Day 30 Goodbye, Day 31Hello, Day 32 Goodnight :)

Hey all,

I know this combining three entries is cheating but... Oh well their all sort it makes more sense this way...

On Friday July 1st (day 30), we said goodbye to the first Huntington group, or the first half of the Peru Crew. I was very sad to see them go, they truly embrace the mission mindset and firmly believe they leave Peru,each time, with more than the left... Even though they come down here to help better the people of Gallitos lives, with medical clinic, water filtration buckets, construction supplies, paint, bible school materials, and some of the best attitudes. They leave Peru feeling like they have received more through the kind smiles and appreciation that the people of Gallito give them in return, they have built lasting relationships that they treasure ;) and it was a pleasure working with each and every one of them. They flew out today, and we spent our day turning over so we would be ready for the next set of Huntington faces that arrived on Saturday :) all in all it was a great week ;)

Saturday came with a major realization, it marked the start of my last two week to be spent here in Iquitos... Which seems crazy... It feels like I've already been here forever, since we wake up early and our days are long it stretches out the time, leaving this place will be hard, i've made such strong connections here, to the amazing people I work with everyday, the same people I eat every meal with, and the people who I share my amazing experiences down here with... I came down here with profound respect for the work that Pam does, but only after seeing how amazing it is to immerse yourself in a culture unlike your own, understanding all the struggles one must sometimes endure to make a connection, and feeling the incredible rewards when one is finally made... It is only then do you really begin to understand what living missionary service is really about, and I've barely scratched the surface here... I think that's why it's doing to be so hard to leave...
On Saturday the second Huntington team arrived, I think I'm most interested to explore the group dynamic of this group compare to the other Huntington group, them being from the same church and all... It will be interesting to see how they will approach their work here differently then the last group did, first off I can tell you this group will be different because their are more first timers in this group then the last, their are eight I believe in this group whereas their were only three in the last, I
Always like to enjoy the first timers reactions because they are most generally the ones who are the most overcome by their emotions, especially the first timers who have never been out of the US before, we have a couple of those too which is neat. I'm also quite excited that this group brought along their youth minister :) we've had slot of ministers down here, and don't get me wrong they've all been amazing, but Josh bubbles out with a joy I cannot begin to explain, he seems like he's going to be a great assets to have around, plus he likes to play cards ;)
All in all I'm very excited to get to know all of them :)

Day 32 sunday July 3rd, today :( Goodnight... The only word that can sum it up...
Background info, I woke up yesterday feeling kinda funny, pasted on breakfast... And was pretty tired all day, we went about our day and I decided I'd turn in rather early... Like 8:30 pm early.... Waking up this morning was difficult I was lagging behind, and I must have looked it because at breakfast Pam made the executive decision that I would not be going out to accompany the group to church in Gallito, I was sent back to bed... Pam has had a cold for a couple days and she assumes that she got me sick... I assume she is correct because even though I slept a great deal last night I came back to bed at about 9am and was passed out till about 1pm when Pam came to check on me... My fever broke while I slept and I'm keeping hydrated I promise... I'm pretty sure Pam was a nurse in another life because shes been looking after me wonderfully all day, I'm feeling much better and looking forward to getting back to Gallito tomorrow :)

Speaking of tomorrow... The 4th is my little brother Davids birthday ;) happy early birthday kid :) miss ya... Wish I was there to celebrate it with you,but you me and bridget, since I've missed both your birthdays now, will do makeup birthday sessions once I'm back stateside :) love you both.

Well that's all forks :) stay tuned

Day 29 First Huntington Group says goodbye to Gallito

Hey all :)

Thursday was amazing, it's kinda of scary how attached I've become to the children in Gallito... I have mixed feelings about going back next week with the second half of the Huntington group, I'm excited to have more time to spend with them but I know just how much harder those goodbyes are going to be...

We all headed back to Gallito on Thursday, the medical clinic ran their again, and I'm sad to report we gave out an alarming amount of lice shampoo, needless to say I had the nurses do a lice check on me, since I'm always surround by children... But of course that was me being paranoid lol, absolutely no lice... But as another protective measure I will bemusing lice shield shampoo from now on... Complements of Lynn, one of the Huntington Nurses :) they also handed out anti-parasite medication and vitamins along with several anti fungal creams, It's so humid down here, their skin never really drys out, they also saw a horrible case of what I assume was psoriasis and several other rashes... But all in all the clinic ran smoothly and everything that needed to get distributed was :)

As far as my day goes it was a really emotional one, my day started like it usually does, I was bombarded as soon as I got off the boat with a bunch of little child's going " hermanita Natalia que vamos hacer hoy?!?! " or "miss Natalie what are we going to do today?!?! " well today was James' 13th birthday, he's a member of the Huntington mission team, so I had the kids make him birthday cards while everyone else was busy painting the Sunday school building... After the cards were finished and safely tucked away, so James wouldn't see them, I gave the kids some paper to draw and that's when it started... That's when the kids, who probably get coloring paper once in a blue moon, decide instead of making something for themselves or their families, something to take home with them. That they wanted to draw pictures for me... And these are some of them....







