Volunteer Profile

more happenings in Cusco...
I was walking with my friend Juan on our way to the dining hall at the hotel, when I noticed a loud roar of rushing water. Juan was in the middle of telling me his testimony, when we both realized that there was a river flowing down the street that leads from our hotel to the main thoroughfare that runs through most of the city of Cusco.

The water had, just a few days before, washed truckloads of gravel, mud, and water into some of the homes that we walk by on a daily basis. The little shop owners have become our source for a late night snack or a refreshing bottle of water. It was a bit early for our construction crew to return, but as I saw how much water and debris was flowing down the road, I knew the bus would not be able to get to the hotel. That will teach them to work late!

What I saw were three young guys; one with a pick and two with shovels. They were frantically trying to free the swollen drainage ditch from the mud and gravel that was slowly accumulating. The drainage ditch was a gutter about 2 feet deep by 1 foot wide. This drain was designed to carry a lot of water. Well, this was more than a lot of water. Also, as the water was coming through, it was leaving tons of mud and rocks to clog the drain and reroute the water towards the dozens of houses in its growing path.

What I saw was something that stirred my heart. I saw people coming home to their endangered homes wishing there was a way to hold back the waters so that they could return to their normal lives. It was not going to happen this night.

I had no choice but to pitch in and help. I had shorts and tennis shoes on, was not ready to get cold and wet, but that really did not matter. I was able to help. Into the muddy I went. I grabbed a shovel and started clearing gravel, filling sand bags, and moving rocks. This craziness went on for about two hours.

After a while the water started to recede. And I was able to take a break and do what I started out to do; eat dinner. Praise God! This was just another story of life on the mission field.

So I have actually written this over the course of a few days. While finishing one story, I find that there are many other emerging stories. I will tell you a bit more about our time here in Cusco.

The rain and mud have somewhat subsided, but still threaten us a bit each night. This project has been an amazing experience. The volunteer group that is here is solid. They came down to change lives. That is exactly what they are doing.

We have had event after event that reaches out to either kids, women, adults, mothers, prisoners, local townspeople, and anybody else that happens to be present. Let me tell you about our festival in the market.

It was Saturday morning and we had scoped out a large market in the district of San Jeronimo. To the market we went with all of our stuff. We had two large suitcases, Rico the Cuy, a sound system, puppet stage, and many other things that needed to be carried into the market. It was quite a commotion when the locals saw the mountain of things that the Gringos were toting into the market. What was going on? With our sound system cranked up to the point of distortion, the announcements were made that we were going to have a kid’s festival. The kids started piling in, and so did the police.

I have learned the lesson that permission is harder to get than forgiveness. It works in Peru as well. The police showed up and tried to tell us that because we did not have permission, that we could not be there. No problem. Maybe the two police women could just stare into the eyes of the hundreds of kids that were waiting for the puppet show to start. Maybe they could tell them that the festival that we had just advertised was not going to happen because the proper paperwork had not been filed.

The pressure was too much. They had to let us continue or face the flogging of a bunch of disheartened children bent on seeing a puppet show and getting a cross painted on their cheeks. It was not an option. Too many eyes, too many people involved at this point, and just plain pressure. They nodded their heads in support of our work and thus we continued.

The day went on with numerous activities. The parents normally would leave their kids hanging out in the market while they sold their vegetables. This gave us a large audience of kids as well as the parents that could see the activity from their little booths in the market. In all we had about 200 kids and about 50 adults involved in our festival. The exciting part is the 40 decisions for Christ! We were able to pray and visit with numbers of people at the end of our time there in the market. It was an awesome day of ministry. It is definitely worth writing about.

This is just part of the action. We have had numerous events such as Jesus Films and plaza evangelism/prayer, as well as a memorable time for our women volunteers at the Women’s prison. They handed out toothbrushes, shampoo, soaps, lotions, and many other personal care items. They also spent time massaging hands, doing manicures, and praying with the various ladies in the prison. They also showed the Magdelena film. In all, they really impacted the prison; not just the prisoners, but the guards and administration as well. The women also had a chance to visit a single women’s home. This is a grave situation, but the mothers that are there are between the ages of 11 and 14. As you can imagine, there are some difficult stories from these young ladies; Stories of abuse, exploitation, and violence. Our ladies had a wonderful experience showering these young girls with basic care items. This was a memorable time for sure.

The construction project went very well. Despite the rain each day at 4pm, the crew was able to get a lot of things done on the building. This crew was full of hard working folks with great attitudes. The building went from a foundation too having the first floor walls and floor in, with the bond beams ready to pour. Much of the plumbing has been connected and is ready for the local work crew to continue laboring. It is exciting to see the progress.

Another memorable thing that took place on Saturday through Monday was that our group of 40/40’s that are training in Arequipa came up and joined us for a few days in Cusco. Our group of volunteers got to meet them, work beside them, and minister alongside. It was a real eye opener for the 40/40’s to see what we are doing to prepare the way for their work. There was a mutual blessing to have them on the project. They were blessed to see their future home being built, we were blessed to see the people that were going to receive the benefit of the new home. What an awesome group of young people! I think that they are going home with a new excitement about their mission. God is great!

We are winding down on our Cusco project. The volunteer group went on a tour of the Sacred Valley today. This allows for our family to take a day of rest. We will have a celebration banquet tonight and then we will be heading home tomorrow. In just over a week, we have another group coming to Peru. I cannot wait as it will be a group that is coming down to Puerto Maldonado for our Rumble in the Jungle youth project. Many of the volunteers are friend s of ours from our youth group at our home church, Karcher Nazarene in Nampa, ID. Next time I write, it will be from the jungle. Pretty exciting!

We appreciate your prayers and support. It is making it possible to change a lot of lives here in Peru. I hope all is well with all of you. May God shower you with blessings.

You are in our prayers,

The Englund Family

Its a wet project in Cusco!
The rain is relentless! We are in Cusco, which is a state in the country of Peru. Cusco City is inside the state of Cusco. Many have heard about the closure of Machu Pichu, but many are unaware of the destruction and devastation that the rains have had on this area. The streets are full of mud as the rain runoff has weakened hillsides and has caused rocks gravel and mud to enter the drainage system in the towns. The drainage systems cannot handle the quantity of water so it backs up, plugs up, and fills up the streets, alleys, and many houses inside the city.

