Tower and Internet Up and Working!

We now have reliable and decent-speed internet on the base. Over the last month or so, we have put up a 100-foot tower with a internet antenna. Wow, who knew that it would take so long, but it is finally here. While it's not the fastest internet, it is a huge improvement over what we had (max speed of just under 1 mbsp - about 3G speeds). I think everyone on the base is excited.

Yep, that also means I don't have to go to the internet cafe to skype, upload the website, and download things. It brings a little more normalcy to living in a third-world country. It's nice being tapped in to news and easy emails. You should hear from me soon.

God bless and look to Him for direction in your life.

Fell Off The Horse - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! So I fell off the horse again. I guess it's tough to upload new content to your blog when you can't easily access the internet. Well that's changing... I'll try to do better in the future.

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!

Yep, It's Been A While

Yeah, I know... it's been a while. Well, I guess I really don't a good excuse for writing recently, but I promise to do my best to try to get something up at least every other day. When you don't have easy access to the internet, it's easy not to blog.

So I've been at this internet cafe for almost 5 hours. Aside from having to go to the bathroom and not being able to so someone doesn't steal my laptop, I'm great (and a little hot - it's over 90 degrees here). lol. I've been uploading a huge update to our website. Take a look at the new photos when you get the chance.

http://PeruProjects.com

Please don't use Internet Explorer. As a web developer, it is the bane of my existence. It gives me so many problems, but despite those, the Lord has continued to greatly bless.

Take care and remember to look to Him for direction!

The Doneskys Arrive

This past Tuesday night, the Doneskys arrived at the air base. Orville is the new pilot who will replace Beto in about four or six months. Odil will be our new administrative assistant and run the office. They have two kids, Andrew and Christina. They will act as our new special assistants.

They are a great family. The Lord has really blessed us by allowing them to come to Peru Projects. In addition, they have taken me in as their own. I'll get to join them for family worships and meals. I'm looking forward to spending more time with them and becoming better friends.

That's all for now. I'll have the rest of the launch experiences up soon. God bless and remember to pray more!

Launch - Day 3 & 4

When the public launch landed at Puerto Enrique, we hurriedly got all of the supplies and bags off before it started down the river again. Our crew helped and fortunately nothing was left behind. Introductions were made, and everyone had a smile on their face. We walked about a quarter mile along the bank to were the launch was tied up and then met the rest of the crew. Everyone was so friendly. I didn’t know it then, but some of them would become good friends. The crew were so welcoming that the Launch felt like a second home here in Peru.
The other joyous occasion was my reunion with Kristen and Linda (the other SMs serving on the launch). It was great to finally see them in Peru and start catching up. The rest of the day was spent getting settled before we went into the village to play futbol. While I’m still not very good, I had a great time. Some of the local children played, and everyone really got into it. Afterwards, we played a little basketball - definitely a great experience.
The next day, I began taking pictures of the crew and helping in the clinic, though I was only proficient when behind the camera. It was great to spend time with the medical staff (Henrry, nurse tech Melita, Kristin, and Linda). While I didn’t feel like I could help much, Henrry made sure to include me. I even got the chance to put ointment on a boy’s facial burns. It made me realize how the Lord is able to use us. Sometimes the Lord allows us to directly touch the lives of others.

