After a week in Puno..

When thinking of children's work in a city like Puno you have to take into account many things. The church in this small Andean city has a big challenge as they seek to aid and encourage young kids from very difficult backgrounds, showing them that there are people who love and care for them and that God loves them too. The challenge is how to operate and continue this when you are limited in resources, finances and workers, and sometimes energy.

As I sat washing my clothes up on the roof, looking over to the blue Lake Titicaca, I wondered about the future of the varied project of nursery school, day care centre and soup kitchen, in aid of some of the poorest and most needy kids. I wondered what could be done to restart the small children’s home. I prayed, and can now only ask that you also pray for the work that gives hope to kids and a better chance of living each day.

I took the pastor's two sons out to visit the Uros floating islands. We just needed to get out and have a wee outing and it was really great to visit one of the must-see popular tourist attractions in Peru. The islands date from a time before the Spanish Conquistadores arrived. The community was at war and because they lost their land they decided to live out in the lake, building inhabitable islands among the reeds. Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, is a real wonder in itself, with great views in the clear air.

After visiting the floating islands, the weekend was completed by being invited out by long-time friends of my parents to sample some really great food.

I then returned to helping out in the nursery school. That day it was doing a presentation of traditional food for 'el dia del paisano' (the day of the countryman)..

So we set up our stall, and just like many others from other nursery schools, began to sell our food. I have to say that I enjoyed tasting some of the food on offer which was very good.

Here are some more picture’s including some of the children that came along from the nursery.. we even had a baby on site.

I looked after this baby for the morring. I have to say I'm proud to say I got it off to sleep in just 3 minutes.....

Today I took pictures of the soup kitchen to show you. I want to present this project to you as a real focus for your prayers as we want to strive to build on this number that attend. Some of those present today were some of the kids that used to go to the children’s home which is now closed.

If even one person could help out with the food costs it would help. For the running costs, they charge the kids very small prices.This helps to pay for a cook, which is really just a tip..

A soup kitchen can impact lots of lives and hungry appetites. My prayer is that with this project more kids get help and a presentation of God's love..

This is Paster Ramon and his wife Elvira.

They also ask for prayer for the idea of setting up again an open home in the future.!

Yours J-D...