On the outside of the city, the rivers are swollen to the point where the thousands of acres of farmland is currently being scraped clear of any crops. What is left are piles of garbage that has been washed down with the torrents of water. It is an amazing thing to see, but what I have not explained is the amount of houses and buildings that have been folded into the water. The primary construction is built with adobe. This is in itself a mud and straw type material that when in contact with large amounts of water, disintegrates and becomes part of the muddy river. Hundreds, if not thousands, of houses have been crumbled into silt and then washed out into to cornfields and roads that run along the river’s edge.

The tent city that has been set up at a local school and police station leaves one with the impression that the storm will impact the local people for a long time to come. There are hundreds of government issued shelters lined up on the hillsides along one of the main highways that lead to the south of Peru. This is only assisting the local people that live close. The problem is widespread throughout the region. What I have seen is unbelievable. It is hard to imagine the destruction.

We are in the middle of an amazing project that combines hard hitting impact and mud riddled construction. The project team that we have here at this site is really doing a fantastic job at being flexible as the forces that are against us are unfathomable. We are working with a new pastor, David, who recently answered the call to move his family to Cusco, sight unseen. What an incredible step of faith. We are committed to helping him jumpstart this tiny little congregation. Our goal is to plant 18 new churches in the next 2 years. Pastor David is excited about what is taking place.

We have had some enthralling experiences in our impact events. Prayer has been the backbone of our work here in Cusco. We have gone to 7 of the new church plant locations and have anointed them with oil and prayed over the sites. This has been a lively and successful journey for us. We have showed the Jesus film one time and had 26 people come forward and make decisions for Christ. We have 3 more Jesus Film showings scheduled. Pray that God will allow the film to be showed. The rains generally come in about 4 in the afternoon.

One story about our Jesus film that we showed last night, is that one of the local people came up and asked if we would be interested in building a church in the small community of Saylla. This gentleman has some property that he wants to donate in order to construct a church. We will see if the details can be worked out, but what a miracle. I cannot wait to see how God finishes this plan.

We have also had a few days of our bible school. Kids and parents are being reached. It is exciting to see how God uses people who do not speak the language to reach kids and parents for Christ. In all, we have had about 50 decisions for Christ and still have a long way to go. Continue to pray for us and this project. I will give you a full project update in a week or so.

Success in Pucallpa
Success in Pucallpa!!!


We made it! Another project down…What an adventure we had in Pucallpa. We had an 8 day marathon of medical clinics coupled with tons of kid activities and games. It was a fantastic time filled with tons of stories for sure.

Royer, who had been in an accident with his 10 year old daughter, showed up one day to our clinic. He was brought to my attention because of the difficulty with communication that he was having with our volunteer. He explained some of his dilemma and proceeded to drop his pants and show us his terrible burn which covered most of his clothed body. He told us what had happened to him and his daughter and my heart sank.

So the story goes that they had an accident where gas was spewed all over the two of them and it was ignited by a spark. They both were seriously burned. The government is taking care of the girl, but he is left alone to deal with his injuries. It happened in September. His wife and daughter are a 20 hour bus ride away in Lima. The medical attention for the daughter is being paid for by the government, but the mother who is homeless and without food or money is trying to survive near her daughter while trying to help her daughter sustain life. This father cannot work because of the pain and infection from the burn and is not able to support his family. What a predicament he is in. He asked if we could do anything to help. With God, all things are possible. Our group rounded up some funds to send the father by bus to Lima. What a blessing that is for this family to be together during this difficult time. We will have a pastor working with them to take care of some of the basic needs that they will have in Lima while the healing process is taking place.

This project group was comprised of two main groups of people; One from Ohio and another from California. There were a couple of others in the mix as well. Emma was blessed to have another feisty little friend to hang out with during this project. They had a blast hanging out, doing puppets or jump rope, or getting muddy anytime they thought they could get away with it.We had two doctors, a dentist, a handful of nurses and a solid group of impact people. This was a fantastic team full of energy and willingness to serve. It is always encouraging to see how God uses people and their strengths to build His kingdom.

One pleasantly unexpected and relatively unplanned thing took place during this project. We had a baptism service on the river. This is not just any ordinary river. It is a river that feeds the Amazon. You know the big river that runs through the jungles of South America? Someone put a bug in my ear about doing a baptism. The thought never crossed my mind before, but wow, was it a good idea. We decided that we could do it after our clinic on the last Friday. Well, I talked it over with a local and found out that it was best to do it in the morning. I also found out it was not a good idea to have a baptism after dark. Apparently the crocs come out when the sun goes down. This left us with a little window of time to get the river, do the service, and get out of the water. So our plan was to go straight from the clinic to the river. We arranged for the bus to take us to the spot where it was suggested to do the baptism service. We figured that we would arrive at about 5:30 and this would give us about 30 minutes to do the service. Well, everything took longer than expected. We got close to the river and drove up to a spot in the road where there was a guy laying in the ditch on the side of the road. He was apparently in a motorcycle accident where he was a passenger along with two other drunk people. It looked a lot worse than it really was, but we stopped the bus to help as we had two doctors and a bunch of nurses. We figured that we might be able to help out with our people. It pushed back our schedule a bit and got us closer to dinner time for the crocodiles. No worries! The river was close and we arrived shortly thereafter to the baptism spot. In all, there were 6 people that got baptized. It was a memorable time swimming in the "coffee with cream" colored water. Once the baptisms were done, many just jumped in for the experience. It was a great time that finished with a 45 minute bus ride back to the hotel. It was filled with a beautiful sunset, a number of worship songs, and some great times fellowshipping with the team. This was definitely a memorable time in the jungle for this group of volunteers.

I witnessed something that melted my heart the other day at one of our clinics. I was outside working with our impact team while one of our volunteers grabbed my attention and demanded that I come and take a look at something. What could it be, I thought. When I got into the clinic room, there I saw my daughter Kayle holding the hand of a little girl of the same age who was scared to death of the treatment that the doc was about to give her. I observed a little American girl with a heart so precious and full of compassion that I could not hold back the tears of joy that were bubbling out of my eyes. My Kayle was giving this girl a dose of encouragement that could send any team to a championship. How amazing is this gift that God has bestowed on my life. I thank God for my family! Way to go Kayle. I am so proud of you!

