Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY190059A
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00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:09 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Today. 01:11 My name is John Lomacang. 01:12 Thank you to our 3ABN family for tuning in again. 01:16 But if this is your first time, remember this channel, 01:19 we believe it's an inspired channel. 01:20 The Lord has called us to do a work 01:23 to get many people ready for the coming of the Lord 01:25 and to introduce Jesus to everyone who tunes in, 01:28 whether by television or by radio. 01:31 Thank you for taking the time to sit with us today. 01:34 And enjoy a program 01:35 that is really going to inspire you. 01:37 It's called the People of Peru Project. 01:40 Many of us don't get a chance 01:42 to travel outside of the United States 01:43 or whatever country you may be viewing us from. 01:46 But Peru is a beautiful country 01:48 and the work that God has called this gentleman 01:50 and his crew 01:52 to be involved in is one that will inspire you. 01:55 And missions is not something 01:57 that just has to happen outside of your neighborhood, 01:59 outside of your country, 02:00 it could happen right where you live. 02:02 So take the time to enjoy the program today. 02:05 But thank you for your prayers 02:07 and your financial support of this network 02:09 as we continue going and growing, 02:11 getting ready for the coming of the Lord. 02:13 Before I introduce my guest, 02:15 I'm going to introduce you to a singer 02:17 that has always inspired me when I listen to him, 02:20 Layke Jones and Tim Parton is going to be playing the song 02:24 "That Sounds like Home to Me." 02:25 Sit back and be blessed. 02:38 Somewhere just across 02:42 the Jordan River 02:48 There is a place of everlasting joy 02:54 and peace 02:58 Where the stream of life 03:02 is flowing there forever 03:08 And the crown of life 03:12 is waiting there for me 03:18 That sounds like home to me 03:23 Like where I want to be 03:28 There'll be no tears 03:32 to fill our eyes again 03:39 The hills will echo with the story 03:45 As we sing of his grace and glory 03:50 Where the saints of God will be 03:56 That sounds like home to me 04:10 They say there's only joy 04:15 inside that city 04:20 A crystal river flowing 04:25 by the tree of life 04:32 No pain, 04:35 no disappointments there 04:38 will hurt us 04:44 For Jesus Christ Himself, 04:50 will be the light 04:55 That sounds like home to me 05:01 Right where I want to be 05:07 There'll be no tears 05:11 to fill our eyes again 05:19 The hills will echo with the story 05:24 As we sing of His grace and glory 05:30 Where the saints of God will be 05:36 That sounds like home to me 05:43 The hills will echo with the story 05:49 As we sing of His grace and glory 06:00 Where the saints of God will be 06:07 That sounds like home to me 06:24 Thank you so much, Tim Parton and Layke Jones. 06:26 That music was taken from the Praise 06:29 Him network recorded on the set before the program. 06:32 We sure do appreciate that ministry. 06:34 And that song really was an inspiring one, 06:37 Sounds like Home to Me. 06:39 And thank you for that. 06:40 But right now let's meet our guest today, Paul Opp. 06:43 O- P-P. Yes. 06:45 Like short for operations... 06:47 Or opportunity. Or opportunity. 06:48 I like that. Good to have you back. 06:50 It is good to be here. 06:51 It's been some time since we've sat down and talk together. 06:53 It has. 06:54 But, so much has been happening in your life since then. 06:57 And it's good to see you here today. 06:58 Good to be here. 07:00 Our viewers and listeners don't know 07:01 that you rode your motorcycle here. 07:02 I did from Eastern Washington. 07:05 That's wonderful. Yeah. 07:07 I tell you, when you get on that open road 07:09 with the motorcycle, it's an inspiring thing to do. 07:11 Depending on the time of the year and the weather, 07:12 we won't talk about that right now. 07:14 But it's been 19 years since you've been involved 07:17 in the People of Peru Project. 07:18 Yes. 07:20 Tell us for those who are listening for the first time 07:22 or don't know who you are. 07:23 Give us first an overview of who you are, 07:25 where you're from, 07:26 and surely in a cap what you do right now? 07:30 Well, my wife and I live in Walla Walla, Washington. 07:33 Okay. Which is our home base. 07:35 We were in Idaho and other parts of Washington, 07:38 kind of in the meantime, 07:40 as we were starting this organization. 07:41 But, my daughter got invited 07:44 to go on a school sponsored trip 07:46 to the Amazon jungles of Peru, Iquitos, 07:49 Peru at the headwaters of the Amazon, 07:51 largest city on earth, John, that you can't drive to. 07:55 You gotta go and buy a commercial airline 07:56 or 4.5 days by riverboat. 07:59 Is it in the high altitude? 08:01 No, it's Amazon. 08:02 It's about less than 1,000 feet above sea level, 08:06 tropical rainforest 08:08 and the largest rainforest in the world, 08:11 right in the middle of it. 08:12 All those different birds 08:13 and nice anacondas, and all that. 08:15 Big Anaconda. 08:17 So I went there as a tag along parent 08:20 with my daughter, who invited me to go. 08:23 And I just saw so much poverty, 08:26 I saw so many children that were un-attended, 08:28 I saw old people that were just, you know, 08:32 at the edge of hopelessness with lack of resources 08:36 that they needed, even for health. 08:39 That it really affected me 08:42 and God took that opportunity 08:43 to just compel me to do something 08:45 that was way out of my comfort zone. 08:48 And I started going back, going back, going back 08:50 and assisting people the best I could 08:51 until we finally formalized. 08:54 And so the long story short, 19 years later now, 08:56 as we have a crisis center for abandoned and abused girls. 09:01 We have a medical dental program 09:04 that has given free medical and dental care 09:06 to over 65,000 people in that city now. 09:10 And we are in the early stages of building a surgery center 09:14 that will be state of the art 09:17 and it'll provide surgical opportunities 09:20 for literally thousands of people 09:22 who would suffer or die without it. 09:25 So we're very, very excited. 09:27 It's, you know, it's a challenge. 09:30 We have groups that have come 09:32 over 5,000 volunteers have come since March of 2000. 09:37 Wow. 09:38 And, you know, they are the lifeblood. 09:41 They are, you know, the source of all the skills 09:45 and the passion and the expertise 09:48 that we need to do all of these things. 09:49 Okay. 09:51 And sometimes they're faith based groups. 09:53 So we're doing, you know, 09:55 evangelism and children's programming, 09:57 vacation Bible schools, that kind of thing, 09:58 construction projects. 