Volunteers in Mission
Dr. Scott and Bev Pressman, members of The Cathedral of the Rockies were commissioned as United Methodist Volunteers in Mission for Peru and Bolivia in 2009-2010. Teams from Boise have gone to Peru and Bolivia to support and help carry out their mission for many years. These teams provided medical, educational and humanitarian support through various work projects with the Methodist Church of Peru and in the Lake Titicaca Peru/Bolivia Border Ministry. Teams from the Cathedral of the Rockies went to Peru on the following dates: February 14-28; April 19-May 2; May 17-31, August 1-15, 2010. Here is the link to their blog: http://scottandbev.blogspot.com with reports from their travels. We will continue to support this mission and intend to send teams to Peru and Bolivia in the future. Please contact the church if you are interested in participating.
Received 07/20/2010:
Blessings and greetings to all at Boise FUMC from Scott and Bev Pressman and your brothers and sisters through Christ around Lake Titicaca!
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We are so grateful for the opportunities continuing to present themselves here. We “Type A’s” are doing better at accepting the Peruvian and Bolivian pace. We are continually reminded that our mission is definitely being blessed by the presence and guidance of a power much greater than ourselves.Some of those blessings we thank you for:
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We would like thank those who recently donated laptop computers. Communication between church leadership, the mission, and the community churches around Lake Titicaca has been so challenging. It has meant traveling 6-12 hours via car or local bus to personally deliver information that we can start to deliver via internet.
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Other updates: The church under construction in Puno now has a second story, the roof is on, but we are working on stairs and finishing the interior walls, electricity and plumbing. Progress has been on Peruvian time, but is coming along. We are working with local governmental and non-governmental organizations to begin successful and sustainable agricultural economic development projects. We are finding that raising cuys is probably going to be much more successful than greenhouses in the areas we work. We will keep in touch as this progresses, especially with those who have been interested in personally participating. The community healthcare promoters (Promotores de Buena Salud) have embraced the school dental program to promote toothbrushing, a new concept for most. The Promotores have implemented the program in 9 schools so far, with children and teachers receiving oral hygiene instruction from the Promotores, and then their own toothbrush labelled with their name which is kept at school. There are 15 Promotores who will complete basic training and be commissioned in September. The program has a focus on prevention and education in the areas of: dental care, eye care, nutrition, disease prevention, and first aid. |
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The construction team being commissioned July 25 will be literally camping out at two churches to the very rural north, and assisting with badly needed repairs and construction of the churches.They will also help one church community present a morning of Vacation Bible School activities for the children. It will be an opportunity to have fun interaction with our family of Christ.You will find, as those teams before you, the amount of love and friendship transmitted without even speaking the same language.Bendiciones a todo. Esperamos su llegada. Blessings to all. |
Received 05/03/2010:
Hi all,
By now our last visiting group has come and gone leaving us with fond memories, new friends and new respect for how awesome people can be.
We had medical and dental clinics in areas never before served and people worked HARD!. Impassable roads, $5/ night hotels, long days, questionable food and comradery. But also some pleasant days at nicer hotels, Machu Picchu, golfing or hiking at 13,000 feet and of course the Vienna!
I also wanted to let all of you directly and indirectly working with this mission know that the clothes are being distributed as winter is coming and the local doctors and church leaders are very appreciative.
We are specifically giving clothes to three new orphans who recently lost their parents to drowning in a fishing accident. They are 4, 7 and 9 and are living with relatives north of Copacabana. Some of the money donated by visiting groups will be going to that purpose.
The Puno church construction is stalled because Percy’s (the architect and contracter and old Methodist leader) cute 3 year old daughter who we’ve met developed meningitis and is in a coma in the hospital over the last weeks.
We start the next health care training in Copacabana in a few days.
The Healthwise books have been a hit and we hope to give some to the major Methodist school in LaPaz for them to start a class based on the book. We have definitely felt that teaching is the way to go down here and will have the health care providers that we teach, start working in the schools teaching basic health care like toothbrushing and hygiene.
We are looking forward to the August group coming and are preparing for that construction group now and will be making a trip north to carry supplies, focus on specific rural churches and hopefully do another dental clinic with Paola our local dentist friend.
Bev will be updating our blog again soon so stay tuned into scottandbev.blogspot.com.
Thank you all for your continued support and friendship. We are looking forward to coming home in June for a break and seeing you all.
Please forward this to all who have been important to this mission.
God bless!
Scott and Bev
Received 04/24/09:
News from Bev and Scott Pressman, dated April 24, 2010: “We just returned minutes ago from three days to the north on Lake Titicaca. It is an area that has never had a medical team before, and was an adventure just getting there on their roads.
It was such a positive training experience for our healthcare promoters in training who worked alongside the dentists, doctors and nurses….helping translate and learning how to do exams…and learning about many common ailments and treatments.
We are building wonderful relationships in this region with the local government healthcare facilities…Puestos de Salud. We ended up training some of their employees as well! They are the key to the sustainability of the medical part of this mission.”
Received 11/14/09:
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Hi all, Just to let you know we made it here Wednesday night, stayed the first night in our suite at the church offices, then since Thursday have been at our friends´ home, Liz and Lucho Nakagawa in Lima. Liz has had her two sisters, Eliana (and Willy) and Frine (and her daughter Daniella) also arrive, so we have a lively household. We are up to our eyeballs in paperwork for a special foreign card (their version of a green card), transferring funds, planning our year, and looking for a car. Of course there have been some challenges in coordination and logistics, and more travel back and forth between Lima and Puno than we had expected ahead of us this month. We are quickly climbing the learning curve of their systems here! We are so very appreciative of the genuine and generous care we are receiving from the administrative staff at church as well as our friends. Amidst the whirlwind we are in, their humor and loving kindness is truly wonderful! Bendiciones, Bev and Scott |
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Received: 11/05/09:
Hi friends and family,
We leave November 11 for Lima, Peru….then on to Puno on Lake Titicaca (which is shared by Peru and Bolivia), to begin our year as Volunteers in Mission through the Methodist Church, working with both Peru and Bolivia. We will also be working with Rotary International for parts of our project. We are beginning an established mission site in this altiplano border region; working with both countries in developing a more sustainable community-based healthcare system. Much of it will be public health issues: clean water, sanitation, nutrition, health education, ETC! It will also be developing relationships and networking with the local medical community, and training local community healthcare workers. We will also help complete construction of the Methodist Church in Puno, which is located high on the hills above Puno. It is in an extremely poor area of town with huge potential to help address their social, educational, spiritual, and medical local needs.
We will have a blog at http://scottandbev.blogspot.com which we will have updated by the time we leave.
Packing and preparing to leave for such a long time is a poignant reminder of how important family and friends are to us, but it helps to be able to keep in touch with you via computer. We also will have our same email address, and we will have SKYPE! It may take a little time to get fully operational with everything, but don’t give up on us!
Un abrazo a todo!
Paz y bendiciones,
Scott y Bev
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