Many of you have been praying for Manuel, a friend I met running who lives in our neighborhood.  He is deaf but is the most enthusiastic Bible student I've ever had.  We worked through all of Genesis, Exodus, Matthew and Romans in about 2 weeks!  

Today, I accompanied him to see a medical specialist.  Since he is deaf he needs someone to go with him to write down what the doctor told him.  We left our house a bit before 6:30 am to go get in line at the hospital.  We waited in the first line 45 minutes to be told when we reached the counter to sit down and wait to be called.  This happened about 6 times before we got his medicines and went home.  It was like waiting in serial lines at Disney World without having nearly as much fun at the end of the wait.

At the end, we waited in line an hour to make his March appointment, only to be told that the system doesn't book that far in advance.  Manuel has to go back February 4th, just so he can wait in line again to get an appointment for March!

In 2013, 401 children attended summer camp at Camp La Joya, SIM Peru's camp located about one hour from Arequipa.  Kids from 8-18 years old spend a week enjoying the pool, horseback riding, archery and Bible lessons taught in a fun way.  Many make life-changing decisions to follow Christ.    Last year it cost about $59 to send a kid to camp for the week.  We only charge them about $33, so we spend about $26 for each child that attends.

February 2nd is the Arequipa Marathon. These seemingly unrelated events have a connection this year! I will be running the marathon which is just over 26 miles. Would you pledge to give $1 per mile to the camp (donate online at http://www.sim.org/index.php/project/89270)  to cover the expenses beyond what we charge for one child to attend summer camp?  Your donation helps make each year's camp better!

Common questions:

Will a cute Peruvian kid send me a thank you note for my part in changing his life by sending him to camp and invite me to his wedding some day?  Sorry, I think that's another mission you're thinking of.

Wait!  Then will my donation actually allow one more kid to attend camp?  Not directly.  Camps will already be underway when I run the marathon.  Your donation will help guarantee that we cover expenses this year and enable us to put on camps again in 2015.  

I hear the Arequipa Marathon is so hard, that less than half of the starters finish.  What if you don't finish?  Do I still have to pay?  I'll finish.  But just in case I go lame at the 18-mile mark, you can donate $18 instead.  If you want to make me run harder you can pledge to give $2 per mile if I finish in under 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Check our blog at http://www.missionshub.org/georges-peru for updates on our ministry and marathon results.

If you are free on February 2nd, why don't you join us? If you don't want to run,  you can still be a volunteer at the Gatorade/water station that our church will man!

Why can't you ever see this in Nebraska?  Because there is no shadow!  At 11:29 am yesterday, the sun was directly overhead.  Since Peru lies between the tropics on the globe, twice a year the sun goes directly overhead.

Yesterday I visited Alejandro, the crippled, 83-year-old that we help.  He had gotten hit by a car (luckily, just his crutch that was poking into the street got hit, knocking him down, and the driver sped off) and his crutch was broken and he was sore from head to toe.  I got him some Tramadol 300 mg extended-release tablets, which I nervously gave him (it's a high dose), but he is in so much pain the benefits outweighed the risks.  Today he was smiling from head to toe and when I gave him his crutch that I fixed he smiled even more.  He said his pains were all gone!  Of course, when the constipation sets in he might not be so smiley.