Contact Information

If anyone feels the urge (we would love it) to email, call or write, here is our contact information.

Email:
linfoot.aaron@gmail.com (Aaron)
kelly.linfoot@gmail.com (Kelly)

Cell:
011-51-65-965-914-686

Home Phone:
011-51-65-865-779-409

Mailing Address:
Aaron and Kelly Linfoot
Av. Abelardo Quinones No. 3912 (km 4.5)
San Juan Bautista - Iquitos - Loreto - Peru

Susana & Momma “T” have a birthday

We had an eggventful day this last Tuesday. Mother Teresa and Susana both celebrated their birthdays. M.T. had her 38^th and Susana her 27^th. Both tried and failed to escape the entourage of eggs. Every girl wanted to have her shot. We had to limit the eggs because they add up after a while. After the eggs, we celebrated more humanely with cake and soda (more my style). It was a fun little party that all parties involved apparently enjoyed. The custom is still a little interesting (and gross), but it is always funny so long as it happens to someone else…

Dinner with “Ya Pues”

Thanks to CJ, we have had a new addition in the animal department out here at Santo Tomas. Her name is “Ya Pues.” In English it can be translated as, “alright then.” It is more of a joke… Everyone down here uses that phrase for everything. Well, the other night, after hours and hours of slaving in the kitchen by two of our girls, Ya Pues decided to pay a visit to the kitchen, uninvited (not the first time).


We were having chicken hearts, necks and legs on a stick (kebobs). Sounds tasty, eh? By the time we caught her, the kebobs were all over the counter, and she was sitting on, licking or eating every single one. We do not get along so well (her and myself), and once she heard my voice, she took off like a bottle rocket. We quickly threw together some extra food for dinner and were able to salvage the night.


Since that day, Ya Pues has found a new home. Her eating habits however were not the only catalyst for her departure. She is quite the biter and scratcher (not a good combination when you have kids). Sadly, we realized that this was not the healthiest environment for her or us. We found her a nice home at an animal park. She will be well taken care of. We were sad to see her go, but it was time.

Lisa and Casey Return

They are back. That’s right folks, the family is complete. This last Monday the final addition was made. After 3 months in the States, Lisa and Casey are back in Santo Tomas. Casey is doing well recuperating from his surgery and will be able to give up the crutches for good within the next few weeks. He is biting at the bit to get back to normal. It is incredible to have them both back. We have missed them so much.

While in the States, Lisa and Casey were able to make a website. Please visit www.caseyandlisa.com to see what it is all about. They have photos posted, stories provided (about everyone out here at Santo Tomas), and opportunities for people to contribute for them to be down here for quite some time. Their two-year agreement finishes this coming January, but they feel a calling to continue their stay down here (hooray!). With that, however, they need support. If you would like to help them with their mission, please visit their website.

Potluck, Iquitos Style

We were told, through the grape vine, of a potluck after church on Saturday. We invited friends, packed a bunch of food, and headed off to church.

Internal thoughts: Awesome, everything is going well.

After church we went to the courtyard to figure out how to do this thing, and then someone broke the news. “Which group are you apart of?” said a nice church elder. In reality we are apart of about 6 groups. Apparently this whole potluck thing is based off of small groups and some of our groups were not participating, and others had already started. We were too large to become apart of another group and apparently breaking up and joining other groups were not options.

Internal thoughts: So we have 30 people, enough food for about 25, hungry kids and no where in the shade to eat. This could be an interesting lunch.

Someone opened up a room for us, and in we shuffled. I quickly ran across the street to purchase bread, water and some crackers (Kelly and I scrounged up about $6 that we found in random pockets). There were a few minor complaints, but once we started eating, it all stopped. As we passed out the food, to our amazement, there was actually enough for everyone. A kind old lady came and brought some leftover beans and gluten. Someone else brought over some extra rice.

Internal thoughts: Cool! We have gluten.

After everything was said and done, we had just enough food for everyone to be full (me too!), and you could see smiles and hear laughs. Everything worked out fine. God provided. Although it did not turn out quite like I remember of Adventist potlucks in the States, the experience was still great.

Saturday Night Social Games

This last Saturday night, at the Adventist high school downtown, there was a gym night. We have been trying to get our girls involved with the church (we attend every Saturday but they still have a difficult time wanting to be involved), and they are doing better, and a gym night sounded like a great idea. It was!

