Cloud Catchers Of Perú

Rebeca Massõn... Destination United States

It looks like Rebeca Massõn's adventure to the United States will begin as soon as she completes her exams in Lima, Perú TODAY!

Rebeca is traveling to to Charlotte, North Carolina, United States by way of Panama and New York.  She should arrive in Charlotte the evening of December 2, 2016.

After her Charlotte visit, Rebeca will continue her travels to Stowe, Vermont.  While in Vermont, Rebeca will be working at the Golden Eagle Resort from December 15, 2016 - March 10, 2017.

Rebeca plans to return home to Lima, Perú on March 11, 2017 in order to arrive in time to continue her studies on March 13, 2017.

Our prayers will be with her as she travels!

Brenda Paredes' Education Fund

I am Brenda Paredes from Lima, Perú, an international student at UNC Charlotte currently earning my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish with full financial support from a local church. I will graduate in December, 2016 with this degree as well as a certificate in Spanish Business Language. I have earned high honors throughout my time here, have been inducted into multiple honor societies including Phi Kappa Phi and will graduate with a GPA of at least 3.8.

Having been born and raised in Perú, I have seen and experienced extreme poverty and the struggles females face in a male dominated culture. While I’ve been fortunate to realize many of my dreams, I want to set an example that women have significant value and can contribute equally in helping a family rise above poverty. A woman with an advanced degree is uncommon in Perú, but is given opportunities to impact lives in ways other women simply can’t.

I have been accepted into the Masters of Arts in Latin American Studies program at UNC Charlotte and will start this curriculum in January. I plan to use what I learn here to start a Non-Profit Organization that will focus on helping and empowering low income Latin American women to reach their full potential.

Unfortunately, my family in Perú is unable to help me financially and my local sponsors have done all they are able to do. Being an international student, I must continue to pay “out of state tuition” and simply don’t have the resources for this. My per semester tuition, fees and books (estimated) will be $7,500 after a small stipend from the graduate school.

Thank you for any help you are able to provide. I promise to continue to work hard to earn the donations you send.

https://www.gofundme.com/brenda-education-fund

U. S. Embassy Visit Scheduled

Your thoughts a prayers are requested for Rebeca Massõn who will be visiting the United States Embassy in Lima on Thursday, November 17th for her J-1 visa appointment.

Rebeca is the daughter of Ester and Vlado Massõn.  Vlado is a former pastor of the Cristo Rey Church in Huanta.

Rebeca has joined us on our Perú Mission trips for the last 2 years and now we can not imagine not including her in every visit to wonderful Perú.

Any further information or news about her visit will be posted when available.

Save The Date For Perú Mission 2017

Our 2017 Perú Mission Trip has been scheduled!  Sharon Presbyterian Church has received an invitation from Puriyninchik, the Peruvian NGO (“non-government organization”) founded by Samuel Montes, to serve in and around Ayacucho, Perú during the week of July 31, 2017.

Accordingly, the 2017 Sharon Church Mission Trip to Perú has been tentatively scheduled to take place from Thursday, July 27 through Monday, August 7, 2017. The actual dates may be adjusted as details are finalized.

Please prayerfully consider joining us for promises to be one a most memorable and rewarding trip. If you choose to not join us on the trip, please consider helping collect the necessary donations.

If interested in helping joining us for the trip or with donations, please contact Randy Ross at mrandallross@aol.com.

Updates will be posted as soon as available.

Iquitos News

Dear Friends,

I’m sending this email on behalf of Todd Garrett, President of Medical Missions.

Last night Iquitos experienced an unusual storm with hurricane force winds which have left widespread devastation around the city. Among the fatalities resulting from the storm is former U.S. Marine Bill Grimes who has been a long time tenant of Medical Missions; he has operated a restaurant as well as his “Dawn On the Amazon” tour business out of the Boulevard building. Bill was thrown three stories to the street below when the wind blew out the floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the third floor where he resides. Please pray for Bill’s wife, Marmelita, as well as his family here in the U.S. as they grieve.

The Boulevard building has sustained extensive damage. Downed trees inside of El Jardin have damaged the roof of the house. Margarita and Villa are still assessing damage to other MMI properties as well as trying to determine to what extent the churches may have suffered as a result of this storm. They are awaiting news from Tamshiyacu, Nauta and other villages along the river.

Please keep the people of Iquitos and the surrounding areas in your prayers. The churches and the mission in general will need both prayers and financial support to recover from this tragic storm.

Medical Missions is setting up a fund dedicated to Iquitos for those who would like to help in the recovery process. Please write “Iquitos” on the memo line of your check.

Checks may be mailed to:

Medical Missions, Inc.
P.O. Box 2745
West Columbia, SC 29171

Contact MMI at info@medicalmissions.net for additional information.

Blessings,

Pam McAbee McCraw
www.diapersanddumptrucks.blogspot.com
Young Living Essential Oils, Independent Distributor
Thirty-One Gifts, Independent Consultant

Essential Questions Series

Presenter and Affiliation: Dr. Dennis Smith, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Regional Liaison, Brazil and Southern Cone

Presentation Title: “Essential Questions in Faith and Communication Series, Interview No. 9, Dennis Smith” (Moderated by Mark Fackler)

Date: 9/14/16     Time: 6 - 7 PM, EDT

Description:  This 9th installment in the “Essential Questions in Faith and Communication Series” features Dr. Dennis Smith, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Regional Liaison, Brazil and Southern Cone. Join Dr. Smith as he answers foundational questions such as: How do we define human communication? Why do we communicate? How do we communicate effectively? What’s wrong with human communication? What communication challenges does the Church face today? How does social media make communication better and worse? This webinar is free and open to the public.