Launch - Day 1 & 2

So I said that I would write about my experiences from the launch and that was a few days ago. Sorry about that. Things have been busy.
So I arrived at one of the ports of Pucallpa to take the public launch down the Ucayali river. It was pouring, and we had to walk down this muddy hill to catch the boat. We also had to walk up this steep and narrow gang-plank to board. Did I mention we were also carrying heavy bags? At this point, I knew that this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. After I got on, I put up my hammock in this big room along with the dozens of others. Little did I know that there would be over a hundred people in our living space. It got pretty crowded.
I was told to be very wary of thieves, so I kept a close eye on all of our bags. Fortunately, the Lord did not allow any of our bags to be stolen. Apparently, some people just grab a bag or box when they walk out while the boat is stopped at ports.
I traveled with Henrry (our nurse) and Lucy (the Pastor’s daughter). Though I had just met them, they were great to travel companions. Lucy speaks a little English, and Henrry knows a few words. We had a few really good talks, though sometimes I got lost in the rapid Spanish conversations.
I’ll just touch on a few high points, so this posting won’t get too big. I ate pretty much just potatoes, eggs, and crackers to avoid the launch food and diarrhea. Henrry and I gave food to this one family because they were quite poor and had very little to eat. I slept in my hammock with the dozens of other people each night (for 2 nights) some of whom were only inches away (there’s no bubble on the public launches). I made friends with two of the children on either side of me: Myli and Juan. We played some games and sang songs. I also had the chance to do a little witnessing.
In all, the public launch wasn’t too bad. It’s the Peruvian way. Maybe I had been prepared for worse.

Back From The Launch

Hey everyone. Hope you are doing well. I'm back from the launch. Hopefully I'll be able to email or talk with you soon. Stay tuned for more blogs about my experiences on the launch and in the jungle. Adios and God bless.

Leaving For The Launch

So I’m headed off into the jungle tomorrow to meet up with the launch. Huh? Well I live in the jungle, but the settled jungle is very different from the need-a-boat-to-get-there jungle. I think it will be a great experience. It’s almost like a vacation for a couple of weeks. I get to shoot pictures, journal about my experience, and experience the launch to write about it on our website. Plus, I get to meet up with Linda and Kristin, the two other SMs here. I haven’t seen them yet. It will be great to catch up and hang out with fellow Americans!

The only trouble is that I have to take the public launch/ferry to get there. It’s about a three day trip via the river. Apparently it’s hot and robbers abound. Henrry, the launch nurse, and I will have to guard our bags and supplies like hawks. Maybe I just won’t sleep? Lol.

So I’ll be gone for about two and a half weeks, but I’m sure I’ll come back with many exciting stories. I’ll have to tell you of my adventures hiding from flocks of mosquitoes, avoiding snakes (either poisonous or huge boas), and washing clothes in the river/lake. It’ll be an experience, but I know one thing, my Savior will always be by my side watching after me. It’s always great to know that the King of the universe cares about the little details in our lives. He loves us more than we could even imagine. Just ask Christ. He has the scars to prove it.

New Website Up and Working!

http://PeruProjects.com

A Busy Two Weeks

Sorry it’s been so long. A lot has happened in the last two weeks, but I’ll try to keep this posting short (they’re easier to read), though I might fail. A lot has happened in the last two weeks. I’ll probably just scratch the surface.

Elder Muir and his daughter and her family stayed with us for a week. He and his family founded the air base. It was a joy to meet him, hear his stories, and have more people on the base. Sometimes it can get a little lonely, especially when there are few people who speak English.

We’ve had our first and currently, second cold periods. It’s Peru though, and Peru’s hot; I know, right?! It’s in the mid-60s, which wouldn’t be cold except, we generally wear less clothing and our houses have screens for windows. Therefore the wind blows right through; it’s almost as if you’re outside all the time. The first time, I didn’t have my second bag (oh yeah, my second bag arrived about two weeks after I did), so I had only one pair of church pants. And I was cold! However, estoy feliz siempre!

Aner and I are becoming really good friends. We try to hang out at night whenever he isn’t in English classes and I’m not helping with the youth. My Spanish is coming slowly, but it’s still very hard.

I’ll tell you more later, but I’m headed off into the jungle to meet up with the launch. It’s about a three days journey by ferry. I leave on Sunday.

Great news! The website is almost done. Wow, I had forgotten how much effort it is to build a website. When you visit it, try to use Safari or Mozilla. I haven’t done extensive testing in Internet Explorer to see if everything looks as it should. Also, we have had a terrible time trying to get the old website down and our domain back, so the website is now at a new location. It should be up by the evening of Wednesday, October 8, 2008.

http://peruprojects.com

Keep praying for me as I pray for you. Also pray for the people of Peru. They certainly need your prayers. Remember to ask the Lord to direct you in everything you do!
Chao!

