November 2010

Volume 5 Issue 11 November 2010

La Luz de Cristo para Perú

Sharing Love in a Public School | Tinyari

What can 14 North Americans do with an entire Peruvian ele-mentary school in one week??? Well, basically, they managed to turn it upside down, inside out, and bring it to it’s knees by sharing the love of Christ! Covenant UMC from Dothan, Alabama sent a short-term mission team to Peru to serve in the pueblo of Tinyari, home to one of the Kuyay Talpuy education projects. Just operating since August (two months), this particular Kuyay project functions within the public school. The project came about when the public school teachers in Tinyari asked for help… bible classes and religion are mandatory in the public school here, but the teachers didn’t know how to teach those subjects. Our Kuyay Talpuy staff work alongside the teachers to teach bible lessons each week in the public school and to share the love of Christ with the teachers and the students and families touched by this school. The team from Covenant UMC expressed a desire to work with children’s ministries or English outreach or sport’s ministries… with the Kuyay Talpuy project, we were able to incorporate all of the team’s desires! After talking with the school director (principal), the school gave the team full reign to do whatever they would like to do to supplement the education of the students of Tinyari. So, the follow-ing plan was born: The students rotated in 45 minute shifts to each of four classes each day. Bible classes / VBS station - Part of the team worked in the VBS station, leading bible stories, songs, skits, and crafts each day. The students loved that their classroom had been trans-formed into the rainforest for a week for the VBS theme! Sports camp - Students learned a new game each day. Several team members worked to teach kick ball, tee ball / baseball, Fris-bee games, and other North American typical games. Reading Station - The McEuen family has a ministry here that works to incorporate literature into the schools and into the lives

of children and families. Tinyari is a very impoverished school with NO children’s books. The Reading Station allowed the McEuen’s to bring their mobile library into the school and read aloud to the students each day, teach a values lesson via a Bible story, do a craft related to the reading lesson for the day, and allowed the students to individually choose books and have time to do some self-guided reading (library time). English Outreach - Team members played games to teach and reinforce English vocabulary. Students learned color words, animals, fruits & vegetables, and body parts in English. They played games like Bingo and Memory and Concentration for reinforcement. And they sang songs in English, for exam-

ple, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and the Hokey Pokey. The week was a huge success! The teach-ers were very happy with the way in which the team from Covenant UMC taught and treated the students. The team absolutely fell in love with the students. The students learned a lot about love by seeing it and experiencing it through the actions of the team that came to serve. Our Peruvian Kuyay Talpuy staff was able to spend a full week with the teachers and build better relationships with them, which led to the teachers asking for a separate bible study time dedicated just to them!

At the end of the week, there were lots of tears, but lots of smiles and happy memories, too. The best thing about tears is what it means about the state of your heart… if your heart is broken enough to shed tears, then you must have felt deeply, loved deeply and connected with God in a new way. That’s really good news!!! Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. ~Psalm 126: 5-6

It’s time once again for another edition of You Might be a Missionary (you guys never seem to get tired of hearing about how strange our life can be!). You might be a missionary in Peru if: While watching Planet Earth on TV your daughter shouts out, “Hey! There’s that jaguar that we always see at the water-

fall in the jungle! He’s so cute. When can we hike back to see him?” You can say “tastes like chicken” to any number of interesting foods and actually know for a fact that IT DOES really taste

like chicken. The best food you have ever eaten in your life was cooked over a wood fire in an adobe house with a dirt floor by a bare-

footed mamita in traditional Quechua clothing, served to you on a broken dish with no silver-ware as you sat on a sheepskin-covered wooden bench with several dogs laying at your feet and chickens running in and out of the kitchen… definitely the best eatin’ ever!!!

You have harvested oranges with native Ashaninka children, shared traditional drink with mem-bers of the Nomatsiguenga tribe, hunted snakes in the jungle, or been invited to ride the feeder river to the Amazon in canoes.

You know the people who grew and harvested your morning coffee by name. The teachers at the public school trust you to take care of all 80 of their students while they go

to check on a sick colleague. Your six-year old daughter has ever been given charge of a flock of sheep for the day so the

shepherd can participate in a community cookout and party. That’s just daily life for The Drums...

We are packed and headed back “home” to the USA for our furlough/homeland ministry assignment. We will be in the USA for 3 months, spending time with family & friends, reconnecting with churches and supporters, and sharing the news from the field. You can catch up with us at any of the following speaking engagements:

From Perú to a church near you — The Drums speaking engagement calendar

You Might be a Missionary... True stories from the daily lives

of The Drums

December 12 - First Presbyterian Church; Bryan, Texas. Fellowship Hall (9:30-10:30 a.m.) . Mission presentation, Q&A session, photos, videos, fellowship. January 9 - Trinity Lutheran Church; Navasota, Texas. Fellowship Hall. Mission presentation, Q&A session, photos, videos, fellowship. January 15-16 - First United Methodist Church; Lafayette, Louisiana. Weekend schedule TBA. January 23 - First Presbyterian Church; Shiro, Texas. Sanctuary / worship service. January 27 - First UMC; Hearne, Texas. Men’s Bible Study. Mission presentation, Q&A session, photos, videos, fellowship. January 30 - A&M United Methodist Church; College Station, Texas. Sanctuary / worship service presentations (8 a.m. & 11 a.m.). Fellowship Hall: Mission presentation, Q&A session, photos, videos, fellowship (9:30 a.m.). February 2 - First Presbyterian Church; Navasota, Texas. Family Life Center (Wednesday Fellowship Supper 6 p.m.): Mission presentation, Q&A session, photos, videos, fellowship. February 5-6 - Halltown Baptist Church; Halltown, Missouri. Weekend schedule TBA. February 13 - Christ UMC; College Station, Texas. Sanctuary / The River worship service (9:30 a.m.) February 15 - COMBINED FELLOWSHIP of First UMC Millican, Texas and First Baptist Church Millican, Texas. Millican Community Center (6:30 p.m.) February 20 - Christ UMC; College Station, Texas. Sanctuary / worship service presentations (8 a.m. & 11 a.m.) Fellowship Hall (9:30 a.m.): Mission presentation, Q&A session, photos, videos, fellowship. February 27 - First United Methodist Church; Bryan, Texas. Fellowship Hall (9:30 a.m.): Mission presentation, Q&A session, photos, videos, fellowship.

