Children in need

Recently someone asked me what is the hardest thing about being here in Yurimaguas. After some thought I realized it is so difficult to find our place here. There are so many needs and we can not even begin to meet them all. The most difficult thing is finding our direction when we want to run everywhere at once. As a result we have spent the beginning of this new year in prayer for God's direction and He is responding.

Traveling on the Cachiyacu River in canoe

Last weekend I visited the community of Santa Clara which is just off the Cachiyacu River in the heart of the district of Balsapuerto. It is a large community with around 30 Shawi families. It is three hours on the road and two hours in a canoe to get there. The reason for the visit was to visit a feeding program that our mission has there as well as check on some agriculture projects. Our mission has five feeding programs in communities that struggle with malnutrition among children. We provide a meal for the children after church on Sunday. One meal a week is not a lot but for some of the children it is the only meal they get on Sundays. For them it is a lot. 

The boys Sunday School class

In Santa Clara there are between 60 and 70 children on an average Sunday. During the sermon at church the kids have a separate Sunday school time. There are two classes, one for the boys and one for the girls. I spent some time visiting each class to observe what was taught. There are no children's materials or crafts or snacks. The teachers have one of the blue pocket Bibles with Psalms, Proverbs and the New Testament in Spanish. They read a verse, talk about it and the kids memorize it. I am not sure how much they understand because a lot of the younger kids do not speak Spanish. Spanish is taught in the schools in the community so the older kids do speak it. After half an hour the kids return to the church to recite the verse together in front of everyone. As I reflect on my childhood I remember growing up in the church and what a privilege it was to have Sunday School. We learned songs, did crafts and learned the stories of the Bible.  The children of Santa Clara do not know these stories and it really touched my heart. What an opportunity and responsibility we have to teach our children!

 After church the kids received their meal of noodles and sardines

As we were traveling back we stopped at the village of Nuevo Junin. I was not able to visit their feeding program but I was able to talk with the pastor in charge of it. He told me they have 120+ children every Sunday but I also learned they have no Sunday school program. They did have one but the teacher quit because it was to difficult. They told me they thought the program was important and they want to restart it. God has put in our hearts to help the churches with their children's programing. This weekend I am planning to take the whole family for three days to a community for a Vacation Bible School. It is a small community with only 30 children but we are nervous as this will be our first overnight adventure as a family in the jungle. We are also nervous about running a VBS for 30 kids while taking care of our three at the same time. Additionally, it is currently the rainy season here and we just learned this afternoon that the road is flooded and impassible.  The only other way to get there is the river - but since it is flooded, it is extremely dangerous right now so that isn't really an option either.  Please pray that the water subsides and we are able to reach the village and these children with the Word of the Lord.  You can also pray for us as we are seeing more needs for children's ministry and we are seeing God open doors for us to help in this area.