The clinics were tough, long days, but we made a huge impact in those communities in which we served. Thank God for his provision, giving us energy, and allowing all of us the opportunity to serve in this capacity. We treated about 900 patients in 8 days of clinics(Kudos to my wife who lead the clinic team), showed the Jesus film 4 times to a total of about 500 people, played about 20 total hours of soccer, painted hundreds of butterflies on the sweet cheeks of the little Peruvian princesses, perspired gallons while our volunteers braved the “Rico” the cuy/guinea pig costume, had hundreds of decisions for Christ, and just had an overall wonderful experience with this group of dedicated people.

To God be the glory great things he has done…onto the next project in Cusco…

The Englund Family

Getting started in Pucallpa

We are sitting by the third world pool at our hotel (the pool that was empty when we got our reservations) and one of the best wifi spots that we can find, just waiting for the action to start. Our group of volunteers will be arriving tomorrow. We just finished a project that will mimic this one, so we are somewhat versed in how it works. It is amazing how you do something for the first time and it takes 10 hours to prepare, then the second time you do it, it only takes 2 hours. We are ready. We have a group of medical people coming down to run 8 clinics in and around the city of Pucallpa. We also have an Impact crew that will be doing events with the local kids while their parents are being treated in the clinics. As we discovered in Iquitos, this is a great way to reach people. So here we are, going to do it again.

I am privileged to have such an amazing team to run these projects. I am specially honored to have my wonderful wife to lead the medical clinic. She spent some time observing how our last medical project functioned in Iquitos, and because we needed someone to take the leadership responsibility, she jumped in and is doing a great job. She is just amazing! I am a blessed husband for sure!

Not only is Teri right in the middle of all of the action, our kids, Kayle and Emma are ready for the battle. They will be joining me on our impact events. They are super helpful, as they can communicate with the local kids as well as help out our volunteers who speak English. I am convinced that these are the two sweetest little translators in all of South America.

So one notable thing that was worthy of a little story, was that today we got word that our ship had come in. I know it is cliché, but it did. We sent all of our medical clinic supplies on a ship from Iquitos to Pucallpa. It was supposed to be a short 4 day journey. Well, it took 8. We had been wondering if our clinic schedule and plans for Pucallpa were really going to work, or if we were going to have to reengineer the entire project the day before the group arrives. Thank God the ship came in.

We sent a local from the church in Iquitos to travel with our stuff. Everything made it safe and sound. Ramon was a little weary when he got off the boat, but was in one piece. He showed up at the hotel and helped us coordinate getting our stuff off the boat, into the truck, and to the hotel.

I saw something today that I couldn’t believe. We had just finished loading our stuff into the back of this downtrodden vehicle that somewhat resembled a truck. The driver whips out this long piece of metal and jams it into the side of the cab and begins to spin it. It was just at that moment that I started to make a joke about how the guy looks like he is going to start his rig by winding up the motor. Sure enough, it fired up and my joke was no longer funny, but totally right on the money. I was quite surprised at a couple of things on this journey; we made it back to the hotel without breaking down, it only cost 25 soles(9 bucks) to haul a good sized pile of stuff, and he let me ride shotgun while the wind, dust and bugs hit my teeth because there was no windshield. It was surely an interesting experience. Everyone should experience hanging out at the shipyard in Pucallpa at least one time in their lives.

I will keep this one short and just ask that you all keep our project in your prayers. There are always a million things that can take place outside of our planning. God has given us the flexibility and the wherewithal to be able to adapt and overcome, but sometimes it is just easier if they go as planned. Rarely does that happen, but it is something that you all can pray for. I will write again soon.

Stay blessed,

Scott Englund

Hello all! It has been about a month since I last wrote. Sorry for the long delay. Here is a rundown of some things that happened during our Extreme Amazon Iquitos project:

It is Sunday morning at the hotel Pascana in Iquitos Peru, and I am listening to a number of our volunteers packing and preparing the supplies for our next project in Pucallpa that begins in just over a week. What an amazing experience that this has been. First of all, the fear of the unknown has passed, as I now understand that a medical clinic can be administered by a bunch of crazy Extreme long term volunteers. We now know how it works!

For the details of our project, we just finished a medical/impact project where we were able to set up 7 different clinic locations throughout some of the communities of the city of Iquitos. We targeted some existing church locations and some brand new areas as well. In all, we treated about 1300 patients in the clinics.

As far as the impact goes, we held kid festivals each day at the clinic locations. We had programs for thousands of kids which included puppet shows, jump rope, parachutes, face painting , crafts, and tons of soccer.

After 7 days of soccer, most of which was on uneven surfaces, the ankles and feet are pretty torn up, but the grin is permanent.

Our project went without any hiccups. For us, that is an abnormal thing. In a culture where nothing is confirmed, everything is subject to change and is strange if it doesn’t, we had a flawless project. Tons of people were reached by our medical clinics as well as our impact. In all, we had about 400 decisions for Christ. In addition, there are thousands of potential converts as our local leadership and our 40/40 missionaries will be following up with a contact. It was a blessed project in everything we did. God was and is still with us.

There were a couple of notable stories that really stick out. Many more that I do not have the time nor the space to write, but I will share a few of those with you.

I will try to keep it short and give you the highlights.

Story of Trust

First of all, the second morning that we were in Iquitos, I had a number of errands to run. Instead of paying the fares for dozens of motorcar rides (three wheeled motorcycle taxis used in the jungles), I thought I would check into renting a motorcycle for the day to run all of the errands. When I got to the shop and asked if they rented motos, the guy reached into his pocket and offered me his keys. Blown away by this gracious act of kindness, I stammered to figure out his motives. In the end, he just wanted me to use his moto. So I did. I drove all around town, filled it up after I was done, and returned it in one piece. I did finally introduce myself to him once I started out the driveway. He trusted me like I was his brother. I thought to myself, what a wonderful world. I love this town!

Strange…

Another strange thing that happened was that I met a guy that was paralyzed as a boy when a fruit fell out of a tree and hit him on the head. He owned a little store near where we set up a clinic and he offered to let us use some chairs. Great guy, crazy story!

