Soles 4 Souls

 The other campaign I had the privilege of participating in recently was that of washing feet and giving out shoes. A team from Soles4Souls came to serve Trujillo with us, bringing approximately 1,500 pairs with them.  This was their second visit and surely not their last.  The team leader was Christian and fun to hang out with and share experiences of working abroad.  The team itself was super patient worked very hard and we had a great time serving with them.

          

Here's a happy face from our first of four locations, Peru Mission's Presbyterian church in Arevalo.

Washing feet and distributing shoes at the Wichanzao Presbyterian Church (right next to our clinic)

Parque Industrial is an impoverished sector of Trujillo where we hope to have a clinic in the future.  We often go to the church there for campaigns and this week was no exception.  In this pic you can see one of our pastors sizing one pair of feet as another walks out with some new tennies.

Nothing like a smile on the face of someone who so appreciates the love and simple gift of shoes that we were able to give on this two·day campaign.  Sorry I don´t have too many pics of thier sweet faces, but if you search on the other missionary blogs, I´m sure you´ll find better photos.  Many of them were still wearing the same shoes that were given them the last time Soles4Souls came!  One of the coolest things was when some of the folks from these neighborhoods recognized me from the clinic or previous campaigns. 


Praises:  God has continually blessed me with good health, great relationships, and financial means to this point.  I am so grateful!
Prayer requests:  That the people we reached might come to church and be more aware of the church's presence in their community.  For the clinic as it continues to grow and become well known in the Wichanzao sector of Trujillo, that we may show Christ in all that we do.

If You Build It, They Will Come!

We've had some really fun campaigns lately.  A medical team recently came with Independent Presbyterian Church from Memphis, Tennessee.  Every morning for a week they set up a day-long clinic in an under-served part of Trujillo to meet the medical needs of the community.  When we arrived to the different campaign sites every morning, it would appear as a ghost town.  Not a soul in site.  Just tumbleweeds and a wild dog or two sniffing piles of rubbage.  Then as we would begin to set up, people gathered around.  We brought a megaphone to go around announcing what we were doing in their neck of the woods and before we knew it, there were people everywhere.  The presence of a team gives us the opportunity to make many new contacts in these neighborhoods, and allows us to spread the word about the availability of our clinic in the Wichanzao sector of Trujillo. In addition, many people also get a taste of what our churches are like in the surrounding areas.  

Pastor Baker translating for the pediatric nurse practitioner.  

The pharmacist came prepared. 

The dentists cleaned and pulled a lot of teeth.

Everyone went home with new toothbrushes and toothpaste and floss!

The patients patiently lined up as they waited to be triaged.  A couple of the team members were devoted to playing with little ones as they waited.

Taking down chief complaints while a nurse from the team takes vitals signs.

This gentleman isn't a doctor.  He came to give away reading glasses!  He brings a huge box full for people to try on and then has them read the bible to see if it's the right fit.  Cool idea ya?


Trujillo is large and has many different neighborhoods.  Neighborhoods that I have been instructed not to explore on my own.  This campaign was a great opportunity for me to get to know some of the areas where we plan to build clinics in the future (and churches and schools etc).

Prayer requests: That the contacts we made through the medical campaigns would receive spiritual healing as well as physical healing.  For my health and safety as Trujillo is reportedly becoming more crime ridden and I am frequently coming into contact with people who have contagious diseases such as tuberculosis.


Things here are going really well.  Thank you all so much for your support.  Will try to keep the updates coming.  Until then... - Yvette

Otorrinolaringologo

We had an ENT doc come from the states....

His name is Dr. Berry and we had a blast learning from him.  He comes every year for a special ear, nose throat day at our clinic.. 

We announced it to the public ahead of time so there was great anticipation.

 

                  

We saw a lot of swollen tonsils (which he was a little dissapointed that he could not operate on), diagnosed some Mineir´s disease, seasonal allergies, deviated septums, benign paroxysmal vertigo, chronic otits media, TMJ, etc.  We cauterized some bleeding noses and inner cheek sores (aphtas they are called.  I always knew them as kanker sores). 
A new skill I´ve mastered, that of cleaning out the ears, was made easy by a new contraption Dr. Berry brought us which is basically just a spray bottle connected to a little tiny hose.  Once I got past the grossness of what was coming out of these poor folks´ears, it was instantly gratifying when my patients would say ¨I can HEAR now!¨ 

It was good to tag-team the translating with Dr. Joulton who is our full-time Peruvian MD.  He speaks English really well, but I was pretty still pretty useful with some translation.

 ¨Now what do you you think that is?¨ Doctor Berry would ask.  When we would give a wrong answer, he would respond with some cute southern sounding anecdote like ¨Now when you hammer, everything looks like a nail.¨

    In between patients Dr. Berry would tell us about his clinical trials he did for a new throat cancer drug in China, or about how he treated folks like Alison Krauss when he worked at a voice center in Nashville.  He convinced both Dr. Julton and I that we absolutely need to visit the south someday!

   Prayer requests:  We would love to have the capacity for guys like this to do surgeries.  We have some space (our church building next door) but the anastesiologist and equipment, not so much.  Sounds like a lot to ask, but it may be a reality pretty soon!  Will tell you about that next time.  Until then, thanks for reading.
                            -Yvette