The Potter's Hand Foundation

Hello friends,

I am preparing this week to share my 7th Christmas with the children of the Posada de Amor which is an orphanage in Cieneguilla, about one hour outside of Lima, Peru.

My first visit to this orphanage was with a short term mission team from my home church back in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida- Christ Fellowship. This visit changed my life as I am now blessed to serve children in need and at risk here in Peru. More about the changes this has brought to my life can be found in the pages of this website. Please feel to browse them.

The Posada de Amor is supported in part by Places of Hope International (click here!), a 501(c)(3) organization that serves children living in poverty around the world.

I will be joined on this adventure by friends here in Lima. My Princess Aleli who lives in Cieneguilla, Yasmin and Jackie, two young senoritas from Lima who are studying at university here, my friend Pastor Asdrubal Amador and his wife Kerin.

Aleli, Yasmin and Jackie were with me last Christmas at the Posada.

Aleli, Jackie & Yasmin

We have been blessed that friends from back home have provided funds so that Cesar, the Director and the house moms can buy the gifts for each child, 54 in number at this time. On the way out to Cieneguilla we will buy spaghetti fixings, ice cream, chocolate syrup and cakes for our fiesta meal. Spaghetti seems to have become the traditional meal for this celebration.

It is amazing to me that I have this very special opportunity to be with these kids again for Christmas. I have known most of them since my first visit here in 2003.

The little ones have grown a lot like Carolay Nelly Navarro Soto, the young nina in this foto who was just three when I met her and is now ten years young.

And there are new little ones like the twin boys Mario Vicente and Isaiah King Agreda Ponte who are now 4 years young.  Plus all the children who are from 3 to 18 years and some becoming young adults. These children are all living in this place as a family and are growing up together with their tutoras( house moms) and more. They are living here with the love that comes from their relationship with God, their true Father and with Jesus, who is their Lord, Teacher and Friend.

So I am happy to be visiting them and sharing a wonderful day of fun, food, gifts and our celebration of Christmas- remembering the true reason for this season, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Until the next adventure- Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Hello friends,
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, a Blessed New Year and a New decade.
I visited one of my nutritional supplemental feeding programs in Huachipa, outside of Lima today with some of my fellow Rotarian’s from our Rotary Club Lima Sunrise. We had a Navidad or Christmas fiesta with the children. They range in age from 2 to 5 years young. There are a total of 103 little ones and I  have 30 of them on our Reliv Kalogris Foundation nutritional program. Started this program earlier in the year for the neediest ones, which are usually the newest arrivals from this very poor area. After a very short time with our products and with the wonderful care of the staff of ALECRIM they are thriving. Our Rotary club is also providing simple, natural and portable water purification systems for this center plus for a number of the families of the children affiliated with the center.

It was a fun day for the kids and also for us older kids!!!   Here is a short video

I am now preparing to leave again tomorrow evening, Tuesday the 12th on a 9+ hour night time bus ride up over the top of the Andes mountains going to Ayacucho, Ayacucho. I will be visiting 4 nutritional supplemental feeding programs there. Two in the city of Ayacucho and two up in a remote Quechuan village- Yanamilla. I also will be sharing a Christmas fiesta with the children in Yanamilla. This is possible because some friends here in Lima had a “tea” where the ladies all provided gifts for the children. I am carrying two water purifacation systems for the school and a church in this village which were donated by our Rotary Club..  This is a blessing also as we can now provide good, safe water to use with our nutritional products.

I hope to be back in Lima on Friday morning of the 17th, after another long night time bus ride. Then I will be preparing to share my 7th Christmas with the children of the Posada de Amor in Cieneguilla, outside of Lima. More on this another time. It is time to pack for my journey.

God Bless and Merry Christmas!

I have returned to Lima from my 4 day journey to Arequipa where I visited three of our nutritional feeding programs for children. Two are orphanages for abandoned special needs children and one is a small Inicial school program (like a Kindercare) in Sacsayhuaman, in the Canon del Colca.

