Author: Schrocks4Christ

Language School!

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Last week I wrote about how we have moved to Arequipa to go to language school. This week I’ll tell you about the school about our daily routines.

We chose ABC Language School because it was highly recommended by some of our missionary friends in Iquitos/Nauta area. The school has been teaching missionaries for over 30 years. It is operated by Pedro Cornejo and Julio O’Brien both native Peruvians. Pedro is also a pastor at the church we are attending on Sundays. Right now there are 10 other students besides ourselves. Class sizes are small and focused. Some students are from the states, one is from England, one couple is from Switzerland and our classmates are a young couple from Denmark.

We have classes Monday through Friday each week. We usually are up by 5:30 am doing homework and house chores. We leave our house at 9:45 and walk 2.2 kilometers to the school all downhill. Classes for us begin at 10:20. We have grammar class first followed by Practice at 12:20 pm. By the time class ends at 1:40 pm our heads are usually spinning and our stomachs are empty. The past 4 weeks have often been rainy in the afternoon so often we got a taxi back to the house. We are usually finished with lunch by 3:00 pm and are ready to crash for a while.

Denver is young and has picked up Spanish faster than Ruth and I. He is in separate classes from us and at a higher level. Truly it is harder to teach older “dogs” new tricks.

School is going well and we are really glad we are doing it. Many things that we have learned in the Spanish we picked up in the jungle now make sense. Some of our “Spanish” we are relearning because in the jungle they talk an Amazonian dialect. The difference in the dialect may be likened to the difference between Britain English and American English. Some pronunciations and expressions are different but you can still understand each other. We are really grateful for this opportunity to go to
language school.

Stan

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February Update

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Hi folks,
We are here is beautiful Arequipa at language school. Arequipa is Peru’s second largest city with a population over a million. It is located in southern Peru about 2 hours from the Pacific coast. It is very arid and gets less than 4 inches of rain a year. The high altitude of around 7500 feet keeps the temperature below 77 degrees year round. It rarely falls below 40 at night. On north the beautiful snow covered Chachani mountains tower at around 20,000 feet above sea level and to the east is the volcano Misti.

January through March is the rainy season here in Arequipa. This does not mean that we get a lot of rain like we are familiar with in the jungle. It means that we are in the middle of the 50 cloudy days that this area experiences during the normal year. It does sprinkle and drizzle some days. Because of the cloudy weather it is chilly, particular for us just coming from the jungle. Peruvians do not heat their houses so you can imagine what it is like in the house when the temperature doesn’t reach 60 during the day. Our hot water we have is heated by the sun so on days when the sun doesn’t shine the water is not very warm for showers.

We found the apartment that we are living in through the language school. We are on the third floor. The owners Dennis and Ruth Lacoursiere live on the second floor. They are from British Columbia and have been living in Arequipa for over 40 years. Dennis co pastors a church close to the language school and also has an outreach in another part of the city. The area of the city we are living in is very modern. Dennis said that when they moved to this house 20 years ago they were “in the country”. Now modern houses and apartment complexes rise around us and stretch out north to the base of the Chachani Mountains.

We are within walking distance from 3 malls that have familiar fast food brands like McDonalds, Burger King, Papa Johns, and Starbucks. The other evening Denver and I went exploring and found a store called Maestro. I had the shock of my life when I walked in. I thought I was standing in the middle of a Home Depot! Now I have a place to go for “therapy” when I feel caged in here in the city after doing school all day!

This blessing that God gave us to go to language school was bigger than expected. Not only do we get to learn the language better and faster but he also provided a gorgeous place for us to do it.

Stan

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January Update

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Greetings!
We have been really busy the last several months. The farm project has done very well with a 25% profit. The profits go toward expenses of the Children’s Home.
Language has been a struggle for Ruth and I. Some of the reason is that we get so busy that we don’t have time to do our computer lessons. God has opened a door for us to attend language school in Arequipa Perú. We leave for the school next Thursday and plan to be there 12 weeks. We are looking forward to this opportunity because we at times get frustrated with not being able to communicate. You can pray with us that we will learn the language quickly.
Thanks and God bless!