Needless to say I started to tear up... But I held it together... Barely : / it's not the best stragey to cry like a dork in a packed church full of kids, and an attentive audience of adults waiting for their turn in the medical clinic, but I was just so moved that these kids who've known me for only five days now,would want to do something like that for me...








Our last bibles school for this first week in Gallito followed our theme of God is love, we had two verses today the first was
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself" Mark 12:30-31
And the second was
"Dear friends let us love one another for love comes from God" 1John 4:7

Their were four craft projects today, we made heart pop-up cards, heart shaped paper woven baskets, we made a cross with hearts on either side, and wrote on the cross First Presbyterian Huntington WV and Presbyterian church of Gallito on the other... Across the cross we wrote united in Gods love :) the final project was one for the group to take back to Huntington, it was hearts the children decorated and wrote their names on so that we could add their pictures, that we've taken over the course of the week, so that members of the congregation back in Huntington could pray for the children :) it was a great day :)

Here are some pictures...




me teaching bible school...







Weaving baskets....




Marcos with is heart :)

And here's a recap of my week in pictures...




Making the banner




Teaching the first lesson...




Wearing my "Gods love is all around us" glasses...




Making craft flowers...




Sleeping on the boat lol...





Messing around :)




All the time...




Crafting some more...




And Making crowns for Gods heavenly kingdom...

We had an amazing week :) stay tuned...

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 28 Wednesday in Gallito

Hey all :)

The medical team went to the First Presbyterian church of Iquitos today to run their medical clinic, and the rest of us headed out to Gallito. The medical team always has something interesting to teach us during the point in devotions when we tell each other about our days, for example the cough drops being so popular, I usually look forward to their moment to share, but today was hard for them... They told us of a story of a woman who had a large visible tumor, about the size of a golfball, the woman had terminal cancer... She's been to Lima several times, but her lack of funds make treatment an impossibility, she came in asking for ibuprofen for the pain, the woman's dying and she asks for ibuprofen, and they end of this story their were not a pair of dry eyes in the room.

It's easy to say I'm privileged I've know this my whole life, but this woman makes me acutely aware of just how privileged I am... I will probably never worry about a medical emergency, like most of us who've had insurance their whole lives it's an easy thing to dismiss as commonplace, but the reality is their are millions of people uninsured across our country and in most other countries, give thanks for all that you have, give thanks for all that you've worked so very hard for, and pray for those who work everyday but will never ever be as privileged as you are.

Today in Gallito we focuses on finishing construction and of course more bible school :) the verse for today was John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life"

Because we were talking of Gods heavenly kingdom we made crowns, and angels! We also made heart necklaces and finger puppets

Here are some pictures from today....




My two little helpers who follow me around Sarita and Estafanie :)



Here are the crowns...



Aren't they cute :)


We broke up in stations at the first station, the children's heads were measured and the band of their crowns were cut.... The second station was my station.. I measured and cut the cross pieces for their crowns it was like playing barber for the day...



All the kids waiting at my station...


This little boy taught me something today... We were right in the middle of making crowns He won't let me help him with the next step, he just stood their and stared at me, they finally he started to cry.... And oh boy did he cry and scoped him up and began to access the situation being the only Spanish speaker on my craft I was the closest and I was confident I could solve the problem, I asked him what's wrong and between his sobs he informed me that I couldn't help him because all he wanted was his mom... And that was it something so simple and universal :) it reminded me that even if you can communicate with someone and you have the resources to help them.... doesn't mean you can solve their problems. It was eye opening and spoke to mission work :)

That's all forks more later...

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 27 Tuesday in Gallito :)

Hey all :)

Sorry I'm delayed, no excuses... Just busy....

I could live in Gallito, And my life there literally would consist of playing and crafting with children all day long :)

The Medical team was off to Santa Tomas today so that left me and Ben in charge :) lol, but today was amazing, the men and boys (2 13 year olds) tackled the rest of deconstruction and some minor rebuilding projects

We had a busy morning And then lunch then our focused moved to bible school and what a bible school it was....

The verse for today was

"... God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment"
1 Tim. 6:17

And lordie were there a lots of crafts to enjoy today :) we made animals (bunnies, chickens, butterflies, bumblebees) we made little families, which consisted of cutouts that were gingerbread looking) joined together by hearts, or Gods love. We made flowers complicated flowers I might add that were labor intensive, and a couple of other little odds in ends...

All the crafts were supposed to represent something God has provides us for our own enjoyment like flowers and family :) it was so fun

Here are some pictures...













That's all for now, more later... I'm off to dinner :)

Stay tuned !!!

