We just got back from John's check-up and the doctor is very pleased with the outcome of John's cataract surgery. In 3 weeks, he'll have to get the lens replaced in his glasses to reflect his new prescription. Until then, he has to balance wearing and not wearing his glasses, depending on which eye he wants to see out of. Hopefully, we can get the lens taken out of his glasses in the meantime. NOW, for those of you who have the time, this is what the rest of yesterday looked like! 5:30 AM--Time to get up for the surgery! Take John's blood sugar levels before we go so they are sure he's okay without medicines. Get dressed. Answer a few of the prayer e-mails that came in overnight. 7 AM--Grab stuff for the waiting room. Drive over to the clinic whose parking lot is behind the double buildings of doctors' offices and hospital. 7:15 AM --Get lost going through two different routes trying to find the way into the doctor's building. The gates are still locked. "You can't get there from here." All the way back out through the hospital, through the parking lot, around the block and into the office building. Head for the elevator, Security guard--"Oh there's nobody up there yet." "They told us 7:15." 7:30 AM--Lights on, hear voices, ring doorbell, no answer. Finally nurse comes bustling out of the elevator. We go in and the first drops are put in. Walk back over the the hospital building to the surgery room with the two nurses. "If you tell a gringo he has to be here at 7:15, he's here at 7:15." Pray with John and kiss him good bye. 8 AM--Read Morning Prayers and the Bible in the waiting room. Rachel calls my cell phone to come sit with me, but she's at the wrong hospital and has a meeting soon. John's in God's hands so I snooze. 9:45 AM--John's out with a clear shield over the eye. Complete rest today. 10 AM--Go grab a bite to eat. "Rest your eyes, stop trying to read!" "I've got that one shut, see?" 11 AM--Hermi has been waiting for us, "Joan just arrived in the office" (which are the two rooms at the back of our house.) "It would be better if she not come in to the house today. I had told her yesterday we had the surgery today, but she doesn't remember any more and thinks every day is Sunday. John has to rest all day." So she sits with Carmen, the secretary and "keeps her company". 11:30 AM --Bustle John upstairs. Notice a small puddle of water under the door frame of our bedroom. Must have spilled coffee. Mop it up. Put drops in John's eye, 5 minutes apart. Answer a few more prayer e-mails in between. 12 N--Head downstairs to start making spaghetti sauce for lunch, (no Ragu--too expensive) Downstairs, the laundry patio has water all over it. It hasn't been raining. Go check out the pipe that is dripping. The roofless passageway leads from the house to the new office and has a drain pipe. When I open the upstairs door, I see there is water dripping off the roof where the rather large water tank is located. Answer the phone, "John's doing fine, he's resting." Go get Simeon (church worker) to check out the roof. As he climbs the stairs in the house, he points out the ceiling in the "family room" (the open hall way at the top of the stairs where I have my desk) It is bubbled and cracked and dripping water. He brings the ladder up through the new upstairs office and climbs up on the roof. The T connector is broken and there is no shut off valve on the tank itself, only on the pipes going into the house. I quickly start moving my work table, books, "stuff" and all my papers out of the way in the hall way. 12:30 PM--Carla calls, answer the phone, "John's doing fine, he's resting." "Eliana wants to buy a camera for her photography class, can you help me check this one out on eBay?" Simeon starts sweeping the water off the roof to keep it from leaking through the ceiling. The problem is dirty water starts pouring in under the door all over the parquet floor. "Carla, I can't talk now, I have to deal with a broken pipe, I'll call later." Quickly grab a bath towel and stuff it by the door to stop it from coming in any further, while it still leaks all around the white door frame and hinges each time he sweeps. Carmen calls the plumber, he can't come for an hour and a half. 1 PM-- Back down to work on the spaghetti sauce--green peppers, onions, garlic, brown the ground meat, run the tomatoes through the blender, add a bag of tomato paste, two bags of tomato sauce, last week's left over spaghetti sauce, and let it simmer. 1:30 PM --Back up stairs for the next set of drops. Notice the roof has stopped leaking into our bedroom since it's been swept. Put the drops in John's eye and walk to the grocery store. Joan has headed home for lunch. Walk past the workmen who are refinishing the pews in the courtyard, "Oh drat, I forgot to give them coffee this morning." 2:30 PM --Back home, shell the peas and boil the water for the pasta, set the table. Answer the phone, "John's doing fine, he's resting." 3 PM -- Sit down for lunch (finally!). Becky shows up to do the inventory. (We have to write down and take pictures of everything in the house in two lists of what belongs to the church and what belongs to us. It's church law and hasn't been done since we came.) She starts writing it down in my laptop while we finish eating. 