Greetings everyone! We hope this update finds you all well. We are now on day 52 of total quarantine here in Peru! The weather has turned from sunny and warm to cool and grey. We are entering into Lima’s winter here where almost every day is grey and humid. I remember when I first came to Peru, I could not tell what month or season we were in. Every day seemed the same to me. Being from the Midwest, I was used to drastic changes to note the seasons. But then, I started to look more closely here in Lima, to see if there were signs of change other than just the obvious difference of sun and grey. To name a few, the position of the sun when it rises, and sets changed. There are some flowers and trees that do lose their leaves in winter and come back in spring. And my personal favorite, our house is cleaner because our windows stay shut so the dust from the mountains doesn’t enter!! So, why do I start out this post on our update in Peru during this quarantine with this story? Because every day of our quarantine, if may appear to be the same; but when you look closer, we too can see growth and change to mark our time. A way to show that life continues to move forward, even when it seems like we are standing still.
The full quarantine supposedly will lift on Monday after Mother’s day, but will be in phases 1-4 to slowly start back up again. The concern here is that our numbers of infected continues to climb so it is possible that once again we will see an extension because the hospital system here is collapsed and there is no room to receive any more sick people. In all accounts, the church, and our family will be maintaining our quarantine status because church offices are not planned to re-open until at least July and no formal church meetings until 2021. All our church events on Sundays AND throughout the week will be virtual until 2021. That also includes Kaleb’s school as it was announced a few weeks ago all schools in Peru will not be in person this school year 2020.
Before we get into all the things we are doing these days, we wanted to share in our celebration of completing 2 years since Kaleb came to live with us on May 4. While we still wait on the day we can say that he is adopted legally into our family, we know that it is just a matter of time before God’s promise will come to completion. We appreciate prayers in this matter. You can see the picture above of his first days with us and then now. We are so very grateful for every day we have been with him.
We are now in the swing of things for Kaleb’s homeschooling which happens everyday M-F in the mornings. Along with the curriculum from his preschool which is still small, we have added our own curriculum. Thanks to a fellow missionary family recommendation, we are following along a pre-school Christian curriculum based in bible stories but also teaches about the letters of the alphabet. Kaleb is learning all the sounds of the letters (in English) and is beginning to “read” every letter he sees. It is pretty fun! Kaleb’s imagination has also begun to explode so that makes play time pretty fun!!! See pictures of us playing “school” with his stuffed animals! There are challenges to keeping us all in a positive mood while staying inside. We continue to be thankful for the measures that are being taken but also are a little stir crazy as well.
In the area of service, we are busier now than I feel like we were before. Clever and I continue to divide our time between our projects and attending to Kaleb’s needs. Our responsibilities have grown and so now our workdays have extended through the afternoons as well as sometimes on Saturday and on Sundays ALL DAY.
This past weekend our children’s Sunday school ministry launched virtual small groups for the kids ages 3-11 including kids with special needs!!!!! It was both amazing and crazy at the same time because the logistics involved in making this happen are head spinning. There were many training sessions for the leaders of each age group in how to receive and direct kids as they entered the virtual zoom room. Plus extra trainings for all the volunteers involved. Trainings for the parents in how to use zoom. And then more trainings and planning on how to engage the kids of each group. Ultimately, while this was both stressful and exciting, the numbers and response to this launch was incredibly positive!!!! In total for just this past Sunday at 4 different times throughout the day, there were 380 kids in small groups with the help of 150 volunteers. Here is the really amazing thing, these kids that attended the small group were not just kids from our church but kids who are in different parts of the world, including Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Chile, USA, Spain, Australia, Argentina, and Mexico!!! This truly is amazing how far the reach of our church goes beyond people who attend Camino de Vida!!!
For our kiddos with special needs it was a unique experience because it allowed us to connect with the parents and their children in a way that told them that we want to continue to support them and miss their children. The part I loved the most was when the parents logged their children on to zoom, because I had the opportunity to talk to all of them individually before sending them off to their virtual room for their small group. Many moms were nervous because their child doesn’t sit in one place, or couldn’t talk to respond, but at the end of our time, all of them were happy to be a part! One mom reported on her social media page, “ Thankyou kidscdv for opening a space so special for our kids with special needs. For us, it is like a hug direct to our hearts to see them smile and enjoy this time. This too will be part of my memories of this quarantine time.”
Clever continues to call families in need, listen and pray with them, and help them with a small financial donation from the church. He also manages and communicates with all scholarship applicants for the foundation started by Don Schoendorfer founder of Free Wheelchair Mission in memory of his late wife Laurie who passed away a few years ago. He also is working on other projects where he is connecting local businesses who have helped with the wheelchair distributions in the past continue to serve their community in creative ways since right now we cannot give out wheelchairs. We continue to be active in giving out food, provisions, and financial support as a church community to those in need daily. This includes taking bagged snacks to hospitals for the medical care professionals. Cooking meals for our Kids club families who are in poor areas. And providing non perishable items to families who have no food.
As mentioned above, we are busier NOW than ever before.
While we long for the ability to connect with people face to face, the truth is we are connecting with more people virtually than we ever did in person. The message of Jesus’ light and hope are being spread universally at a much faster rate than ever before. So while this virus may seem to be slowing us down; the message of our Savior Jesus Christ continues to be spread at an even faster rate! How incredible is our God?
So what’s next? What is in our future? We are excited to be dreaming up ways to continue to reach out to those with special needs. Not just children, but now is a perfect time to expand and see how our church can support those in other age ranges as well. We are excited and expectant in this future season. Will you please pray for continued vision for this?
We thank you for your continued support of what we get to do here. We know that times are challenging and are grateful for your continued generosity and support to allow us to continue to serve those in need here in Peru.