Pastor Enrique

One that touched me really deep down was the story of Pastor Enrique. This is a pastor at the Malvinas Church of the Nazarene. He has a couple of sons, one of which is a pastor at another Nazarene church. It was at the end of the day of our clinic at the church, when Pastor asked to visit with me. He was a bit torn up and I could tell something was eating at him. He brought me into his house and slid the curtain divider to the side and showed me his son.

Ever is his son’s name. Ever was laying in a fetal position on a wooden bed frame, eyes rolled back, rocking from side to side, totally out of his mind. Pastor continued to tell me the story about how 9 years previously his son went to bed one night and woke up like this. Violent and unable to communicate or function, this boy had existed in this state for 9 years. We, as a group of doctors provided hope to this father and pastor. He asked me if we could help. Not knowing what we could do for him, I volunteered to pray. I put one arm around his wife and the other around Pastor and prayed like I had never prayed before. While I was standing there, Ever jumped out of bed like a scared rabbit and ran past me, out the door, and into the back courtyard area.

Keep in mind, that the pastor had already told me that he was violent. I immediately thought that he might be running into the clinic area. I knew that there were kids, women and volunteers in the room next doors so I went into protect mode. I ran to the door and about the time I got there, Ever had retreated on a full sprint back through the door, turning the corner, and then proceeded to dive back into the concrete corner where he had spent the last 9 years.

My heart was broken for this pastor. What could I do? He told me that he could not get his son to the doctor because he was so violent, but he could not afford a doctor anyway. The only thing he could think of was to have the doctor come to the house to observe Ever and see if he could diagnose the problem. He asked me if I could help. I had to do something. I knew that if I asked this group of volunteers to help, it would happen. That is exactly what we did. We took up an offering and raised enough money to have a psychiatrist come out and figure out the problem, provide a prescription, as well as a follow up plan. The next day, I had the honor of handing over the cash so that he could finally figure out the problem that his son had been fighting for 9 years. He called me that same afternoon to tell me that he got an appointment and that the next day his son was going to be seen at their house by the doctor.

The doctor gave his diagnosis as schizophrenia. It can be treated with medication, and although the kid may never function at 100%, he will probably be able to function much better. It was a blessing to be a part of this process. We lifted a burden from this pastor. He now knows what the problem is. He can now combat it with medicine.

The pastor wrote a letter that expressed his feelings. I was able to translate it and read it to our volunteers during one of our devotion times. On the paper were many emotional words that came from deep within the heart of a beaten down pastor. I think we were able to make a difference in a pastor’s life that day. Keep Pastor Enrique and his son, Ever, in your prayers.

Sweet Little Missionaries

I need to tell you about two of the sweetest little missionary girls that I know. Kayle and Emma were in action during this project. They jumped in and helped out with the clinic and with Impact. Kayle found her niche writing down weights and blood pressures for the nurses in the clinics. She was a huge blessing. Emma was observed with a bunch of Peruvian kids showing them some cool jump rope moves. They each helped with some of the puppet shows and face painting as well. I am so proud of how they have jumped in taken the roll as missionaries, not just missionary kids.

40/40’s in Iquitos

Our 40/40 missionaries that are in Iquitos right now for their training were very involved in the work that we did during this project. They were a delight to work with. They brought energy and ideas to the mix and allowed us to reach

thousands more people. I am so proud of all of the 40/40’s. I am convinced that we chose the right people for this mission. Please keep them in your prayers as they will be going back to class after we wore them out for almost two weeks.

God Bless you all and we ask that you keep us in your prayers. We have a lot of projects all lined up. It will be taxing on our family, our bodies, and our relationships. We will continue to keep you all in our prayers as we wish showers of blessing on your lives.

Firemen for a Moment.
It was near the end of the day at our 6^th day of clinic, the line of patients that we couldn’t attend to had dissipated. We were almost all packed up and ready to start hauling our supplies up the muddy trail to the road where we could catch our transportation back to the hotel. It was just then that a frenzy of activity started taking place all around us. It was then that the screams of “FUEGO” started ringing in all of our ears. What were we to do?

Without hesitation, an uncoordinated effort of Extreme volunteers, both long and short term, began running to the scene. On the way out of the church, the drinking water buckets and the latrine buckets were grabbed and distributed to the hand full of us that were running toward the action. Over the sewage drainage that was canalled in the middle of the road between the shanty houses we scurried. Through the opening in the fence and up the hill we dashed all the while assessing our part for the job at hand. On our way up the hill we discovered the water hole. That was where we were to load our buckets for the fight.

The water hole was filled with rancid water, vegetable parts, dirty children’s under ware and a lot of other stuff that I could not identify. Needless to say, it was not potable water by any means. While one of our volunteers stayed at the water hole to refill buckets, the others of us carried the heavy buckets up the hill, then with as much energy as we could muster, threw the water as high up on the roof as was possible.

It was a simple house fire started by a lady cooking over an open flame. Her flame was too close to the thin dry wood. Up in flames it erupted. The thatched roof was an inferno that threatened the entire row of thirty or so houses if it was not stopped.

So out of nowhere, the “gringos” came with about 6 buckets, tripling the amount of buckets that were being used to extinguish the fire. We came not only with buckets, but with an enthusiasm and spirit of service like nobody had seen. We were going to get this fire out!

About 10 minutes into the activity, the fire had moved to the higher section of the roof. We could not reach this part by throwing our buckets from ground level. Our assault moved indoors so we could reach the higher parts. In the rafter stood a young man, who I believed lived there, throwing bucket after bucket onto the flaming ceiling. I was the last guy in the line before the water was thrown. The inside of the house was like a Nazarene youth event water fight. It was being

thrown in from every angle. It did not matter, the fire needed suppression and it needed it fast. While I involuntarily and accidentally became a target of these buckets of nasty water, I continued to supply the guy in the rafters with buckets. It was no more than just a few more minutes and the flames were washed away.

None of us signed up for this, but I will tell you that God has a plan for everything. Here we were just wrapping up a medical clinic where we had just treated almost 200 patients. It was no mistake that we were ready and willing to help with this fire with our buckets and able bodies. God got some glory out of this for sure! We put the fire out, nobody got hurt, only one house was damaged, and the neighbors will forever tell the story of the “gringos” that saved the entire neighborhood from burning up. God was with us that day!

