Corrie's E-mail Updates
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Getting Ready to Leave for Peru

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Hi everyone!

What a beautiful (though hot) day it is today!  I am actually getting to write this from my home in Talmage NE.  During the last 6 1/2 weeks I have been in the U.S., however, only 4 1/2 days of those were spent here at home.  I am taking control of my email list from now on because my dad has other things to do and I want to make sure they get out in a timely fashion.  The only problem is that I don't know how to do the html stuff yet, so for now I don't have pictures :( Today is just a practice run using the software he has been using. 

   This morning I have been watching home videos that my dad took while we were living in Papua New Guinea.  It sure brings back a lot of memories and makes me want to go back.  Maybe someday :)  But for now, my excitement grows as Tuesday gets closer.  On Tuesday I take off for Peru to work on the medical mission launch on the Amazon and it's tributaries.  I spent several hours yesterday with Clyde and Eleanor Peters, who spent several years on the Amazon and were instrumental in starting the launch program.  They showed me many pictures and a video that made me even more excited!

   The town of Iquitos, which is the closest town to where the launch is right now, is a rather large town and boasts an excellent Adventist clinic/hospital.  Many of the people treated on the launch are taken there if extensive treatment is necessary.  I will be living on the launch helping to take care of any medical emergencies that come, as well as assisting in health education work and evangelism.  I can tell already that it will be a rich learning experience.  Please pray that God will give me the strength to do what needs to be done and the wisdom to know how to do it.  Thanks so much for your support and friendship.  God bless!

In His service,

Corrie
 

I'm Here!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Hi Everyone!

I am finally in Iquitos, Peru.  I cannot say that the trip was uneventful, but I made it :)  We leave this afternoon on a public launch which will take us to the village where the mission launch is right now.  I am not sure on names and such, but I do know it is down river from here.  I don't have much time, but I just wanted to let you all know that I made it safely.  Have a great week! God bless!

In His service,

Corrie
 

Trip Challenges and Shopping in Iquitos

Friday, July 21, 2006

Hi Everyone,

Well, plans changed yesterday so I am still in Iquitos.  I actually have some time to write now, which is nice.  I had a little bit of trouble while traveling here due to the fact that I only had a one-way ticket since I will be going out of the country by ground transportation. 

However, the airlines would not accept that explanation so my parents contacted my travel agent and switched tickets to a round-trip.  I had to pay the difference in cost before I left Miami airport on Wednesday morning.  But everything worked out just fine.  I met Edie Mulvihill in Lima at midnight and she took me to a hotel for the 2 hours between flights. 

I arrived in Iquitos at about 7am on Thursday and was met by Christina, the health educator from the launch.  We spent yesterday going around town in the 'motor cars' getting last minute items we needed.  The motor cars are quite neat.  The front of them look like a motorcycle but the back has two wheels, making it a tricycle.  The driver sits on the front portion and there is a seat that fits 2-3 people on the back.  A canvas covers the driver and passengers.  You see more of them than you do regular vehicles.  It is quite fun riding in them.  I will send pictures of them later when I get the chance. 

We were supposed to leave yesterday to go to where the mission launch is, but we were unable to purchase the medicine we were supposed to so we had to stay one extra day.  We were able to get the medicine today, so now the plan is to go to the public launch in about 1 hour so that we can get good places to hang our hammocks.     

Gotta go!

Corrie
 

A Long Boat Ride and the First 3 Days on the Medical Launch

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

I arrived safely at the mission launch in San Antonio last Sabbath night at about 10:30 after a 30 boat ride.  Ugh.  It wouldn't have been so long except that there were about 8 hours of delays at different villages along the river.  We had to keep a constant eye on our things so we took turns sleeping throughout the night.

I have only been on the launch for 3 days now, but it seems like a lot longer than that.  Not because it has been boring, but just because the people on the launch have accepted me as part of the family.  It has been a blast!  Tomorrow is the first day of clinic in the village of San Pablo.  It is a large village that sports cement sidewalks all over the place as well as a large place to dock the public launches so that tourists can get off and see the town.  They also have a clinic with 2 doctors and a total of 38 staff.  Since our program focuses more on preventive health, there is still a big need.  One of the doctors is Adventist, which is really neat.  Well, I wish I could write more, but I am sharing the one hour on the computer with 2 other people, so I have to get off now.  I hope this comes through to everyone!  God bless!

In His Service,

Corrie
 

Getting Help for Special Medical Cases

Sunday, September 3, 2006

More on Medical Needs

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Hi Everyone!

