Aaron´s First Sermon

Every Sabbath since we have been here, we have had a small worship service for our girls, their friends, and anyone else we can invite here. We put together a Sabbath school program just before walking over to church (about a ¼ mile away) at 10:30 am. Our program usually includes a special music by one of us or the girls, a childrens story, and then a small talk/sermon. This last Saturday, I gave a small talk on hope, and not losing focus on our future in heaven. It is very challenging to convey word for word what you want through a translator. Kelly is my personal translator and she does a wonderful job, but we have found that it is easier to translate Spanish to English than English to Spanish - English is a complex language! Kelly and I prayed about it, and God did the rest.

Cold Front hits Iquitos with a VENGEANCE!

So, yesterday was interesting. The weather cooled down a lot. It was overcast and at a nice temperature of about 75 degrees. The locals hardly came outside and they were shivering if they did. Fútbol (a.k.a. soccer) is life down here and a game in our town, in which Aaron and Casey were going to play, was canceled due to the freezing temperatures. The impact of the ball on skin was too painful apparently. It was quite comical. We were just excited to be able to wear sweatshirts without drowning in our own sweat.

Oh, and the pictures below...those are just for fun. Don´t worry about it.

Visit to Belen

Kelly and I were fortunate enough to visit Belen last week. This is the poorest of the poor (and the dirtiest) here in Iquitos. Above is a photo of the bathrooms in Belen. They have these little barely standng structures that sit over a ditch and the people just go right there and the waste falls into the ditch. You can see a line of them in the pic. During rainy season the Amazon floods this whole area for several months and many people have to move out or use carved canoes as transportation. Needless to say, the water is nasty, mixed with all kinds of waste (like that above).

We visited the meat market, street vendors, and animals. If we had wanted, we could have purchased an Ocelote, or a mini jaguar, for about $100 soles, or roughly $35 USD. We could have also purchased some mini-monkeys, and an array of other poorly treated animals.

Visiting this city was a reality check. We thought that Iquitos was poor, but this community makes Iquitos look very lucrative. Walking through the city makes your heart grow sick because of the sadness that you see. We are so blessed. We have a place to stay, 3 meals a day, and a loving family (22 strong). Our Father in heaven loves every single one of those people. He died on the cross for everyone. He would walk up and kiss each and every single person on the cheek. Love is not superficial. Love is deeper than one’s aesthetic appeal. We want to love as God would love, but we have so much more to grow.

Aaron, Casey and Juanito build some stairs the hard way

There is a slight hill right next to the kitchen that has been a problem for a few of us in getting down –some of us, who will remain nameless, have fallen. The steps were chiseled out in dirt, and then a light covering of cement was applied. As you can imagine, that light covering was broken, and the stairs were eroding away. Casey and I, with some help from our groundskeeper Juanito, made some stylish stairs which will hopefully last for a while. This took an entire day. I was amazed to find out that the concrete is mixed on the ground, and instead of gravel or rock, they just mix in sand. Methods down here are different. Mixing cement on the ground in the hot weather is tiresome. It was a fun experience though, and they turned out better than any of us had originally thought.

The Newest Member of our Family...

Thank you to all of you who helped us to purchase our new motorcycle. Kelly and I were able to get a good deal on a used, but perfect, LIFAN 200GY-2. It is a 200cc all-terrain bike. This is a popular Chinese brand that has good standing among the locals here in Iquitos. It is the top of the line next to purchasing a new Yamaha, Honda, or Suzuki - those can be quite pricy. Here is a photo of Kelly and myself getting ready to head into town for a night off.

The purchase of this bike has already helped out tremendously. We are approximately 7-8 miles out of town, but 3 miles of that is solid dirt. The only other way to traverse this is by motorcar, or feet. When the road gets muddy, and it does quite often, the road is significantly more challenging to travel on. This bike has given us a good, and dependable, method of transportation. Thank you all for you help. We really enjoy this bike!

Sarai´s Birthday

This last Wednesday we had a birthday party for Sarai. It was most adorable thing in the world. She was all dressed up in a cute, pink, little dress. She is one of the little ones here at Santo Tomas. Some friends came over for some entertaining sing-a-longs, food, and conversation - she even had a piñata. The birthday song here is different than in the States. They sing the whole happy birthday part, in a slight different rendition, and then end it by saying something along the lines of, “…hurry up so that we can eat your cake.” I’m sure that I’m missing some key parts, but whatever is said makes everyone bust up laughing. Kelly and I were able to try our first ever Peruvian birthday cake as well. It was interesting. Not quite as sweet as in the States. It was very decorative - each different color was a different (and somewhat fruity) flavor. Above all, it was a fun experience.

Night Life

This is a video of Kelly and myself riding in a motocar at night. Traffic here is crazy. It makes driving in the states appear like a piece of cake. Traffic is packed, everyone drives fast, people drive on the opposite side of the road at times, and ironically, amidst all of this ¨recklessness¨there are few accidents. It took some time for Kelly and myself to get accustomed to this sort of driving, but now we are driving in it on our own motorcycle. Hope you enjoy the footage!

Aaron chasing the kids...

Here are two of the cutest kids. There are 5 little ones here at Santa Tomas, but these are the oldest of the bunch. The girl´s name is Sarai and the bigger boy´s name is Angel. They are full of joy, fun, and good times. Here was a game that we invented the other day to pass some time. Enjoy!

