We received a request for our address yesterday as some of you would like to help to defray the overage of this mission trip. You may send any donations, which are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt to: Berkshire Mission, c/o Robert Young, P.O. Box 509, Cheshire Ma. 01225. We have had to hire yet another security guard to stay here at the hotel all day and night with us. This is aside from the ones hired for the clinic and construction sites. This added cost along with the canceled free transportation and with having to buy $1,000 more worth of medicine has put us considerably over budget. We do appreciate your help and know you will be blessed by it.

In the last two days the counts for out teams are:

The church and wall are finished and the roof is on, they will start to grade the yard now. The playground is almost finished and the painting will continue tomorrow.

The medical team examined 1,080 patients.

The dental team examined 114 patients and extracted 118 teeth and did 81 cleanings.

He that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he that honors Him has mercy on the poor. Proverbs 14:31

Hold on tightly to Jesus and don’t forget to P.U.S.H.

Smiles from Peru,

Jennifer Young,

Mission reporter