Wow, a lot has happened in the last few weeks, especially in this past week.  I have been working on the launch now for about 6 weeks, and it definitely feels comfortable now.  Almost like home, but not quite.  My home doesn't have nearly as many personality clashes and administrative headaches that the launch does :)  But that is not what I want to tell about. 

A couple of weeks after I arrived, Christina shared with me a project idea.  She told me that there were about 5 or 6 medical cases that she had seen at different villages along the river that need special medical attention, such as surgery or specific medication.  However, the circumstances of these patients is not such that they can afford the treatment needed.  Her desire was to travel to the villages and gather the stories and take pictures of the individuals in order to raise funds through the internet for their treatment. 

Monday night (Aug. 27) we left the launch to work on this project :)  We left at about 11 pm on the public launch "Vanessa" and arrived in our first village, Cochequina, at about 10 the next morning.  This was where we visited our first patient.  Her name is Dollybeth, she is 25, and she has psoriasis (white, scaly, itchy, & painful rash) over her entire body except her face.  She has tried many different treatments, and the only one left that she has not tried is too expensive.  There is no cure for psoriasis, but the treatment does make life more enjoyable for the patient. 

At 3 pm an Adventist brother living in the village took us in his boat to the next village, San Francisco.  Here we talked with the parents of a 3 yr old with a cancerous tumor in his eye.  This was the hardest case for us because the tumor has progressed since Christina had seen it last (in May or June) and is now practically inoperable.  The poor boy is in a lot of pain and his parents can't even afford to buy pain medication to at least keep him comfortable.

At 4am Wednesday (30th) we got on the launch "Manuel" to go to the village of Huanta.  However, due to the fact that the water is really low right now, the launches are not going into Huanta since it is on a tributary river.  So we hiked from the nearest village which took us about 1-1/2 hours.  It was really quite a fun hike and since we had plenty of daylight we enjoyed ourselves, though we definitely did not hike slowly!  Christina was in a big hurry to get to Huanta because she has a lot of friends there from when the launch was stationed there earlier this year.  Poor Manuel (the dentist from the launch) had to jog to keep up! 

In Huanta we saw two cases, both of which need surgery.  One young man has had an umbilical hernia for about 4 years and a woman has a tumor on her knee that has grown recently and is black.  But I will have to continue the story later, because I have to leave the internet café for now.  I think it is supper time and Christina and Manuel are done.  I pray that God is blessing each and everyone of you.

In His Service,

Corrie
 

River Trip and Iquitos Clinic Work

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Hi again!

Now to finish where I left off last time :)  At the end of the last email we were in the village of Huanta.  We saw two patients there, then moved on to Orillana.  To get there, we left Huanta at 7 am in a pekipeki (small boat with motor) in order to reach the mouth of the river by 8 am.  We thought the launch would pass by the mouth by 8, but it didn't end up coming until 10 am so we sat around and talked for a while. 

Orillana is another village that is located on tributary river.  At this time of year the water is so low that launches cannot make it into these villages that are on tributaries of the Amazon.  So they let us off at the mouth of the river and it was up to us to find a way to get the rest of the way.  Thankfully we did not have to walk this time.  It was Friday evening and we really wanted to get there by Sabbath.  We walked for about 20 min. before we found someone willing to take us in their pekipeki, but at least we found someone :)  45 minutes later we were there. 

We stayed in the local hotel (about $4.30/night for one double room) and ate at a Pollería, a restaurant that specializes in chicken.  We were going to stay at the home of an Adventist lady but her brother had just died the day before so she was not open for company.  The Adventist national missionary stationed in Orillana asked Manuel to preach for church, then in the afternoon we went to the graveside service and later went for a walk. 

We saw our patient Friday night.  He is a 76 yr old gentleman by the name of Raul.  Back when he was 18 he was involved in some sort of armed conflict and his leg got shot.  The shot broke the bone and it has never been fixed.  The leg healed at an odd angle and though he has adjusted and lived with it for so many years, he cried when we told him we were trying to help him get it fixed. 

We left Orillana at 6 am on Sunday morning and arrived in Iquitos at about 3 pm.  And we have been here in Iquitos since then.  But we leave to go back to our launch tomorrow.  But while we have been here in Iquitos, we got to help a group of doctors from the U.S.  I helped in the pharmacy that was set up to give out the meds that the doctors prescribed.  The only others in there helping me either spoke Spanish and no English, or the other way around.  For the majority of the time I was the only one that knew some of both.  So I got to do a lot of translating.  It was really quite fun! I hadn't realized how much Spanish I have actually learned since coming here. 

