This morning five of us decided to take a quick trip to the Reed Cities on Lake Titicaca. We had boat trouble going so we cut our 2 hour tour short not wanting to miss our ride to the airport. The Islands and their inhabitants were very interesting. On the way back to the dock our boat broke down. David Travis prayed that the boat would miracously start so we would get back to the hotel in time to meet our driver taking us to the airport in Juliaca. The boat did not start but another boat stopped and offered us a ride. We got back to the hotel in time to take one last hot water shower, pack and get our luggage downstairs. Our driver never showed up. To make matter worse Dr. Barbara's backpack was stolen while we were distracted trying to figure out what to do. Our devotional today dealt with "Finishing Strong". Indeed we finished strong in Conima and we stuck together and dwelt on what God had allowed us to partake of during the week. Spending little time worrying about our few problems.
We make it to the airport fine. Got to Lima and returned to Houston Saturday morning, early. I flew from there to DFW where my wife picked me up. In Houston we found that the church van coming from Port Neches to pick up their people had tire trouble and they had to send another vehicle to pick them up. You would think that this in no way reflects "Finishing Strong". But it does. Our group grew in the Lord during this week together. It developed strong resolve and all the inconveniences of are tolerable because of our love for Him. Knowing good and well that either individually or as a group we could never suffer what Jesus suffered.
We return home with new enthusiasm and a prayer to our God that He decide how we can best serve him in our lives and the lives of others around us.
It has been a great experience for me. I have grown spiritually. I feel that I have give my best for a great cause. I am grateful to Him for this opportunity.
God's Love:
Les Lopez
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
We did most of our packing yesterday. This morning we had our devotional by the lake. It had to do with the satisfaction that doing the Lord's work bring us. We are glad to get home and yet sad that we have to leave these people at this point. We felt worse when we got to the clinic and found a small group of people there for medical service. Everything was packed away and being loaded on our van.
We said good-by to John Grady and Pam Donaldson who left early. In Juliaca we dropped off our two Peruvian young ladies and now we are in Puna for an overnight.
The biggest blessing from the Lord today for me is HOT water. I scrubbed and scrubbed and enjoyed it. The Lord is good. My heart is full of love and my body is clean. He knows what we need and provides it for us.
I also got internet today and as I mentioned a few posts previously I am spending the evening catching up on these posts.
Tomorrow we fly to Lima and home. This will then be my last post. May God be with each and everyone of you and bring us safely home as we go our different ways.
Les Lopez
We said good-by to John Grady and Pam Donaldson who left early. In Juliaca we dropped off our two Peruvian young ladies and now we are in Puna for an overnight.
The biggest blessing from the Lord today for me is HOT water. I scrubbed and scrubbed and enjoyed it. The Lord is good. My heart is full of love and my body is clean. He knows what we need and provides it for us.
I also got internet today and as I mentioned a few posts previously I am spending the evening catching up on these posts.
Tomorrow we fly to Lima and home. This will then be my last post. May God be with each and everyone of you and bring us safely home as we go our different ways.
Les Lopez
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Because of transportation, a special presentation the clinic personnel has planned for us Thursday morning we realize that today will be our last day of clinic. And, the lines are long, the weather is strangely varying from a bit of sunshine to a bit of rain and some cold, cold wind. It is muddy and wet in the clinic. Totally impossible to keep clean what with the streets all torn up and mud everywhere.
Early this morning Ruben and I went to use an international phone so I could call home. On the way we helped a very old lady who was having difficulty handling the wet pavement and the mud. We struck up a conversation with her and she told us her knees hurt badty and so did her back. We mentioned our clinic and she knew nothing about this. At this point we were a good mile away from the clinic. She said she would walk up to her house, another 1/2 mile, change clothes and come down to the clinic for treatment. She did show up and was such an inspiration to everyone. She was so sweet and loving and kept thanking us and God for our presence here. The day was much easier to handle with her presence in our lives. All of us have developed a BIG heat for these people and their plight. Wish we could reach each individually and tell them about God's love and how they can have it also.
Tonight Pam and I met with Sofia, Andres and their daughter. Sofia surprised us by having invited another couple to join us. I had been given a gift of a bottle of natural corn juice by a grateful patient which I had in my pocket. So I mentioned that I had brought refreshments. They quickly brought out some plastic glasses. What an ice breaker. The visiting couple Leoncio and Catalina seemed to enjoy the session very much. But it was Andres, Sofia's hsuband who had the questions. There was a lot of confusion about many things he had been exposed to from the various religious groups coming into Conima constantly. He was disappointed and discouraged. God gave Pam and I the right words to answer his questions and invite him, his family and guests to come to Christ. We spoke about the Love and the Peace that loving and living with God gives a person. Two hours later we left with the promise that they would visit with Ruben in the months to follow before our June group goes there.
