Hi Everyone,
I hear that it’s been pretty hot and stormy there in the States and so I want to take the opportunity to invite you to Peru. Our high today is 64 degrees. It’s a great time of year to be in Lima. You could be of great help to us here as well.Here’s what’s been happening.
The last few weeks I’ve been really struggling with my emotions because of what is happening in Santa Rosa de Villa. Please pray that God would give us wisdom and an extra outpouring of His Spirit there. Pray for provision to be able to finish the building and start an after school program as well. We will need workers that will love the people and make a commitment to help on a long term basis. What we want to do is provide the children with a loving atmosphere where we will help the children with their homework, give them something to eat, teach them the Bible and maybe train them with some job skills as well. Let me tell you about why this is becoming an increasing burden on my heart. Many times I can’t sleep at night. I wake up with images of the children in my mind and I begin to pray. I must admit though that sometimes I think I’m going crazy.
The children and teens there are in such a desperate situation. In the last few weeks we’ve found out that several of the teenage boys that have attended our Sunday school have gotten involved in drugs. These are boys that we’ve known for several years. Two of them have a difficult home life. Their father works in another city and is always drunk when he’s in Lima. About 8 months ago their mother went to Chile to find work and hasn’t returned.
This last Sunday Betty and I went to pick a girl up for church that is confined to a wheelchair. She had been sick with diarrhea for a week and had lost a lot of weight. When we arrived she was outside, all alone and with the door to her house locked. Her pants were down because she had been going to the bathroom and was having a hard time getting her pants up. Her mother was gone because she finally got the money to buy her medicine. Her mother leaves her alone and outside many times and for many hours. We don’t judge the mother because she has other children and must leave to buy food, do some work, etc. They live at the top of a hill and the only way to get the girl down is to call a motorcycle taxi. Most of the time there is no money to do that.
Several of the young girls have been molested sexually because they come home from school and they are alone. The mothers are at work.
My heart just breaks for these children. Would you help me in praying for the situation in Santa Rosa de Villa?
Making disciples in Peru,
Brian Vander Kodde