We arrived on time, so there were not many people there (they came later), but we started playing games anyway (being counselors at summer camp really helped with wasting-time-game-ideas). The girls had a blast. When people finally started arriving, someone finally turned on the lights (that helped a lot), and everyone started playing –it was a fun evening that apparently happens every Saturday night. It was exciting to see our girls actively participating in games. With their energy gone, fun socializing had, and sodas in their bellies, they quickly went to bed. What a great Saturday night!

Good to be back!

A friend of ours, Michelle, came to visit in July, and after spending two weeks here in Iquitos, went on a two week trip in and around Peru. We hit up Arequipa (a gorgeous town reminiscent of awesomeness) and went on a two day hike into some of the deepest canyons in the world (Colca Canyons), and then we went to Lake Titicaca and visited some incredible floating reed islands, later we went to Cusco and saw some magnificent Inkan ruins (Machu Picchu) and then went back to Lima (the capital) on the windiest road in the world to wait for our flights (Kelly lost her supper).

It was a beautiful trip. Many pictures and good moments were had. When we arrived back in Iquitos, some of the girls were out front frantically waving and waiting to give hugs. It feels good to be missed. We are now back moving full steam ahead (Lisa and Casey are back now as well). Thanks for all the prayers and words of encouragement!

Here is a photo of some incredible craftsmanship by the Inka´s. Utterly amazing.

Here are some cool Alpaca hanging out at Machu Picchu.

Some incredible terrace work done by the Inka´s hundreds of years ago, still around today.

The scenery was amazing. We were over 10,000 ft. frequently.

Lake Titicaca. A beautiful lake with floating reed islands.

Chairs, Freezer, Fan and Norman Anderson

Thanks to an incredible group of people from California (which included a professor from the WWU Business Department… woop, woop), we were the recipients of an amazing donation. We received new chairs in our dining room, a forceful fan (for the dining room), and a big freezer. Many other items were given as well (from clothes to blankets); these were just some of the big ones. They were also able to put up the ceiling in what will be our new room. The freezer will be, and already has been, a huge help for our ice selling business. We were originally only able to have about 7-9 bags of ice, but now we are in the upper 20’s (and they sell as fast as we can make them). We also use the freezer to assist in storing some of our meat (also a big help). Thank you guys so much!

The famed Norman Anderson, WWU Business Professor, putting a ceiling in our (Kelly and me) new room.

He was even seen sporting the trendy orange service day t-shirt from WWU.

None of us can get over how powerful this fan is. I think that we have convinced the girls that it is really an airplane engine...

Kelly Bakes Cookies for the Girls

When Michelle arrived, she brought with her a plethora of unseen, and forgotten, American items; one of which were giant bags of chocolate chips. We have all the makings for chocolate chip cookies except chocolate. Kelly quickly went to work in the kitchen baking some fresh, awesome, gooey cookies for the girls. We were sad to realize that baking cookies in a gas, one temperature oven, without baking soda, doesn’t quite give you the same result as it would in the States, however, they were still amazing.

The girls took these shots. They interrupted me from a good soccer game to say, “Aaron. Quick. Stop playing. We need the camera. Kelly is cooking!” Needless to say, the girls liked this new found treat –especially the hot, chocolaty goodness.

All Accounts Paid For

This last week we finished up our last meeting with our Santo Tomas ladies. It was more of a party. Five women were present. Five accounts completely paid for. Not one of the accounts is in arrears. This has been an incredible group. They have been very good on attendance, payments and participation.

For those that were able to pay every week on-time, they received a S/.15 ($5 USD) bonus and they will automatically be apart of the next group which will be starting the end of August. For those that were not able to pay every week on-time, they will be considered for the next group, but equally alongside all of the other applicants waiting to be apart of this process. I wish that we could carry them over, but we only have enough funds for one group.

So much has been learned throughout these last four months. There is so much yet to learn and do in order to have this program continue and strengthen. The women, we have found, are very willing to better their business, pay back the loans, and eagerly participate in a group setting. By having the group members from the same location, it has tremendously helped out attendance. I have been reading books on the “How Too” of microfinance, and morphing the knowledge into a program specific for this area. Talk about challenges. There has been a significant amount of help. Thank you. I hope to see this program continue to grow.

Rumor has it we might be even receiving someone from WWU to help out and work with this program throughout this next academic school year. That would be incredible. There is so much to do, so much more we can grow. Keep this program in your prayers. Pray that God, again, chooses the best and most deserving people to be apart of this next group. Thanks for the interest and support.