3:30 PM--More eye drops. Doorbell rings. Cesar (the other church worker) "There's somebody at the gate with his suitcase saying he's supposed to stay here." Wrack my brains, "Did I forget someone was coming in???" "Could you find out some more about him please?" He returns with a paper from the South African Embassy with our church picture, address, and phone number on it saying to look her for a place to stay. Try calling the embassy number from the paper, that number doesn't work any more. Call information, the automated voice gives me the same number. Call back and tell them it doesn't work, get another number. Not the right one, but at least it's in the embassy, dial the right one. Switch over to several people before I can explain to them that we don't have a room available for people who just show up on our doorstep that we don't know. Answer the phone, "John's doing fine, he's resting." Go talk to the young man who is waiting in the church hall. It is the usual story of having been beaten and robbed and all his papers stolen. How do I show Jesus' love and yet not put the church in danger? I explain to him gently that we don't have a place for him to stay here, but would he like some lunch? 4 PM--Make some more spaghetti and a cup of coffee for Shane. "I haven't eaten in 2 days." "Then eat slowly so as not to upset your system." Go back over to the house, make up a bag with some food for breakfast, a big bottle of lemonade and tuck a New Testament in it. Go back and talk to him and give him the food. He asks me if I have a stapler to fix his flip-fops. Back to the house, go upstairs and grab some flip-flops that had been left by a team. Grab the stapler and the duct tape. Answer the phone, "John's doing fine, he's resting." Give Shane the other flip-fops, while I take his broken ones to work on them while he eats. "My dad is going to wire me some money, can he use this place? I can't even pick it up though because I don't have a passport." "It's better that it go to your embassy as they can help with the passport too." 4:30 PM Talk to the plumber who has fixed the pipes on the roof. Stop in Carmen's office to see the photos on the cell phone of how the pipes were broken. Take supplies back into the house. Check on how Becky is doing with the inventory as I'm supposed to be taking the photos so they correspond to the order. Tell her the name in English for some of the things, so she can figure out what to call them in Spanish. (How do you spell samovar??) Back to the hall to pick up Shane's plate. He has a book about South Africa and the New Testament out on the table. "Thanks for the food." "Well God has blessed me, so I'm glad I can bless someone else." "How much would it cost to go to the Amazon?" "I'm not sure, let me go ask and see if anyone knows." Double check with others. Answer the phone, "John's doing fine, he's resting." 5 PM--Back over to the hall. "About 150 soles." "Wow. That's expensive." Talk a bit more. Take out my coin purse, "I'm sorry, I know you don't believe me, but this is the last $5 I have. I hope it helps." Invitations for us and the bishop to a 50th wedding anniversary party arrive. Oops, I have to let the bishop know about it as his office isn't here any more and I won't be by there before the party. 5:30 PM --More drops for John, he's resting well, bored though. Back over to pick up the coffee cup. "Is there a park where I can spend the night?" and we discuss the merits and locations of the various parks. "Do they have a loo, you know a bathroom" "You can use the church's" "Does it have toilet paper? You can have your sandals back. Can I stay until it's dark? That way, people will be less likely to see me." I assure him he can stay until dark, we do have toilet paper, and keep the flip-flops. Cesar keeps an eye on him and talks some more about bad areas to stay away from. Back over to the house to say goodbye to Becky. "Sorry, I wasn't much help on the inventory today." 6 PM-- work on rearranging the inventory so that it's on the right page of church or ours, and putting in the right quantities since transferring some things, made other things jump to the wrong place. (Does anybody else fight with Excel as much as I do?) Answer a few more e-mails. Answer the phone, "John's doing fine, he's resting." 7 PM--Back over past the hall, Shane is gone, say a quick prayer for his safety. Get ready for Evening Prayer in the church, get the papers and Bible ready for Fr Anderson. John can't do the service or lead the Bible Club tonight. Read Evening Prayer, discuss the finer points of St Mark's gospel and a theory I have. 8 PM --Back to the house, more drops. Get supper for John and me. Talk to the Bishop, "John's doing fine, he's resting." and tell him about the party. 9 PM--Another phone call, "Are you going to have the women's day on Saturday so that we can learn to arrange flowers and polish the silver or should we postpone it since you're still taking care of John?" So it was postponed. Oh my, I didn't get back to Carla about the camera. . . . And so it goes. Another day in life of a missionary. Believe it or not, this sort of busy day isn't that unusual, a lot of it happens all the time, just not the cataract surgery! There's a lot of behind the scenes, everyday activity with people who are searching for God, sitting, listening, praying, a ministry of presence. Thank you for being partners in our mission work and praying. Thank you for allowing us to be your hands and feet serving the Lord in Lima, Peru. Blessings, John+ & Susan Park Tax-deductible contributions to our ministry in Peru may be made on line at http://www.sams-usa.org or by sending a check payable to SAMS (with Park in the memo line) to You can also arrange for automatic deductions from your bank account or for automatic charges to your credit card. If you wish to do so, please call SAMS at 724-266-0669. In Canada, tax deductible contributions may be online at If you wish to change your e-mail address or unsubscribe to the Park Prayer Letter, please send an e-mail to johnpark@sams-usa.org |
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The Park Family in Peru |
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