Chincha

“Esta bien” was a phrased used a lot this
week.  It was used to tell people that we had enough rubble in our
wheel-barrow to haul away.  It was used to describe the awesome Peruvian
food we had throughout the week, prepared by the wife of a local pastor. 
A group of four people from the United States came down to Lima a week ago and
Robert, Becky, Rubie, Barbara, and myself headed to Chincha, a town just south
of Lima, to help with earthquake relief.  When we arrived in Chincha I was
amazed at the devastation from the earthquake.  We helped the pastor at
Igelsia Emanuel to haul away all of the rubble that was once his home and to
remove several walls inside the compound of the church.  Then we went into
a local community to help out a pastor, who just started a new church, to haul
away the rubble from his home.  After several days of hard labor we spent
a couple of hours in the afternoon talking with people in the community about
their lives, where they were during the earthquake, and how we could pray for
them.  We saw many people come to Christ and it has been our prayer that
the people in this community we become followers and disciples of Christ, not just
converts.  Many of the people we talked to in the community came to the 2
church services that week and it was awesome to see what God is doing in that
community and it is exciting to see what will happen in that community in the
future.  While we were there this past week we went to one of the worst
hit areas called Tambo de Mora, which is on the coast.  The earthquake hit
about 40km off the shore of this town.  The devastation in this town was
much worse than the damage done where we were in Chincha.  We were able to
minister to several people in that community as well.  It is amazing what
God will do when we come alongside Him and allow Him to work.  The need in
this city and several other cities is very great.  We came to really understand the effects of
the earthquake and the needs of the people when we were able to have
conversations with people, not just helping haul away rubble.  Another I noticed during this past week is how
happy many of the people of this town are in comparison to those who have just
about everything they want.  There will
be a couple of trips during the month of October to the city of Chincha. 

It is hard to believe that I have been in Peru for almost
two weeks.  I want to thank all of you
for your continued prayers and emails. 
It is encouraging to hear from everyone back home and I look forward to
what is going to happen next down here in Peru. 
The sun is starting to come out here which is awesome because during
much of the winter the sun was hidden behind clouds. I have uploaded a few pictures from the trip as well and I hope to upload more soon.