Our first few days

Sorry. No pictures right now. This is our first time on internet and we are sad to find out we will only have access to internet and phone once a week. Well, we made it here safely. It´s hot and humid, our clothes will mold if we don´t wash them in a couple weeks...there will be some losses. The girls at the POPPYS house in Santa Tomas are awesome. Many different personalities and we love them all. There are 4 awesome dogs at the property, 2 annoying goats, 2 crazy blue parrots (we keep our distance), 2 of the cutest pygmy monkies ever (Tito, the baby who is as small as two of Kelly´s fingers, and Tsunami, the adult who is the size of Kelly´s hand), and some chickens & roosters. We did have a gecko in our room we named Geico, but he´s not around much. And this morning we had a baby tarantula the size of my hand...yeah...that was interesting. He´s gone now. RIP.

The mode of transportation is most commonly motocarros (a 3-wheel motorcycle with a bench in the back, instead of back wheel). The rules of the road are merely don´t hit anyone else & get out of the way of oncoming traffic. Last night we had an interesting moto ride. Late at night (hopefully a rare experience) and without headlights. Our town, Santa Tomas, is about 15 min outside of Iquitos, in the daytime. It was hard to find a driver because they didn´t want to take us that far at night (no people wanting a ride back and it could be slightly dangerous in the pitch black). We were scared and we didn´t yet know the drivers don´t use their headlights to save their battery juices. It´s a long and streetlight-free zone on the very bumpy and rutted mud road out there. We picked up 3 people walking (which is a terribly long trip). Our driver got them, but they were very friendly people and we felt safer having them with us. Apparently our driver could see some remnants of the road (for we could not!) and we got there safely.

Speaking of which, we must get back to the house because it´s just as dark, but much earlier. We will post pictures soon, we hope, and you all can enjoy those. Thanks for your support and please keep praying for us! We are still adjusting.

24 Hours into the trip - in Lima!

We have had a fun journey so far. We are in the process of waiting out a 9 hour layover in Lima. Our flight for Iquitos leaves at 4:55 am local time (2 hours later than Portland, Or.). Here is a photo of us chilling at Starbucks at the airport. The drink was $12 (of course, that is in the peruvian sol, so about $4 USD). Oh the lengths that you will go to, to stay awake...

Here we are getting our luggage. We made it through customs without any problems...phew...

Great Message, Horrible Marketing

This was taken during our 5 hour layover in San Salvador, El Salvador. Somewhat of a humorous shot.

Family, Friends and a Farewell

It was a sad goodbye, but it felt incredible to have our families' support on this joyous, yet sad, departure. Christy and Brent drove from Illinois to beat us at pool, and say goodbye.

Arthur the Incredible also showed up to show his support and see us off. Andrew additionally was there to say, "Adios!"

My clan, and my father to boot, showed up as well to see us off, provide some laughs, and represent the Linfoot heighth -much to Kelly's dismay.





Here is another photo of the Linfoot/Harvey family at the nurses dorm in Portland. Mom (Becky) is in this one. Thanks for all the support everyone, it was greatly appreciated!

How to send us mail in Peru...

Here is our address down in Peru. We have been told that it would be better to send us letters, and not packages, through the mail. If you would like to send packages, let us know, and we will have you send it to a group that is coming down (groups from the states frequently come down for medical trips), and they can take it to us -otherwise, we will be taxed.

Aaron Michael and Kelly Marie Linfoot
Ave. Abelardo Quinones No. 3912 (k.m. 4.5)
San Juan Bautista - Iquitos - Loreto - Peru

Our Nephew Herkimer Mbuku Kendall

He's the newest edition to the family since Kelly (and that was a while ago...). He was born July 10, which is also Aaron's birthday. His name is a topic of much debate. A rumor started by his own father, Trevor, claimed his name to be "Herkimer Mbuku Kendall". Some declare his name to be "Brosh Jad" (and the source of that name is from the boys Josh and Brad...wonder how they came up with that one...). Still others call him "King Kylan". His parents, Trevor and Tasha, allegedly put the name "Kylan Sean Kendall" on the birth certificate. No one knows which name is legitimate, but you all can decide for yourselves.

BLYC and Tom Fisher

We had a great summer at Big Lake Youth Camp. We will miss our friends there dearly. All the snow did melt, the lake warmed up, but the mosquitoes never totally left.

We had many opportunities to chat with PCT hikers (for those who don’t know, the Pacific Crest Trail runs from the Mexican to the Canadian border…this is a hike that takes several months). The conversations were always engaging, but one hiker in particular stuck out. He has come through camp several times in the past and has always helped out for days. Honestly, the man deserves a staff jacket or something. He’s like family to Big Lake. His name is Tom and he currently claims Colorado as his home (woo-hoo!!!! What a cool place!!!). He is such an inspiring man of faith. God clearly uses this man to help others. He’s a walking billboard that says “God is the greatest ever!!!!” and he was so encouraging to the staff and to us. He had gone to the same region of Peru a time in the past and shared fascinating stories with us.

We just want to thank Tom for his support, his prayers, and his inspiration. He is praying that God will challenge us. We don’t know what that entails, but know that we will not be bored.