Trip to Ica & Canete (earthquake damage and relief)

The face of need!



On Friday and Saturday I (robin) was blessed by taking a couple of pastors from the North east U.S. to see the damage caused by the earthquake in Ica and Canete. We had a great time and the Lord opened many doors.

These are photos of houses completely destroyed by the earthquake as you drive to Ica from Canete.

This the street driving into Ica. Many streets in Ica and Canete are so full of debris from destroyed houses that they are impassible.

One of our first stops was at the home of the grandmother of a friend of one of the pastors. These people had lost about half of their house to the earthquake. Parts need to be torn down and rebuilt completely. While we were their the Lord opened the door for us to share the gospel with this lovely family. None of them are saved. We shared with them for more than an hour, we were able to plant seeds that will later be watered. We are praying for a Bible teaching church in Ica. We gave each of them a Bible and tracts. It was a beautiful time.

This was the next stop, a small barrio in Ica (there are many of these). This is a very poor area that also had a lot of destruction. We talked to the people to access the need and then we were able to share the gospel with all of them and invite them to a Bible study we were having in the evening. Four of the ladies came. This blessed my heart a lot. Each lady needed to spend money that could have bought 2 pounds of rice or wheat to feed them for a couple of
days to come to the Bible study across town. When we asked what the need was in the village above all things they said food. Glory to God that they chose to come to a Bible study, at the time they didn't know for sure that we were returning the next day with a ton of food for the village.

Food! We went to a large food market in the morning and bought a ton a food. So much food we filled the van to capacity. We had to use a different car to get our group to the villages. Praise God for His provision!!

Olla comun. (The common sauce pot) This is when a community brings all their food together and cooks one or two large pots of food for the multitude. A real sense of community, kind of like the book of Acts, sharing all things. Through this we were able to distribute the food to the olla comun for the whole community without worry if anyone would be left out.


This is another barrio that has olla comun. We were able to share a couple of hundred pounds of food. Praise to God!!!

This is Las Vinas in Canete. This probably the hardest hit barrio we visited. This is the main village were Pastor Jaime ministers in Canete on a weekly bases. Most of the homes here are built from adobe, and most have significant damage or were completely destroyed. This village is need of much help. Pray that God would grant Jaime strength and endurance for the ministry of rebuilding lives. Praise be to God, much help has been pouring in from many different places.

This is Pastor Jaime distributing blankets to the people in Las Vinas. There is great need for food, blankets and resources for rebuilding houses.

It is kind of crazy to see all of the destruction in a few days. It often seems overwhelming. Where do you begin to help, everyone has needs. How do you help one family and tell the one next door that there is not enough for them. Only the Lord knows, so we seek His wisdom.

Praise be to God!! We have had many opportunities to share the gospel. One of the days in one of the villages a small group gathered around to see the gringos (the two pastors from the states and myself), Jaime and Angie were busy ministering to other people. So one of the pastors looked at me and said, since you are not the best translator, you should just share. I begin to share what I could in Spanish and the Lord took over. I, in the strength of the Lord, was able to share the whole gospel message in Spanish, I read many Bible verses and challenged the people to think about their condition with the Lord. I am truly thankful for this opportunity and pray for more in the future. What a beautiful trip we had. God opened many doors of ministry for us. Thank you Lord and thank you guys who are praying for God to do mighty things in Peru.

robin