Archive for 31 December 2007

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December 2007 Newsletter

31 December 2007

December was a very special time for the children. This month we had a number of organizations come and help put on programs for the children. These activities make the children feel special as well as celebrate Christmas. I have to report that Santa Claus got sick this year and he had to use some of the relatives. This is really true–we have a gentlemen that comes to the orphanage about 3 to 4 times per year with gifts. He very much looks the part and he is very jolly. The kids call him papa noel (santa claus). This year he got sick, and his daughters brought over the gifts.

Our volunteer couple Joel and Robyn have done a super job co-coordinating all the volunteer workers with the children. They post often on their blog. The blog address is http://www.joelrobynhanson.blogspot.com. If you would like to find a site that posts regularly and gives you a lot more detail, then this is the site for you.

I want to give my supporters a special thanks for their gifts and prayers to the ministry. All I can say is “To God be the Glory for the things He hath done.” I am looking forward to 2008 and the things that my Great Savior has for this ministry. feliz Nuevo Ano. Dios te bendiga.

Chau,

Dave

November 2007 Newsletter

30 November 2007


No words could express the gratitude for the love you showed in your emails,cards and support during my wife’s illness and subsequent graduation to heaven. Her illness about three months ago was a total shock to both of us. My wife took on this battle with confidence and faith that God is sovereign and His plan for her is perfect. When I heard Handel’s Messiah sung at Thanksgiving and the choir came to the stanza “The Almighty God, The everlasting Father, The prince of peace,” I was overwhelmed with his majesty, holiness and sovereignty that I had never before experienced. Vickie’s death has given me a great peace that I serve a wonderful God and that He has all things in His control. “Oh, what a wonderful Savior”.

One project at the orphanage that my wife had a real passion for is the library. She spent many hours arranging the books and inventorying each book in her computer. She loved to encourage the children to read good books in Spanish and also wanted to help the local pastors get good Spanish reference books for their sermons. The money that was donated in Vickie’s behalf will go to purchasing Spanish reading books and Bible reference material. Also we are going to expand the library, so the children that live around the orphanage can have access to good Spanish reading books. Now the children have no access to a library so they are trapped in a small world with little hope of ever getting out. Your generous donations will help these children.

I am so thankful that God brought volunteers to the orphanage at the right time and they are doing an outstanding job. Thankful for all the support that has been given. “The Lord is good.”

Chau,

Dave

October 2007 Newsletter

31 October 2007

I want to thank everyone for their prayer support for my wife. She is comforted by all the letters, cards and emails. We have a long rode ahead and she has an unwavering faith in God. She is quoting a lot of scripture to all visitors, nurses and doctors. It is amazing how she is so encouraging to all that come into the room. Her neurosurgeon, who operated on her brain 5 weeks ago, comes about everyday and checks up on her and then spends about 10-15 minutes just finding out how she is doing (he does not charge for the visits). We have had a lot of visitors to Vickie’s hospital room, and it has been so very encouraging. One special visitor was our first adopted boy from the orphanage, Marcelino. He is now a freshman at a private school in Kansas City. He gave Vickie a poster of some of the children that have been adopted in the US. We have the poster hung up in her room and many doctors and nurses asked about all those smiling faces.

The children at the orphanage have a full day of activities. We have five volunteers from U.S., and they are helping with the many new programs we have started. In one program, we are teaching the kids how to make handicraft that can be sold. In another program we are teaching them how to set up a garden and plant a crop. A new program for the older children is sending them to a private school in Trujillo to learn English. We also have individual tutoring sessions to help with the homework from school. Also on Friday nights we have film night with popcorn and an evening of fun.

I want to thank all of you that have supported the water project. We have a lot of people in Alto Salaverry wanting their homes serviced with water. It is hard to imagine a house without water, but in many parts of Peru there is none. The great joy I get out of this project is to see the children get a drink out of the water system and after drinking have a big smile. Thanks for your generous support.

I have been focusing on my wife’s health but the orphanage is functioning very well. We have two Peruvian co-directors and an American family Joel and Robyn Hanson. They have done a wonderful job coping with the many challenges that Peru presents. Please visit their blog site for more pictures and updates on a weekly basis: http://www.joelrobynhanson.blogspot.com . Pray that God gives them wisdom and direction in administrating the orphanage. Vickie and I are praising God for such wonderful supporters.

