Kylee, the 2-month-old daughter of one of our girls, just couldn’t keep it together during the service this morning at Geyer Springs. It was a little embarrassing really. I mean, to lay out on the pew and fall asleep . . . sound asleep. That’s just not the Baptist way. We Baptists fall asleep sitting up, with our Bibles open so it looks like we’re reading and/or praying.
Lynne is one of our big helpers here at the Promise House. She is an occupational therapist in Conway, but puts in a few hours at Geyer Springs as well working with the youth. She makes sure our girls get taken care of in Sunday School and Wednesday nights. And, the best part of all, she is their friend.
Here’s a picture of her with Samuel.
Marty, Dave, and I arrived back in Lima this afternoon.
The six main villages that Geyer Springs has adopted are in pretty good shape. There is a lot of structural damage, but no one was hurt during the earthquake (except for one boy who broke his arm while running out of his house).
Many of the houses, however, are now uninhabitable according to the government engineers that have made there way through these villages. We came across one village that had a long homemade tent in the plaza where almost a hundred villagers were living.
Downtown Ica was in pretty good shape. We were surprised to find that life seemed to be going on as normal. However, when we went to the neighborhoods of Ica we found street after street of rubble where there once were houses.
On our way back to Lima today we drove into Pisco to check on some friends of Marty. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw there.
Pisco was the closest major city to the epicenter. It was complete and utter devastation and destruction. I can´t even describe it. It was like a war zone.
I´ll put some pictures up and post more about the week in the next few days.
We fly back to the U.S. tomorrow night.
I (ryan) will be traveling to Peru September 8th. Along with two Dave H. and Marty M. from Geyer Springs, we’ll be assessing the damage caused by the recent earthquake in the villages that Geyer Springs has adopted.
Needless to say I’m very excited about this opportunity. Amanda is excited for me, but sad that she is not able to go.
It’s strange. We’ve spent half our married life in Peru. We had Sophia there. I guess we have some roots there . . . and we miss it.
God is good. He put us in Peru and now he has put us here at the Promise House. And he has been faithful to give us what we need, namely, himself.