Not in the United States?

Ten things that let me know I'm probably not in the Estados Unidos (United States) anymore!

My legs and feet look like I went camping with a bunch of buddies who happen to be mosquitoes.
Cooking food always involves a match.
You could be scared numerous time just driving into town due to the "normal" traffic.
You get sweaty just from walking around.
Brushing my teeth involves using bottled water.
Your average automobile is a hybrid motorcycle cart.
People can ask me questions and a average respond might be "What?" (Que?) or "I don't know what in the world you're trying to ask me!" (No entiendo).
I can be woken up by the sound of chickens and roosters.
A bottle of contact solution costs three days wages.
Everything seems to take twice as long.

Mission Description and Experience

I just read my best friend's latest post from Nicaragua, and he described their mission and some daily issues. I thought I might do something similar.

The air base is about 25 minutes from Pucallpa. The city could be considered large at some estimates of around 250,000, however, it really is a bush/third world city. There are some modern sections, but most of it looks like shops and neighborhoods in the third world. The drive is about 5 to 10 minutes of paved road, then about 15 to 20 minutes of dirt/rock-ridden/hard-on-the-suspension road. No wonder cars look old here. Before you get to the base, you enter the village of San Jose, which has a population of about 5,000 and our own Adventist Church of about 75 members.

The base is surrounded by a fense and a locked gate to keep out intruders. I would guess that the base is about 20 acres, though it is hard to tell because we have a runway and areas rampent with plant growth. The land is owned by the mission (the local SDA conference). The runway begins at the far end of the base on the western side and stretchs to the eastern side before sloping down to the lake that passes by. The two-plane hangar/tool shed/storage/office sits slightly on top of the base near the middle overlooking the lake. Director Edie and Administrator Emilio's house, which also doubles as a small dormitory, sits by the gate on the northern side. Beto's (the bust pilot and mechanic) house, which is also my house because I'm house sitting while he is gone for a month, is next to the hangar. There is another house on the southern side, which will probably be the Donesky's house (the new bush pilot and family) when they arrive within the next couple of months. My future house and that of the soon-to-arrive airplane mechanic and his wife, sits by the lake surrounded by two meeting lodges. Group shower houses and tool sheds also dot the base.

While dissimilar from life in the United States, our air base is slightly cushy compared with other Adventist missions worldwide. We have electricity, two phone lines, cell phones (pre-paid with bad rates), an air conditioned and slightly cool office, dial-up internet (can you remember those olden days when you took breaks between websites), plenty of water considering its the dry season right now, indoor plumbing, gas stoves to boil our drinking water, and Beto even has a microwave though I haven't used it yet. We also have two planes, an old-almost working truck, one tracker, and a medical launch boat.

Though we live in the jungles of Peru in the Amazon Basin, the Lord has certainly blessed us with plenty. Please keep praying for the people of Peru and their daily lives. They struggle to live day by day. We have it so good living in the United States, we don't even have to consider if our families will have enough food for tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers, and I'll write you some more soon! May the Lord continue to bless you. Always remember to trust His with all you have!

First Weekend

I'm nearing the end of my first weekend and have experienced some highs and lows. To my surprise, we didn't do anything special on the base for Friday night. I guess I was hoping for something like vespers at Southern. lol. Hopefully, we can start having real worships when the rest of the soon-to-arrive team get here. I probably just miss Southern and seeing many friends. Yeah, I miss you!

Well, I think the food finally struck. I was having some minor stomach problems this week. I'm not sure if it was from the food that Beto and I had on Thursday night or from something else, but I felt a little funny most of the weekend. I feel a lot better now (with the help of some charcoal and the Lord).

Sabbath school and church were good, except I only understood about 5 percent of the service. I like singing though, especially if I know the song. I remember loving to sing in Espana in the summer of 2007. Church kind of feels the same though. I'll try concentrating really hard and try to understand the topic, but then I start daydreaming when I understand so little. In time (en tiempo)...