But I don't want to ramble your eyes out, so I will end for now.  The next village we go to has internet (I think) so I should be able to send updates from there:)  I hope and pray that God is richly blessing each of you.  He is certainly blessing me here :)  Thanks so much for your loving prayers and support.

In His Service,

Corrie
 

Upcoming Staff Changes :(

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Hi All,

I just thought I would send out one more letter before heading back to the launch.  We leave tomorrow evening on a public launch.  We will be stopping at the village of Yanashi to visit one more patient, but other than that stop we will have more than two days of non-stop hammock time. Ugh. :)  The patient that we will be seeing has metal pins in his legs that need to be removed. 

However, things on the launch will be quite different from what they were before we left 2 weeks ago.  Unfortunately, they are not to my liking, but I believe the circumstances will prove to be a learning and growing experience for me anyways. 

Manuel, the dentist on the launch, will not be returning to the launch as he decided that there are other projects that need him more.  He had some major personality conflicts with one other member of the launch team so he is happy to be leaving. 

Also, Christina has been asked to move to Pucallpa to work with Edie and Amalia in administrative work.  So she will be leaving in the next couple of weeks.  As she is the only one on the launch that speaks English other than me, once she is gone I will have huge incentive to become fluent in my Spanish :)  Which is positive.  I have already learned a great deal and now I will be forced to learn even more if I want to communicate. 

Christina and Manuel are awesome friends, though, so I will miss them a great deal.  But now I must go.  My hour is almost up and I don't want to pay for more time.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  Hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to send out more info about the patients we are trying to help, such as how much it will cost for each treatment, and where to send donations if you should feel so moved.  I will also be sending out the web link where you can read their stories and see pictures once the web site is up and running.  God bless!

In His Service,

Corrie

"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"
Psalm 27:1
 

A Visit to Colombia and Jungle Week Judging

Friday, September 22, 2006

Hi Everyone!

We arrived safely back on the launch in the early morning hours of last Friday (15th).  The funny thing was that our launch arrived at 1:00 am but Christina and I did not get off the launch until 2:30 :)  By that time all the people on our launch figured we hadn't come.  But we were just sleeping!  Thankfully launches have to stay several hours in Chimbote (where our launch was) because of the military checkpoint.  We got off about 30 min. before the launch left.  This caused a great deal of laughter among our friends :) 

The following Sunday we left Chimbote and headed further downriver to the village of Puerto Alegria.  We are now on the part of the Amazon where the river is the border between Colombia and Peru.  Monday and Tuesday Christina and I went to Leticia, Colombia to renew our visas.  We had a wonderful and relaxing time.  We did some shopping and exploring since we had almost 1 1/2 days to play :)  We got back to the launch late Tuesday night. 

Since then, the days have gone back to the routine. However, things are going to change dramatically because Christina and Manuel are leaving Sunday night.  Plus, the main administrator of the launch is going to be coming and living on the launch for the month of October. Should be interesting, to say the least :) 

Yesterday (Thurs. 21st) Christina and I were asked to judge the classroom decorations in the local school.  This week is "Semana del Bosque" or something like that.  Basically, jungle week.  It is a week where they focus on conservation of natural resources.  The classrooms were decorated with representations of the flora and fauna of the Amazon jungle. 

The first classroom was the best.  The students had dug up banana trees and placed them in the classroom.  They also had a small pond with real fish and a live shorebird.  There was a small house in the corner and several live parrots were in the trees.  They were representing how everything lives together and a balance has to be kept.  It was very well done.  The other two classrooms had only drawings on the chalkboard and a few decorations around the room.  They didn't touch a candle to the first one.  It was really fun. 

They also invited us to play games with them this coming Sunday.  The 24th is the climax of the week and is a holiday.  Tons of games are planned.  I think it will be similar to the harvest parties or Octoberfests we have there in the U.S. but I don't know for sure.  I guess I will find out on Sunday :)  And my hour is almost up so I gotta go.  Thank you all so much for your prayers and support :)

Dios te bendiga!

In His Service,

Corrie
 

Assisting with the Amor Project

Monday, October 23, 2006

Hi Everyone,

Its been a few weeks now since I sent out a letter to you all, and quite a bit has taken place.  The last time I wrote, I was in Leticia, Colombia and the launch was stationed not very far away. 