Merry Christmas from the Englund's


Hello and Greetings from Peru:
We would like to wish all of you a wonderful and blessed Christmas and New Year. This past year has been full of amazing adventures, good times, difficult situations, as well as many other events that have given us an experience of a lifetime. We want to extend a deep heartfelt thank you to all of you that have been supporting us throughout this past year with your prayer and financial support.
We look forward to another year of craziness. Our ministry has been very successful in our attempts to reach people. We have our first set of 40/40 missionaries on the ground going a hundred miles an hour trying to plant their first churches. It is exciting to hear of their daily stories. God is at work in Puerto Maldonado for sure.
Our second group of 40/40 missionaries is in Iquitos Peru right now training for their church planting work that will begin in June of 2010. In February, the next batch of 40/40 missionaries is arriving in Arequipa for their language school. There is a lot of stuff taking place here. This project is enormous and will have an eternal impact on thousands of people.
You have probably been getting our updates. We trust that you feel part of what is going on here on the bottom half of the planet. Know that with your support of financial resources as well as continual prayer, you are allowing the ball to keep rolling. We could not be here without you. If you are not currently a financial partner with us, please consider our ministry if you would like to invest in what we are doing. If interested, give us a call at 208-850-1851 or please contact Crowne One Network to sign up as a financial partner. We would be honored to have you join with us in our ministry.
The info for Crowne One Network is below:
Idaho : (208) 287.2494
New Clients: (Toll Free): (800) 733.3186
Client Service: (Toll Free): (800) 733.4862
Customer Service email: Service@CrowneOne.com
Mailing: P.O. Box 9285 Boise, ID 83707

Getting close to the one year mark-Where did it go?
I have a ton of things to write about so I will just summarize a few of them. You probably know by now that I can be long winded. Let me get to the point.

Kayle’s Birthday

On December 2^nd, there was a big day in Peru for a sweet little 10 year old girl. Kayle had her long awaited for birthday in which she could get her ears pierced. What an exciting day that was. It went something like this; we started with the ear piercing. It was a not so sophisticated way of plunging a steel rod through the cartilage of a sweet innocent little princess’s ears. However, it was what she wanted. She was given all the options, and this was the best one. She endured like a 100 pound woman giving birth to a 10 pound baby (Teri says that is not the case, but I can only imagine). Without tears and only a few squeals, the ears were finished and oh how beautiful!

The next thing was to get Kayle all fancied up for a special date with Daddy. Off to the dress shop. There she picked out the most dashing and elegant of all the dresses. It was beautiful!

Then it was off to the shoe store to find just the right shoes to match the fancy dress. After many options and different stores, we found the right ones.

At this point, she was ready to take on the world! She was a princess in all senses of the word. It was now time for a fancy dinner date with Daddy. So, it was off to the restaurant I had in mind. It was closed. That was just my luck. However, that led us to the second option, which was by far better than the first. It was a first class dining experience that neither of us will forget. Not only was the service fantastic, but the time with Kayle was just what the two of us needed. The waiters (yeah there was a whole crew of them just for us) found out that it was Kayle’s birthday and they put together a special dessert and song for her. Birthdays are big in Peru. They were going to give her a taste of their culture. So with an unrehearsed rendition of Feliz Cumpleaños, they put another smile on her precious face. And the dessert they gave her was worth writing home about.

So after the dinner and dessert, we went and had ice cream at our favorite place. We don’t know the name, but we both knew where it was at. It was there that we ended our evening. What a wonderful birthday for Kayle and for me, well, it was as if I was king for a day to be able to escort such a sweet princess around town. A treat for us both!

Padrinos???

Another thing that has recently happened is that Teri and I were asked to be Padrinos for a young couple who recently got married here in Arequipa. Padrinos are not something that is a North American thing. It is somewhat of a lifelong life/marriage mentors/friends. David and Susanna have grown to be good friends. Susanna is the daughter of our pastor. David is a music teacher at Kayle and Emma’s school. We had an interesting time trying to figure out where to stand in the procession at the wedding as well as figure out what our responsibilities include. We made it through. What an honor! It makes us feel like we are connecting with the local people.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful American Thanksgiving dinner at our house. We invited the entire office; Peruvians and Americans. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with food and friends. Hard to beat that. We even went around the table and shared things that we were thankful for. It is pretty easy to come up with things to be thankful for. God is Good!

Stitches for Kayle

We had an incident with Kayle trying to walk on a roof of glass roofing tiles. It was sort of a challenge with her sister I think. They use glass for roofing materials in some applications here in Peru. Kayle and Emma were climbing around on the glass. Of course, Emma had no problems as she has a lot less weight on her bones. Not that Kayle is very heavy, but apparently heavy enough to break through. She sliced her foot up and had to have stitches. She is fine now, but it was a painful learning experience.

School is out!!!

With regards to Kayle and Emma, they are finishing their first year of school next week. It is exciting to see them finish and have a break from the education system they have here. One thing to note it that they have passed up Mom and Dad on their Spanish. Nothing delights a father more than to listen to them chatting with their Peruvian friends in a foreign language. What a blessing that they have endured the tough part.

10,000 guinea pigs

One interesting thing I have been doing these past few days is trying to negotiate the price of 10,000 guinea pigs (cuyes). I am having quite a time trying to decide between buying an existing farm, renting and existing farm, buying the cuyes ready to cook, buying them ready to butcher, or just banging my head against the wall till I forget what I am trying to do. It is exciting to be at this critical point in our planning, but it is a bit stressful as the total bill for the cuyes is about 37K US dollars. I have to make sure the price is as good as we can get. Keep us in your prayers as we will soon have to figure out how in the world we are going to cook all of these in a short period of time. Based on our research, we will need about 500 people to cook these little rodents. That will be another project altogether.

Upcoming projects

I just got back from Iquitos. We have a project coming up in January where we are going to have a number of medical clinics and impact/evangelism events spanning across 13 days in the jungle. This will be an awesome project. Much of the ground work has been set up. We are finishing the final touches on this as it will be here before we know it.

Final Message from the Englund’s

We have been blessed to be able to serve here in Peru for the past year. What an adventure! This has been a life altering experience that we will not soon forget. We will be spending our first Christmas outside of the US. We look forward to the change, but will miss our family and friends back in the US. God bless all of you! We pray that you are overwhelmed with the fullness of God’s joy. There is plenty of it to be had. Grab a little, smile a lot, and know that you choose to make it great.

