Peru Earthquake November/December 2007
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After our original scouting trip to Peru shortly after the earthquake, we
determined that the Lord wanted us to help get supplies to the survivors. We
immediately came back and got started putting a container together.
We had never attempted a project such as this so didn't really know where to start,
but God was good and He led us all the way.
Eric, who attends CC Sarasota, has a business that fixes conveyor belts for bottling
plants. He was asked to go to Brooksville and take a look at a unit for a ministry
called Living Water, which is ran by Scott Jager. Scott Jager also leads Christian
Contractors Association, a ministry that does relief work. Eric put me in touch
with him and I traveled to Brooksville to talk to him about his relief work. While
there I mentioned the container to Peru that we were trying to do. He told me that
he knew a guy, Steve Ewing of Compassionate Alliance, who does international
shipping and might be able to help us with some guidance.
I contacted Steve and ended up going to Honduras with him and Scott for
Hurricane Felix relief. While on the trip we discussed the container. Steve gave
me the name and number of one of his guys in the Compassionate Alliance office
and asked me to contact Dave. Dave in turn gave me the name and number of Bob
Fox from Operation Blessing and asked that I just contact them directly to see if
we could get the container shipped.
Operation Blessing, among many other things, teams up with other ministries and
is able to ship relief containers worldwide for very little cost via USAID, a US
government agency. You can't ship anything that would be considered "religious",
only humanitarian type aid. Our only costs were shipping the goods to one location
in the US, storage fees while waiting custom's clearance in Peru and shipping and
distribution in Peru.
We agreed and also decided to 50/50 split the container of goods with OB. We
quickly started collecting goods, money and purchasing the things we needed.
ISOH/Impact provided goods at little or no cost. Equipping the Saints allowed us to
ship all of our goods to there warehouse and they helped get the container loaded
in the US. They also donated clothing and computers. Equipping also provided
Spanish DVD's for children to us to take with us when we traveled back. Vitamins
for the World, led by Bob Eredics from our home church provided vitamins. Arise
Medical Missions, led by Carl Bottorf provided some medical supplies and Just
Tents supplied tents at a highly reduced rate. Our thanks to all of those
mentioned and the many others who gave financially and of their time to make
this container possible!
We finally got the container on it's way and began making preparations to go over
and help with the distribution. As things usually go, so we found out, with things
such as this, it didn't go as planned.
We had made our plans to go in a few days after the shipment arrived so that it
could clear customs and we could distribute. The dock workers decided to go on
strike. The container eventually went to another country and then after the strike
in January, it finally arrived!
Meanwhile we decided to head to Paracas and work with Marco and Monique. They
had just started the church down there and bought a house. We helped them do
some construction and painting, etc on their home.
It was my birthday on our first day down to Paracas and everyone surprised me
with a dune buggy ride in the sand dunes and we also got to go sandboarding, much
like snowboarding but in the sand. Tim had a great run down so as I was going
down and stopped, I tried to continue on and ended up flying through the air,
landed funny on my shoulder and filled myself up with sand. I was sore the rest of
the week, but we had a lot of fun!
We also spent some time at the soccer stadium where a tent city was set up. This
was currently Marco's church. We brought a DLP projector with us to donate to
the church and set up a movie night. We popped some popcorn and had some
sodas. We showed a Christian kids movie and the Jesus film, all in Spanish, which
were donated by Equipping the Saints. Everyone had a blast.
We first thought that the strike was going to end in a couple of days. After a little
while we determined to really do some work on their home so Marco, Monique,Tim
and Tom took off for Lima to get more supplies that we couldn't find in our area. I
stayed back with Marco's brother and sister and did some painting.
We popped out for a quick lunch of Ceviche. While waiting for our check a car
came flying to a stop in front of us, 3 guys jumped out and ran in, pulled guns and
robbed us! I thought they were going to shoot Freddie! We were praying hard.
They got our money and jewelry, except my wedding ring. What a scary situation,
but God protected us and no one got hurt.
I quickly got on line and cancelled all my credit cards and I still had some money
tucked away back home. The rest of the team made it back late and came in and
checked on me and we all got some rest. We had a busy few days left of work to do.
Tim and Tom had some things to take care of back in Lima and had to take off on
Saturday. We stayed until Sunday after church and got more work done on the
house. Sunday morning we changed where we got our breakfast and something in
it made me really sick! We headed back to Lima and got there in time to go to
church on Sunday evening. We spent the next day doing a few things around Lima
and then headed back to the states.
The container arrived just when God wanted it to be there. The tent city had closed
and Marco and Monique had just moved their church out of the stadium and into a
building. They were able to use the supplies to pass out to people who were in need
of things to get back to their lives and also gave them the opportunity to reach out
to those outside the tent city as they started sharing Jesus' Love with the town!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the Peru
Earthquake Relief 2 Newsletters.
determined that the Lord wanted us to help get supplies to the survivors. We
immediately came back and got started putting a container together.