Chau,

Dave

September 2007 Newsletter

28 September 2007

My partner for life became seriously ill the first week of September. She was diagnosis with kidney cancer which has spread to her brain and other areas. This summer Vickie was with me at the orphanage working on various projects. We had no indications that this was coming. However, Vickie’s faith is very strong, and she knows that God is in control and all things work together for good. We covet your prayers for her.

God has worked out for a wonderful couple to come to the orphanage Joel and Robyn Hanson to stay for one year and help with the administration of the orphanage. It is such a comfort to know that things at the orphanage are being well taken care of while we go through the treatments with Vickie.

The children at the orphanage are really experiencing some new programs. With Haley, Erin and the Hansons, we are offering the children more individual care (such as speech therapy) while also giving classes in handicrafts and music lessons. The children have a really full day of schooling, recreation and fun.

The water project is proceeding with another 300 people getting fresh drinking water everyday. We are still having trouble with obtaining a permit to build the wall in front of the orphanage from Salaverry. However, in Peru things move slowly.

Vickie and I appreciate your prayers for her and the ministry.

Chau,

Dave

August 2007 Newsletter

23 August 2007

The news this month was the earthquake in Southern Peru. The orphanage is located about 350 miles north of Lima and the quake was 60 miles southeast of Lima. We had only minor movement and if you were in a car you did not feel it at all. The beautiful thing is that Peruvians are helping other Peruvians. They have several collection centers in Trujillo and the church I attend took up a special offering for the victims. To see the people giving and sharing is a real blessing to me.

Alex Cenepo (co-director) and I are working together to check our “spirit control life”. Peru is the greatest place I know to check on your spiritual growth. We have a test every day, but the one we had several days ago hit the max. We have had problems with the pumps at the orphanage because we use well water, and well water has some sand in it (not good on pumps). We had to get one of our water pumps repaired and took it to a shop. The gentleman took a couple of weeks to fix it and I paid him 130 soles. We reinstalled the pump but it lasted only three days and we had to put another one in. We took it back to the shop and told him that he did not fix it properly. His response was that he only did repairs that last for three days and if we needed more days we had to pay more. My spirit control meter went to zero, and I lost it (Alex lost it also). We explained to the shop owner (no amable manera) that if we knew he was going to do that we would have gone to another shop. After a few minutes of frank discussion he took the pump back and said he was going to fix it better. Stay tuned…

We have two young ladies Hayley and Erin from the Coast Guard Academy who are volunteering for one year. They work with the young children who are too young to go to school in the morning. Hayley dressed up in her uniform and taught the children how to march. She also taught them how to do some exercises. The children really love to wear uniforms here and respect the military. Maybe before Hayley and Erin leave we can have some children ready for the military.

My language skills are a bit deficient. I was at a lunch with some veterinarians, and I was explaining in Spanish some problems we have had with raising animals. I told them about the male horse that we were given and that one of the workers suggested that since the horse was so aggressive that we should give the horse an operation. I could not think of the word for castration in Spanish. So I said the horse needed in Spanish ( un cambio en sexo) a sex change. The Peruvian veterinarians got a real laugh.

Vickie and I have a passion for getting our kids adopted. We would like all of our supporters to get the word out about the children we have up for adoption and to be praying for parents who are willing to adopt.

Thanks for your faithful support and prayers for the orphanage.

Dave and Vickie

July 2007 Newsletter

31 July 2007

I would like to start out the monthly letter with a conversation I had with two women from Alto Salaverry. We were discussing where to put the water pipe in their city. I mentioned to them that they had enough water to possibly take a shower. They looked up at me with utter amazement and said wouldn’t that be just wonderful! That really hit me. When have I ever thought that a shower would be one of the most wonderful events in my life. Wow! Then I thought, who is really rich and who is poor.

I thought I had learned to drive in Trujillo. The first rule you learn is that there are no rules and every time you get in the car you should be right with God and have your life insurance fully paid up. The second rule is that the police are here for the benefit of their families and friends. I had a friend come from Minneapolis to visit the orphanage. We went out several times in the truck and noticed he was getting a little nervous in the Trujillo traffic. After going out with me about four times he mentioned that he didn’t see how it was possible not to see a lot of accidents in the city. Well five minutes after he said that I had my first accident with a truck. There were three lanes of traffic, and I was in the far right lane and a truck took up the other two left lanes. I observed that he was making a right turn right in front of me. So I applied my brakes and the truck kept turning right into my car. There was not much damage, but we had to call the police. When the police arrived they took our license and registration. The sergeant saw that I was an American and had a U.S. drivers license. He wanted to know if I had my passport because in Peru a U.S. license is valid for 90 days if the Passport is stamped. I told him that I did not have my passport on me, and he said that is a violation of the law. He said that he wanted money for my violation. There was hardly any time spent on the accident. The resolution was that I had to send someone back to the orphanage for my passport and the truck driver had to take two sacks of flour from his truck as a deposit for fixing my front door. The body shop took one day to fix the door and charged 90 dollars to the truck driver. Another interesting experience in Peru.

