Month: November 2016

Even though all but one of the Americans from our team have arrived back home, there is one more story begging to be told. This is Cesar’s story (the one team member still in Peru).

In 2012 Cesar, a native of Peru who had immigrated to California, heard that a good friend’s wife had had a stroke. She needed a wheelchair and Cesar was determined to make that happen. His daughter told him about Joni and Friends, having recently heard Joni speak. {They live near Joni and Friends headquarters.}

So, Cesar contacted Joni and Friends to see if they could arrange to bring a wheelchair for his friend on their next outreach in Lima. During that outreach, some of the team, including Reid, took the chair to the friend’s home and made sure that it was a good fit for her.

Two years later, Cesar heard that there was another outreach going to Lima and he decided to go – on his own because the team was already filled. He stayed at his mother’s home and commuted to the hotel where the rest of the team was staying. He was there every day – translating and generally being helpful. On one of the bus rides back to the hotel, Cesar and Reid sat together on the bus. Reid shared the gospel with Cesar and he gave his heart to God.

Another team member lives near Cesar in California and her husband started mentoring Cesar once he was back in the States. Cesar joined the team again in 2015 and 2016 – actually on the team both times! – serving alongside these friends.

This year, Cesar’s friends came to the outreach on the last day so the team could make some adjustments to her chair. Here is a picture of the couple, Cesar, and other team members after her chair was repaired.

Pictured here are the couple, Cesar, Reid, and another member of this year’s team. God is so good!

 

A team member from the team that served in Chimbote the week before our team reports that one of the team member’s daughter and granddaughter met a man with a disabled son while on a missions trip to Peru in July. Since then, they have been working on arranging a wheelchair for the little boy.

This family lives closer to San Juan de Lurigancho so he was seen at our outreach there. Together, we can make a difference…

It was a good day of working with three pastors: Pastor Edgar from San Martin, Pastor Luis from San Juan, Pastor Arsenio from San Juan.  They were all very interested in being trained as mechanics to understand the process about how a therapist and a mechanic work together. They helped me to cut and assemble three wooden trays for three patients.

We had a wonderful time celebrating work the Jesus Christ did through the North American trade team and the Peruvian team to seat about 160 people.
The church at San Juan is led by a leader pastor vision to transform his community and he wants to have a growing ministry among those affected by disability. Many people showed up to the event who had become christians and who are now attending the church. They were brought my church members would befriend them and share Christ with him.
This church is living out the parable in Luke 14 where the master of the house has a banquet and told his servant to go out into the highways and byways and compel people to be at his table. The point of the parable is that the master, God Himself, wants His house to be fulfilled with the poor and disabled as well. This church is doing that. It is an example. that inspires us all.

The last day of the outreach is challenging. The choices of chairs has dwindled.

Still, God provides! There are many stories of how God’s provision was evident. There was a chair that had been passed over several times because it had funky leg rests that are hard to adjust; it was the right fit otherwise, so it was presented to one of the women. She sat in the chair, told the team that she didn’t need the leg rests and that they could be removed. Problem solved. (Those leg rests ended up being used later on another chair)

There was another story of a woman who brought a very well-cared-for chair that was no longer good for her condition. The woman received a new chair – and her old chair was used to bless someone else.

We also gave out several walkers today. Unfortunately, many Peruvians are short and the walkers only adjust to an average American height. The mechanics were kept busy shortening walkers. While this isn’t a difficult job, it needs to be done with precision so the walker is stable.

After the distribution, we celebrated together with the Peruvian volunteers that helped make up our team. One of the highlights was the traditional dance that was performed for us.

Some of our team was invited to join in:

Our team is very tired, but it has been an awesome week!

Day 3 of the outreach began with fewer chairs from which to choose, but God is our Provider! We had another great day.

Again, we served people from 2 years old to 100+. Sometimes the needs are so great that we feel totally inadequate. But, God provides.

For example, one young woman is being cared for totally by her sister. Both parents were killed in an accident and nobody else in the family is willing to help. The older sister is unable to work because the needs of her younger sister require help 24/7. The young woman has frequent seizures and doesn’t sleep, so her sister gets very little rest and is unable to hold down a job. They barely scrape by – and sometimes don’t have food to eat. And yet, she cares for her sister in a loving, attentive manner. What an example of love and grace!

We were able to connect her with the pastor of the church where we are serving. He was going to bring her to the attention of the people working with the disability ministry inn the church.

But that isn’t all: Later in the day another man came for a chair. He is a believer who works as an advocate with a government organization. Our translator, Gloria, told him about these young women. He is planning to follow up and see what help might be available to them. Praise God for His provision!

The mechanics were hard at work again – the selection of chairs is getting sparse and creativity is needed to make things work!

Our support people are keeping busy, too.

And, of course, the therapists are busy evaluating:

Yesterday, one of our teams had the opportunity to work with Vanessa. She is 4 years old and has cerebral palsy. Her mom is a single mom and had carried her daughter to the outreach.

Her mom was so excited to see her in the wheelchair, where she was able to sit up and her head was supported.

Vanessa is not able to communicate. Mary Beth had brought some communication boards with her, so she and Melina started working with Vanessa while her chair was being adapted.

Vanessa was able to point to some of the pictures (well, at least get close to them), so with some practice she may have a rudimentary ability to communicate!

We served 46 people our first day of distribution, ranging in age from 6 to 100! (The paper for the 100 year old said, “Can’t walk because she’s old”!)

People came from as far away as a 3-hour bus ride. The gift of mobility is so important, but the love of Jesus that we share with them is priceless.

Our mechanics worked hard today – but they’ll be working even harder as the week goes on and the chair choice decreases…