04 de julio 2008
Hola Everyone,
It is July 4th and I am back in Lima from six weeks of missions with Medical Ministry International in various parts of Peru. It is a quiet night for me here as I am resting up and preparing to go out again in one week for another mission in Arequipa. And as I try to write this newsletter I confess I am a bit down, somewhat lonely and tired. For me this happens almost every time I come back here from a mission. I am happiest when I am out there, serving our Lord and blessing and being blessed by the people we serve. Forgive me a moment for sharing this with you. I will do my best to share some of this without being too lengthy.
I just came off of three two week missions. The first one was in the Amazon jungle, in a frontier town named Puerto Maldonado. This town is in the extreme eastern edge of the jungle only a few hours by boat from the border with Bolivia. It borders on two rivers, the Tambopata and the Madre de Dios. It was a great mission with a great team of people from the USA & Canada. The foto you see above is of a woman I met named Sandy. She is twenty three years young and is confined to her bed with her disease. There is much need here in the jungle with disease and malnourishment as in many other parts of Peru.
My second two week mission was back into the high Andes in the state of Arequipa. Quite a contrast and a big climate and environmental change for me.
We were in the Valle del Colca area very close to Ampato, a beautiful high snow capped volcano at over 20,000 feet elevation. We served in Huanca, Taya and Lluta, very small and remote villages in the area. Again a terrific new team of people from Canada, the USA and one young doctor from England. Beautiful days and very cold nights. We had no heat sources were we were staying and rarely hot water. In Lluta no hot water at all and as my friend Dennis would say the shower water was “glacial”, which in fact it was. All the water for irrigation and for other uses comes from the glacier and snow melt of Ampato. There is an amazing system of irrigation established here over the centuries. If it were not for this irrigation the people could not live as they do in this otherwise cold and dry place.
We had a great mission again and helped many poor people with medical, dental and eye needs.
My third two week mission was in the beautiful city of Arequipa itself. The second largest city in Peru but only a tenth the size of Lima at around 800,000 people.
It is called the white city because many of the old cathedrals and buildings were built with the white volcanic stone from the surrounding volcanoes.
There are three volcanic mountains in a row on the north and eastern side of Arequipa; Chachani, Misti and Picchu Picchu. And awesome place and my favorite city in Peru. And my favorite part of Peru is in the area up in the high Andes of the Valle del Colca. Mostly up to a place called Sibayo and Callalli. Awesome places and people out there. Places like The Valley of Fire, The valley of the Volcanoes and the Kingdom of the Condors. Suits my adventurous nature.
And again another great team of volunteers from the USA, Canada and England. I met some other poor people in need in Arequipa and ilo that I am working with in my own ministry of long term nutritional care which is a great complement to MMi’s short term ministry of providing medical and spiritual care for the poor.
I go out again on 12 de julio on another two week mission to Arequipa. This time it is a very major eye care ministry for the poor. And I will be happy to have some friends from my own church in Florida coming down to serve. I look forward to seeing them and serving with them very much.
My next adventure is I am coming home to Florida for the entire month of August. I have not been home since February. I also will be going to St Louis in mid month to attend an International conference with Reliv International, Inc. and the Reliv Kalogris Foundation. This wonderful group has been a blessing to me and has provided the nutritional product to do pilot programs here in Peru. Another opportunity for me to see my extended Reliv family again. I hope to also visit my son, Taylor Scott in Colorado before I head back to Peru the 1st of September. Hola Ty and Faith.
I could go on for a lot more but I will say adios for now. Thank you for allowing me to share this with you even though as I mentioned earlier I am still finding it difficult to say it all. I was very much affected by the people and their needs here as I am compelled by love for them. The poor are greatly blessed by the hearts of the many who sacrifice to come here to meet that need and share love with the people. I took many fotos of course and if you wish you can see some of them on the photo page of this website.
So until we meet again as the song goes.
Hasta el próximo encuentro,
En El Nombre de Cristo with love,
Taylor
“Little children, let us stop saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.”
1 John 3:18 (LB)