Aner, one of the base workers who's 23 and is like a nephew to Edie, came over for Sabbath lunch. It was a real treat to talk with him afterwards. He's studied English for a number of years and speaks very well. I think he's just a little timid. It really helps speaking Spanish to someone who I can ask simple questions. Como se dice "many" (How do you say "many" in Spanish)? We probably talked for about two hours. My spanish is still bad (or malo), but the Lord is definitely helping me learn, especially since I still don't have my books yet. I also told Aner that I could help him with his English. Maybe we'll both be quite proficient in each other's languages by the time I leave.

Another downside to the weekend was the realization that the youth are just very unmovitated to have a realationship with Christ. After evening worship and talking with Edie, I decided that I really want to change that but it appears to be a daunting task. Please pray that the Lord does mighty things through me, as I boldy ask that He use me to His full potential. While I know there is a definite language barrier right now, I'm hoping that I can show them how great it is to have Jesus in their lives.

Sunday has been nice and lazy. I read the book of James this morning. Wow, time and time again, I'm amazed with the words that the Lord gives through Christ's brother. If you have some time, take a look at it. I've also been reading up on some photography skills and software (raw photos and processing). OK, maybe not the most fun reading, but I want to take my photography to new levels. I don't know if I told you, but I took over 75 shots the other morning.

The food's still great. I had a coconut (coco) today as well as some tiny bananas. The weather's been nice too, though we had a big wind storm last night. Anyway, I'm off to send a few emails and go for a run before the special meeting tonight. Praise the Lord for He is good! His mercy endures forever!

Pretty Much a Normal Day

I had a pretty normal day, though I had the opportunity to speak with Linda this morning over our ham radio. I had a hard time understanding her due to the atmospheric noise, but we managed (in English). And Edie told me that the connection was good too. lol. Besides that, I spent most of the day going through part of 10 GB of base pictures from the last three years or so. I'll probably spend the rest of the week organizing them and giving each specific keywords for easy searching later on. I also got a lot of great ideas for some shots, as well as remembering what not to do when I shoot. lol.

At lunch, Edie and I ate lunch with Loyda (I could be spelling that wrong). It was an amazing lunch like some of the best food at Machu Picchu Restaurant in Collegedale. She is very friendly. The people here are great! I also had the chance to converse with her, or try to converse. Well, at least I'm trying. It will help when I get my Espanol books from my second bag that's still in Lima or on its way. I can tell the Lord is definitely helping me. My studies in Espana were a huge resource I took for granted. I pray that the Lord will help me each and every day.

Beto (our pilot and mechanic) took me out to eat tonight. He's really great too. We've bonded really well, especially since he speaks English. We ate at a little shop in San Jose (our village), which was really half restaurant, half food supplies. It was really good food. I'm greatly enjoying the food here. He said that the Coke we drank should help with digestion. I'm just hoping that I don't have problems later on.

Well I'll sign off. Thank you for your prayers. Keep the Lord first in your life. Let Him lead your every step. Always remember that He always loves you, even more than you can even imagine!
Adios

Arrived at Peru Projects!

I finally arrived at Peru Projects (in Espanol, it's pronounced pe-rU pro-YECTS). If I haven't already told you, we call Peru Projects the “air base” or just “base.” It is not to be confused with the SDA Conference which is called the Mission. Well, I arrived after spending a night in Lima, the capital of Peru. Since it is winter in the southern hemisphere, it can be chilly in parts, especially in the Lima Airport. lol. It was very nice (at first) to arrive in the hot climate of Pucallpa (pronouned PU-call-pa). Edie, the director, picked me up, and I began a small part of my culture shock.

We took a short tour of Pucallpa and ate at one of the nice restaurants in town. Apparently, if we had not eaten at one of the three "safe" restaurants, I wouldn't have been doing so good, if you catch my drift. Besides being a third-world country, theft and robberies are quite prevalent here due to limited police, limited police action, and bribes. Edie told me of a local pastor who was mugged because he owned a very-nice-for-here motorcycle. I will have to make sure and use common sense and always be on my guard whenever in town. However, the Lord led me down here, so I'm guessing I have an extra battalion of angels keeping tabs on me.