10:00 Right. 10:01 And, of course, the medical, and dental, 10:02 and the educational programs. 10:04 I just tell you the very first child 10:06 that ever helped in Peru 10:08 who was living in the slum area outside of the city, 10:11 19 years ago, 10:13 13-year-old impoverished child is now a child psychologist, 10:17 and the executive director of our organization. 10:19 Wow! Wow! 10:21 So the transformation of life is an amazing thing. 10:23 It's been amazing. You said the largest city in... 10:26 Rephrase that again? 10:28 The largest city on earth that you can't drive to. 10:30 Okay, wow. Yeah. 10:31 So there are no roads in there just like air strip or river. 10:35 There are roads in the city, but not to the city. 10:37 But not to the city. 10:39 That's right. Yeah. 10:40 So that's an amazing place. 10:41 I've heard of the Amazon. 10:43 I've traveled quite a bit. I've never been to the Amazon. 10:46 What do you do when you see that kind of, 10:48 I would use a phrase, in many cases, untouched beauty 10:51 because those jungles are dense? 10:54 Have you traverse through any of it? 10:56 I have. 10:57 We had for about eight or nine years a jungle facility 11:01 that was 50 miles up the Amazon, pretty remote. 11:05 We use that as a base of operations to minister 11:09 to about five villages in the surrounding area. 11:12 And we had 500 acres of land up there that was just amazing. 11:17 And when we really accomplished everything 11:20 that we wanted to and kind of impacted that, 11:23 those communities, we thought we better share the love 11:26 and so at that point, 11:27 we gave that land back to the communities 11:30 and moved on to other areas now where we minister. 11:34 But I'll tell you, 11:35 there were some amazing things to be seen in the Amazon. 11:38 I tell the volunteers that came all time, 11:40 you know, when you get here you're not in Disney World, 11:42 you know, this is the real deal. 11:45 And everything that you could ever imagine 11:47 to be in the Amazon was there. 11:49 Have you ever been in one of those long flat boats 11:51 that just seemed like 11:53 they just hover across the water 11:57 in that Amazon River? 11:59 Because I've seen that, I mean, I'm amazed 12:01 as you can tell by just the thought of the Amazon. 12:04 Because we've used that phrase, you know, some will say 12:07 that person is as tall as a person on the Amazon 12:10 or the Amazon jungles are very rich, or rainforest. 12:14 Some of the most beautiful rainforest 12:15 in the world is in that region. 12:17 But talk about some of the other aspects? 12:19 What would, the inspiration, if I'm following you carefully, 12:22 came from you going there 12:23 when your daughter invited you to go. 12:25 Did she go on a mission trip or something? 12:26 She went on a mission trip with the school. 12:30 Said, "Dad, come with me?" 12:31 Well, you know, I've got a sermon series that I do. 12:34 It's called "Where's the Miracle?" 12:36 And a lot of parents feel like maybe the miracle was 12:39 when your teenage daughter asked you 12:41 to go along on a mission trip. 12:43 Maybe that's it. 12:44 You know, a lot of times at that age 12:45 young people are wanting a little independence 12:47 from mom and dad, and as we were talking 12:49 about the excitement of the mission trip 12:51 and the cultural experience that she would have 12:54 and this amazing ministry opportunity 12:56 that she'd been given. 12:57 You know, at the end of that conversation, she said, 12:59 "Hey, Dad, you should go with me." 13:01 And so maybe that was the miracle right there, John. 13:03 And when you landed 13:04 and just took the breath of the surrounding, 13:08 a world is a world within a world. 13:11 Oh, yeah. 13:12 Because when you go, you know, up the Amazon 13:15 and you find cities. 13:17 At night, it's dark. 13:18 It is dark. 13:20 Okay. 13:21 I think that's the fun. 13:23 There is dark as dark can be. 13:24 That's right. 13:26 When the people, large, when you talk about large, 13:29 what kind of city it is, population wise? 13:31 Iquitos has three quarters of million people. 13:33 Okay. So it's a large city. 13:35 Now, 19 years ago, even when I got there, 13:37 there were a lot of amenities that just weren't to be found. 13:40 We took a lot of things with us 13:42 as we traveled those early years took us. 13:45 Over the years now, 13:46 there's more and more and more of the things 13:49 that you kind of need, 13:50 we have to take less along with us. 13:53 Now, we can purchase almost anything we need in that city. 13:56 But everything that comes there, 13:58 all the vehicles, all the heavy equipment, 14:00 every stick of rebar, every bag of concrete 14:03 all comes in by barge up the Amazon 14:07 or it can be flown in commercially, 14:09 but everything is there 14:11 had to come in by boat or by plane 14:12 because there are no roads leading to it. 14:14 So, really good things are a little more expensive, 14:18 the big shipping containers 14:19 that come from some of the areas like China, 14:22 you know, those come in, in large quantities. 14:25 But to get a name brand computer, or appliance, 14:30 or something that, you know, that you really want. 14:33 It's a lot more expensive 14:34 because it's been shipped a long ways. 14:36 So the Amazon in itself has wide areas 14:41 and narrow vein areas. 14:44 You would say the city is located in an area 14:46 where it's large enough for a ship to come. 14:49 The big commercial barges, 14:51 and you know, 14:53 the water can change 14:58 by 20 to 40 feet depth every year and it does 15:03 because of the melting of the glaciers off the Andes. 15:06 And so during the summertime, which would be the December, 15:10 you know, opposite seasons 15:12 because we're south of the equator. 15:13 When the glaciers start to melt, 15:15 the Amazon will rise, sometimes 40 feet, 15:19 which creates some very interesting scenarios 15:23 for some of the communities 15:24 that are down closer to the water, 15:27 the impoverished areas outside the city, 15:31 the homes are built on stilts, 15:33 the health issues that are created 15:35 because of all of this are just unbelievable. 15:38 And that's part of what really gripped me 15:40 when I went there the first time. 15:42 Communities where there is no water system, 15:44 no sewage system of any kind, open ditches 15:47 and then when that water creeps in every year 15:50 for two or three months, 15:52 and starts to cover all those sewage ditches 15:54 and it lifts all that contamination up. 15:56 The children are still swimming 15:58 and the ladies were still washing clothes 16:02 and using that water for bathing and for... 16:07 Matter of fact, I was just there three weeks ago. 16:08 I was going down the river in a boat, 16:11 and I had to grab a quick snapshot of a lady 16:13 brushing her teeth in this water. 