Rich & Ramona Wagner

June has come and gone, and we are still trying to figure out where all the time went!

Aside from the "normal" seminary classes and Friday night evangelistic events, we had short-term work teams here for three weeks. The medical ministry has grown to where construction has started to double the size of our clinic. It was a real blessing to have real carpenters here to raise the outer and inner walls. They actually used levels to make sure everything was level and square, as opposed to our "looks pretty much straight to me" type construction.

One of the groups was a large group of young people. I gave them about six songs in Spanish, which had music they would know like "Amazing Grace." Remember that old song the Imperials used to sing, "You're the Only Jesus Some Will Ever See"? That's the commission I gave them when I took them out in the middle of nowhere to sing as part of an evangelistic event.

I didn't have a guess as to what would happen, but I believe we need to expose our young people to other cultures not as fortunate as they are, financially and Spiritually. They will be the next generation of missionaries, pastors and supporters of missionaries.

They were with Quechuas who had never heard anything about Jesus, except that he was some kind of a Catholic thing. Some of the Quechuas were young enough to have never seen a movie, or a blond, white teenager.

The event lasted twice as long as normal. The Americans sang alone, and then with the Quechuas in Spanish. They taught each other how to count and recognize common colors and objects in their respective languages.

Showing the DVDs on alcoholism and the Jesus Film, both in Cusco Quechua, was almost anti-climatic compared to the relational ministry that went on. I was really pleased with the young people; the way they dressed, acted and related to the Quechuas was a good reflection of being the only Jesus some will ever see.

One of the blessings coming out of the medical ministry is Santiago. Santiago is blind and in his late 80's. His family beat him. Every time he made a little money making rope some family member would steal it. Then he came to know the Lord. But it was impossible for him to come to church because of the distance and difficult mountain terrain.

The medical members of our team decided to move him from the mountaintop he lived on to a small room we would build behind the Josefine House. So I rounded up some workers and built the room you can see on our Photobucket page. His bathroom was almost 100 yards away, so that posed a logistic problem. I don't remember where I either heard of, or saw this solution, but we strung a rope from his front door to the front door of the bathroom 100 yards away and the problem was solved. Now he is doing better physically, he is happy and is able to attend church regularly.

At the end of June after waiting for 7 months we were finally granted our Resident Visas. So we spent the first week of July driving from Cusco Peru to Arica Chile to have the visas stamped into our passports. It's not all that far, only about 1300 miles, but the trip took us through snakelike mountain roads in second & third gear for four long days of driving. Tomorrow, Tuesday July 8th we have to fly from Cusco to Lima to register with Interpol and get our Peru identification cards.

When we get back at the end of this week we will finish preparations for the first of two medical brigades that will take place this month. First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga will be the first and will do medical work in several very rural villages that seldom if ever see medical workers. The following week we will do a medical brigade two hours west of Cusco. This short-term group will bring down the four water purification systems that we have been waiting for.

Ramona and I will help with the normal medical brigade, but will also be trained in the instillation and operation of the water systems. We will help that short-term group install four water systems in communities that they are working in. We will then bring our four systems back to Cusco and rig them up to operate from our trucks for disasters, and to provide clean drinking water for schools in the rural mountains around Cusco. If you would like to buy a water tank to be installed in a school they are costing us $250. Remember from our last Eletter that we are doing this because our medical brigades have found 100% of the schoolchildren in the rural schools are sick with diseases preventable by clean water. The project number for this is 94721, the same project as the Josefine House.

While we are in Lima this week we may be able to return to Cusco with two young HIV infected children. They are 4 and 6 years old, but look 2 and 4 years old. Their parents are dead and some agency in Lima just wants to get rid of them any way they can. Please pray for this situation, and for another 4-6 children we are looking into taking, now that we have all of our licenses to operate the Josephine House.

Please remember to pray every Thursday night, for the seminary class I teach, and every Friday night for our evangelistic events. This month Quechuas are being trained in a culturally relevant version of Evangelism Explosion. This is a first. It is just not a cultural norm to do evangelism like this. But it will give our evangelistic teams another tool for their toolbox. God breaks down cultural barriers. Pray that He will use EE to break down barriers to take his word to those who have never heard it before.

Ten new pictures are on the PhotoBucket page, including the latest one of Evelyn, the first child that we have taken in. Check out what a difference regular food and care can make in a child.

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd146/WagnersinPeru/

Thank you for your prayer and financial support. Ramona and I pray that God will supply for all of your needs.

Lord Bless,

Rich & Ramona Wagner
Mission to the World
Hinterlands Project
Cusco Peru

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd146/WagnersinPeru/