On Sunday, Oct. 15 we left the border town of Santa Rosa to begin the long trip back upriver to Iquitos and then on to Pucallpa.  It took 6 days to get to Iquitos because we don't travel at night.  Each evening, Lelis (the nurse) would open up for clinic and one of the nights we had a ton of patients come.  We gave a lot of shots and even put in an IV.  She doesn't actually let me give the shots or IV but I prepared them for her.  She is the type that likes to do everything herself. 

One of the patients was a 71 yr. old man with a gruesome sore on one side of his chin.  He has had it for 3 years and within the last month a large pocket of fluid appeared right above the sore.  Lelis told me that it is a cancerous sore and there really wasn't anything we could do other than pain meds.  The launch arrived in Iquitos Friday evening at about 5. 

The next day we went to church in Iquitos only to meet up with Alberto Marin, the mission pilot.  He was in Iquitos for the weekend.   He had an extra seat on the plane, so Sunday morning I was able to leave with him and fly to Pucallpa :)  This saved me 10 days of boredom, heat, and noise caused by traveling on the launch.  Plus, I was able to completely surprise Christina, who has been working here in Pucallpa for the last month.  While here, I will be working with her in Health Education, as well as on a research report she is wanting to do. 

I will also be working with another project called Amor Project for part of the time.  They do medical work here on the Ucuyali River, so when they go out to do their medical work, I will go with them and help with translating as well as learning as much as I can from the doctor that goes with them.  So far it is promising to be a very good and valuable experience.  I am so thankful that God has given me this opportunity to learn what He wants me to learn.  It has so far been a huge growing experience with multiple lessons in attitude adjustments, dealing with difficult administrators and team workers, as well as learning a bit more about tropical medicine.   Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support :)
 
In His Service,

Corrie

Climbing Towers, Giving Shots & Pulling Teeth

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Dear Friends & Family,

Wow, I have been a slacker in writing.  Shame on me :)  But now I get to pay for it by having to try and fit everything that has happened in the last month in one letter.  Hope I don't bore you too much :)  I have been stationed here in Pucallpa for about a month now and have managed to stay quite busy.

Due to a family death, Christina needed to leave a lot earlier than expected, so on Friday, Nov. 3, we started the bus trip to Lima.  Manuel and I went with her just for old times' sake:)  We did a little bit of exploring along the way too. 

Sunday we spent in the town of Huancayo, a fairly large town up in the middle of the mountains.  The central highlands of Peru, where Huancayo is situated, is really quite barren.  There are very few trees or greenery of any kind.  The people till the mountainsides using cattle to pull their plows.  Their fences are made of stones and crisscross the smaller hills in quite intricate patterns.  Flocks of sheep were most common, but there were also some llamas and alpacas.  We explored the craft market that Huancayo is famous for on Sunday and saw a lot of the traditional handiwork of the indigenous people. 

Monday and Tuesday (6th&7th)we spent exploring the tourist markets of Lima.  Christina had to be to the airport by 10pm Tuesday so Manuel and I took her there and then hung out until she had to go through security at about midnight.  Then came the 24 hour bus ride back to Pucallpa.  We arrived safely Thursday evening, though our bus had some problems along the way. 

Only two days after returning from Lima I met up with the group of Student Missionaries from AMOR projects to do a medical campaign in the village of Masisea.  I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be quite a large town complete with a hotel with showers!  I was thinking we would be bathing in the river, but nope :)  We didn't actually stay in the hotel though.  We pitched our tents on the cement floor of the municipal building.  NOT the most comfortable, but it was a safe place to sleep. 

Besides, there was a very tall communications tower in the back yard to climb:)  It was about 190 feet high and was one of those with just the metal frame and a ladder going straight up.  So you feel really exposed while climbing.  But that didn't stop me :)  In the U.S. they are illegal to climb (for good reason), but not so here.  So I climbed it.  It was awesome!  I actually went up 3 times.  The leader of AMOR projects, Jenny, was the one who suggested it actually.  She was joking around with me the first night we were there.  She asked if she gave me her cell phone, would I climb the tower to see if there was coverage.  I said sure.  She was very surprised that I actually would do it.  She hadn't been serious.  It was already after dark, but I went up anyway.  The stars were incredible from up there!:) 

But climbing towers is not all I did during the week were were in Masisea.  I also gave about 30 butt shots, pulled 10 teeth, and did most of the translating in the pharmacy we had set up.  I speak more Spanish than the other SM's, so they put me in the pharmacy so I could explain the meds and doses to the patients and help the others figure out how to say what they wanted.  It was awesome to be able to feel competent translating and speaking Spanish.:)  I also got to go out on a mobile dental clinic to a nearby village.  It rained really hard before we got back though, so we all had to help push the motokaro (3-wheeled motorcycles with bench seat for 3 in back like a giant tricycle) up and over a hump of dirt, now mud, that was in the middle of the road.  The pile of dirt was there because of road construction.  We all got quite muddy :)  But that was part of the fun :)  It goes to show that a positive attitude can turn challenges into fun times:) 