The air base is beautiful. It is sort of in the jungle. We pretty much just live in semi-developed parts of the jungle, the Amazon Basin. Surrounded by fencing and a lake, the base has eight to ten buildings and features you guessed it, a runway. I walked down it last night, and it seems quite large, though I have never walked down any runways. If you search for Pucallpa, Peru on Google Maps, you can pick up the runway by the lake almost due north from Pucallpa.

In comparison to Linda and Kristen, my best friend Jeremy who's SMing in Nicaragua, and probably most of the SMs, I have it cushy. We have full time electricity, plumbing and running water (though it has to be boiled for drinking), two landlines, dial-up internet (I'll tell you more about that later), more than one washer, did I mention full time electricity (which is marvelous)? The base has other things like a couple of personal missionarys’ cars; two planes (though one is missing it's engine due to repairs), funding (which I guess I'll find out more about later on); conference support; and most importantly, the Lord's guidance, leading, and blessing. We also have houses. Right now, I will be in the mist of transititioning between houses but will have my own in a couple of months.

I am also blessed with an English presence, though I need to quit the crutch soon. I have to admit, after traveling all the way here and trying to pass off my lousy Spanish, it was really nice to speak English with Edie when she picked me up. However, I did practice my Espanol with Edie and our administrator's wife, Gloria, last night. I was able to carry on light conversation with Edie's help. Hey Mom and Dad, my studies in Espana really did help! One of the most difficult things for me is that I feel like I'm being rude to people when I meet them because I really can’t say much, especially since I'm talkative.

Speaking of hard things, just remember me in your prayers. I'm still in the vacation stage of my trip, and I know that the culture shock/wanting-to-go-home stage will hit me at some time. So just keep me in your prayers. It's hard to explain, but EVERYTHING is different down here. The change of pace is good, but it's hard not having someone here fulltime who's my age who speaks English. lol. In time, I'll make more friends when my Spanish is better. However, not to be a downer, the Lord has blessed me with so much! First, He got me here safely without problems. The staff here is wonderful and couldn't be nicer. The food has been very good so far. Edie is letting me eat with her, and I'll give her money for groceries. Plus I have to remember that the Lord led me to Peru for a specific reason. I'll keep a smile on and let Him continue to lead me.

Before I go, I wanted to tell you about the internet (what internet?). The internet as we know it doesn't really exist at the base. Why? Because I am surfing Slooooooowly. I think I'm averaging 0.0005 MB per second. I think most broadband connections are between 0.5 and 2 MB per second, so you can see how slow it is. To put it in perspective, Google's homepage took about twenty seconds to completely load. lol. But I am going to make the best of it. Hey, I guess I can get some good reading in while I surf.

Thanks for your prayers and support. I'll try to write at least something most days, though right now, the modem isn't hooked up to my computer, so it makes things a little more difficult. Adios from Peru!

Packing and Update

Well I'm in the final stretch, but I thought that I would post something since it's been a super long time. My packing in going well. I talked to Linda a couple of weeks ago when she and Kristen arrived at the air base at Peru Projects (PPI, the place I will be staying). They were in great spirits and were about to head off on the medical launch boat for their first three month journey. Crazy huh? Anyway, packing is going great. I met with the Doneskys (the full time missionaries) a few days ago, and they are still waiting for the Lord to deliver the needed visa.

May the Lord bless you as you continue to trust in Him!

Meeting Orville and Odil Donesky

Yesterday, at Foster Church in Asheville, I met Orville and Odil Donesky. They will be serving as full time missionaries for Peru Projects starting sometime in July, or whenever they can get their visas approved. I guess they will go when the Lord wants them to go. I am very encouraged by them and their witness. Orville will be the new bush pilot, and Odil will assist at the mission and most definitely more. With every day, I get more excited about leaving for Peru Projects.

Created Blog: Kevin serving with Peru Projects

Hi all. I just created my blog and am ready to serve the Lord. Almost everything is settled for my mission with Peru Projects through Outpost Centers International. I'll be leaving early September, and I am quite ready to serve.