In His care,

The Englund Family

Puerto Maldonado project 2-Fantastic!

After a nice 22 hour bus ride which included all seasons in their extremes, we arrived back home with bloodshot eyes and sore hineys. I hope I can soon forget the pains of the bus ride. It could be worse, although I am not so sure how.

I have been very antsy to get my fingers pecking away at what I think to be some extraordinary stories of the jungle. The problem I have is where to start. I guess a general overview is in order to wet your whistle, and then I will give you a few of the specific stories. Hang in there- The stories at the end are pretty amazing!

Our project in Puerto Maldonado officially started on Friday the 23^rd. The group exited the airplane to find that the weather was a bit different than the cool temps when they boarded. They were in the jungle. Humidity that would make a cotton ball ooze with moisture and temperature hot enough to make your cat want to jump into the pool, they got off the plane and gathered luggage. While it was a relatively easy process, we only had a few items that got held up in customs. We got those taken care of and got everyone settled into the beautiful 5 star accommodations. Too bad they were falling stars! The hotel was functional, but left a lot to be desired. There are not a lot of options in Puerto. In fact, there are only a few hotels that even have AC. This was not one of them. It wasn’t so bad as long as the fans were on, but the nightly power outages would really set one back as the sweat made it difficult to sleep.

The building project was a major part of the job at Puerto. In fact, the amount of work to be done was way more than this group could possibly get done considering the time, energy, and resource constraints that were in place. Being on the field for almost a year, I have learned that surprises are not that easy to come by anymore. This crew put out more work than was ever possible. They worked themselves into the ground trying to get the building to a point where the 40/40 missionaries would be able to move in on the night of our inauguration, the 3rd of November.

They got it done! The missionary housing was ready, although not totally tested. There were a couple of items that needed to be fixed to be 100% functional, but it was livable. Praise God for willing and committed people that were able to grind themselves into the ground with immense amounts of physical labor in spite of the sweltering heat and humidity. These guys were troopers. Thanks go to the Bethel, MacNaz, Lompoc, OroNaz, Emmett, and Creswell churches. Bless you guys!

As far as the impact goes, this is where the stories begin. During our impact events, we were able to reach numerous kids,

parents, prostitutes, concert goers, athletes, and many others. We held English classes taught by two of our long term volunteers, Leanne and Alyssa. We had a day of prison ministry to the local women’s prison. We had a door to door ministry where the testimonies of some of our volunteers were used to reach people in the community. We ministered to a local school by painting their kitchen facilities and running a faith based art contest.

We held a community wide sports tournament. We reached another school with a drama presentation. We had a big concert in the main plaza in Puerto. Then there

was the day of fasting and prayer followed up with a healing service in which the community was invited. During the fast, we annointed the new church plant communities by pouring oil and praying over each of the areas. We showed the Jesus film, and held kids events. Then to top it all off, we had an inauguration service at the end of everything and invited the whole community. There was no shortage of things to do while in Puerto. What was so exciting to see was the results. The English classes were well received and had over 30 people in some of the classes. We held two kids festivals in two separate locations. Each drew solid crowds of 75-80 people each. Both events also yielded great results. We had a combined total of new decisions for Christ at 55 during these two events. That was just the beginning.

One of the evenings, we sent out a small group to a number of the brothel/bars. Their goal was to just connect with some of the prostitutes and invite them to a small intimate time of sharing during the next day. They handed out all of our invitations within just a short time. I think most of our group thought it would be a futile effort. I sure did. In fact, we made a backup plan in case none of the ladies showed up to the event. I was wrong. We had 3 ladies and a baby show up the next day. It was a miracle! We gave them bibles and shared Gods love with them. Although I was not present, I heard the stories and was blown away at the results.

We were also able to do a hard hitting skit inside one of the local schools. We thought that the best case scenario would be to do our skit to a couple of the classes of 30 or so students. When we arrived we were in

for something else. Pastor Freddy grabbed me by the arm and said “I need your help!” So I went with him. He walked me through a courtyard of about 800 students. He pulled me up on the stage and proceeded to introduce me. Then he did what I was hoping that he would not do: he handed me the microphone. I stood there trying to figure out what to say. In English it would have been easy. In Spanish, it was a different story. I caught a little bit of whit and whipped out a few funny things in my messed up Spanish. They enjoyed a good laugh at my expense, but they got the message. We gave them a flawless performance of a wordless skit. We combined that with a salvation message from Pastor Freddy and a number of kids made decisions for Christ right there on the spot. Pastor Freddy had a bunch of us write down contact info so that our missionaries can follow up with a discipleship program and tie these young people and their families into one of our new church plants. We had many of the students and faculty participate in another one of our events which was a very encouraging. This was a public school in case you all were wondering.

Another one of our events was a community wide soccer/volleyball tournament. It was set up as a tournament that would evolve into a concert and evangelism event. However, with the Peruvian culture the way it is, we changed midstream and turned the one event into two. The tournament went really well. We had 17 teams sign up. The prizes were great and the competition was fierce. Great times were had by all. There were a good 200 people present.

As far as the concert part, this is a long story. The concert was changed to the main square in the city. That was a blessing! However, there was a very large gap in the planning of the main event. Our event was going to join the existing event. However, they forgot to order a sound system. We had one, but it was not large enough for the venue. We made it work by the grace of God. The concert portion of the event was put on by the local

Christian pastors. However, it was our sound system, so we took full advantage of that. We did our tournament prize ceremony, had our band play some songs, then at the end, we put another promo piece together that announced our inauguration of our new church and missionary facility. In the end, the 5000 people that showed up thought it was the Nazarene church that put on the event. We got our money’s worth on that one. It also included another incident with Freddy handing me the microphone in front of a large crowd and asking me to say a few words. I gotta stay away from that guy when he gets a microphone in his hands. That is some scary stuff! Did I forget to mention that during the salvation message 300-400 people came forward? It was a great night of God guided work that could have only been made successful by His grace. And it was on Halloween night! How about that?