16:17 And it's, the contamination is terrible. 16:19 And then when that water goes away 16:20 at the end of that flood season, 16:22 and of course, the mud turns to dust. 16:24 And the dust gets into the air. 16:27 And so then instead of the digestive 16:29 and intestinal bacterial issues 16:31 that people are having the rest of year, 16:33 then it becomes a lung 16:35 and respiratory bacterial problem 16:37 because you get that contaminated dust 16:38 that you're breathing. 16:40 So infant mortality is high. 16:42 The poverty is extreme. 16:44 And there are a lot of medical challenges 16:47 to be had down in those communities. 16:49 But we work there all the time. 16:51 What kind of team do you have? 16:53 I have 14 full time staff. 16:56 We have psychologists, we have medical director. 17:00 Of course, a director have a full time dentist. 17:02 You know, I referenced a minute ago, 17:04 the young woman, the little girl, 17:06 that very first child that I helped in Peru. 17:10 She was 13 at the time, 17:11 help get her through school and then ultimately put her 17:13 through the university for psychology, 17:15 but her little brother 17:17 was seven years old at the time. 17:20 And we've put him through dental school. 17:22 He's now a full-fledged dentist 17:24 and he's running our dental program 17:26 and doing free dental work for impoverished people 17:29 five days a week. 17:30 And it's just been really gratifying. 17:32 Another scenario where it's come full circle 17:35 was a little girl that came to us at the age of 12 17:38 as an abandoned child, 17:40 and we put her through elementary school 17:44 and high school and then nursing school. 17:46 Ultimately, she ended up marrying 17:48 one of our long term volunteers, 17:50 which is a beautiful story, 17:51 but the two of them now 17:53 are the directors of POPPYS house, 17:56 which stands for People of Peru Project Youth Service. 18:00 POPPYS house. Okay. 18:02 They're the directors now of the very facility 18:03 that raised her. 18:05 So another example of a young person 18:07 who came to us in dire need, 18:11 and is now, you know, using all of her skills 18:15 and life experience to impact other kids 18:17 who were in the same position that she was in as a child. 18:20 People giving back to people, changing lives in the community 18:25 that change lives in the community. 18:28 It's a reciprocal blessing. 18:30 But now, when we talk about the 14 staff, 18:33 let's talk about the facility that you have 18:36 and how that came to be? 18:38 Well, our headquarter facility 18:41 is right at the edge of town. 18:44 Of course, towns moving that way now, 18:46 it's not nearly as rural as it was 18:48 when we bought it 15, 16 years ago. 18:51 But at our headquarter facility is the administrative, 18:54 you know, office where we have all of the, 18:57 you know, things that have to happen 18:58 to run a facility like that. 19:00 But we also have housing there for about 60 volunteers. 19:04 So when these volunteer groups come, 19:06 we can do everything in-house. 19:08 We have housing, we have a commercial kitchen 19:11 and cooks that know how to prepare food 19:14 for the volunteer groups that come. 19:17 We have our own buses and our own transportation. 19:19 We have, of course, staff 19:21 that have to take care of all that, 19:23 including the grounds people and the security people, 19:25 and, like I mentioned before, the psychologists, 19:29 the social workers 19:30 that are dealing with our children 19:32 that are out at the orphanage. 19:34 So it's a full staff 19:36 that you would find in any organization 19:38 that's there to run the organization. 19:40 The... 19:41 How many room facility it would be? 19:43 Oh. Well, it's rooms for 60. 19:47 I mean, ultimately, part of that is the dormitory 19:50 that we have for our university students 19:52 that are on that campus. 19:54 So our older students live on that campus 19:56 because it's close to the university 19:58 and convenient. 19:59 They're in more of an adult program, 20:01 little more freedom, 20:02 little more opportunity to work, make some money. 20:04 So would campus then it will be more than one building? 20:07 Oh, yes, yeah. 20:09 And then, we just, a year ago purchased 20:12 a 12,000 square foot warehouse 20:15 that literally borders our property. 20:18 So now it's part of our property 20:20 and that's what's becoming our new surgery center. 20:23 Our girls' facility 20:24 is about 15, 20 minutes out of town 20:26 in a very quiet beautiful small little community. 20:30 The girls that live there go to school 20:32 in the local public school. 20:34 We have a full staff there, 20:35 of course, take care of the kids, 20:36 the nannies, the directors, 20:38 the grounds maintenance people, the cooks, 20:41 you know, everything you need in girls' facility. 20:43 So we have the two different campuses. 20:45 Now, we're talking about the project 20:47 that the Lord birthed in your heart 19 years ago. 20:51 How do you come to a region and you say, 20:55 this is where I'm going to focus my energies 20:58 for the rest of my life. 21:00 How do you get that? 21:01 You know, how do you ignite that? 21:03 How does that flame get lit in your life 21:05 outside of the Lord? 21:06 Well... 21:08 'Cause you gotta keep, you gotta believe every day 21:10 that there's something else that need to happen, 21:11 something else that needs to be done, 21:13 somebody else's life that needs to be touched, 21:15 another facility that needs to go up. 21:17 I can tell you that 20 years ago, 21:19 if somebody was said for the next 19 years, 21:22 you'll be, you know, 21:23 living and working in the Amazon jungle, 21:25 I would have thought they were delusional. 21:27 I mean, would have been nothing close 21:29 to my wildest imagination. 21:32 But I'll tell you what happened. 21:33 I'm very relational, relationship oriented. 21:38 And the Lord knew 21:40 what it would take to get my attention, 21:42 to get my heart 21:44 and I fell in love with the people in that city 21:48 on that very first trip. 21:49 I met two men that were both bilingual. 21:52 I didn't speak a word of Spanish when I went there. 21:54 And I met these two guys on that first trip 21:57 that were English speakers, 21:59 and ultimately before I left on that first trip, 22:02 I met their families, they showed me around. 22:05 I just had this heart connection 22:06 with these two families 22:08 and I had promised them that I would come back. 22:11 The very first girl that I helped 22:13 became friends with my daughter on that trip. 22:15 And so I kind of knew who she was. 22:17 It's an amazing miracle story how I founded the next year 22:20 in a city of three quarters of million people, 22:22 but that's a whole another story. 