In late July, the children were off from school due to a National holiday. During these two weeks, we try to give them special events. Christ Community Church from the Boston area came to the orphanage and put on a vacation Bible School. The children really enjoy the games, special events and Bible stores. The church also went to Alto Salaverry (the place where we just installed a water system) to put on VBS. The first day they had over 300 children come. It sure was a special time for the children.

Manchu Picchu was declared one of the seven wonders of the world in July. Vickie and I would like to invite you to come to this wonderful country and enjoy some of the great sites and then stop by the orphanage and stay a few days. I will assure you that you will have a great time.

Chau,

Vickie and David

June 2007 Newsletter

23 June 2007

We had many visitors to the orphanage this month. A young peoples group from Colorado, a family from Florida who is considering adopting, and a missionary family who lives in Trujillo are considering adopting a baby. We welcome groups who would like to come and do projects, as well as families who are considering adopting a child.

I was really touched by the families I met in a town called Bosco Vazquez. The town has no electricity, no sewers and no drinking water. The water they buy is from houses on the other side of the Pan American Highway. Those houses only have salty brime water only good for washing and watering the sand. The people of Bosco Vazquez contacted me because the town’s people collected 600 dollars to buy water tubing, which they purchased, but the water district would not install it. The tubing was stored in the master bedroom of a representative for 4 months. She and her husband had to crawl through all these tubes without any light just to go to bed. To show me the tubes, she had to light a candle in her bedroom. With the help of our great supporters we by-passed the water district and used the tubes they purchased to bring fresh water to their pueblo. In fact, they are the first to get fresh drinking water. I wish you could be here and see the smiles and glowing eyes of children drinking fresh clean water for the first time.

We had a very interesting experience with a boy, 13 years of age, who came to the orphanage escorted by police. The boy could not speak or hear and he was sleeping on the streets of Trujillo. For his protection the police brought him to the orphanage. The boy was extremely strong for his age and did work projects around the orphanage. Our secretary was listening to the evening news from Lima, and on the news this boy’s picture was shown. Aracely recognized him right away. His mother who lived in Lima was trying to locate him. Our director immediately contacted the authorities and his mother came to Trujillo to take him home. The boy makes a living washing the windows of large trucks that travel the highway in Lima.

We recently had a women bring her five year old nephew to the albergue who has aids. Both his parents died of the disease. She was looking for a place to leave him (basically to die) since she doesn’t have the means to buy the medicine. There is no institution in Peru for children with AIDS.

I saw on the internet news that a person in the U.S. was making news by trying to have a life of putting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The gentlemen was riding his bicycle to work, not eating package goods and using utilities very sparingly. That is nice but he knows that in the future he can change his ways. There are 18,000,000 poor in Peru that have a life of not putting much carbon dioxide in the air but never get mentioned in news for their life style. We have it pretty good.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Chau,

Dave and Vickie

May 2007 Newsletter

27 May 2007

I received an email from Yan who was adopted by a family in Virginia about two years ago. I asked permission to share his email with you.

I’m so happy to that I could send you an email.
Thank you so much for all the favors that you did for me, like taking the letters to my friends in Peru, I appreciate that.
Here in VA me and my sister are doing good.
She is going to a public school now and she is doing very good.
I’m still in homeschool preparing for high school.
I was taking an advance biology class, at the begining it was hard but then it got fun.
I am playing soccer this season and it is fun.
Well, it’s aplesure to keep in touch with you tio Miller!
hugs and kisses for my tia Vicky, and thank you again.

Vickie and I are at the orphanage for two months. We are having two large church groups come to help with some of the projects around the orphanage. One project that has given me total frustration and joy is the water system to Alto Salaverry. Today, I hand dug out the manure that the tough guy placed in the well to destroy it about two months ago. Nothing could be done because the police wanted no activity on the well. Our lawyer worked out an agreement to get the project rolling again. While I was digging out the chicken manure I thought now why would God allow such a mad man do this. I thought of Romans 8-28 and came to the conclusion that God had something good . The well needs protection from the wind that blows in salt and sand. Then I thought why not take the manure and plant “king grass” (it is a grass that grows 10 feet high) and use the manure to fertilize the plants . I talked with Alex and and the maintenance men and they thought it would be good way of protecting the well.

