YURIMAGUAS CUT OFF FROM TARAPOTO

For days now Yurimaguas has been cut off from the world south of us. With all the construction of the road from Tarapoto and the incessant rain, the mountain is falling down. There have been at least 20 people now killed by mudslides and huge rocks falling on them. They finally closed the road on Saturday. This was the day that Ken and Pancho had to leave to get to the embassy. They took a private plane to Tarapoto. The road was reopened but the same problem kept occurring so it was closed once again. They are saying that it will take at least 3 days but more likely a week to get everything cleared and hopefully the big rocks removed from the possibility of falling again. Ken and Pancho ran into Pastor Daniel Castro yesterday in Tarapoto and the 3 of them are trying to find an airplane to get them here today. The Air Force is giving free flights to those that are waiting, however, the priority list puts healthy men last and there are 300 on the list. They will make several flights a day for the next 3 days. The other situation that this presented is that no food is arriving in Yurimaguas so there are those that are taking advantage and raising prices ridiculously high and then there are other products that are just not available. It has been over a week since they allowed big trucks on the road. Please just pray for the workers on the road, those that need to find ways either to or from Yurimaguas and the company to find a permanent solution to the falling rocks.

Visa Response

Ken called this morning from Lima to let me know that Pancho was not given a visa. The reason they gave him was no verifiable income in Peru. God knows better than we do so we just have to trust Him on this one. Thank you for your prayers. We will still be back in March. We will need to do taxes and we will be attending ALTECO.

DATE FOR VISA INTERVIEW SET

Pancho has been given a date for his interview at the US Embassy in Lima Monday January 28 at 7:15 AM. It's been paid for now it's just being fingerprinted and interviewed. We will know by Monday evening if he gets the visa. Thank you for praying!

Conference Update

We are back in Yurimaguas with all the hustle and bustle. NOISY!! Here is a photo of what the river looked like for the families that were traveling to Nueva Vida by boat. You can see all those white beaches that are not normally there.

River and landing in Nueva Vida

We were all able to land in Nueva Vida on Monday. Tommy Head was there for an hour or so and left with the pilot to go back to Pucallpa. Angela stayed and worked in the clinic all week. The runway is really nice (except when it rains of course). For those that walked it was slow going with the rain and mud. Educo, pastor of Balsapuerto, walked 17 hours to attend the conference and others walked for days with food, clothing, wives and children in tow.

Educo's Feet

There were so many people attending that when we tried to enter into the church the first night not only were there no seats but no standing room inside. We ended up going outside so we could at least breathe. There were over 500 that attended the conference plus children and women (which means there were a lot of people). There were about 150 or so kids most of which liked to visit us daily to play games with them. Ken made a laddergolf game and though it started off slowly they enjoyed it later. Becky and I spent time playing games, building with blocks and blowing bubbles. It’s always fun to be with the kids and the women that don’t attend the classes. Then on Sunday I was asked to help with Sunday School. The kids didn’t want to sing with me at first, but later with coaxed by the head of the Sunday School they learned 2 new songs. I taught them Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes in their language and in Spanish. Then another song in Spanish.

Sunday School

There wasn’t much time to explore the surrounding jungle this time since we started so late, but one thing we did go see was a new bridge that had been built. It was almost a miniature of the Golden Gate Bridge. It just seemed out of place after normally using logs to cross the river, but nice.

New Bridge

As usual it was hard leaving on Monday. It was the only day that it didn’t rain, so God provided it for us to be able to fly out. The runway was muddy but we all made it out. Please continue to pray for us as we get plans firmed up for the coming team in April and the one from Grace in June. Also remember to pray for Pancho’s visa. We are praying that we will be in the US the first we of March. Pancho & Marta with Heili

Thank you all for your support and encouragement as members of this team. We are praying for you all, too.

Out of the Jungle

Wow! Time has flown by. It's so hard to believe that we are back in Lima. We are all tired and in need of a good night's sleep, but we have been very blessed. Rick, Becky and Ron will fly out tomorrow night.

We were able to fly into Nueva Vida on Monday with no weather issues at all. Later that night it did rain very hard, but the good thing was that it cooled everything off and it was a delightful night to sleep. The hard thing was that the leadership had been delayed in arriving to NV because the river was so low. Some walked from downriver which took hours carrying the loads of stuff on their backs. Pancho was delayed 2 days and he was bringing all our cooking gear and other necessities. He and the others did arrive late on Tuesday night exhausted but safely. Our stove arrived with our pots and pans, but he didn't bring the gas. We graciously shared a Chayahuita woman's kitchen. So, we cooked over the open fire and shared lots of good fellowship time with our neighbor.

We had rain almost everyday and it was pleasantly cool. Very unusual this time of year. The Andersons will have to return to experience the heat of the jungle. Good excuse to come back.

We will catch you up on other parts of the trip later. Just wanted to let everyone know that we are safe and thank you for your prayers.

Tarapoto

Team 2008 in Lamas

Ron Dalton, Rick & Becky Anderson and Ken & Terri Van Brunt

Today was a perfect day! In the morning it rained, but not too hard; just enough to cool the everything off. We spent the day getting ready to head to Yurimaguas tomorrow, but we also took time to see some sights. We traveled to Lamas, a Quechua community in the mountain overlooking Tarapoto. It was the epicenter of the earthquake that happened a couple of years ago. The sun came out in the afternoon with enough heat to remind us each to drink more water. We had a wonderful time together just "bonding." It's a great team!

We leave in the morning at 7 AM for Yurimaguas. We have hired a van so we can all be in the same vehicle. They say the road is dry and is in good condition. Please pray for safety as we travel on this scenic route.

Arrived in Lima

Praise God! Thank you so much for your prayers.We left on time in Denver, left on time in Houston and arrived in Lima early. All our bags made it and we got green lights (if you get red they ck all your luggage) in customs. We were met by the van to bring us to the hotel and although we were packed in there like sardines, we made it safely to the hotel. We have all had a good night´s sleep and a nice breakfast. Now it´s off and running time. Just remember this is only the beginning. Please continue to pray for us as we head to the jungle. Pray that we will keep our focus on the Lord.

We´ll send a team photo later. We are praying for you back in the USA, too. Remember this is a team effort!