And now I'm back in Pucallpa.  Back to creating documents, PowerPoint presentations, and updating the website.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner, only a couple of days away, and I have to admit I'm really looking forward to having some pumpkin pie and maybe even a little stuffing.  Who knows what we will come up with :)  We were supposed to fly out to the town of Moyobamba for the weekend, but it looks like that is being canceled due to some unrest occurring up in that area.  But we will have a good time no matter where we are, and I hope you all do too.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!! :)  God bless!

In His Service,

Corrie
 

The "Daily Grind" can be Fun!

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Hi Everyone!

As the subject heading suggests, life has gone back to the "daily grind" of paperwork, computer documents, and other such tasks that involve no activity (other than mind) or adventure.  However, even the daily grind can be enjoyable.  Of course, you have to choose to enjoy it.  But when I think about the fact that in doing these small, seemingly pointless tasks, I am in reality saving the main administrators tons of time and in doing so, lowering their stress levels, its all good.  And the satisfaction of a job well done is always fun. 

But on to other things :)  There is a change coming up that will involve travel, adventure, and learning for me :)  As you all may remember, Christina and I had a project going on involving raising funds to help certain medical cases along the Amazon.  Some exciting developments have taken place that I just have to share.  In my previous emails I have mentioned AMOR Projects as being an organization focused on providing medical help.  The main administrators, Jenny Goodwin and Dr. Richard Matthews, have offered to travel to the village of Yanashi (downriver from Iquitos) to perform the needed surgeries.  The Yanashi clinic has agreed to let us use their facilities to perform these surgeries.  Hopefully tomorrow I, along with Jenny and Dr. Matthews, will be leaving to go to Yanashi.  We are hoping to perform all the needed surgeries within one week.  Praise God!  We never dreamed that everything would work out in such a perfect and beautiful manner.  It is sooo much fun to see God's hand working to fulfill His good pleasure.  Its also exciting for me because I will get to assist with the surgeries, which will be a first for me:) 

Also, a friend of mine by the name of Fred Adams has been so kind as to create a few web pages showing pictures and stories of what's going on here.  The most recent pictures are from the fun medical trip to Masisea and includes pics of the tower climbed and the pile of mud we pushed the motokars over.  The link for these pics is here. Hope you all enjoy :)

I hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving and that you will have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  Thanks so much for you friendship, prayers, and support.  God bless!

In His Service,

Corrie
 

Assisting With Surgeries in Huanta

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Hi Everyone!

What an exciting two weeks I have had :)  God has really blessed and worked things out perfectly for us.  As I mentioned in my last email, a trip to Iquitos and then down river from there was being planned in order to treat certain patients from our project One Life at a Time.  Dr. Richard Matthews, Jenny Goodwin (nurse), and myself left Pucallpa on Wednesday Dec. 6 to fly to Iquitos.  Thursday & Friday we spent purchasing supplies and meds then Sabbath night we boarded a launch that would take us to the village of Huanta.  We had been planning on doing the surgeries in the village of Yanashi but at the last minute plans changed.  To be honest, we didn't even know why.  We found out later that the missionaries in Huanta Vidal & Dorina had been praying that we would come to Huanta since the majority of the patients live there. And it turned out to be a huge blessing. 

We arrived Sunday morning and immediately Dorina began letting the patients know that we were there.  Tomasa was the first to come.  She had a baseball size tumor just above her left knee and was so excited about the possibility of getting it removed.  Thankfully it was a benign tumor so we were able to operate on her that afternoon.  Our operating room was not designed to be an operating room but we managed quite nicely.  A flashlight was our only light and a low bed was the operating table.  Tomasa's surgery was completed with no complications, and the cut is healing nicely.  She is so grateful to finally be rid of the tumor, which had been causing her pain and discomfort for quite a while.  Tomasa's brother, however, was not in the village.  We were hoping to remove a large tumor or hernia in his abdomen, but he never did show up.  He knew we were there though, but told his sister that he did not want to come because he was scared.

The second surgery was one that we did not know about.  A young woman by the name of Liz had a large cyst above her eye.  It was a simple surgery that took only 30 minutes.  Dr. Richard was able to remove the cyst and now Liz is doing very well. 