22:24 But these two men and their families 22:27 made me feel so welcome and so befriended that I just, 22:32 you know, I promised him I'd come back. 22:34 So the next year I came back, I was by myself, 22:37 we found about 120 people 22:39 that needed medical or dental care 22:42 and took them to a private hospital 22:43 and just paid for their surgeries, 22:45 their dental work, their pharmaceuticals, things like. 22:48 So it was just a straightforward helping thing. 22:51 And it was so gratifying to see the impact 22:54 that it had on these impoverished families. 22:55 And it was kind of a no-brainer. 22:57 I mean, anybody could do it. 22:59 Nobody fakes a gallbladder surgery to get your money. 23:02 They either need it or they don't. 23:04 And, so it was very straightforward. 23:06 We ended up buying some food 23:07 for some impoverished communities 23:09 and some parasite medicine and just all, 23:10 the things started happening. 23:12 So I went back the next year, 23:13 and that next year that I went back, 23:15 something really incredible happened 23:16 and I had been feeding street children 23:19 late at night in the city, unattended kids. 23:22 And, you know, 12:00, 12:30, 1 o'clock in the morning, 23:25 these children out on the street, 23:27 then feeding them in a local all-night restaurant. 23:29 And when I was on the way back to my hotel, 23:32 two little kids came out of nowhere 23:34 and again, an amazing story. 23:36 But the long story short is these two little girls, 23:39 their mother had died when they were six 23:41 and eight years old. 23:43 They had been living on the street 23:45 for two years unattended. 23:47 And they were begging for money that night. 23:50 And again, fast forward, I made a deal with them 23:55 that if they would come back the next morning 23:57 I would buy them some tennis shoes 23:58 because I really wanted to find out 24:00 if the story that they told us was true. 24:02 And they came back the next morning. 24:04 It was true. We went back to the community. 24:05 We talked to the people 24:07 that used to be their neighbors. 24:08 And yes, indeed they'd been alone for two years. 24:09 Six and eight years old. Yeah. 24:11 I ended up buying a house on that trip. 24:13 I moved to family into that home 24:15 to take care of them. 24:16 A year and a half later when I got there full time 24:18 and I made many trips between. 24:20 But a year and a half later, when I got there full time, 24:22 I started the adoption process. 24:24 And those are my daughters today. 24:25 Wow. 24:27 Now they're adults. They're living in the States. 24:29 They're married and have children 24:30 but I raised them for 10 years in Peru, 24:32 lived there for 10 years. 24:33 Wow, God bless you. Yeah, so. 24:34 Wow! 24:36 So that was another relational hook. 24:37 That's amazing. 24:38 You know, first time, there was some families 24:40 that I just felt connected to the girl 24:43 that we helped in the very beginning 24:45 that we started on the school process 24:47 that was really neat to see that connection. 24:49 And then these two little girls that I found on the streets, 24:52 and I, you know, I helped hundreds of kids. 24:55 Never one time did I ever feel 24:57 like any of those other children 24:58 would be my kids. 24:59 But there was something amazing that happened that night, 25:03 as I was kneeling in the middle of the plaza, 25:06 in the middle of the night with a translator, 25:09 and these two little kids, 25:10 as they were telling me the story, 25:12 and I've told lots of people, I didn't hear any voices. 25:14 I didn't see any lights in the sky. 25:16 But I knew that I knew that I knew 25:18 that these were gonna be my kids. 25:20 Wow. And so that's what happened. 25:21 And then, when I got down there full time, 25:24 got custody of the kids, started the adoption process, 25:26 started building the organization. 25:28 So it was relationships 25:30 that the Lord used to move me forward. 25:32 What are some of the programs that you offer? 25:34 I heard about the dental school, 25:37 heard about campus and education. 25:39 What are the specific programs that you offer in that, 25:42 in that community outreach? 25:43 Well, 25:45 we do a lot of health education with communities, 25:47 you know, and it's a little tricky 25:50 because people are so impoverished, 25:52 you know, we could go down there and say, 25:53 well, you need to eat this kind of fruits and vegetables 25:56 and you need to, you know, drink clean water 25:58 and you need to do all these things. 26:00 And, honestly, there are families 26:01 that sometimes have to choose 26:03 between medicine for a sick child 26:06 and food for the rest of the family. 26:08 Or if they were to spend the money 26:10 buying clean water 26:13 for their family, then they wouldn't have money 26:15 for any food to go along with it. 26:17 And so, it's a little difficult, 26:19 but we can present some things that are incredibly beneficial 26:23 to those impoverished communities 26:24 that don't cost anything. 26:26 Okay. 26:27 And some of those things would be, 26:28 for example, the absence of alcohol, 26:30 you know, alcoholism is rampant in impoverished communities, 26:34 and it's no different there 26:35 because they can make that alcohol 26:38 out of the local sugarcane, 26:41 and of course, unfortunately, 26:44 somebody has figured out worldwide 26:46 how to make beer inexpensive. 26:49 Wow. 26:51 And, so the, you know, it's the same problem 26:53 you see in lots of impoverished communities worldwide. 26:56 So when we go into community like that, 26:58 so you know, this particular thing, 27:00 for example, it's not helping your finances, 27:03 it's not helping your health, 27:04 it's certainly not helping your children. 27:07 And in our crisis center for these abandoned 27:10 and abused children, 27:12 lots of them are there directly or indirectly, 27:15 related to issues of alcohol in their home, in their family, 27:19 or in their community. 27:20 So that's one thing 27:22 that doesn't cost anything to eliminate. 27:23 And so we encourage, 27:25 you know, listen, for a lot of reasons. 27:28 You know, here's something you could do 27:29 to improve many aspects of your life. 27:32 So there's health education, 27:34 we drill wells, offer freshwater, 27:37 we build simple homes for families 27:40 that just simply have nowhere to live. 27:42 Now, what does the home cost about? 27:44 Generally, if you're talking about providing a home, 27:46 I know, we comparison to where you live in America 27:50 that varies, but... 27:51 We can build a home for a family 27:53 that doesn't have one. 27:54 And again, we're talking about this socioeconomic level 27:56 where people literally have nothing 27:58 but a little shack to live in. 28:00 And, you know, we can provide them something 28:02 that they are incredibly grateful and proud to live in 28:06 for less than $3,000. 