Now for the big story. It was a day of planned kids festivals and Jesus Film in an area called Guacamayo(sounds kind of like guacamole). This event turned out nothing like we had planned, but again we are not the ones in charge. God had this whole thing figured out, little did we know.

After about an hour and a half bus ride out to the gold mining area of Guacamayo, we came to a spot in the road that was crowded with the bustling of a number of people, motorcycles, chainsaws, fires, and filthy malnourished dogs running rampant around the area. What was it? We were all asking the question. It was an area where gold had been discovered just a few weeks before we arrived. In fact, the trail had not been cut all the way. The town was beginning to take shape as the new businesses were moving in to support the new industry.

The trail was being built, which would allow more supplies, people, and services to inhabit the area and provide a place to support the miners.

Our information about the new community was that most of them lived in another area just down the road at KM marker 104 and the area called Lamal. We knew, because one of our guides was very knowledgeable about the area and the industry. She described how the miners would take a break at a certain time of the day. We needed to be ready to give the message at the time when they were taking a break. Otherwise, we would be wasting our time. So off the bus we went, down a nasty path riddled with logs, puddles, elephant sized mosquitoes, and mud that would peel your boots off if you stepped into it. It should have been a good clue when Laura, our guide, suggested that we all buy rubber boots at the market before we left. How bad could it possibly be? Well, it was not an easy place to keep your new kicks clean; that is for sure. We trounced through the jungle trial with the speed of a disabled turtle only to find ourselves piling up in the middle of a clear cut piece of jungle. Why there? Well that is where the fun began.

Our group of white Americans as well as a few of our Peruvian counterparts, were stopped on the trail by a number of machete toting locals that were concerned with us being there. Why would they care that we were there? It became known to us that the whole community was being developed illegally. The people that were there did not own the land nor were they supposed to be mining, cutting jungle, or participating in commercial activity. They were squatters that were raping and pillaging the resources that were on the ground of the government. Not an above board operation to say the least. They were concerned that we were sent by the government to pose as missionaries to gather information about the activity and to take pictures of the illegal people that were working there. As we continued to take pictures, they continued to get more and more skiddish. They demanded that we put our cameras away and would not let us through. They asked for our credentials, of which we had very little to show; Just an Extreme Nazarene name badge from one of our volunteers. As they asked Pastor Freddy for his credentials, he quickly seized the opportunity. He asked if anyone had a bible. He raised up the bible, and in his sarcastically funny way said to the skeptical crowd, “here are my credentials!”

Then with the courage that can only come from God above, he fired off a salvation message that captured many hearts and made believers out of many. There was a crowd of about 40 people, and by the end of the ordeal, the angels in heaven were rejoicing for the 9 new believers who made a decision in the center of a clear cut in the middle of the Amazon jungle on the outskirts of nowhere. What an amazing thing to watch unfold. The machetes were a bit intimidating, the crowd never let us pass, and the lack of shade made it tough to enjoy. Nonetheless, it was an ordeal worth talking about.

Well, it ain’t over! We turned back towards the bus and hiked back out wondering how God could have put this plan together. It was not planned from our end, but it worked out better than any of us could have imagined.

We got back to the bus much earlier than planned. So instead of calling it a day, we decided that we were going to hit another area just up the road. It was an area called Lamal. This place scared me just by listening to the description from our guide. She described the place as a town of about 800-1000 people. She also pointed out that the town had 56 prostibars(brothels). Do the math. That isn’t a good place to raise a family. It is a terrible old west town straight out of a Hollywood movie. This is the wild west that we have all learned about in US history classes. We headed towards this God forsaken place in a hot and airless bus in the sweltering heat.

Low and behold, there was a swimming hole on the main road. With hardly any arm twisting at all, the group was influenced to stop for a few minutes to enjoy the crocodile infested waters. And enjoy we did. It was a refreshing treat. The crocs only come out at night, or so we were told. Everybody was accounted for after we loaded the bus. The crocs didn’t bother us.

Down the road we went a few more miles to KM 104. This is where we would get off the bus and start our hike to Lamal. We reached the location, piled out of the bus, dispersed all of our equipment, and began the second jungle adventure of the day. There were a couple items that we were able to strap to a motorcycle and have Rosa, Pastor Freddy’s wife, take to the final destination. The rest of us, loaded with many pounds of gear, trudged down the single track trail through the jungle to the little community of Lamal. We arrived about an hour and a half later with wet sticky clothes, bug bites, and crippling hunger pains . We ate lunch at a marginal restaurant while plans were made as to where we were going to set up our Jesus Film.

Just like everything else throughout the week, changes were inevitable. We had agreed on the location and started promoting to the neighborhood. The setup crew had about ¾ of the screen set up when Pastor Freddy shows up and says, “we gotta move!”

No surprise to me. That is how the whole week had been. Told one thing and something else would happen. It builds character, or at least I am trying to believe that. So off to another location we went. The new location was, and I’ll admit, a much better place. It was in the heart of the little city. We set up our film screen in front of two brothels. Now this was not hard to do as we could set up anywhere in the town and would most likely be in front of a brothel or two. The miracle of that ordeal is that there was a mix up with the original Jesus Film screen and it got left back at the office in Arequipa. We were able to purchase a piece of regular canvas so that we could at least show the film on the one side of the canvas. The other screen allowed us to show the movie on both sides, but because of cost, we could not get the material for a two sided screen. One side would have to work.

God worked out the screen for us. Not only for us, but for the prostitutes that were watching the movie from the back of the screen. It worked on both sides. They watched the whole thing! Sight and sound for the ladies on the front porch of the prostibar! Praise God, they got the message.

There were a couple of other things that I need to point out. The generator died during the middle of the film. Gas was the issue. No worries for Pastor Freddy. When the movie stopped, he jumped up and started the first part of a salvation message. By the time he was finished we had the generator back up and running, the movie cued up to the life of Christ right before they hung Him on the cross, and the crowd of 140 people ready for the end of the movie. When the movie ended, Pastor Elvin jumped in and closed the deal on those hearts that were ready to surrender. In the end, we had 44 more names written down in the book of life. It could not have been planned that way. It could not have been any more perfect. It was only Gods presence in the middle of Lamal. What else can I say?