Christmas Happenings

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Greetings from Peru
Christmas Eve is when the Peruvians celebrate Christmas so we joined the kids at the home until almost midnight for a big party. Someone donated a turkey this year so we had real turkey at the home along with the usual rice.
On Christmas Day we went to Nauta to Chris’s house, another missionary, and had a multi-cultural Christmas dinner. Chris is in her 70’s and lives in northeast Ohio. She comes “south” for the winter for six months out of the year. She has been doing this for 13 years and has a house here in Nauta. She just has had knee replacement. Laurie a single woman from England lives with her when she comes and keeps her house while Chris goes back to the states. David and Michele and their family were also there. They live in Iquitos and are directors at a different mission there. David and Michele come from England also although Michele was born in Nigeria. A local Peruvian pastor, his wife, and his 2 sons from Lima were also at this Christmas dinner. During introductions I mentioned that I worked with a Prison Ministry in Alabama before coming here. Daniel, one of the sons said “Oh I know a person from Alabama who is involved with prison ministry.” He knew the director of Adulam House in Montgomery,
AL and had actually visited there. It makes the world seem smaller when you meet people on another continent who know someone you know from back in your home state.
Austin came “home” for Christmas and spent 2 weeks with us. We had a great time made more memories together like Denver Austin and I going to Iquitos to pick up the furgoneta and driving it back in the rain; taking a “pecky, pecky” on the Amazon to a wildlife refuge center and being able to hold the monkeys (in the rain also}; and just spending time together as a family.
Austin also had an adventurous time getting back to the states with a missed flight and missing luggage etc.
God bless,
Stan
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October Update

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Hi folks,
Greetings from Peru. It is spring here. The kids had a weeklong celebration at school. The trees are blooming and the bird’s songs are different. It seems strange to us to have spring in September /October. It has also been very hot with only a little rain occasionally.
The chicken project keeps me very busy. The critical thing for a new flock is heat for the chicks. Yes even here in the hot jungle chicks need heat especially at night when it can get down in the 70’s. Heat is provided with charcoal burned in 55 gallon drum halves. Someone needs to check them every 3 hours the first week around the clock. There is no automation here so the curtains on the chicken house are regulated manually to control ventilation and heat.
The second chicken house is finished now and we have the first flock of 1000 chickens in it. I have some before and after pictures of the house. Yes, it still looks crude but I get the feeling from the brothers here they think is over built. The metal roof that I used should last 10 years or more which is much better than 1 year for the thatch roof.
Several trips are made to Iquitos every week now for feed. This is usually an all-day affair. Monday I had a lot of other things I needed to do so I called ahead to schedule the feed so I wouldn’t have to spend all day in town. They said it would be ready at 11:00 in the morning. But after I got there they changed the pickup time several times until it was 3:30 in the afternoon when I picked it up. The older boys (12-15 year olds) hoist the 110 lb. sacks on their shoulders and help carry them up the hill to the chicken house.
We use wood shavings for bedding. It is readily available in Nauta at several carpenter shops. We take feed sacks in and fill 20-30 at a time and haul them back. The young boys (8-12 year olds) love to carry them up the hill to the chicken houses because they are big and look like a 110 lb. sack of feed but are
light enough for them to handle.
With 2 chicken houses functioning we can raise 2 flocks at a time. I have the flocks staggered so the first is half finished before the next one starts. Each flock takes about 6 weeks from start to finish. There’s a flock in the first chicken house now that is almost ready to sell. This is the second 1000 bird flock for this chicken house since we came back from the States in June. The chickens are doing very well up to this point. We have realized a 25% profitability so far.
The profit from the chickens goes toward the home’s expenses. A month or so ago the selling price of chickens dipped way below what is needed to just break even. Fortunately the price has come up again although not as high as before but we are still concerned. You can pray with us for the profitability of this project. Thank you for your interest and your prayers.
Stan

September Update!

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Dear Friends,

Throughout scripture God has voiced His concerned about the fatherless and mis-fortunate children. We don’t know all the injustice and abuse many of these kids at the home have seen already. However, we can see the effects it has had on their lives. We have the privilege of joining God in this particular work of His; of reconciling these kids to Himself and healing them.

I would like to highlight a family of kids that came to the home this past spring. Cesar is 12, withdrawn, often off by himself. Occasionally he suffers from bleeding inside of his stomach. The doctors have not been able to diagnose exactly what is wrong.

Keto is 7 and Maria is 5. Both girls act out to get attention in an extreme way. Segundo is 3 with the body of a 1 ½ year old because of malnutrition. He also suffered from an extreme case of intestinal parasites when he first came. Of all the kids here these seemed to be the most troubled. Please lift these kids up in prayer this month.

August Update!

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What do you do when you live in Peru and have chicken to sell and all the vehicles are broken down? You use what you have. And what we had was 2 furgonetas. The chickens were already overweight and we finally had a customer willing to buy them. The furgonetas do about 30 mile an hour. The round trip was about 100 miles. We set out with 2 of us per furgoneta. About 10 kilometers the one I was riding broke down. It defies logic but after a half hour of trying to figure out what was wrong we discovered if we put a plastic sack over the intake it would run. So we did that and made it several kilometers till it acted like it couldn’t get air. We then removed the sack and it ran fine the rest of the 90 miles. The only thing that I know that fixed it was prayer. We made the rest of the trip fine and sold the chicken. I hope to start the next flock within 10 days.