28:08 Wow. Yeah. 28:09 And what size structure would that be? 28:11 Oh, something that's maybe 30x50 feet, 28:15 wooden walls, metal roof, 28:18 you know, kind of a pole barn construction 28:20 but you know, you get your doors and windows, 28:23 and furniture and little kitchen in there 28:25 and then people are very, very happy when they go... 28:27 It's synonymous to the life that's surrounding them. 28:29 Right and it's very, very typical in that community. 28:33 So when they move right in there, 28:35 they fit in and feel good about where they are 28:37 and having a safe and secure place 28:39 to raise their family. 28:41 So we'll do that. 28:42 Now, like I mentioned for the faith based groups 28:44 that come, the church groups that come, 28:45 they're doing Vacation Bible schools, 28:48 you know, we're building relationships 28:49 with people in the community. 28:51 And that's the beauty of being there full time, 28:54 because the individual groups come from schools, 28:58 from churches, from medical communities, 29:00 family groups that come together and say, 29:03 "Hey, Paul, you know, if we came to the Peru 29:05 what could we do?" 29:06 And the beauty of it is, I'm able to say to them, 29:08 "Well, what are you equipped to do? 29:10 What are you passionate about? 29:12 What can you do?" 29:13 Because we have work in all of these areas. 29:15 So you come and tell me ahead of time 29:17 what you're passionate about doing, 29:19 trust me, it's not busy work. 29:20 We're not thinking, oh, look busy. 29:22 Here comes a group. 29:23 You know, we have real work 29:25 that needs to be done construction 29:26 on our own facilities, 29:28 homes for impoverish families, 29:30 we do an emergency food distribution program 29:32 that puts us into the homes and to the lives of families 29:36 that have brought about amazing change for them. 29:39 Sometimes we go to a poor family 29:42 that's been identified that's really struggling, 29:44 and we get there with this, 29:46 kind of this food distribution program, 29:48 we do it in a beautiful way that doesn't feel embarrassing 29:52 and feel like just blatant charity 29:55 and were we, we were able to interact with those people 29:58 and it's so gracious and so warm. 30:00 And we learn so much about them, 30:01 but a lot of times we're identifying medical 30:04 or dental needs in that home, 30:05 we're identifying children 30:08 who need to be educated 30:11 that, you know, grandma's left with these four kids, 30:15 dad never was, mom took off and grandma says 30:20 "Hey, you know, I've got these older kids 30:22 and I don't have money to put them in school 30:24 so we're able to help with education. 30:26 We sponsor about 100 children a year in school, 30:29 in addition to our residential kids at the orphanage 30:32 and the children on our other campus 30:35 as the young adults that are in the university. 30:37 Now you have some footage of the region, 30:40 a video that kind of shows us, 30:42 explain what that video contains? 30:44 Well, we've got footage of some of the impoverished areas, 30:48 we, you know, we've got footage of people, 30:52 volunteer groups, for example, the medical teams coming, 30:54 we do medical campaigns in these poor areas, 30:57 so we go into their community, 30:59 we'll set up in a church, or a school, 31:01 or a community center, 31:03 or sometimes a series of houses down, a dirt road street, 31:08 you know, if there's no other, 31:09 you know, so there'll be pediatrics here 31:11 and wound care here 31:13 and you know, children's while pediatrics 31:15 and you know, so we just set up in three or four houses 31:20 and hundreds of people come for medical care 31:23 that they can't get anywhere else. 31:25 Okay, so we'll look at this video. 31:27 When we come back will explain what we looked at, 31:29 just check this out 31:30 and you get a chance to look at what happens here 31:33 in the People of Peru Project. 31:48 Iquitos is a city is really a unique place. 31:51 It's the largest city on earth 31:53 that has no roads leading to it. 31:55 If you're coming to Iquitos, you're getting here by boat, 31:59 or on an airplane. 32:00 There is no other way to get to Iquitos. 32:04 Interestingly enough, when you land in Lima, 32:07 the capital of Peru, 32:08 you're landing on the longest arid coastline 32:12 in the entire world. 32:13 When you get in a plane and fly to Iquitos, 32:16 you're passing over the top 32:18 of the longest mountain range in the world, 32:20 the Andes Mountains. 32:22 When you land in Iquitos, Peru, 32:24 you're landing in the center 32:25 of the largest Amazon rainforest in the entire world. 32:29 And then when you're here in Iquitos 32:31 you're working in the largest city on earth 32:34 that has no roads leading to it. 32:36 There are over 750,000 people, 32:38 three quarters of a million people 32:39 that live here 32:41 in this kind of isolated jungle city. 32:51 The last 18 years been nothing short of amazing. 32:55 I've been struck by the generosity 32:57 of the thousands of volunteers 32:59 that have come to do what they do in medicine 33:02 and crisis intervention and sacrificial giving 33:05 for emergency food distribution. 33:07 We've seen the lives of young people impacted, 33:10 children that would have never had an opportunity 33:12 for an education are now practicing professionals. 33:17 Amazing. 33:20 The needs around us are simply overwhelming, 33:23 and it would be easy to get buried by these huge needs. 33:28 But we just focus one life at a time. 33:32 And little by little, 33:34 we're starting to see a difference 33:35 in the communities where we work. 33:39 It's hard to summarize, but I can tell you 33:41 that when God has a plan for work to be done, 33:47 as long as we remind ourselves 33:49 that this isn't our work and our responsibility 33:51 that we're simply playing a role in the work 33:54 that He'd have us to do, 33:56 then it frees us to focus on the day to day details, 34:00 and to be the hands and feet of Christ 34:02 to love people the way He wants us to love 34:04 and to come to some sort of assistance 34:07 in the best way possible. 34:09 And we've seen some amazing and dramatic changes 34:14 because we're here. 34:19 When I travel around the US, 34:20 and I encourage people to engage in whatever passion 34:23 that God's put on your heart. 34:24 For those who decide that it's foreign missions, 34:26 and specifically those who want to come here, 34:31 they're frustrated sometimes 34:32 because a lot of individuals say to me, 34:34 "Well, I'm not a doctor, 34:35 I'm not a gifted public speaker. 34:38 I'm not a musician. 