Dear Friends,
The USA is our home country, the land that we love. It pulls at our heart strings to watch these difficult times we are experiencing.
We have also come to love our adopted country, Peru, and we are deeply saddened by recent events there. President Vizcarra, who was supported by 80% of the people, was impeached by Congress one week ago. The president of Congress then became the President of Peru. The people objected. Protesters, in largely peaceful demonstrations, filled the streets of many, many Peruvian cities. And then on Saturday the unthinkable happened. The police, in aggressive efforts to control the demonstrations, caused the death of two young men. The people were enraged. On Sunday, the new president of 5 days resigned. What will happen now? We and all of Peru await the answer to that. Please join us in prayer for Peru.
Last weekend a big storm with awful winds tore through Pucallpa. At our SAMAIR base, the wind lifted the float plane hangar up in the air and dropped it back down, destroying the only float plane that serves the river jungle area of Peru. You can read more about this and also find a means by which to donate toward the need to resume float service at: southamericamission.org/blog/ . Please pray with us for wisdom as our SAMAIR colleagues deal with this huge challenge.
In personal news, the heart monitor that David wore for a week showed his heart to be in normal rhythm. Why this does not always show up on EKGs (hence the comment, “You have a weird heart, Mr. Powell”) is still a question and may have to do with scarring in his heart from the two ablations 10 years ago. But, the cardiologists have found that the most sophisticated EKG machines do pick up David’s normal rhythm correctly. This means David needs neither an ablation or a pacemaker. For this we are thankful! Now David’s heart health is a matter of adjustments to medications to keep his heart functioning safely. Those adjustments are in process. David’s heart health is one consideration in regard to our return to Peru.
David is scheduled for wrist surgery on Wednesday, Nov. 25. The time has come to do something definitive about an old injury that has gotten more debilitating as time has progressed. Pray, please, that Dr. Truluk can do the preferred surgery that will leave David with some wrist motion and not have to do a wrist fusion. All will depend on the condition of the bones that the surgeon sees when he gets in there. After surgery and cast time, David will undergo Occupational Therapy to regain as much use of his hand/wrist as possible. How much time this will take will be determined by the kind of surgery performed. This is the second consideration regarding our return to Peru.
The province of Junin, where our town of Mazamari is located, is still or again under quarantine because of COVID-19. Pray, please, that by the time David has walked in good heart health for a few months AND has fully recovered from hand surgery, the situation in our part of Peru will be such that we can safely return. This is the third consideration regarding our return to Peru.
By the middle of January we will have contacted all our supporting churches. While we cannot visit with our individual supporters, we look forward to a future time when that will be possible. This is the fourth consideration about our return to Peru.
We still lack $275/month in support.
As you can see, we’re making progress toward our return, but do not yet have clarity about a date. Please pray with us that things will resolve, one by one, so we can get back to ministry in Peru.
Thank you all for continuing to accompany us on this journey.
Lovingly,
Rachael & David Powell