Life: an adventure, a journey with Jesus

Getting to know you...

Let me introduce you to Laura. She is a single mother of four children, just 32 years old, and is a resident of a Christian home for abused women in San Juan de Lurigancho, Peru. She is a Christian who loves to serve Him through serving others. She has a lovely smile, her hugs are genuine, strong and sincere, not just the formal quick touch of cheek to cheek and embrace. She was not always like this. She struggled to meet the needs of her children and before coming to the home, she worked hard and left them alone to fend for themselves. At their young ages of 1-8 years, they were desperately in need of someone to care for them and Laura knew she was not being successful. She considered giving them up for adoption or abandoning them, but in her heart she could not do either.

Two years later….Laura is a friend of ours. We are Papa Don & Momma Joy to Laura and her children. She is helpful to us in so many ways. Our discussions are lengthy because she wants to share so much and help us so much, and together we try over and over again to get our point across to one another. We enjoy ‘trying’ to talk without a translator because it is so much more personal. She has provided me with an elixir for my constant cough that even the doctors in the states could not eliminate with several selections of tablets. At the home where she lives, she cooks, cleans and does her laundry by hand. She is immaculate in her appearance and keeps her children the same way. She attends church regularly with her children, has recently attended a baptism class, and partners with the school in the education of her children. We have provided her with a little income as she cleans our home twice a week. It is a privilege to have her working for us. We trust her completely and she has never let us down.

One day recently we went for a ride with Laura and her two youngest children, on a bus, and for a 20-30 minute walk uphill through the neighborhood of her cousins, to see the piece of property she is clearing to have a house built. The narrow, one lane dirt road, went up at such an incline that our feet slipped beneath us on the gravel just trying to navigate our way. Her youngest son, 6 years old, ran on ahead and only had flip flops on his feet. Her daughter, now 2 ½ years of age, was sleeping in her arms as we trekked along. Don & I stopped 3 times to catch our breath, to let our heart rate settle, and to cool off. We were ever so thankful that it was a cloudy and damp day as with full sun shining, we would have really suffered.

The property is small. It is on a hillside. It is rocky. Water and electricity are available nearby. She is paying a man to clear rock, sometimes it’s necessary for him to split a boulder into smaller pieces to be moved. He is building a retaining wall with the rock, and leveling a place on the dirt for her future plywood, one room, dirt floor ‘house’. This is a dream for her. The man can only work on Sundays as he has a job that pays more the rest of the week. His rate is 1/3 less than others who could work daily on the job, but she doesn’t have the funds to pay anymore than for the one day’s work each week. If she doesn’t clean for us one day, then she cannot pay him to clear her land that week. At this rate, she expects it to take another 30 days (in essence another 30 weeks) to clear the land for her at a minimum! Laura is so excited. She can imagine having her own place to start life over with her children and to be the good mother she has learned to be over the past couple of years. She knows that staying at the home for abused women is only a stepping stone and she is ready to take the next step to becoming independent and self-sufficient.

Her dream is to move her family to this neighborhood in the one-room home, and sell staples (rice, sugar, oatmeal, beans, legumes, salt, etc.) to give herself income to feed her children, pay for the water and electricity and begin saving for the larger 2 room brick house she dreams of one day having, one day far, far in the future! Once she can move into the larger home, the small plywood structure will be her store. Her dream is huge! Her patience is great! Her steps are humungous! Her faith is gigantic! She keeps dreaming her dream, and exercising patience as the work progresses so slowly. Her decision to step out of the safe, modern, roomy environment and work to be on her own is sometimes challenging her faith, but she presses on.

When and how can her dream become a reality? Laura needs additional income. She wants a job she can manage while she is still taking care of 4 children (one who is not yet in school, remember she’s only 2.6 years old). She needs the prayers of those who know and love her and those who hear her story. She needs encouragement and it’s not coming from those who see it as her giving up a mansion to live beneath poverty level! However, Laura sees it as she is now healthy enough emotionally, spiritually and physically to resume full responsibility for her family.

Can she do it? Yes, she can.
Will she do it? Yes, she will.
Can she use help? Yes, she can.
Will you help her? Please pray for Laura!
You can even write Laura at the following email address & I will have one of our Christian translators read it to her! If you have any questions, please contact me at: jnorris3912@yahoo.com