34:40 I don't have some huge talent that I can come down there 34:41 with, what can I possibly do?" 34:44 And so, let me encourage you that, 34:47 yes, we need the expertise of these professionals 34:50 that can provide services 34:51 that are not available to people 34:53 like the medical and dental work. 34:56 But if you can love people, 34:58 if you can hold babies that need comfort, 35:02 if you can play with children 35:04 who need to gain their confidence in adults again, 35:08 then you have value here. 35:10 There's lots to do. 35:11 We have construction projects, 35:13 and building, and repairing things, 35:16 from simple things to things that require some expertise 35:19 like electrical, or plumbing, or masonry. 35:22 But there's something for everybody. 35:30 I just like to take this opportunity 35:31 to thank those of you 35:33 who have made this work possible. 35:36 There are different categories of people 35:38 that have invested in the work we do here. 35:41 There are those who come and bring their expertise, 35:45 their passion. 35:47 They bring their hands, and feet, and their hearts, 35:49 and the love that they can pass on 35:52 to these children that we work with 35:54 and to the people in the communities, 35:56 and then there are those who have been gifted 35:58 with their resources back home. 36:00 You've worked hard, but also recognize that 36:04 because of their success, 36:06 they have an opportunity to help support those of us 36:10 who are in the trenches and to all of you 36:13 no matter which part you've played, 36:15 I just want to say thank you. 36:16 Without your support back home, without your expertise 36:21 and your passion here on the ground, 36:24 this work would be impossible. 36:35 You know, that's an amazing video 36:36 giving us an overview of Iquitos? 36:40 Iquitos. Iquitos. 36:42 Peru. Peru. 36:43 What an amazing city? 36:45 And you look at the different life, 36:47 the different... 36:49 I noticed some of those vehicles 36:50 that are going by reminds me 36:52 a little bit of the Philippines. 36:53 You know, those little... 36:55 We call it motorcars. 36:57 Yeah... 36:58 A motorcycle combination rickshaw or thing. 37:01 But then you have a lot of volunteers, 37:02 talk about the volunteers 37:04 that come to that area to work in? 37:06 How they are able to do that 37:07 and what they actually contribute? 37:09 We've had about 5,500 volunteers 37:13 since 2000. 37:16 And I'll tell you, John, I... 37:19 the volunteers, like I mentioned before, 37:20 really are the lifeblood of what we do, 37:22 because they have expertise that I will never have. 37:26 You know, I'm not a doctor, 37:28 you know, so I certainly can't do that, 37:30 I'm not a dentist, 37:31 even though I've pulled a few teeth now. 37:33 And, but these people come, you know, the builders, 37:37 the people that are gifted with working with the children, 37:40 the... 37:42 with the children's programs, 37:43 we've had therapists that have come 37:45 that have worked with our kids 37:47 that have been traumatized 37:48 through these horrible circumstances 37:49 that brought them to our facility to begin with. 37:52 So you know, these people are just amazing, 37:54 the volunteers, they come with passion 37:57 and enthusiasm, energy 38:00 and they make things happen in a very short amount of time 38:03 that, you know, that we simply couldn't do by ourselves. 38:06 And yes, it's true. 38:08 And I get asked this a lot, you know, so you know, 38:10 if we sent you the money, just the money 38:12 that we spent on airline tickets 38:14 to get a group of 25 people there, 38:16 wouldn't that be better people say? 38:18 I say, "Well, sure, I could take that money, 38:21 and I could hire people to do some of the work." 38:24 But first of all, they wouldn't send the money. 38:27 Second of all, there's that whole component 38:31 that money can't buy. 38:32 When we pull into a community 38:33 where we're doing a children's program, 38:35 hundreds of kids that second night 38:37 are waiting for the bus, and they see us 38:40 and they come running, running, running. 38:43 You know, when we're there every night 38:44 and they stand outside that bus 38:46 and wait for certain individuals to get off, 38:48 because that's who they bonded with. 38:50 When we spend those moments with people in the medical 38:54 and dental clinics, 38:55 sometimes even in the medical clinics, 38:56 people come that have conditions 38:59 that are way beyond anything that we can do. 39:02 They're so advanced, that even in a modern facility 39:05 in Lima or in the States, it would be too late. 39:07 Right. 39:08 But when our volunteers can give that gentleness, 39:11 that love, that compassion, 39:13 when that patient can leave there, 39:15 knowing that they've been heard, 39:17 that they've been validated, 39:19 that the suffering that they have gone through, 39:21 you know, we help a lot of people, 39:23 but even the people we can't help, 39:24 when we can give them that love, 39:26 and that compassion, that tenderness, 39:28 then we can provide hope 39:29 that goes beyond that immediate affliction 39:32 that they're experiencing. 39:35 Money can't buy that. Right. 39:36 And we need the hearts, and the hands, 39:40 and the love of the volunteers that come, 39:42 and I've seen it transform lives, 39:44 not just in the people we're serving, 39:46 but in the volunteers themselves. 39:48 I was gonna say that because a lot of young people, 39:50 you know, there were a lot of young people 39:51 featured in there that you could tell 39:53 were not natives of that region. 39:55 And you could imagine when they go back home, 39:57 they have a greater, a deeper appreciation 40:00 of all the things that they do have. 40:01 Yeah. 40:02 I remember somebody talking to someone about their children 40:06 that they had sent on mission trips every year 40:08 since they were 7 years old 40:11 and when they were 14 years old, 40:13 one year they sent them to Disney World for the summer, 40:16 give them a break. 40:17 They said, "Those children were bored." 40:19 They said, "Mom, why are we here? 40:21 This is not where I want to be. 40:22 I want to be in the mission field." 40:24 And in this particular mission, 40:25 it was in Zimbabwe down in Africa. 40:27 They said they were just... 40:29 they said, "Mom, we're wasting money here. 40:31 We're supposed to be in Zimbabwe." 40:32 And they said never again 40:34 that they want to go to an amusement park. 40:36 They wanted to get their hands 40:38 involved in taking their energies in changing lives. 40:42 And there's some amazing stories. 40:44 Share with us some of those stories of transformed lives. 40:47 I know some of them, maybe you can't share. 40:50 But give us some of these victorious stories 40:53 that are connected with these projects? 40:55 I love the whole concept of connecting the dots. 40:58 You know, Elder Dwayne McKee is the one 41:03 that was going to do the series of meetings 41:05 in Iquitos back in 2000. 