All of the children are doing great and we will continue these programs at least through 2011. Again I am grateful to our Reliv Kalogris Foundation (click on link) in St Louis, Mo for providing these wonderful nutritional supplemental products for children to The Potters Hand Foundation so that we may continue to serve the children here in Peru.

I am very pleased to announce we will soon begin a new program for special needs children in Tiabaya, Arequipa. This program will be for 26 little ones and I had visited this Hogar de Ninos Especiale last year.

These are two of the children in the Hogar de Ninos Epeciale! Click on the fotos for a better view!

I was also introduced to other ministries in Arequipa that I hope to work with in the coming year in developing more programs. I wish to expand and develop programs into more remote villages here in the Andes mountains.

This weekend, on Sunday here in Lima I will be visiting another program in Huachipa with our local Rotary Club members for a Christmas fiesta with Panetone and chocolate caliente. While I am there I will be meeting with the nutritionist and evaluating the children’s progress with our nutritional program. These are children from 3 to 5 years young. Last quarter they all had shown good progress in their overall health and the little ones who were more malnourished are thriving now.

Also on Sunday evening I will be traveling by bus (unless I am blessed with a small truck to use) to Ayacucho and Apurimac to visit 5 more nutritional programs. This adventure will take a full week before I return to Lima.

More about this adventure as it unfolds and as any opportunity to get messages out will allow.

Bendiciones a todos,

Taylor

Hello friends,

Today I am packing my backpack and grip as i will be traveling in the morning to Arequipa, Peru. I will be spending about four days there visiting three of our Reliv kalogris Foundation’s nutritional supplemental feeding programs. Two are in the outskirts of the city and one is in the Cañón del Colca, about four hours away from Arequipa by bus. The two in the city are in Orphanages and the one in Sacsayhuaman in the canyon is a small school program.

I also will be visiting other orphanages in the area and if time permits I will travel with a friend from Pas Peru to visit a very poor pueblo about 6 hours away from the city. I hope to share some fotos and stories of this journey soon.

When I return to Lima I will be visiting another of our programs just outside Lima in Huachipa. Here we will also have a Christmas sharing with the children.

After this event I will be going out again to visit 5 more programs in two different departmentos (states) in south, central Peru. Ayacucho and Apurimac. More about these places another time.

Blessed to serve,

Taylor

Sunday, November 21, 2010

I am pleased to present this new format for the Monthly (or approximately) newsletter for The Potters Hand Foundation. Actually this is a practice version and I would be happy for some constructive comments on this effort.

At present I have just returned from my 8th mission of the year serving the poor with my friends from Medical Ministry International. A one week mission down in Cusco, Peru where we served the spiritual and physical needs of the poor. Also in the morning I will join another MMI mission here in Lima for another week. This is a physical therapy mission in PomplonaAlta, a very poor area on the outskirts of this city.

By the first of December I expect to begin traveling to visit all 16 of the nutritional feeding programs we have been blessed to establish for close to 500 children in 5 departementos(states) here in Peru. This is so that I can enjoy the children and spend quality time with them and with each of our program coordinators. I will also be preparing my final report of the year to the Reliv Kalogris Foundation, which is providing our wonderful nutritional products for these long term programs.

After completing my travels I will be preparing to share my 7thChristmas with the children of The Posada de Amor outside of Lima, where this God given adventure and service to the children of Peru began for me back in 2003.

Then I will be very happy to come home to the states for some R&R and to visit family and friends. I will arrive in Miami on the evening of the 28thof December. My last visit back home was in February of this year.

It has been a wonderful blessing and quite a God given and directed ministry to serve the children and the poor of Peru. I pray for our Lord’s continued blessing, direction and provision as it is my hope to continue to reach out to more of His little ones here in the Amazon jungle and into the remote Andes.

Please check out our website photo link for more information and the many photo albums which will provide a wonderful pictorial storyline of our missions and the wonderful people who live here in Peru.

So I will close for now and I will be sure to provide another newsletter in late December before I return home to Florida.

God Bless,
Taylor