On Being an Interpreter

In preparing to be an interpreter for this outreach, I learned some very interesting things. For one, I learned that one who changes written communication into another language is a "translator", but one who changes oral communication into another language is an "interpreter". I also learned that the interpreter is basically an instrument of communication. The principle parties of the communication are the speaker and the hearer. The interpreter is there as an instrument or channel to facilitate the communication. An interpreter should have the attitude that John the Baptist had when he said of Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

I prayed that I would be able to serve with that attitude, and the Lord gave me not only the ability to interpret (my Spanish was a bit rusty), but also great joy as I was able to facilitate the following communication:

• Between Sally and the people at church when she gave her testimony
• Between Teresa and the great aunt of our first client
• Between Craig and the many clients we served, especially when we prayed for God's guidance, and when we gave thanks to God for his help
• Between Beth and a Peruvian volunteer as Beth shared ideas for a children's prayer team that this volunteer would like to start in her own church
• Between Pastor Marco and the volunteers from the US as he gave the morning devotional
• Between Teresa and a hurting family with a special needs child on a home visit
• Between Beth and a client (see above photo) as she lead her to put her trust in Christ!

Have you "interpreted" Christ's love to anyone recently?

There is joy in serving Jesus!

Laura Fouser

GIVING THANKS to the LORD of the HARVEST for...

• Showing up strong in our weakness, answering so many prayers and resolving so many obstacles to make WFTWTrujillo, Peru 2008 a huge success and a great glory to His Name.
• Allowing us to be at the delivery end of the Wheels for the World (WFTW) sequence of events. What an undeserved pleasure to witness the joy and mobility a wheelchair can provide someone who never dreamed of the possibility. An even greater experience is to offer the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ and witness His transforming power. Words cannot describe the difference we see in a person's outlook when they come to know that their life has value and purpose in God's sight.
• 150 wheelchairs, 7 walkers, 11 crutches and 4 canes being individually fitted.
• The arrival of those wheelchairs in just the nick of time.
• 150 new names written in the Lamb's Book of Life!
• 5 Peruvians who joined our team from Lima. They contributed much needed support, comic relief, translation and personal sacrifice.
  
• Our partners in disability ministry, Corazones Unidos, who provided 86 Peruvian volunteers from a variety of churches throughout Trujillo.
• Opportunities to share God's heart for the disabled and about the ministry of Joni and Friends at church, during the Opening Ceremony for the community, in the newspaper, and through radio and television interviews.
• Loving families. Several traveled 8 hours through the night by bus to receive equipment. They waited at the distribution doorstep from 4 AM until their afternoon appointments.
  
  
  
  One father pedaled his 2 disabled children and wife in a cart for 2 hours and then had to return the same way with the addition of 2 wheelchairs. Others carried their loved ones piggy back or on a stretcher. One gentleman was even loaded on his bed into a taxi.
• Putting together a wonderful team of 22 diverse individuals who demonstrated remarkable unity, dedication and perseverance.
• Traveling mercies, good weather and a beautiful outdoor distribution site.
• Direction to postpone our mini-outreach to Piura, Peru. The bridge was out! How could God make it any clearer?!
• Loyal prayer partners who upheld us in our exhaustion.
  

Perhaps other team members will add their "God-sightings" to this blog. Regardless, we hope that God's goodness and faithfulness are obvious to all. Have a very blessed Thanksgiving Day! Please consider joining us in making these requests known to God as you give thanks:

• for the ongoing discipleship of new believers and the disability ministry of Corazones Unidos in Peru
• that each WFTW team member would share their stories and ignite disability ministry in their home churches
• that God would reveal to each of us (including you!) how, when and where He would have us serve in the future to communicate His love to those affected by disability

Gratefully yours, Jill

Choi

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow it is hard to believe that it is time to go home already. There are many stories to be shared. Many wheelchairs were given in the name of Jesus, many people made decisions for Christ, many bodies of Christ served together side by side and many lives were changed. I am sure I can speak for the team that as we return to the states we are changed people.