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 26 Monday in Gallito :)

Hey all :)

Sorry I'm a day behind again even though I promised I'd keep it together... This group from Huntington is educating me on card games, first UNO now Rooke, need less to say we play every night, and my team continually shames Ben's team, so our intern rivalry is just right :)

Anyways Monday in Gallito we did lots :) we began deconstruction of the church, yes I know you don't generally associate mission teams with deconstruction, but to build sometimes you've got to take apart the old first... Lol

We did a little of that, while the medical clinic was going on in the Sunday school building, the saw over 74 people!!! With everything from rashes, to headaches, to problem with breastfeeding. It was really amazing, we learned that everyone in Gallito loves cough drops, and I mean everyone, whether they had a cough or not... But I guess I would want them too if I could never go out and buy them for myself

The bible school lesson yesterday, stayed in tune with our theme this week of God is love, we used 1 John 4:10 " this is love; not that we love God but that he loves us..." we made for projects the one I worked on was one large heart, that the children got to decorate with crayons, and stickers and tissue paper :) it was supposed to represent God's heart, the second project was to decorate a pair of heart shaped glasses, we used these glasses to admire all the wonderfully things God's love had provided for us... another project was a paper with a cross, and on that cross a pair of hands holding a heart, on the heart each child wrote their name and underneath the cross on the piece of paper, we wrote God holds my heart in his hands. The final project was to make a heart wreath, because God's love ,like a cicrle, has no end... It was really cool to watch them enjoy making each project :)

And it was even cooler that I was put in charge of teaching the lesson, which provided me the opportunity to have over 42 little Peruvian children circle up around me and attentively listen to me read them scripture, and talk with them about the love God freely gives to us... It was an amazing experience that I will treasure forever :)

Here our some pictures from our first day...















More to follow:)

Stay tuned

Location:Iquitos Peru :)

Day 25 first of many days in Gallito :)

Hey all :)

Today we went out for church in Gallito :)




It is one of the largest churches we're seen so far, it's going to be a super exciting week because the Huntington group and the people of Gallito have formed lasting relationships, they greet each other like family :)

We also did the intro to bible school, which went really well, here are some pictures




To begin our week, the kids decorate our "Dios es Amor" or God is love banner :)




They kids really enjoyed the craft...




Tomorrow we head back for some more fun :)

Stay tuned

Location:Iquitos Peru

Day 24 the First Presbyterian church from Huntington WV arrived today :)

Hey all ;)

Today marks our first day with the mission team from First Pres, from Huntington West Virginia, their church will actually be down here two consecutive weeks, this week they will be doing medical clinics, clean water/water purification education, and bible school... And next week their construction team and bible school sports camp comes down :) it's going to be really exciting because we're going to be spending a ton of time with their sister church, so we'll be working in the same place a little longer and we'll have time to get to know the pastor and congregation even better!

We work up early this morning for final prep, beds were made, last minute items were bought and a final clean sweep was given to El Jardin, then it was off to the airport to pick up the team... It was a pretty exciting trip to the airport, a professional soccer team was coming in to Iquitos today, from Lima, they played tonight at the local stadium against the Iquitos team... I don't know who won, but I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow :) once we had collected the team it was back to El Jardin... The group immediately started unpacking... And oh boy did they bring a lot of stuff, holy cow it was crazy... They had three army ruck sacks full of medicine, and two army ruck sacks full of bible school supplies... Their water purification buckets arrived by mail beforehand... It's crazy there is so much stuff everywhere...

The medical clinic will run Monday through Thursday... In three separate villages, this team will hand out vitamins, pain relieves (ibuprofen), anti-parasite medicine, antacids, cough drops... And that's just the stuff we bagged tonight...





As far as bible school goes, I'm so excited for it :) their theme is "God is Love" and how God shows his love for us!!! It's so well planned, we're doing
At least three crafts a day, their are simple and fun for all ages, and they all use hearts, we're making heart necklaces, heart wreaths, heart baskets, we're even making heart chickens :) it's so cute!!! You can totally tell that the women who planned out the bible school is a retired elementary teacher, she's so detailed oriented, everything's organized, yet she still managed to keep everything simple and fun, it's going to be a great week, and since this is the first week where the pastor's wife isn't really running bible school, I'll be spending a lot of time working with, translating, and even teaching bible school which I'm really excited about :) so stay tuned for pictures because there bound to be pretty cute lol

The Huntington team has a whole section within whose's only job is to Deal with water safety education and water purification plans, they bought fifty personal water purification systems that consist of two buckets : a larger plastic bucket with a spicket at the bottom, and a smaller clay bucket, which sits inside the other, which actually flitters the water, it seems pretty neat, I'm sure I'll learn more details about it this week. They also have with them some educational packets, about a new system for cleaning river water, the information comes out of a Holland based research company. They say that if you place 1L clear plastic bottles on your corrugated metal roof under peak sun, for six hours the UV radiation reduces the amount of bacteria present in the water, but only after the water has been run through cheese cloth to remove dirt particles and other impurities. They attest that it does not eliminate the problem, but it does reduce some of it, and let's be honest anythings better than river water... It seems really interesting and a lot of the men working within this section have backgrounds in water purification, for example one sells industrial grade chlorine in all forms, solid, liquid and gas. So I expect to learn a great deal this week :)

Well that's it for me folks, nightty night :)

Stay tuned...

Location:Iquitos, Peru