We had never attempted a project such as this so didn't really know where to start,
but God was good and He led us all the way.
Eric, who attends CC Sarasota, has a business that fixes conveyor belts for bottling
plants. He was asked to go to Brooksville and take a look at a unit for a ministry
called Living Water, which is ran by Scott Jager. Scott Jager also leads Christian
Contractors Association, a ministry that does relief work. Eric put me in touch
with him and I traveled to Brooksville to talk to him about his relief work. While
there I mentioned the container to Peru that we were trying to do. He told me that
he knew a guy, Steve Ewing of Compassionate Alliance, who does international
shipping and might be able to help us with some guidance.
I contacted Steve and ended up going to Honduras with him and Scott for
Hurricane Felix relief. While on the trip we discussed the container. Steve gave
me the name and number of one of his guys in the Compassionate Alliance office
and asked me to contact Dave. Dave in turn gave me the name and number of Bob
Fox from Operation Blessing and asked that I just contact them directly to see if
we could get the container shipped.
Operation Blessing, among many other things, teams up with other ministries and
is able to ship relief containers worldwide for very little cost via USAID, a US
government agency. You can't ship anything that would be considered "religious",
only humanitarian type aid. Our only costs were shipping the goods to one location
in the US, storage fees while waiting custom's clearance in Peru and shipping and
distribution in Peru.
We agreed and also decided to 50/50 split the container of goods with OB. We
quickly started collecting goods, money and purchasing the things we needed.
ISOH/Impact provided goods at little or no cost. Equipping the Saints allowed us to
ship all of our goods to there warehouse and they helped get the container loaded
in the US. They also donated clothing and computers. Equipping also provided
Spanish DVD's for children to us to take with us when we traveled back. Vitamins
for the World, led by Bob Eredics from our home church provided vitamins. Arise
Medical Missions, led by Carl Bottorf provided some medical supplies and Just
Tents supplied tents at a highly reduced rate. Our thanks to all of those
mentioned and the many others who gave financially and of their time to make
this container possible!
We finally got the container on it's way and began making preparations to go over
and help with the distribution. As things usually go, so we found out, with things
such as this, it didn't go as planned.
We had made our plans to go in a few days after the shipment arrived so that it
could clear customs and we could distribute. The dock workers decided to go on
strike. The container eventually went to another country and then after the strike
in January, it finally arrived!
Meanwhile we decided to head to Paracas and work with Marco and Monique. They
had just started the church down there and bought a house. We helped them do
some construction and painting, etc on their home.
It was my birthday on our first day down to Paracas and everyone surprised me
with a dune buggy ride in the sand dunes and we also got to go sandboarding, much
like snowboarding but in the sand. Tim had a great run down so as I was going
down and stopped, I tried to continue on and ended up flying through the air,
landed funny on my shoulder and filled myself up with sand. I was sore the rest of
the week, but we had a lot of fun!
We also spent some time at the soccer stadium where a tent city was set up. This
was currently Marco's church. We brought a DLP projector with us to donate to
the church and set up a movie night. We popped some popcorn and had some
sodas. We showed a Christian kids movie and the Jesus film, all in Spanish, which
were donated by Equipping the Saints. Everyone had a blast.
We first thought that the strike was going to end in a couple of days. After a little
while we determined to really do some work on their home so Marco, Monique,Tim
and Tom took off for Lima to get more supplies that we couldn't find in our area. I
stayed back with Marco's brother and sister and did some painting.
We popped out for a quick lunch of Ceviche. While waiting for our check a car
came flying to a stop in front of us, 3 guys jumped out and ran in, pulled guns and
robbed us! I thought they were going to shoot Freddie! We were praying hard.
They got our money and jewelry, except my wedding ring. What a scary situation,
but God protected us and no one got hurt.
I quickly got on line and cancelled all my credit cards and I still had some money
tucked away back home. The rest of the team made it back late and came in and
checked on me and we all got some rest. We had a busy few days left of work to do.
Tim and Tom had some things to take care of back in Lima and had to take off on
Saturday. We stayed until Sunday after church and got more work done on the
house. Sunday morning we changed where we got our breakfast and something in
it made me really sick! We headed back to Lima and got there in time to go to
church on Sunday evening. We spent the next day doing a few things around Lima
and then headed back to the states.
The container arrived just when God wanted it to be there. The tent city had closed
and Marco and Monique had just moved their church out of the stadium and into a
building. They were able to use the supplies to pass out to people who were in need
of things to get back to their lives and also gave them the opportunity to reach out
to those outside the tent city as they started sharing Jesus' Love with the town!
To read some of our newsletters while in the field click here and scroll to the Peru
Earthquake Relief 2 Newsletters.
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
