May 15, 2004

While on a TeenMania mission trip to Western Australia last summer, Mackenzie felt strongly that she and her family were called to do some mission work in Peru.

On September 30, 2003, Arlen called Missionary Ventures to inquire about mission opportunities in Peru, and a telephone call from James Watts later that day started the ball rolling.  After a breakfast meeting at Denny’s a couple weeks later, the soon-to-be-full-time missionary from the Edgewater Alliance Church and the Bert Fish Medical Center ER doctor agreed that this could work out….   A medical mission trip was born.

The Watts family moved to Pucallpa in January ‘04, where James and Golda host mission teams, and James works at training locals in the art of motorcycle mechanic work.  Some fortunate recipients of the Watts’ mission efforts will now be employable.

Thirty people showed up to learn more about the trip at a meeting at our church on February 24, 2004, and the team member roster was finalized in March.  Four team meetings have occurred since then, and the team has gathered medicines, hats, stuffed animals, toothpaste, coloring books, and mosquito spray, all of which sits in the Stauffer garage now awaiting the final “packing meeting” scheduled for June 6.

Mackenzie created a list of prayer points for the team, and we’re concentrating on those as we wind down this final couple weeks.  Unresolved issues at this time include the delivery of some additional medications, the restrictive weight limits on the in-country flight, and the usual anxieties associated with trips like this.

Here is a photo of James, holding Darwin earlier this month, a couple months after arranging for treatment to begin on Darwin’s TB and malnutrition.  Darwin is improving rapidly.  Now, he has a chance…