Tina’s Sponsored Child Visit

As Seth mentioned, those of us who have sponsored children got the chance to visit with their family. On Thursday, I went to visit my husband and I’s 5 year old, Jose Marcos and his very large family. The reason we are going to his house today as well is because we visit families that are in great need due to their conditions. We bring them items that will help, buckets, blankets, food baskets, etc. His family, the Antons, has an entire end of the street for their family. As soon as we walk up to the homes, Wilda with FH, tells Jose that I am his sponsor and he immediately runs up to me and gives me a hug. This brings tears to my eyes. We enter the home and we are told that Jose actually does not have a mother as she left him (taking his half sister as well) to be with her boyfriend in a different community. His father had already left the family. His Grandma, who was feeling ill and in bed during the visit, and the Grandpa take care of Jose.

We visit with the entire family and hear from the Grandma, Pasquena, that they are full of fears for their children and grandchildren. The conditions this large family lives in is very overwhelming. It definitely puts things in perspective that we take for granted the things that we have like clean water, bathrooms, beds, electricity. All the things we think are basic needs are luxuries to them.

I give Jose the gifts I brought for him, he really enjoys them, but is very timid taking them. A few daughters of Pasquena enter the room with their children and our interpreter, Jorge, reads a book I gave Jose, “The Creation Story” to the entire family. We pray with them and tell that that God will take care of them and loves them all. Pasquena did say that she knows God will take care of them and that does give her hope. What an amazing experience, I want to put Jose in my pocket and bring him home!

– Tina

More From Peru

Wow another day has gone buy here is Peru and we are seeing some amazing things happen! Thursday was another day of construction for us. Its an incredible thing to be able to give someone something as simple as shelter. Something that we tend to take for granted and even sometimes turn into a symbol of status. For them it is simplythe object that keeps their family worm and safe. After a hard working morning we took some time in the afternoon to visit with some families and some of our team members had the chance to meet the children that they sponsor. It was an amazing time of joy to be among a family who never thought they would be able to meet the people who have made such a huge difference in their life. There were many tears of joy from both our team and the families here in Peru. We also had the chance to help do some structural reinforcements to a young woman’s house. This home was made of woven bamboo walls and the roof was falling apart. We used tarps to help keep the water from entering their home and interfering with the place that they slept. It was one of the hardest thing to see. To think that they actually lived in this place and had no hope of being able to upgrade to an actual home with real walls and a real roof was hard to believe! Our night was wrapped up with one of the best parts about this place and that is spending time with the families and especially the kids. We have had many moments of fun and laughter with the families here and there are many more to come!

Also for those who are looking for pictures we are going to have to go back through and update our posts cause computer access is very limited here and we are not able to upload any photos! but we have plenty and they will make it up there soon!!

– S. Wells

We Are Here!!

It has been a long journey so far! We have mostly been traveling. All of Monday and most of Tuesday was spend on plains and buses, But we are here in Chincha! We spent all of this morning working on a house for a young mother in the community. The city is still very much in recovery mode from the earthquake two years ago. There are so many houses to rebuild and so many people without homes. One of our main goals for our time here is to help with the task of rebuilding the city both physically and spiritually. Working with food for the hungry has been amazing.. They are doing a great job of helping this community get to a new place with Christ. Our afternoon was spent with families here in the community and helping them with house hold projects that they can’t ever get to because they work all day. Tonight was an amazing time! We had the opportunity to meet with some of the believers in the city and share some of both our and their testimonies! We also had the chance to teach them a new song for our worship time. They don’t really understand what it means to worship but I think that they long for it. They are a people of passion and need a way to express themselves and I think that we have a chance to show them how!!

– S. Wells

Peru is Coming!!

Wow it is that time! There is a small team of people from Cornerstone that is less than 24 hours away from getting on a plain and heading down to the country of Peru. We are going to have an amazing time of discovery and learning and hopefully have some fun stories to share we you! So come and join us as we dive into the lives of this wonderful people and explore what God and Peru has to teach us!

– S. Wells