Webinar Registration Link

A Dream In The Peruvian Amazon

Presbyterian Mission

The Photograph

What a blessing to have participated in nine consecutive Sharon Church mission trips to Peru! During the 2016 trip, we worked with our Peruvian brothers and sisters to build tables and chairs for children and simple wooden benches to be used as pews, all for new churches in and around Ayacucho. We shared reading glasses, prayer shawls, seat cushions and children’s clothing, shoes, toys and crafts. All made possible because of the generosity of the congregation of Sharon Presbyterian Church and many others.

We established new relationships and strengthened existing ones, constantly striving to build bridges of love, compassion, trust, hope and understanding between diverse cultures.

But the annual mission trip is far more than the tangible items that are built and shared, even more than the human relationships that are established and strengthened.

The mission trip is also about exploring and strengthening one’s relationship with God.

God, as only God can, has found a way to reveal Himself to me during each mission trip on which I have participated. Sometimes subtly, more oftentimes not. Each trip is different. Each trip is unique. Each trip is special. I would like to share with you just one of the ways God made His presence known to me this year.

My story began during the 2012 mission trip (August 9, 2012 to be exact) when I took this photograph of this young Peruvian family, members of the small Presbyterian church in the community of Chula. Chula is situated in the mountains above Huanta at an elevation of 10,000 feet. The church there left a lasting impression on me in part because of two very special rooms that were part of the church, one where members of the community could seek comfort and care when ill and another filled with food and clothing for the less fortunate.

During earlier mission trips to Peru, I have taken a portable printer to print photographs “on the spot.” But more recently, I have dutifully sent images off to Shutterfly for prints to be made after the trip and shared during the following year’s trip. So was the plan for this photograph, a hope of visiting Chula to deliver the photograph to the family personally or meeting someone from the community who could deliver it.

Unfortunately, the mission team did not visit Chula in 2013, nor did we meet anyone from the community that year. The same is true for the 2014 and 2015 trips. When packing for the 2016 trip I wondered if I should take the photograph along. A visit to Chula wasn’t planned for 2016 and Ayacucho is not very close to Chula. Fortunately, photographs don’t weigh much or take up a lot of space. So back in my backpack the photograph went with the hope, well, just a hope for 2016.

Imagine my joy when one of the men who traveled to Ayacucho to work alongside us this year was a resident of Chula!

With Brenda Paredes translating and my fingers crossed, I showed the photograph to this man, explained that it was taken in August 2012, asked if he recognized the family and if so, would he be willing to deliver it to the family?

He studied the photograph for a few moments then responded that the photograph was one of his brother and his brother’s family. He would be happy, even honored, to deliver it to his brother. But he also stated that when his brother and his wife saw the photograph, they would most certainly cry.

The name of the little girl standing in front of her father is Linda Flor de la Cruz. By the way, Linda in Spanish means “beautiful” or “cute.” Linda was indeed appropriately named! Just a few weeks after the photograph was taken, Linda and her family were at the river near Chula when Linda saw the family dog struggling in the water. Linda waded into the river to assist but lost her footing and was swept away in the rapidly moving water. While the family dog made it safely back to the river’s edge sadly, Linda did not.

The man from Chula then stated that the photograph, the one he was now holding, the one I had taken almost four years earlier and which I had diligently tried to get to this family since was the only known picture of Linda and her family.

I am struggling to comprehend these events. I pray that God’s steadfast love has brought peace to this family and that the photograph has brought some comfort and joy to this family, not a painful reminder of the child they lost.

I am occasionally asked why I participate in Sharon’s mission trip to Peru each year. It’s a fair question. After all, planning and preparing take many hours, understanding the spoken and written language is a struggle, drinking/ingesting the tap water is a “no-no” and showering in cold or lukewarm shower is more typical than not.

It is truly a calling. Admittedly, stronger in some years than others. But a calling nonetheless. I am convinced God called me to serve in Peru this year because of this photograph, a simple but now hopefully treasured image on a piece of glossy paper, a mere four inches by six inches. A photograph created by a chance meeting high in the Peruvian Andes nearly four years ago.

I am reminded of God’s grace and mercy even (and especially) in the most difficult of times.

Randy Ross

Machu Picchu & Google

2016 Perú Mission Trip Return

Everyone has now returned back home from another wonderful trip to Ayacucho and Huanta Perú.  Three of our team members {Bev Vickrey, Ellen Minch and Jessica Minch} went on to visit Machu Picchu after the mission trip and arrived back in Charlotte on Wednesday.

All of our 10 pieces of donations luggage arrived in Perú without incident.  All of your gifts of prayer shawls, seat cushions, reading glasses, crutches, shoes, clothing, toys and sports equipment arrived safely and was distributed to the local churches.

A few of our pictures have already been posted and can be seen by clicking the 2016 Perú album link to the right.  Check the picture album often in the next few days as we continue to add new pictures and edit existing ones.  Click the logo icon to the right to see new Logo Sightings too!

A big thank you for all of the well wishes, prayers and support.

Donations For Perú 2016!

Donations were sorted and packed for the coming 2016 Perú Mission trip.  Thank you to all that volunteered and donated clothes, shoes and reading glasses.  We were able to pack 10 bags at 50lbs each to take with us!

2016 Perú Mission News

Below is a link to Sharon Presbyterian Church's 2016 mission to Perú.

Share the information!

These forms will also be available in the Perú Mission Trip Mailbox at Sharon Presbyterian Church beginning this Sunday, February 21st.

An informational meeting will be held Sunday, February 28th at 11:45 am in Room 6 of the Charles Little Activity Building.

Thank you

Randy Ross

The 2016 Mission Trip Information Memo & Application