Well to finish off the evening, we needed to get out of town. Lamal is a lawless, wild beast that comes alive after dark. It was time to leave. We gathered our things as fast as we could, gathered all the necessary info from the new believers, rounded up enough motos to carry our group, and we readied to head out. It was 1 ½ hours by foot. Not a safe bet for our group. Motos was a better option. However, we had many that had never sat on a motorcycle let alone one in which they were going with two other people on board; the driver and another passenger. In addition they had to carry out the stuff that was brought in. No easy job for a short term volunteer that actually paid money to do this.

We all loaded up in an ordeal that must have mimicked pit row at a NASCAR event. Bikes coming in, people hopping on and racing away into the unknown darkness of the jungle single track trail that awaited our people, and the rumble of an awaking evil beast of a city were all happening simultaneously in the main square.

We all managed to board our motos with all things accounted for. It was then a mad dash for the bus which was patiently waiting for us at KM104; just a treacherous, uncomfortable, and downright crazy run through the jungle and nothing less.

Everyone got out. No wrecks. No incidence; Just a bunch of transformed lives and a great story to tell. I cannot wait to see what will happen to those people that made decisions that night. Our 40/40 church plant missionaries will be following up on the leads. God is good! Where He guides, He provides!

I am running a bit long here, but I wanted to share some of the adventures so that you know what is going on down here. It is exciting to be part of this. There is much more where that came from. The stories are piling up. If you want to be part of some of these stories, come down and join us. We are trying to fill up our projects right now. If you have any interest in what is taking place down here and want to join us on one of our projects, please let me know. I would love to share some of it with you.

We continue our thanks for those of you that are praying for us and supporting us with finances. We know that God is protecting us as is evidenced by the story above. Know that you are in our prayers as well. We cannot do this without you. May God richly bless you and your lives in every possible way.

If you are getting this message without pictures or video, please sign up as a blog follower at theenglundfamily@blogspot.com. You will be able to see pictures that pertain to our projects here in Peru. Another option is to use Facebook. Just add Teri or I as a Facebook friend and you will be able to see our full blog post.

I hope you enjoy the stories. God bless you all!

In His hands,

Scott Englund

Its a Jungle Out There!
Its a Jungle Out There!

Once again the speed of life has begun to wreak havoc on the amounts of sleep that I am able to obtain each night. With our next project coming up this week, our entire team is feeling the crunch of making sure the details are done. It is exciting, but also can be very tiresome. God does have everything under control and I cannot wait to see the outcome of our next project in Puerto Maldonado. As the group from the US arrives in Peru on Thursday, our family will be traveling by bus to the remote jungle city location. Along with a handful of others from our group, we will be partaking in an epic adventure. This adventure is nothing less than a bus ride through the mountains and jungle of Peru. The road is riddled with all sorts of unknowns. Mostly unknowns for us, but this will be our first type of bus ride of this sort. The girls, or at least the children, are excited. Teri for some reason has not bought off on the idea that this will be an fun adventure. There is supposedly a bathroom on the bus! To me, I am wondering if the trip will be 15 hours or 24+ hours. Depending on which Peruvian you ask, the trip could be a piece of cake, or it could be your last. Hopefully when they used the terminology about being the last, it was in reference to the comfort of the bus being so bad that I would not ever do it again. The other alternative is worse, so I’ll opt for life and discomfort. Like I said, it will be an adventure. Please pray for us as we are planning at the moment to return via the same bus. Hopefully it won’t be so bad and we can endure two journeys, to and fro.

As for the project, this will be a construction and impact project.

These pictures are from our first project just a few weeks ago.We will be finishing up a housing building that is designed to house our 40/40 missionary pairs as well as the missionary support family. In addition, there will be work to complete the church building as well. On November 3^rd, the people are moving in. We had better get it finished.

There is a lot of work to do, but I am confident that it will be ready for these young missionaries that are ready, willing, and anxious to get working.

As far as impact goes, there are a ton of things going on. Just yesterday, we were working on some plans to do a big push into one of the darkest and most evil places in the area. The name is Lamal. It sits about 2 hours drive out of the small city of Puerto Maldonado. I have yet to visit, but it sounds like there is a little spot in the road that they drop you off at, and then you have to walk for about 20 minutes to get to the town. There is a little moto trail, but not big enough for anything but a motorcycle. Well this town apparently h

as 56 prostitute bars. That may seem like a lot, but if you consider the population of the town to be at about 1000 people, it really puts it into perspective how terrible this place is. We are excited to do some work there and possibly plant a church. The pastor is excited about it and so are the church people.

With this project, there are some very special people coming down. First of all, my parents are making the journey to Puerto. I cannot wait to see them. We are taking our entire family for a couple of reasons, but one is to spend more time with the folks and give our daughters the opportunity to see G

randma and Grandpa. The other is that I have promised that I would take Kayle and Emma to the jungle. I can’t wait until they see a real live monkey. Better yet, maybe we can eat one. That would make it a real adventure. Either way, the folks and the kids are sure to have a good time. My wife, well that might be a different story. I think she will like it. However, it is up to her. Not sure which way she will go on this one. Someone please pray for Teri! She is a tough woman and I am sure she will survive; I just want her to have a good time as well.

Some other people that are coming to Puerto Maldonado are the Moen family. Jerry and Debbie are old friends of ours from my younger days as a youth in the Oroville Nazarene Church. Jerry was our youth pastor for a number of years. In fact, he took me on my first mission trip. He planted seeds in me that after a couple of decades started to sprout and now I am a full time missionary in Peru. How amazing is that?

The other thing about Jerry Moen is that he was the pastor the conducted our wedding. Jerry has always held a place in our hearts as he was a great example of Christian living. He was never one that made Christianity boring. I gotta love examples like that. It is partly his fault that I like to have so much fun. I learned it from

my old youth pastor!

Here is a picture of our old youth group on a trip to Yosemite! Good times with Jerry!

The other people that are going to be there are the Smith family and the 40/40 missionaries that left Arequipa about 6 months ago. We have had contact with them while they have been in their intense training in Iquitos, but it will be great to see them in person.

So there you have a quick rundown of what’s coming. If you want to keep track of the project, check into our website as we will have updates with pics and possibly video of the things that are taking place. Just go to www.extremenazarene.org and there you will find all sorts of good stuff. I gotta get packing so I better sign off.

Love you guys,

Scott