41:10 So he invited Upper Columbia Academy to come. 41:13 Upper Columbia Academy invited my daughter, 41:15 my daughter invited me. 41:17 I went. 41:18 This chain of events just keeps going and going and going, 41:20 connecting the dots. 41:21 And I love these stories. 41:23 For example, we had one of our jungle workers, 41:25 who was clearing brush out of our jungle facility, 41:29 you know, doing things 41:30 that the volunteers wouldn't be doing. 41:31 He was born and raised in the jungle. 41:33 He knows that, 41:34 but he inadvertently stuck his hand 41:37 in a brush pile and got bitten by a really poisonous snake, 41:40 fer-de-lance snake, 41:41 kills more people in South America 41:43 than any other snake because they're so prevalent. 41:46 And, so, long story short, 41:49 they took him by dugout canoe to the local village 41:52 where the, you know, the doctor was a local man 41:56 that he just, you know, born and raised there. 41:58 Kind of a medicine man. 41:59 He's a medicine man, 42:01 that was the closest thing they could do. 42:02 And, while he was there, he experienced, or he watched, 42:05 observed a young woman 42:07 who was being treated horribly by a family that took her in. 42:12 And when he had opportunity, and he was very, very sick. 42:15 I mean, he barely made it through that procedure. 42:19 So in the weeks that he stayed in that village to recover, 42:23 he watched this young woman, 42:26 and finally had opportunity to talk to her 42:27 and got her story. 42:29 She had had some horrible things 42:30 that had happened to her in another village 42:32 and she actually ran away. 42:34 So her parents had no idea she'd been gone. 42:36 They had no idea where she went, 42:38 she escaped this other bad situation, 42:40 came to another village was being abused in that home, 42:44 and he was able to talk to her 42:45 when he finally had some private time. 42:47 And he said, "Listen," he wrote down the name, 42:49 the address of our organization in Iquitos, 42:52 you know, way up the tributary then down the Amazon 42:56 and she'd never been there before. 42:57 And he said, "I work for an organization 42:59 that helps girls in your situation. 43:01 You do not want to live the rest your life like this, 43:03 trust me." 43:04 And she had a little baby girl, and long story short, 43:08 she made a deal with a neighbor. 43:10 And when she had opportunity escaped out of that situation 43:14 and the neighbor took her by boat, 43:16 dropped her off in Iquitos, took her whole day, 43:18 but she finally found us on the other side of the city. 43:22 We took her to our facility. 43:23 And I was so excited. 43:25 You know, when I heard her story, 43:27 I mean, it broke my heart, 43:28 but I was so excited to see 43:30 how she would flourish in a new environment. 43:32 I got to tell you this little anecdote. 43:34 She came on a Friday evening. 43:36 All of our staff were pretty much gone 43:38 for the evening for the weekend. 43:39 So we took her out to our girls' facility, 43:41 and I said, "Okay, on Monday, they'll bring you back in, 43:44 we're gonna really, you know, do this formally," 43:46 but I just kept thinking about her over Sabbath, 43:51 and by Sunday noon, I couldn't stand it any longer. 43:53 So I went out there just to see how she was doing, 43:55 how and her little girl. 43:57 And I thought, you know, this will be interesting 43:58 because here's a girl 44:00 that was born and raised in jungle, 44:01 didn't have electricity, didn't have running water, 44:02 didn't have any indoor plumbing, 44:04 no amenities, jungle life. 44:06 That's it. 44:07 And I thought, I wonder what it is 44:09 that will be so amazing to her. 44:10 This nice dining room with these meals 44:12 that we will have provided, 44:14 the electricity, the indoor plumbing, 44:15 the running water, the shower, 44:17 you know, I was just excited to hear what she was... 44:19 Night and day difference. Yeah, what she was gonna say? 44:20 You know, I thought, this will be fun. 44:22 This will be one of those stories, right? 44:24 So when I got there, I asked her. 44:27 I said, "Well, you know, what do you think?" 44:28 I mean, what's it like? What? 44:30 You know, what are you feeling right now? 44:31 You know what she said to me? 44:33 She had been living in that shaman witchdoctor's home. 44:36 Wow. 44:38 And being, you know, abused there. 44:42 And her observation had nothing to do with electricity, 44:45 running water, nice bed or anything else. 44:48 She said to me, "Here's what I've noticed." 44:52 And I thought, "Okay, here we go." 44:53 And she said, "The spirit is very different here 44:58 than the spirit in the home I was living in." 45:01 What she recognized, 45:03 what came to the forefront of her mind 45:05 was the difference in who we worshiped. 45:09 I mean, that's what it boils down to. 45:10 So she came to this community, this fellowship of, 45:15 you know, our little group there, 45:17 where we serve God, we believe in Jesus Christ. 45:22 That's right. 45:24 We know the gospel as we know the gospel. 45:26 And she sensed the spirit 45:29 and how different it was there than in a home 45:31 where they're really honoring the powers of darkness. 45:35 And that really is something that stuck with me 45:36 as many, many years ago. 45:38 Well, you know, she came. 45:39 We educated her, she finished her program with us. 45:43 Ultimately, she moved to Lima 45:44 because she had some other family members 45:46 that had found their way there and we reconnected them. 45:49 And a couple years later... 45:51 And we stayed in contact. 45:52 But a couple years later, she contacted me and she said, 45:54 "Oh, Papa Paul," you know, they all call me Papa Paul. 45:59 "I am sorry, I have to ask you this, 46:00 but I'm just in a bit of a bind right now 46:02 and I need to get some money together 46:04 for registration for school, and I'm just, 46:06 you know, I've never asked you for anything before like that, 46:08 but I just need some help right now." 46:10 And then she said, "I just can't afford to get everything 46:13 I need for school." 46:15 And I wrote back to her, I said, "But Giovanna, 46:18 you know, school's free, what are you talking about?" 46:20 Right. 46:21 And she said, "Well," 46:23 she sent me a picture of her daughter who was now, 46:25 you know, eight or nine years old, 46:27 from her school uniform from last year. 46:30 And I zoomed in and I looked here on the corner. 46:34 This girl had gone to Lima 46:36 and put her daughter in an Adventist school... 46:38 Wow! Wow! 46:40 Which was expensive. 46:41 You know, it wasn't the free public school system. 46:43 And I just thought how amazing is that? 46:46 One of our workers gets snake bit. 46:48 So he goes to another village. 