Our arrival date to Cusco was last Monday. We stayed for several days with the Powlson family, some missionaries with our mission organization. They were so gracious to have us and feed us for a few days. We pretty much hit the ground running to look for an apartment with our new friends and missionaries Scott and Megan Dillon. The Lord graciously answered our prayer and provided a wonderful apartment for us. It is on the 4th floor, which was a bit difficult last week lugging our ten bags up 4 flights of stairs at 11,000 feet altitude. I mainly watched as Nathan did most of the manuel labor. We moved on Saturday and are so excited to have a home of our own.
On Sunday we welcomed our first guests Sam and Julie Van Voorhis and their children Anna and Ethan to Cusco. We had a wonderful few days touring Cusco with them. It was great education for us as we were able to learn a lot about the city. On Sunday we visited the clinic site, where the new ophthalmology clinic is being built. We also visited an orphanage called the Josephine house which is run by Mission to the World missionaries Keith and Ruth Powlson. Monday we visited several quechua villages in the mountains (13,000 feet) and also went to a few markets. Nathan did experience his first episode of altitude sickness, but fortunately it did not last very long.
Yesterday we flew to Lima to begin our permanent residency VISA process. After a visit to Interpol yesterday we are one step closer to becoming residents of Peru. I have never needed to go to Interpol before so it was quite an experience. We had to have many different profile pictures taken, fingerprints taken, as well as have a dentist examen our teeth to note any extractions or fillings. All of these things will be sent to the US government so that they can confirm that we are who we say we are. The process of waiting should take about 1 month. We will then come back to Lima and pick up our residency VISA which is called a "carnet."
During our time here in Lima we are planning to purchase all the wood and a lot of the building supplies that are needed for the construction of the new clinic. This also is something we have never done before, since carpentry is not our speciality, but we have a list from the builder and a peruvian friend who is going to help us buy the lumber and then have it shipped to Cusco. This is yet one more thing for us to trust and pray that the Lord will allow this to be delivered safely and without problems to Cusco.
Tonight Nathan will be speaking to a group of Peruvian physicians about our work in Cusco. They have been incredibly helpful and kind in wanting to help us get acquainted with the Peruvian medical system and also with the professors in the medical school in Cusco. Please pray that this would be a fruitful time with them and that Nathan would be able to clearly explain the vision of Medical Campus Outreach.
Hopefully I will have some pictures soon of our new home. Here are a few pictures of the clinic construction site. It was so exciting to see the work that had already been done in a week.
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| All of this land used to be a hill and after 17 dump truck loads of dirt it is now flat |
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| Many of the plumbing lines under the building have been laid |
