Hello Everybody,
Here is our December - Year End, 2020 update;
It has been a difficult year for most people, especially in parts of the world where people work daily for there food for that day, such is the situation for most people here in Iquitos. But there has also been blessings and God provided through some people in the States, so we could help families here during the hard months of the lock-downs.
The curfews are not over, but now they are at 11:00 pm, so it does not affect the majority of the people. Our church opened in October, and our Children's Church in November. So we have been keeping busy with that and all the Christmas activities. There are not that many cases of Covid here in Iquitos, but there are still many cases in Lima.
Our Youth Group opened first in August, we saw it necessary to open because our youth were needing to get out of their houses and unite again to worship and study the word. Gaby did a great job teaching the youth on Zoom, during the long months of the lock-down, and she gave them lots of projects to keep them in the word, like each of them posting a verse everyday on facebook. Omar & Luana starting helping in August and that is when they started gathering at the church again. Gaby, Omar & Luana are now the new leaders of our Youth Group. And Gaby is overseeing the Children's Ministry, with the help of some of our Youth Group teens.
Great News; funds came in to rebuild the houses of Marixa & Elva. After my last update in September, I had written about 2 families that had houses that were in extreme condition. Praise the Lord, that hearts were touched, and funds came in to help rebuild their houses.
Marixa has 5 children, a single mother whose husband is in the penitentiary. The good news is that he accepted the Lord there. She has been a faithful Christian for many years.
This picture is about 2 months old, we were waiting for the river to rise to put boards on Marixa's house, since there was a shortage of boards due to the low river. When the river rises, logs are floated to Iquitos, to the lumber mills. We will have Marixa's house finished soon, now that the river has risen and boards are available.
 Marixa's new house |
Elva lost her husband before the pandemic, about 2 years ago; Since he was the main bread-winner, they were left in bad shape. Wooden houses in Iquitos need maintenance frequently, they need to replace wood that has been damaged due to rain & sun. Houses in Belen also need to have the logs that float the houses replaced yearly. Elva decided that she wanted her house build high, so she would not have to replace those floating logs yearly. The cost was pretty much the same. Sadly she had an accident, and her ankle was injured that slowed down the start of the construction to her house.
You can see that the first part, the frame, was done in November, and the boards were put on in December. You can also see in the pictures that the river has risen, since we are now in the rainy season. Praise God that the house was built before the river rose.
 Elva's house before |
 House before the boards |
 Elva's house finished |
As usual we were hoping to do our Christmas program at our church and also in other locations. Thanks to my sister her friends & family, she raised funds so we could do our "Chocolatadas" (Hot Chocolate) events once again this year. It is also a highlight for the youth of our church. Our youth begin practicing about 6 weeks before, preparing the plays, skits, music, etc. that goes along with the program we put on. Especially this year, with not being able to leave the neighborhood much, it was a blessing for them to keep busy with something that they really enjoy doing. Also there is not much entertainment here in Iquitos, so just travelling to Panguana (our river church) is a big event for our young people, and enjoyable to us old timers too.
The programs in Panguana, Ucayali, El Terminal & Santa Rosa went well. The children enjoyed the program, some had a chance to win some Christmas presents, and just had fun singing and moving along to the silly songs.
CALVARY PANGUANA
 Our Youth Group leading the children |
 Singing with the children |
 A play about Jesus |
 Gina helping the hot chocolate |
 They had decorated their church |
 Lydia with the children of her church |
CALVARY EL TERMINAL
 Youth Group leading the children |
 The children having fun |
 The play about Jesus |
 The children coming for the chocolate & panetone |
 The children coming for the chocolate & panetone |
 1 group at a time |
 The boys handing out the panetones |
 Luzmila & Karina serving the children |
 The youth that prepared the Christmas Program |
I am very proud of our Youth Group, they worked very hard for several weeks preparing for our Christmas Program, and they did a great job. Thanks also Gaby, Omar, Luana, leaders of the Youth Group.
Thanks to RMCC (Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel) they sent a blessing so I could take our youth leaders out for pizza, I included the leaders of our Children's Church also. We had a great time, some of them had never had pizza before, but it is now a highly requested item.
 All of our Youth Leaders |
 Pizza time |
"Calvary Chapel Iquitos" (There are more pictures there than I can send in an update)
Andrea
Andrea (15) was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, we were able to help her with the Dr. Appointments and to get her diagnosed, but that is about all we can help her with at this point. The diagnostics were expensive, but praise God, we have some people, that bless us with funds for the children monthly, but please inculde her in your prayers.
Before we were able to help her, she was in much pain. She said that sometimes she would not even raise her hands to close her mosquito net at night, that it hurt so much to raise her arms, that she would just let the mosquitos bite her. I did not realize the amount of her pain, until I heard that. She spent most of her days in her room in bed.
She is now up and around and able to help her mother with washing the dishes, washing clothes (by hand), and other chores.
Sponsors
Several of our youth have graduated high school and now wondering what they will do. The common thing is for the boys to move to Lima, to find work there. We lose most of our youth this way as there are not many companies that provide jobs here in Iquitos. We would like to provide some training for these young people, even if it is just basic PC skills.
Adult Medical
We had several illnesses this past year, that needed medical attention, sometimes E.R. visits, sometimes more. We lost Luz-Maria, a much loved older sister of our congregation due to cancer. By faith I put the charges on my credit card. I am starting another fund, for "Adult Medical" if anyone would like to contribute to that.
Prayer Requests:
If you would like to contribute to any of the following ministries\expenses:
Harvest Alliance International P.O. Box 4550 Oceanside, CA 92052 Memo: "62414 - XXX"
(62414 is our ministry number) (Where XXX = General Fund, Children's Ministry, etc...)
*Note: The dollar is currently at 3.25 or 325 soles for every $100 (U.S.).
Thank you all for your prayers and financial support.
and God Bless you
Albert Smith
Calvary Chapel Murrieta
24225 Monroe Avenue
Murrieta, CA 92562
Memo = Peru, Albert Smith
Or for Jose
Memo - Peru, Jose Garate
Pastor Javier & Pastor Raul's offerings go through Harvest Alliance International (above).