Trip to Piura March 23-31 2004
Sandy Daniels, Ken and Gloria Deyhle, Jaime Figueroa, Phyllis and William Hall, Ali Peņa and Kelly Sheppard are all in Peru on an exploratory mission to visit the areas where Eagle Condor is working and meet the leaders, new staff, and people with whom we are working.
Here are some updates sent in by Sandy...
We just arrived in Piura, Peru, in the northern desert. It is very hot, expected high tomorrow is 106 degrees. We had a great day in Lima. Ali, Phyllis and Gloria went to a children's home, Ciudad de los Niņos, in the southern part of the city where a very successful program of self sufficiency is being practiced. The children go to school next door and after school they have chores for 1-2 hours where they work in shops to build furniture, work on cars, bake bread to sell, make shoes, etc. It is emaculate and a model to all. There are chickens, pigs and wonderful gardens. It is a piece of heaven amid the slums of the city. What an experience. It can be done!
The rest of the group met with Jose Aleson, the Welfare Manager of the Church in Lima. He was extremely receptive and very excited about our projects and what were are doing. We are excited to work with him. It was a productive meeting and Kelly was very eloquent in his presentation of our ideas.
We flew to Piura in the evening and had dinner with Cesar Hooker, the mission president in this area. He was very gracious and invited 3 stake presidents, their wives and a new convert to dinner. Oswaldo and Jaime presented our program and took feedback from each of the Peruvian members. Ken was very sensitive to their needs and asked each to share their feelings and opinions, worries, etc. on what we are planning to do.
It was interesting to see the women take part in sharing their feelings. One woman shared a dream she had about seeing gringos coming with suitcases and helping her people. Needless to say, it was a very emotional meeting and Jaime and Oswaldo did an excellent job on their presentation. Our dinner was delicious and it too was a good meeting and opportunity to meet the people of Piura. We also met a couple from Tremonton in Piura. Tomorrow we go out into the streets. Today it was 106 degrees.
Kelly and the gang are doing an outstanding job. Kelly has so much perspective in his questions and comments. Great things are happening. Gloria is our historian and has great notes for our history. We are having great success on this expedition. The literacy group (Phyllis, Ali and Gloria) have had marvelous success in the schools. They have been out in no mans land giving books and teaching pro literacy. Every night they come in with wonderful stories!!
We have also met with mayors of cities, government building officials, hospital administrators and various others. We have been well received and have seen that these people are not asking for money but need the basics, water, housing and education. It has been exciting to see some of the progressive thinking and actions that we have seen. For instance, yesterday we visited a community that had 230 small homes built that had been pre sold. We went to the beach west of Chiclayo and saw "condominiums" that were also pre sold in this beautiful, well kept and very clean city. It is obvious that there are desires of the people to better themselves, they just need help. We have lots to share with you.
Oswaldo has been a great leader, keeping us running every minute. He and Jaime worked hard before we got here and his staff is excellent. Last night we met his board, two very smart women and two very smart men. Oswaldo is very concerned about our saftey in the city and has his staff guarding us at all times. He has been well organized and we have accomplished more that I would have dreamed. He and Jaime are an excellent team and we are doing lots of running in front of us!!!
Last night we had dinner with 6 stake presidents, their wives, the Peru Board and the staff. It was an opportuity to hear why people are here. We will be sharing these stories with you soon.
Kelly has a lot of information he has to share. Each group has been asked to write a report of each of their visits, this will be shared when we get home.
Thank you for your willingness to help. We are looking forward to reporting to the board and showing you the pictures and videos taken. We have much to do but feel so encouraged by the local municipalities and members enthusiasm. Let us begin to fly!
Sandy
More News...
|