46:50 You know, he meets this girl, 46:51 invites her to be a part of our organization. 46:53 We educate her. 46:55 She moves away as a young adult, 46:57 independent with skills, 46:58 with the ability to take care of herself, 47:01 and a couple years later, 47:02 we find out that she's put her daughter 47:04 not just in a Christian school but in an Adventist school. 47:07 And I think, man, you know, it makes me rethink sometimes 47:10 the snake bit moments in my life. 47:12 Right. The miracle of a tragedy. 47:14 Exactly. 47:16 Something directed of God, 47:17 allowed of the Lord to save a life, 47:19 to save another life. 47:21 That's amazing. 47:22 That's just one story out of many. I mean, we... 47:24 You know, every child that comes to our facility 47:27 is a victim of something, either extreme poverty, 47:30 or physical or sexual abuse. 47:33 You know, there's been something tragic. 47:36 We get our children from the court system. 47:38 Sometimes people in a community bring us a child 47:41 that is completely unattended. 47:43 One of the more recent girls that came to our facility 47:45 was an 11-year-old girl, that's pregnant. 47:48 She's gonna have a baby next month, 47:51 because of the tragic circumstances in her community. 47:54 And, so then, they're ostracized by the community. 47:57 There's pressure from the family 47:59 and the community leaders 48:00 if they're connected to the person 48:02 that was the perpetrator in that circumstance, 48:04 and it's not really safe or comfortable for her 48:06 to live in that community. 48:07 More so, this little 11-year-old child 48:09 now is gonna have a baby through no fault of her own. 48:14 And, you know, praise the Lord, we're there. 48:16 What are some of the ways 48:17 that people that are listening to this program 48:19 can be participants, 48:20 can help maybe financially or in involuntary capacity? 48:23 Well, you know, we've been a donation based organization 48:26 since the very beginning. 48:27 And, so, of course, you know, financial support is always, 48:31 always necessary. 48:33 We're launching the largest project we've ever done now, 48:37 which is our surgery center 48:38 and it's gonna be a full blown operational center 48:42 for two ORs, 48:45 cataracts, four prenatal care, 48:48 four dentistry, three dental operatives. 48:50 I mean, it's gonna be a facility 48:52 that will really change the health care opportunities 48:56 in that city for impoverished people. 48:57 So this is a big, big project. 48:58 We're gonna need some special financial assistance there. 49:02 But as I've mentioned several times now, 49:05 volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization. 49:07 And we love volunteer groups, could be construction, 49:10 children's programming, medical and dental, 49:13 emergency food distribution. 49:14 I mean, there's a lot of things, 49:15 or a combination of those things. 49:17 So churches, schools, family groups, medical groups, 49:22 we love volunteers. 49:23 And we make it easy 49:25 because we have all the amenities. 49:26 You don't have to worry about where you gonna live, 49:27 what you're gonna eat, 49:29 how you're gonna get transported. 49:30 You don't have to worry about the building materials 49:31 or the medicine or anything else. 49:33 We have all of that covered. 49:34 We just need the people to come and bring their passion, 49:37 their expertise. 49:39 And when you go to the peopleofperu.org website, 49:41 we'll give you that information in just a moment. 49:43 You'll be able to see the different projects, 49:45 the mission, the groups, the needs, the water problems, 49:49 and you'll discover that there are many... 49:53 numerous ways you can volunteer. 49:55 Find out more about how you can get there 49:58 and you may even be just a person 50:00 that wants to teach English, ESL, English Second Language, 50:04 or you may have construction abilities, 50:06 or whatever the skill may be. 50:08 The People of Peru Project 50:10 will be tremendously blessed by you. 50:12 And so here's the information that you're going to need 50:15 to get in touch with them. 50:16 And we want to... 50:18 And when I think just before I give the information, 50:20 is there anything else 50:21 that people listening to this program 50:23 or watching this program need to know 50:25 when it comes to participating or supporting the program? 50:29 You know, John, we always need the prayers of the faithful. 50:33 Okay. 50:34 You know, I can tell you that, of course, like I mentioned, 50:37 the financial support and the volunteers. 50:41 But we need the prayers of the faithful, 50:43 you know, I've never done this before. 50:44 Okay. 50:46 There are challenges running an organization 50:47 here in the States. 50:49 But when you get into another country, 50:50 where cultures are different, politics are different, 50:53 procedures are different, 50:55 you know, we're viewed as different 50:57 and we want to be sensitive 50:59 to the cultural needs around us. 51:01 We don't create programs 51:02 that create dependence on ourselves. 51:04 We don't come in like the great, 51:07 you know, all knowing saviors of the race, 51:10 you know, we want to assimilate into that culture, 51:12 build relationships, make friendships, 51:15 have the confidence 51:16 and the trust of the local people 51:19 and just do the work that God's given us to do, 51:22 touching lives one at a time. 51:23 You know, we invest deeply in specific individuals, 51:28 specific families and specific communities. 51:30 And I've often said, you know, we've had enough money 51:33 come through the organization over the years, 51:35 we could have probably bought everybody 51:37 in the city a popsicle, 51:39 or bought every family a chicken. 51:41 But at the end of the day, what do you have, 51:43 you know, you've got popsicle sticks and feathers. 51:46 And so what we really want to do is equip young people... 51:49 And we've graduated now dentists, nurses, doctors, 51:52 lawyers, mechanical engineers, 51:54 we've got people out there working 51:56 that are young professionals now 51:57 because we've put the wheels on the bus. 51:59 Okay. 52:00 So here is the information that you're going to need 52:02 to get in touch with Paul Opp 52:04 for the People of Peru Project. 52:09 For some, it's too late, but for others 52:13 you will be the answer to their prayers. 52:16 You can be a life changer. 52:18 If you feel impressed 52:19 to support the People of Peru Project and Ministry, 52:22 you can contact them at People of Peru Project, 52:26 1703 Sunset Drive, 52:29 Walla Walla, Washington 99362. 52:33 Again, that's People of Peru Project, 52:36 1703, Sunset Drive, 52:39 Walla Walla, Washington 99362. 52:43 Or you can find them online 52:45 at www.peopleofperu.org |
Revised 2019-10-22