Other home visits look very fruitfull also. Believe me the entire group went to be praising God and feeling like our sacrifice in serving these people is beginning to yield fruit. As always, we could use one more day.
Praise the Lord for his wonderful rewards.
Early this morning Ruben and I went to use an international phone so I could call home. On the way we helped a very old lady who was having difficulty handling the wet pavement and the mud. We struck up a conversation with her and she told us her knees hurt badty and so did her back. We mentioned our clinic and she knew nothing about this. At this point we were a good mile away from the clinic. She said she would walk up to her house, another 1/2 mile, change clothes and come down to the clinic for treatment. She did show up and was such an inspiration to everyone. She was so sweet and loving and kept thanking us and God for our presence here. The day was much easier to handle with her presence in our lives. All of us have developed a BIG heat for these people and their plight. Wish we could reach each individually and tell them about God's love and how they can have it also.
Tonight Pam and I met with Sofia, Andres and their daughter. Sofia surprised us by having invited another couple to join us. I had been given a gift of a bottle of natural corn juice by a grateful patient which I had in my pocket. So I mentioned that I had brought refreshments. They quickly brought out some plastic glasses. What an ice breaker. The visiting couple Leoncio and Catalina seemed to enjoy the session very much. But it was Andres, Sofia's hsuband who had the questions. There was a lot of confusion about many things he had been exposed to from the various religious groups coming into Conima constantly. He was disappointed and discouraged. God gave Pam and I the right words to answer his questions and invite him, his family and guests to come to Christ. We spoke about the Love and the Peace that loving and living with God gives a person. Two hours later we left with the promise that they would visit with Ruben in the months to follow before our June group goes there.
Other home visits look very fruitfull also. Believe me the entire group went to be praising God and feeling like our sacrifice in serving these people is beginning to yield fruit. As always, we could use one more day.
Praise the Lord for his wonderful rewards.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Today we challenged each other to increase our efforts, during our devotional. Our challenge is the long lines of people needing service, a very cold wind and finding a place to get fed. The Lord provided. Louisa Toledo, Ruben's wife and another lady, member of their church in Huancane came in for medical service and voluntered to cook lunch for us in our apartment. How they did it with limited cooking utensils I will never know but it was by far the very best meal we have had while in town. God bless these two Christian women. I jockingly told them that there would be no charge for the medical service.
It was also a challenging day with a few difficult patients and some complecated cases but our people are all professionals. The core of the group out of Port Neches have done this several times and are totally devoted to Christ and to the Mission program. Our director, Steve Travis, is a very well organize individual who seems to be everywhere at the same time. I love brother Travis.
I had re-connected with Sofia Toque who owns the store next to our apartment. Her husband, Andres, is the nephew of the owner of the apartment. We deal with Sofia on all matters pertaining to our stay there and get wonderful response with the help of her daughter. Sofia's husband was due back into town today so she agreed for us to come by at 7:00 and continue discussing the bible with her. Pam Donaldson and I were assigned to do this. Unfortuantely, when we arrived, we found out Andres had already scheduled a local group for a meeting at their store so we had to post pone our meeting until the next evening.
Several other private visits worked out well and our "Storying" session was, again, well attended. Out of that we made a couple of good contacts. Fortunately there enough of us so we can split up and take care of all our home visits.
Personally I am a bit apprehensive since meeting people on this basis is a little foreign to me. But after our devolional and a prayer I went to bed feeling much more confident.
It was also a challenging day with a few difficult patients and some complecated cases but our people are all professionals. The core of the group out of Port Neches have done this several times and are totally devoted to Christ and to the Mission program. Our director, Steve Travis, is a very well organize individual who seems to be everywhere at the same time. I love brother Travis.
I had re-connected with Sofia Toque who owns the store next to our apartment. Her husband, Andres, is the nephew of the owner of the apartment. We deal with Sofia on all matters pertaining to our stay there and get wonderful response with the help of her daughter. Sofia's husband was due back into town today so she agreed for us to come by at 7:00 and continue discussing the bible with her. Pam Donaldson and I were assigned to do this. Unfortuantely, when we arrived, we found out Andres had already scheduled a local group for a meeting at their store so we had to post pone our meeting until the next evening.
Several other private visits worked out well and our "Storying" session was, again, well attended. Out of that we made a couple of good contacts. Fortunately there enough of us so we can split up and take care of all our home visits.
Personally I am a bit apprehensive since meeting people on this basis is a little foreign to me. But after our devolional and a prayer I went to bed feeling much more confident.
Monday, April 23, 2012
We have breakfast in our appartment. It is a bit of a rat race with 10 people in the kitchen but we managed. The enthusiasm of the group was noticeable. Today we are inviting our patients to a "Storying" session this evening at 7:00 p.m. The city has offered to open up the municipal building, located by the plaza, for our meeting.