The orphanage is growing very rapidly and now we are up to 43 children. We are very fortunate to have families and groups come and bring supplies for the children. When a new child comes in we give them new clothes, a physical, and dental treatment. We also have them evaluated for their grade level and place them into one of our four schools. Your support has really helped us do these things.

Vickie and I want to invite you to come and visit the orphanage and see all the neat children we have . And while you are here, give them some hugs and kisses and play a game of tag.

Chau,

Dave and Vickie

April 2007 Newsletter

27 April 2007

Hogar de Esperanza is growing very rapidly with 10 children coming to the orphanage in the last two months. Last December we had a number of children leave to go home with their parents and the orphanage got down to only 27 children. Since then, we now have 39 beautiful kids and three families from the US that are interested in adopting. We have an open invitation for parents that would like to adopt to come to the orphanage for a week free of charge.

Poco a poco. That describes best how the water project is coming. The people of alto Salverry have really pitch in and put in about 4000 feet of water tubing. We now have the reservoir built and the tubing in place and a half filled in water well.(If you remember we had someone come with a bulldozer and a shot gun and start filling in our hand dug well. We are close to a favorable resolution in this mater) It will only take a couple of days to get the well going, but we are waiting for funding of the pump of approximately 2000 dollars. After finishing this project the hard part will start. The people of Alto Salverry will have to get together and form a water district and come up with a system of paying for the water.(electricity maintenance and depreciation) This is extremely difficult due to the fact that the people do not trust each other.
We might have to spend a lot of time with this but it is very important in order for the city to come together for this and other municipal needs. Such as police, fire protection and health services.(the city has none of these services)

Our volunteer program has really grown. About three years ago Heather LLoyd was our first long term volunteer. She did a wonderful job and we could see that her work really contributed to ministering to the children. The following year David Alinski came for a year and helped us at the Ranch and do administrative work. Since then, we have had a number of short term volunteers doing a number of different projects. Starting in June, we will have two young women volunteers for one year from the Coast Guard Academy. Erin and Haley are between their junior and senior year at the Coast Guard Academy and decided to take a year off to make a difference with 39 children. Also we have a married couple Joel and Robyn Hanson coming, who are taking a one year sabbatical from their careers to help coordinate the volunteers into the programs of the orphanage. We also have Amy Pitchford coming for a survey trip in June to see her own possibililty of coming for one year beginning next fall.

Encourage everyone to go to our web site at www.perukids.com and enjoy. Our Canadian volunteer Paul Roy has done a super job of keeping it up to date. Thanks for all your support,

Chau,

Dave and Vickie

March 2007 Newsletter

28 March 2007

Fall has begun in Peru and the orphanage children started school this month. We send our children to three different schools. Most of the children go to a private christian school in Trujillo. Some of the children that are far behind in their schooling go to a private school at the orphanage. The children with learning disabilities are sent to a special school in Salaverry sponsored by the Lions club. We also take the children with special needs to Trujillo for rehabilitation.

The saga of the water project goes on. About four months ago I mentioned that there was an election for president of the water district. The good guys won the election. And for the last four months we have been working with them in construction of a water tower and laying piping. Well, for the last four months the tough guys did not like what was going on and they spread lies that the president was stealing money from the orphanage and pocketing money from the construction (which is totaly false). They were effective and the president was impeached and now we have to deal with a new president. We will see how the new president acts toward the water project. The guys that came with a bulldozer and shotgun to bury the well are no where to be found. When we stopped them we also called the police and they came to the orphanage and filled out a report. The men said they worked for a corporation named Lima Primavera who they said was the owners. However when we checked for the registration of the corporation it did not exist. Not unusual in Peru. Our lawyer says we have good title to the land which does not mean much also. The only thing that means a little is that you have a wall around your property and your tough enough not to get kicked out. With all these obstacles we are still laying water tubing from the orphanage to the new water tower. A group of college students came from Corbin College and laid about a 1000 feet of tubing.

In December we had nine children leave the orphanage to go home to their parents.(In Peru if the parent can prove to the court that they are capable of carrying for their child then they can get their child back home). Well, in March we had four of the nine come back to the orphanage because of family conflict. Also, two additional children came to the orphanage increasing the number to 34. We have capacity of 54.

Peru teaches patience and stretches your faith but it has a lot of friendly people and great place to visit. Plan to come and see us.

Chau,

Dave and Vickie

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