Sunday, October 12, 2008

Travels

I recently visited Grace Presbyterian Church in Lexington, VA where Dr. Paul Carter is pastor. It had been about 15 years since I last drove through the Shenandoah Valley. I forgot how beautiful it is! The only thing that matched the Valley, was the wonderful hospitality of Pastor Carter and all the saints at Grace. I also enjoyed Sunday lunch with the John Pearson family. John is RUF Area Coordinator. Grace PCA and the RUF from Washington and Lee University sent a construction team to Peru this past spring for the second year in a row. I spoke to a Saturday evening gathering, telling about the work in Peru, and then preached at their two services on Sunday morning. You can listen to the sermon here.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Medical Ministry Update

This is from a recent eBulletin that we sent out updating everyone on our medical ministry.

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"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me" Matthew 25:40

We have been blessed to have many medical professionals come and give of themselves, their time, and their resources to help serve the hurting people of Peru. In an effort to keep you updated on the spread of the Gospel through our medical ministry we will send periodic updates on current happenings so that you may labor with us through your prayers and through your financial support.

We have attended 3,000 patients since we opened the Wichanzao Clinic in 2002 and currently see up to 20 patients a day. Our aim is to serve with a level of compassion that is not seen in most Peruvian clinics. Not only are we able to offer medical services in one of the poorest and least served parts of Trujillo, we are also able to extend a higher quality of care through visiting American professionals, donated supplies, and medications from the US.


We currently occupy the first floor of our two-story facility. Having only one exam room and one dental room we are eager to finish the second floor which will add two additional exam rooms, and a room for sonogram and EKG, a laboratory, an additional waiting room, and office space. Stage two for the Wichanzao Clinic is to expand into the vacant building next door, which will increase our pharmacy area, provide more exam rooms, and give patients a larger waiting area. Each of these steps, however, requires help from our friends who have a heart for this ministry.

Because we seek to serve a very needy community by offering medical services at an extremely low cost, covering our operational expenses is very difficult. Including our doctors' salaries, and a full staff, it costs us $75/day to run the clinic ($1500/month) . We need $4,000 to complete construction of our second floor, and approximately $15,000 for renovation and expansion next door. Once we complete these expansions we will be able to serve many more patients in need and provide even more services in our clinic.

Jesus always preached the gospel in the context of acts of compassion and we consider this to be one of our chief responsibilities.  The Lord has greatly blessed this ministry, but we very much depend on the prayers and support of many friends. Please consider a regular contribution toward our operating expenses, as well as a specific gift enabling us to complete construction of the Wichanzao facility.

•Please pray the Lord gives us wisdom as we seek to run this clinic efficiently and effectively.
•Please pray that the Lord would use these acts of compassion to open hard hearts.
•Please pray that the Lord would bring true healing to those we seek to serve.