The lines are longer than yestaday but we are now experts and have the Lord on our side. Our devotional dealt with the bar for Christians. Ultimately the bar is set by Jesus himself and his sacrifice. We are only his disciples.
Among my duties today was giving my testimony to some 80 people waiting in line for medical service. It was also an opportunity to invite them to tonights meeting. They were all very attentive and even got some clapping. It is getting easier for me to talk to these people, on their own level. They understand that we come in the name of God and come to distribute His love among them. The medical treatment is just part of why we are here.
We have sought out several of contacts made by previous groups and find most of them no longer live in Conima. This was a bit discouraging at first until we realized we had a crowd of 15 invitees at our meeting. That went very well and several of them indicated a willingness to have us meet with them in their homes for further discussions.
Tonight we all went to bed with new encouragement and new visions for our role in Conima.
The lines are longer than yestaday but we are now experts and have the Lord on our side. Our devotional dealt with the bar for Christians. Ultimately the bar is set by Jesus himself and his sacrifice. We are only his disciples.
Among my duties today was giving my testimony to some 80 people waiting in line for medical service. It was also an opportunity to invite them to tonights meeting. They were all very attentive and even got some clapping. It is getting easier for me to talk to these people, on their own level. They understand that we come in the name of God and come to distribute His love among them. The medical treatment is just part of why we are here.
We have sought out several of contacts made by previous groups and find most of them no longer live in Conima. This was a bit discouraging at first until we realized we had a crowd of 15 invitees at our meeting. That went very well and several of them indicated a willingness to have us meet with them in their homes for further discussions.
Tonight we all went to bed with new encouragement and new visions for our role in Conima.
Sunday, April 22 - Conima, Peru
The crew working on the medical clinic promised us Saturday afternoon that they would have the building cleaned up and ready for us to set up on Sunday morning. They must have worked all night because the building was ready. After breakfast and a brief devotional we headed to the clinic to set up. Late the previous evening we had been joined by John Grady our missionary in Peru who had met our two Peruvian members in Juliaca. Angel Garate, a dentist and Jennifer Dias, a translator.
The clinic was ready to function by 9:00 a.m. The lines outside were getting long. We sang a couple of songs, welcomed the crowd and prayed for the success of the clinic. We then started doing business. Two people manned the front door, Our nurse was stationed inside the door, she is bi-lingual. The three dentists and one dental assistant and myself as translator, traffic director, etc. were in one room. The two people working the optical clinic and a translator were in another room. The Doctor and her translator in a third room. It was a bit rough but by mid-afternoon we were buzzing right along.
Because there was a political rally in the plaza we did not plan any presentation for Sunday night. We held our own devotional and had myself and another of the new members give their testimonial. Everyone was dead tired, we had no hot water and it was cold, cold, cold. The devotional that evening had to do with sacrifice. We all realized that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was one we could not match. Our discomfot was nothing to His suffering. The entire group, the core group from Port Neches and those of us who were added to the group feel the spirit of the Lord with us. We are confident that we are doing what He wants us to do and look forward to a great day tomorrow.
The clinic was ready to function by 9:00 a.m. The lines outside were getting long. We sang a couple of songs, welcomed the crowd and prayed for the success of the clinic. We then started doing business. Two people manned the front door, Our nurse was stationed inside the door, she is bi-lingual. The three dentists and one dental assistant and myself as translator, traffic director, etc. were in one room. The two people working the optical clinic and a translator were in another room. The Doctor and her translator in a third room. It was a bit rough but by mid-afternoon we were buzzing right along.
Because there was a political rally in the plaza we did not plan any presentation for Sunday night. We held our own devotional and had myself and another of the new members give their testimonial. Everyone was dead tired, we had no hot water and it was cold, cold, cold. The devotional that evening had to do with sacrifice. We all realized that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was one we could not match. Our discomfot was nothing to His suffering. The entire group, the core group from Port Neches and those of us who were added to the group feel the spirit of the Lord with us. We are confident that we are doing what He wants us to do and look forward to a great day tomorrow.
Update on Conima Mission - April 26
Unfortunately the internet store in Conima has closed and I could not get internet correspondence out. Briefly:
FRIDAY, APRIL 20
I met the group from FBC Port Neches in Houston and we arrived in Lima that evening at 11:30. Slept on benches at the airport,
SATURDAY, APRIL 21
1, Took a 5:00 a.m. flight to Juliaca.
2, Met our nurse Pam Donaldson and Rubin Toledo the pastor of the Huancane church at the airport. Rubin had a van for us so we loaded up, stopped briefly at Rubin's house in Huancane to pick up supplies we had shipped ahead and headed for Conima.