Please pray with us for tarvel mercies and a reuniting of our hearts and lives to our family and friends back home. Please pray for the Peruvians as the harvest is huge. Pray for more workers in the field. Pray for another distribution that the team from Trujillo will do next weekend in another town. Pray for an office site for Corazones Undios. But most importantly pray for those who made decisions for Christ that they will be able to become a part of the bigger body of Christ in a local church and that they would be discipled and grow in their faith.

To God be the glory great things He has done. Choi for now! (Beth for the team)

Thursday Night 10:30 pm

As you read the date and time on this entry hopefully this explains why we have not updated our blog with stories and pictures. Our days begin with devotions at 7 am and they end with dinner between 7-8 p.m. We have served hard each day and we all have amazing stories to share. Please enjoy just this one story through pictures for now.

This is one of the children and you can see by the picture he came to us in a lawn chair with wheels on it that had been given to him by the rotary club. After some praying, measuring, fitting and a visit from our puppet friend, Diego he and his mother were very happy with his new chair ...

The rest of the stories you will hear in the future will be about the 119 first time decisions for Christ and the 121 wheelchairs distributed along with many more walkers, crutches, and canes with of course one more day to go.... Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

This is because of the power of your prayers. We could not be doing all this without the "senders" and "pray-ers". Muchas Gracias !

Blessings, Beth (for the team)

Hello!

Thanks to everyone who is praying! We had a very productive day today in Trujillo. We cleaned and sorted the wheelchairs, and did some training on how to properly use and care for the wheelchairs. Some of you may be wondering why I am not in Piura. It turns out that the bridge is out, and we are not going there after all. It was a bit of a disappointment, but God's timing is perfect. Please pray as we begin our first day of distribution tomorrow. We will have a ceremony prior to starting the distribution and the press will be there. Please pray that we would be able to communicate effectively.

God Bless!

Teresa

Hello from Peru

Hello Joni and Friends,

The whole team is here and ready to work! God has done extraordinary things already!!
Can't wait to share with you on our return. Please keep praying.

In Christ's love,

Donna

This is the day the Lord hath made!

The day started with breakfast and choir practice. Guess who was the choir! The whole Wheels team -- mechanics,therapists, cushion makers, interpreters, and team leaders. The last two were critical to our choir as Jill's beautiful voice blended well with Laura's and Norma's to cover the wrong notes and lack of musical talent on the part of the rest of us. But we were cheerful singers and hope our smiles would cover our mistakes. Our first song was to be "This is the Day" first done in English and then in Spanish. English version was at full speed and Spanish v-e-r-y slowly. We practiced several songs on our songsheets and then left for church. On the way there, Jill told us that Cindy had been found and was going to land at the Trujillo airport while we were at church!!! Two of the Corazones Unidos folks were going to the airport to meet her!

We entered the Mennonite church where we were to worship that morning. There were hugs and greetings all around although none of us had ever been there before! The arms and hearts of the Peruvians embrace everyone, even total strangers. The worship leader stood up to lead the scripture reading Psalm 118:24, just one verse: "This the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein." We knew the Lord had a special treat for us already prepared before we even came to Peru! What a blessing the service was. Many praise songs were sung, all in Spanish and with words up on the overhead projector, guitars and percussion accompaniment. Most of the Wheels team couldn't translate the words, but the meaning was clear! The love of our Lord and God came clearly thru. One of the congregation members had a November 9th birthday and was called to the platform. Andrea then told the Pastor that we had two members with November 9 birthdays. John and Beth were called to the platform to join in the celebration, prayers for them and then "Happy birthday" (in Spanish of course.) The first version was at slow American speed and second time around at full Peruvian speed! What fun in the House of the Lord!

The service was then turned over to the Wheels team. We each introduced ourselves briefly and then the choir performed with the Trujillo guitarist accompaniment. Testimonies were shared by Beth and Sally. How the Lord took each of them thru major trials brought tears to many eyes. What an honor it is to share in this Joni and Friends ministry with these precious sisters. Jill was the next to share. Shining thru again was the theme of God's care for each one of his children even in the deepest of valleys. She then also shared God's desire, His command, in Luke 14 that the disabled be invited to the feast. Throughout her presentation, she told about our wonderful partnership with Corazones Unidos here in Peru and especially here in Trujillo. [For new readers, Corzaones Unidos is like an Easter Seal Society that shares the gospel with its members thru spoken Word, compassion and strong support for each of its members.] Jill had to pause halfway thru to tell us that Cindy had just joined us at church! After the service, Olenko, the Corazones Unidos coordinator, was greeted by many people wanting to sign up to help Corazones Unidos.

