A Summer 2003 Trip to Peru
God’s Presence Assures Success of
Wheelchair Fitting and Distribution In Peru
December 2003
Greetings!!
It’s hard to believe that December is here and Christmas is just a
week away! Where does the time go?? I have been meaning for quite some
time to sit down to write about the many, many blessings I experienced
while in Peru this past August. I am finally getting to share about
how the Lord showed Himself in such a wonderful way during our Wheels
for the World trip. I guess it is fitting to share this at Christmas
time, when we also set aside time to remember how the Lord chose to
reveal Himself to the world through the birth of His son.
While I was in Peru I did keep a Journal to help me remember the
details of all that happened. As we get older it can become harder to
remember things, so writing things down can be a useful compensatory
technique. Unfortunately, as I am now sitting down to write to you, I
cannot find my Journal!! So much for the compensatory technique! I
will have to rely on my memory after all. Thankfully there were many
moments that the Lord has impressed in my memory.
There were 19 people from the US on our Team. As some of you may
recall, one of my prayer requests before we left was our concern that
there were only 4 therapists on the Team. We knew we had about 360
wheelchairs to do the seating for and the last time I was in Peru we
had that same number of wheelchairs but 7 therapists to do the
fitting. Before the trip, our Team Leader was praying for the Lord to
send additional therapists for the Team, but no more volunteered. He
could not understand why. But this was one way that the Lord used to
move the Wheels for the World Outreach in Peru to a new phase. The
Lord knew we needed a push to do more training of Peruvian therapists
and to incorporate them more in the wheelchair distribution and this
is how He chose to do it. And as can be expected when it’s God’s plan,
it worked, and God was glorified! What was impossible for our US Team
to do alone, God provided His own answer to the prayer. Wheelchair
seating and positioning is something Peruvian therapists study in
school, but ordinarily they have little opportunity to actually
practice due to the shortage of wheelchairs in Peru. As a result of
this Outreach, many therapists had an opportunity to get “hands on”
training which they will also be able to use in the future. One of the
Peruvian therapists even prayed to receive the Lord during our time
there. Praise the Lord!
Due to our shortage of therapists, and the need to be training
Peruvian therapists while we actually doing the seating with the
wheelchair recipients, it was an extremely busy trip. Upon our return
from Peru, our Team Leader called this trip the most “grueling” one he
has ever had in his 7 trips to Peru. We worked very hard and had very
long hours. Wheelchairs are shipped and appointments are scheduled for
people to come to the Wheelchair Distribution, long before they
actually know how many therapists are going to actually be on the
Team. The wheelchair recipients and their families often have to come
long distances to get to the Distribution site. On Friday, the first
day of our Distribution in Lima, we were so far behind and had so many
people who had appointments still waiting, that our Peruvian leaders
were concerned that we would never be able to finish all the people.
As a result, they had us all stop at around 3 pm to pray together
about what to do. Specific prayers were offered that we would be able
to finish doing the wheelchairs for that day by 8 pm. By God’s grace,
a miracle occurred and we were able to finish all the people that day
by 8 pm. We then got back to our hotel by about 9:15 pm, had dinner
about 9:30 pm and then off to bed. The next morning we had our Team
devotions at 6:30 am, breakfast at 7 am, and on the bus to the
Wheelchair Outreach again by 7:45 am. It made for very short nights!
Saturday was also a very busy day doing the Wheelchair
Distribution. Sunday we were blessed with a day of rest to go to a
very special worship service in a poor area of Lima and visit with a
community of disabled people. On Sunday night, we were informed that
even more people had been scheduled for Monday’s Wheelchair
Distribution than on Friday or Saturday. We were very concerned about
how we could possibly do even more on Monday. Our Team prayed together
that night and by God’s grace, what we thought would be just an
impossible day, the Lord turned into our easiest day! By Monday, some
of the Peruvian therapists that we had been training on Friday and
Saturday were able to work a little more independently to do their own
fitting of the wheelchairs and that really helped! The Lord is
faithful!
On Tuesday, I was scheduled to do some “home visits” to do the
wheelchair seating for recipients who were unable to come to the
Distribution site. The folks I ended up seeing for these home visits,
definitely could not get out to the Distribution site. Our first stop
was at a Women’s Minimum Security Prison and our second stop was at
the Maximum Security Prison. Both were very interesting. Not exactly
your typical tourist destinations in Peru! At the Maximum Security
Prison, the woman I gave a wheelchair to was in a cell block where
most of the women were incarcerated for terrorism. She had been
injured 11 years ago while being tortured after being captured as a
terrorist. The dogs they had guarding that cell block were
exceptionally ferocious and looked and sounded like they would eat you
alive if you went near the fence. They would definitely be a deterrent
to me if I were trying to escape!
Our last home visit that day was to see a young mother in her 30’s
with severe rheumatoid arthritis who had been unable to get out of her
house in over 10 years. When we finally got to her house, I could see
why she had not been able to get out and truly did not see any way
that she would ever be able to get out of her house again. She lived
in a house among many houses perched on the side of the hill. There
was no road to the house. We had to climb up a steep and rocky path
with many narrow steps which at times went right through other
people’s houses to get to the next level of homes on the hillside. It
would be very difficult and unsafe to try to carry her down the
hillside either in a wheelchair or on a stretcher. We were wondering
how we were even going to carry the empty wheelchair up the hillside,
but fortunately one of her relatives, just picked up the w/c from our
van and carried it up by himself. We were amazed! She was very
grateful to get the wheelchair that will at least give her a little
mobility and definitely more safety inside her home. This woman was
already a Christian and praised the Lord for providing her this
wheelchair.
Our second week in Peru, our Team split up into 3 smaller Teams and
flew to 3 different cities. I went to Arequipa which is a smaller city
which sits in the shadow of a sleeping volcano. Thankfully, the pace
was a little slower in Arequipa and we even got to do a little
sightseeing one afternoon after we finished doing all the wheelchairs.
The Lord did some amazing things in providing just the right
wheelchairs for people even though they were very unusual sizes,
shapes, or features that were needed. I wish I could tell you of those
stories too, but I know you have other things to do besides reading
this now very long letter…
I did save the best thing to last, to tell you. The best part of
this very busy and often tiring trip was how God used a simple thing
such as a wheelchair to draw people to Himself and to soften and
change hearts. While we were there, 361 wheelchairs were fitted, and
people also received 47 walkers, 25 canes and 35 pairs of crutches.
(Don’t worry, I had these statistics written down separately from my
journal, so I am not trying to pull them out of my memory!) Each
recipient was also given a Bible. While our US Team was busy
measuring, fitting, adapting, and modifying the wheelchairs, walkers,
etc., the Peruvian volunteers (among other things) had evangelists who
spoke individually with each wheelchair recipient and their families
to share the Gospel. The response was overwhelming! 390 people prayed
to receive the Lord for the first time. 11 people made recommitments
to the Lord and 88 of the people were already Christians. To God be
the glory, great things He has done!!
My sincere thanks to all of you who prayed for us while we were in
Peru. The Lord did keep us safe and relatively healthy while we were
there. Only one person had a bout with stomach problems and one with
skin problems while we were there. I hope that you will rejoice in
hearing how the Lord answered your prayers. Many thanks for your
important role in what was done in Peru. Please continue to pray for
these new believers as the local Peruvian churches follow up in
discipling them.
I pray that you will have a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate the
coming of our Lord and Savior. Blessings to you.
In His love,
Linda (Contact Linda at the IOTFC e-mail address.
otfc@otforChrist.org. Put “Linda” on the subject line) |