3. We arrived in Conima Saturday afternoon April 21 to find the entire town in disarray. They decided to put in a drainige system and started working on the entire town at once. Ditches, piles of dirt, rocks, bricks, etc all over the town. We had to circle around in order to get to the plaza and our apartment.
2. Unfortunately the same thing happened at the clinic. They decided to remodel and the whole building was a mess. But we unloaded, nontheless and settled into our apartment after a brief devotional and orientation.
FRIDAY, APRIL 20
I met the group from FBC Port Neches in Houston and we arrived in Lima that evening at 11:30. Slept on benches at the airport,
SATURDAY, APRIL 21
1, Took a 5:00 a.m. flight to Juliaca.
2, Met our nurse Pam Donaldson and Rubin Toledo the pastor of the Huancane church at the airport. Rubin had a van for us so we loaded up, stopped briefly at Rubin's house in Huancane to pick up supplies we had shipped ahead and headed for Conima.
3. We arrived in Conima Saturday afternoon April 21 to find the entire town in disarray. They decided to put in a drainige system and started working on the entire town at once. Ditches, piles of dirt, rocks, bricks, etc all over the town. We had to circle around in order to get to the plaza and our apartment.
2. Unfortunately the same thing happened at the clinic. They decided to remodel and the whole building was a mess. But we unloaded, nontheless and settled into our apartment after a brief devotional and orientation.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Departure Day:
The mission team is on the way. Tomorrow we set up the clinic in Conima and open up on Sunday morning. We are armed with a few songs to share although most of us cannot carry a tune. We have skits to perform although we have not practiced them. We will communicate with the local residents although half of us cannot speak the language. You may ask...Why do we do this. If with the help of the spirit and your prayers we can light one match...we will help illuminate the spiritual darkness that exists in Conima. Your prayers are needed.
Love you all:
Les Lopez
The mission team is on the way. Tomorrow we set up the clinic in Conima and open up on Sunday morning. We are armed with a few songs to share although most of us cannot carry a tune. We have skits to perform although we have not practiced them. We will communicate with the local residents although half of us cannot speak the language. You may ask...Why do we do this. If with the help of the spirit and your prayers we can light one match...we will help illuminate the spiritual darkness that exists in Conima. Your prayers are needed.
Love you all:
Les Lopez
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
All is 'GO' for our Medical-Dental-Opthalmic-Evangelistic Mission trip leaving from Houston Friday. Thanks to FBCWP we are loaded with non-prescription medication, toothbrushes and reading glasses. We expect to care for some 400 patients during our stay. That will allow us to make fantastic contacts.
We have 4 songs in Spanish that all of us have memorized, I just finished loading the tunes on my Sanza Fuze so I can learn them on my way to Lima.
And how about that wonderful poster that our church members decorated and signed for me. What a hit a "soft spot" surprise. Love you all. Sorry that due to a memorial service for my cousing Alberto Lopez in Corpus Christi caused me to miss being at our church last Sunday. Albert was in the Navy and they had a military burial, (he actually passed away in 2010 and was cremated), in the new Coastal Bend Military Cemetary in Corpus Christi. All the family was there and we got to hear a wonderful preacher. It was a great spiritual time.
I am packed and will meet the group from the coast in Houston Friday afternoon. We will pack all the empty suitcases with supplies and "mule" them into Lima. God has already been wonderful allowing us to find qualified medical volunteers both from here and in Peru. The blessings keep pouring and we are praying that our presence there will allow us to shine a little light on the residents of Conima. It is hard to imagine the spiritual darkness they live in. Keep praying that God will open the hearts and minds of those residents we come in contact with and His Spirit will lead us in such a way that we can have a successful ministry while we are there.
God bless you all - more will follow.
Les Lopez
We have 4 songs in Spanish that all of us have memorized, I just finished loading the tunes on my Sanza Fuze so I can learn them on my way to Lima.
And how about that wonderful poster that our church members decorated and signed for me. What a hit a "soft spot" surprise. Love you all. Sorry that due to a memorial service for my cousing Alberto Lopez in Corpus Christi caused me to miss being at our church last Sunday. Albert was in the Navy and they had a military burial, (he actually passed away in 2010 and was cremated), in the new Coastal Bend Military Cemetary in Corpus Christi. All the family was there and we got to hear a wonderful preacher. It was a great spiritual time.
I am packed and will meet the group from the coast in Houston Friday afternoon. We will pack all the empty suitcases with supplies and "mule" them into Lima. God has already been wonderful allowing us to find qualified medical volunteers both from here and in Peru. The blessings keep pouring and we are praying that our presence there will allow us to shine a little light on the residents of Conima. It is hard to imagine the spiritual darkness they live in. Keep praying that God will open the hearts and minds of those residents we come in contact with and His Spirit will lead us in such a way that we can have a successful ministry while we are there.
God bless you all - more will follow.
Les Lopez
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