Posted by Donna O

Greetings from Peru

Monday, Novermber 10, 2008
morning pages

Dear Friends,

We are so exited to be here in Peru. We had a wonderful day celebrating our faith with our Peruivan brothers and sisters yesterday at a church close to our guest house. The first part of the service was a time of lifing up praise to the Lord Peruivan style (in spanish). Many of us could not understand yet we knew the presecnce of the living God was surely in that place. The second part of the service was North American style (in english and translated in spanish). We were asked to sing as the choir and then 2 individuals from the team gave there testimony and Jill, closed our time as she spoke from the Luke 14 The Parable of the Great Banquet.. Finally, the Joni intoduction video was shown and Norma one of our Peruivan partners translated what Joni was saying in Spanish. We returned to the guest house for our lunch and then we were off to visit the distribution site. The excitement mounted as we saw all of the wheelchairs that we will go back and prepare for distribution tomorrow. We continued by bus for a tour and dinner out. When we arrived back at the guest house we has a short meeting and a birthday celebration for John and myself.

We give praise and glory to God for our safety! Our final team member Cindy arrived just yesterday! All bags and all contents arrived in Peru! And we are most excited to share that one of our Peruvian sisters invited Christ into her life!

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!

May God richly bless each of you today! Beth (for the team)

We've Arrived

Dear Partners

We have arrived safetly in Trujillo! More to come ....

Blessings, Beth (for the team)

Praying Partners

Wednesday, November 5, 2008
evening pages

Dear Friends,

We are so grateful for your prayers for tomorrow as our team leaders Richard and Jill leave for Peru and for the rest of the team as we meet up (some of us for the first time) in Atlanta on Friday and then on to Peru.

We would ask that you pray for us to make our flight connections, for our safety and security, journeys mercies, and for all of our luggage (many bags packed with supplies) to arrive with all contents in Peru.

Please pray for the "Spirit of the sovereign Lord to be upon us because the Lord has anointed us to preach good news to the poor. He has sent us to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1

Again we are ever so grateful for each of you who are "standing in the gap" on our behalf!

In His Arms, Beth Pederson (for the team)

PRAYER REQUESTS

AS THE TRUJILLO "WHEELS FOR THE WORLD" TEAM PREPARES TO SERVE IN PERU BETWEEN NOVEMBER 6-16, 2008, WE WOULD ASK FOR YOUR FAITHFUL PRAYER SUPPORT IN REGARD TO THE FOLLOWING:

1. That God’s presence will be with us
2. That God will be glorified in everything we do
3. That our hearts will be humble and submitted to Him
4. For protection, physical stamina, safety and health as we work and travel
5. That God will be preparing hearts to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior
6. For unity among our team and the Peruvian volunteers
7. For wisdom, discernment and sensitivity to be led by the Holy Spirit
8. For delivery of wheelchairs, equipment, Spanish Bibles & Joni books
9. For the financial provision of each team member
10. For the provision and protection of our family members remaining at home
11. That new believers would continue to grow in Christ after the "Wheels" team returns home
12. That disability ministry would be expanded in Peru and in our home churches

HOW IT WORKS

Dedicated volunteers called Chair Corps Representatives collect used wheelchairs across the United States. The chairs are then transported to Restoration Shops where carefully trained inmates in seventeen separate correctional facilities restore wheelchairs to like-new condition. The inmates learn to work together, perfect basic mechanical skills, and produce a product of which they can be proud. Hardened inmates have been moved to tears when they see the happiness in a photo of the face of a little boy or girl receiving a wheelchair of their very own.

After the wheelchairs are fully restored they are shipped overseas to meet up with short-term missions teams. These distribution and evangelism teams custom fit each wheelchair specifically for each recipient and train him or her in wheelchair use and upkeep. Team members also give each recipient a Bible and communicate the message of God's love for them.

As a recipient of the love of God in action, many place their trust in Christ. They experience new life and purpose with their new mobility . . . and disability ministry grows all over the world.