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July Update

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We enjoyed Kim Clausen and Twila Bender visiting us. Unfortunately ALL their luggage was delayed for several days. They only had what was in their backpacks. But God provides! A large group from Mexico has visited and left a large amount of clothes that fit – for the most part. What an encouragement and help Kim and Twila were to us here. The last day together we spent fun time in Iquitos shopping, taking a boat ride on the Amazon and visiting a wildlife rescue. We had a great time feeding and handling the animals. Twila was the only on brave enough to handle the Anaconda.
Through a local church connection a youth team from Ohio stopped by several different days. They were such a large group that they split up with 1 group coming by one day and another the next. They did Bible skits with the children and then led them in an activity, serving drinks and snacks afterwards. A nurse who was part of this group stopped by again with her daughters and a friend several days later. They treated the girls for lice, buying all the supplies, washing and combing their hair all afternoon. We purchased 1000 chickens for the first house several weeks ago. They are doing very well. We have also purchased some of the material we need to fix up the second house so we can start another batch in it as soon as possible. The chicken broiler project helps provide funds for the children’s home.
Thanks for interest and prayers in the work here.
She wouldn’t have done this at home!!
Didn’t know a sloth would be cuddly.
Time spent with them at an animal refuge.
The blessings of friends visiting us!

June Update

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Hi friends,

The Casa Hogar Mi Refugio is growing! When we got back from the States there was another addition to to the home – a 12 year old boy. The boys dorm is over flowing so the last several weeks have been focused on adding a wing to it. The concrete mixer was “towed” up to the dorm by hand. It is hard to get photos of the elevation but it is high. Twenty people pulled and pushed it up by hand. It didn’t help that the tires are flat and won’t hold air either. We helped carry a big truckload of sand up for the concrete in gunny sacks on our backs. Brick, portland cement, – all the material had to go up, too. This pass week a church group from Anderson SC helped carry the wood up.

Excitement has been high with the kids and the adults. Foot ball (soccer) is huge here like it is in a lot of Latin American countries. This year Peru made it to the World Cup play-offs for the first time in 36 years. The president of Peru declared a national holiday when they qualified to enter. Most of the adults here are younger than that so it is a huge event. So when the game comes on the work stops and the school closes so everyone can watch it.

God laid on a certain local woman’s heart to provided funds for new bathrooms for the dorms. They were needed very much. The old shower stalls were made of galvanized tin nailed to the wood studs and they were rusting and full of holes. The walls in the toilet stalls are rotting and have holes to the outside. The funds were given to build masonry walls covered with ceramic tile. This will be much more sanitary than the old wood and metal bathrooms The girls dorm is being done first and the boys dorm will follow soon. God is good! He has always supplied the needs here and we trust Him to do so in the future.

The Schrocks

Christmas Update

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Christmas is certainly celebrated differently here! The biggest celebration takes place Christmas Eve. On Christmas day everyone sleeps in and takes it easy. Not much work happens that day.

The big thing here is chocolate parties. We have had two here at the home in the last few weeks, one at the school on Tue and one at the church on Sunday. They make a huge batch of hot chocolate and serve it with paneton (a sweet yeast bread with candied fruit).

Church started earlier than usual on Christmas Eve. Stan shared something about the Christmas story while Juanito interpreted. Juanito is a tour guide and speaks a good bit of English. He often sits with us during the service and does some translating for us. Israel then shared a short message. After church they played musical chairs and then brought in a huge kettle of hot chocolate and some paneton and we had a short time of fellowship.

For the most part it was a normal day here until about 4:00 or so when everyone was sent to take showers and dress for the evening. Here in Peru they have a tradition of wearing new clothes for the Christmas Eve celebration. Here at the home they try to wear something real nice if they don’t have anything new. Of course this is a big deal for the girls ☺️. Around 6:30 people started trickling into the dining hall. Around 7:00 the games started. I have learned that here in Peru people seem to like playing group games. After the games came the Christmas story with question and answer time. Then it was
time for our Christmas meal which consisted of chicken, rice, potatoes, purple corn juice (which is absolutely delicious!), and paneton.

Last of all were the piñatas. This past week we divided the kids into 4 teams for a piñata contest. There were some great designs but the spider man one was the winner. They divided the kids up into four groups to bust them. Another tradition they have here is to put corn starch in the piñatas with the candy so that everyone gets dusted when they bust it. It’s a mess but they think its great fun! Christmas Day was a very quiet day. I did a bit of laundry (by hand) and cleaned up the house. After a late night last night we will all be happy to see bedtime. Tomorrow real life begins again ☺️

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Ruth