Today we were offered a different view of the strike – From inside the picket line. Last night Susan called to say that the pastor of a local church has been given permission to come in and pass out Bibles to the strikers just outside the city and wanted to use her truck to move them. Another of the pastors in the church is a member of the Gideon Society, and has 30,000 bibles in a storeroom of the church. Then Susan got the idea to hold a campaign in conjunction, to pass out pills to fight intestinal parasites. These campaigns are an integral part of most of the teams that come here and are welcome in the communities, as many of the children (and adults) are infested with parasites.
So we loaded up the truck with boxes of bibles and pills, and headed toward the picket line. It was a bit hairy getting through, as there were lines of vehicles (mostly 18 wheelers) waiting to move people and cargo in both directions. There was a very strong police presence, but everybody was in good humor and welcomed us warmly. There was evidence of a lot of people temporarily living along the road (estimates have gone as high as 8,000 people from the Indian villages are in the area).
After unloading and getting set up, Pastor Isael preached a short message and prayed, then the folks from the church passed out about 5,500 Bibles and the medical folks did the pill campaign. Additionally, there were more medical folks with the Ministry of Health (who have been working here through the strike) who came and did a basic health clinic.
The ironic part of this is that Susan said during the first strike in April, that she would like to go out and do a pill campaign at the picket line. She saw it is an opportunity to minister to people from the communities, without traveling up river. She was told that the Ministry of Health was out here doing their thing and that it really wasn’t needed. Today she realized that, although the folks from the Ministry of Health have been out here, they haven’t had any medicines to give to the people – Medicines that are available at the Hogar from previous teams, that could have been used with the people who need them. Lesson learned!
After over 48 hours of labor, Yoly gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this morning. We’re excited to get back to Yurimaguas and see him. She had a couple of rough days and they eventually delivered him by C section. We praise God for a safe delivery and that they are both healthy.
Today we were offered a different view of the strike – From inside the picket line. Last night Susan called to say that the pastor of a local church has been given permission to come in and pass out Bibles to the strikers just outside the city and wanted to use her truck to move them. Another of the pastors in the church is a member of the Gideon Society, and has 30,000 bibles in a storeroom of the church. Then Susan got the idea to hold a campaign in conjunction, to pass out pills to fight intestinal parasites. These campaigns are an integral part of most of the teams that come here and are welcome in the communities, as many of the children (and adults) are infested with parasites.
This week Hugo (the agronomist at the farm) and I were talking about the food of the region, or “comida típica. (See our post of March 15 for a description of some regional cuisine.) He was asking if I had tried several different things. He asked me if I would like to try 2 dishes – Juane and Tacacho. Having had his wife’s cooking before, I jumped at the chance to try some more. A couple of weeks ago, Hugo and Betsy held a fundraiser for their house. Their’s, along with those of seven neighbors burned down a little over a year ago. At the fundraiser, Betsy had prepared ceviche and chicharrón, both of which were to die for. Ceviche must be the national dish of Peru. It is fish and seafood “cooked” in lime juice. Really it isn’t cooked at all, but the acid in the juice naturally “cooks” the meat. Chicharrón is fried meat – in this case fish. Both were delicious. So, when I was offered the opportunity to try something else, I jumped at the chance.