MEET OUR TEAM - JULIA

Praises and Prayers for the new disciple projects in Iscos, Patarco-cha and Tinyari. We have new workers and a new effort to teach the Bible and to usher new believ-ers into relationships with others so they can grow and learn more. Pray specifically for Darwin, Ro-cio, Johanna, and Pastor Beto as they lead this effort. Pray for the Kuyay Talpuy educa-tion projects and for the communi-ties of Iscos, Patarcocha, and Tinyari. Pray for our teachers as they strive to teach and help people to apply Godly principles in their lives. Praises for transformation in communities, families and indi-vidual hearts! Pray for our sons in Texas, Ryan and Miles. Pray for God to con-tinue to move and do mighty things in their lives. Pray for us as we begin to transi-tion to the USA for a few months of speaking engagements and relationship renewal . Pray for our Peruvian workers as they pick up the slack and stand in the gap while we are in The States. Pray for strength and wis-dom for them as they serve the people of Peru. Pray that they grow and flourish as a team.

Prayers and Praises

MAILING ADDRESS: LAURIE & BILLY DRUM...JR. SAN JOSE 278…URB. SAN CARLOS...HUANCAYO, PERU

TELEPHONE: 979.985.5268 (TEXAS PHONE NUMBER—RINGS US IN PERU)

EMAIL: [email protected] OR [email protected]

NEWSLETTER: VISIT THE WEBSITE AT WWW.DRUMSFORCHRIST.ORG AND CLICK “NEWSLETTERS”

SUPPORT US: USE THE FORM ABOVE, OR GO TO http://www.themissionsociety.org/people/drum

The Drums | HOW TO CONTACT US

MEET THE PERUVIANS WHO MINISTER ALONGSIDE US TO SHARE THE LOVE OF CHRIST WITH THEIR OWN PEOPLE

DEAR BILLY AND LAURIE, I will pray for you. Please send me your newsletter by e-mail: ____________________________________ As God provides, I plan to partner with you by giving $ _________ Per month / quarter / year for _____ years. I would like to donate a one-time gift of $ _________ I would like to sponsor a child’s education for $30/mo. ($360/ year). (Please write Special Project on your check) Name (PLEASE PRINT) ______________________________________ Address _________________________________________________ City____________________ State__________ Zip _______________ Phone _____________________ Home Church __________________ Email Address: _________________________________________

TAX DEDUCTIBLE GIFTS MAY BE SENT TO:

The Mission Society

PO Box 922637 Norcross, GA 30010-2637 USA

DESIGNATE GIFTS: “DRUM SUPPORT 5/321”

Meet Julia! There just aren’t enough words to express how important and how special this lovely woman is to us. Truly, she has made an incredible difference in the Kuyay Talpuy program and in the lives of the children and families that we serve. We met Julia when we first began our research and scouting for the Kuyay program in early 2009. Julia is single grand-mother and definitely deserves to win “Sweetest Lady in Peru” every year. We hired her to cook hot, balanced lunches for our students. The students walked to her home at lunch time and she served lunch in an open-air patio area. After graduating our first class of students last December, we had issues with our classroom in the town square and with the mayor, so we were forced to begin looking for a new class-room or building. Julia to the rescue!!! She offered up the once open patio in her home, closing it in with adobe brick and building a roof overhead for the students. She also added a bathroom facility. We have held classes in Julia’s home now for a full year and she continues to cook our hot lunches and serve as honorary grandmother to all of our students. In our anniversary celebration, the teachers elected her to be the Queen of the Parade and she marched in front with her bou-quet of yellow roses and a giant smile.

During days off or school holidays / vacations, Julia literally cries. “My whole body hurts when the children aren’t here. I’m so sad. Everything I do, I do for those babies,” she says. Julia has a heart of gold and we are so blessed to have her as a part of the Kuyay Talpuy team!

SHARE THE LOVE OF CHRIST WITH THE PEOPLE OF PERU. WWW.DRUMSFORCHRIST.ORG | 979.985.5268

The Power of Prayer

Praise report for Kenyi

Laurie & Billy Drum

3907 Old Oaks Bryan, Texas 77802 USA PRESRT STD US POSTAGE

PAID BRYAN TX

PERMIT #102 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

You may remember the article in the October 2010 newsletter about our student Kenyi (child with hydrocephalitis). Soon after that article posted, Kenyi had to return to Lima for yet another pro-cedure on the shunt in his brain. The procedure went well and Kenyi is back in school and con-tinuing to learn more and more every day. As for his doctors, they were stunned! His parents told us that Kenyi’s doctors in Lima called Kenyi “a miracle”. They couldn’t believe that he was doing all that he was doing… walking, running, writing… they were simply amazed. They admit-ted to believing that he wouldn’t ever walk or make any kind of progress because of the damage that had been done to his brain before he was diagnosed with hydrocephalitis. The doctors have requested that we make a video of his walking and running (especially his epic 50 yard dash) for the hospital and for his files. So glad that we serve such an AWESOME God!!! A God that still does miracles and a God that showed Himself in a BIG WAY in the life of Kenyi!

Miss Rosio and Kenyi