Monday morning, bright and early, Albertado was ready to be the third surgery patient.  He is a 76 yr. old man with a testicular hernia that is very large.  Dr. Richard knew that it was going to be a difficult surgery but none of us were expecting what actually happened.  We gave the anesthesia into the lower spinal column in order to anesthetize from the waist down.  We had done the same thing with Tomasa with no problems.  However, Albertado had a very serious reaction to the anesthesia.  I was the one monitoring pulse, blood pressure, and respirations, and soon after the anesthesia was given I noticed a severe drop in blood pressure and pulse.  And it kept dropping.  Dr. Richard and Jenny broke the sterile field in order to do chest compressions when we lost a pulse.  But we brought him back around (thank you God) though we had to abort the surgery and sew him up without having solved the problem.  I would have liked to send him to Iquitos after a couple of months to retry, but we talked to several doctors and none of them are willing to take the risks.  His age and the previous reaction to the anesthesia make it impossible. 

We did two other surgeries while there in Huanta.  In one, we removed a fatty tumor or lipoma from the abdomen of a middle-aged woman.  We had no problems whatsoever with that one. The last one was on an older gentleman with a golf-ball sized tumor on the back of his head.  This was also successful. As far as we know all of the patients are doing well. 

We had some other excitement as well.  On Tuesday of that week a young woman by the name of Rudy was brought in, in very serious condition.  She had taken rat poison in order to kill herself, and would have succeeded had we not been there.  Thankfully we had the meds needed to bring her back around, though not enough of them.  But God stretched what we had so it was all we needed.  I pray that Rudy will use this second opportunity at life, to seek God and let Him be her comfort, support, and friend.  We shared what we could with her, but now it is up to the Holy Spirit to work in her life. 

We have another patient that was not able to make it to Haunta in time.  He is from Yanashi but was away up in the mountains.  He arrived back in Yanashi the day after we left Huanta.  However, we are still wanting to help him.  He is the one with the infected leg pins.  Initially we thought that all that was needed was to remove the pins.  However, we brought him to Iquitos to be examined and they say that his leg actually needs to be reconstructed with new pins, after the old pins get taken out.  It will be quite an expensive operation, but we know that God will provide.  Actually, I believe He has already provided.  I think we will have just barely enough to get the problem taken care of. Praise God! He always provides just what we need :) 

I am in Lima now where we will hopefully be able to purchase the needed materials for a lot cheaper than we would have been able to in Iquitos.  Manuel is still there coordinating everything so he is in touch with me telling me what we need to get.  I came here to Lima last Sabbath night only to accompany Jenny as she is purchasing a truck here for AMOR Projects.  Turns out that it was all in God's plan that I be here at this time in order to get what we need and send it to Manuel.  It never ceases to amaze me how God works.  Everything goes according to His plan even when it seems like our plans change in a matter of seconds.  He has everything under control. 

Thank you all so much for your friendship and prayers.  They are greatly appreciated.  And have a very Merry Christmas and an even Happier New Year :) 

In His Service,

Corrie
 

From Peru to Florida to Venezuela

Friday, February 9, 2007

Hi Everyone,

So sorry for the long silence.  Just thought I would let you all know that, yes, I am still alive :)  Things have been soooo hectic that Internet time was non-existent. 

Since the last email I sent I have kept busy with medical trips and working with groups from the U.S. and Europe that have come down.  Over Christmas I was in Lima working with a group from Maranatha and then the next week from England.  As they left, I left too to go to the town of Tarapoto with AMOR Projects to do medical clinics for a couple of weeks.  Oh, so many stories to tell, I just wish I had the time to tell them! 

But I have only 5 more minutes before the bus leaves to go back to home base, so I have to be quick.  The Tarapoto trip was the last one before my time in Peru ran out. 

Jan. 23 I was back in Lima airport exiting the country.  But new adventures began almost immediately as I met up with the IRR group from Union in the Miami airport.  We headed down to the Florida Keys for some ocean and shore survival training, complete with 24 hours in a life raft in 6-8 ft. swells.  Such fun!  We also were able to respond to the tornado disaster site in central Florida for a couple of days. 

And now, after all that whirlwind, we have finally arrived at home base in Venezuela.  With miracles and huge blessings, we have gained the friendship of the head general here and so we are here with government support and approval. 

Like I said, lots of stories to share but no more time.  I have to sign off for now.  I pray that God is blessing each and every one of you. 

With Love,

Corrie