A Glimpse of Heaven



Carlita Salazar - Age 11 (2003)

 It is common to connect with special individuals and families we serve on Wheels For The World outreaches.  Carlita Salazar touched our hearts back in 2003.  She was an eleven year old girl facing a difficult life as a paraplegic in a disability "unfriendly" world.  In fact, her mother carried her to school and returned at recess to change her diapers.  We often wonder how a wheelchair might change a person's life.  We were able to see a glimpse of that when later that outreach we caught up with Carlita and her mother at a Joni outreach.  Carlita was playing with friends and her mother was visiting with other moms.  Already, life was becoming more normal.



Carlita Salazar - Age 18 (2010)



The above photo was a regular to appear in any presentation about Wheels For The World.  We often re-told her story and marveled at how our hearts were touched by this little girl and her mother.  Just lat Sunday, Debbie asked "I wonder what Carlita is doing now?"  We often say farewell to our fast friends with the hope that we will one day see them in heaven, never expecting to experience a worldly reunion. 

Today God blessed us with a precious reunion.  To our surprise, Carlita rolled into the outreach site still using that pink wheelchair she received at age 11..  Tears, shouts of joy and praises to our King - Gloria a Dios.  God reached down and gave us a present.  Today we once again fitted Carlita with a wheelchair, this time a silver sports chair.  Not an ordinary chair - with great patience handles and arm-rests were retrofitted and a seatbelt fastened to make this wheelchair fit perfect for Carlita and her life in the mountains.  We caught up on her and her mother's life and snapped lots of photos.  This precious child reminds us that God has created us all in his image and has a unique plan for each of us.  Carlita and her mother are Christians and we will assuredly reunite in heaven if not earlier. 

Thank you dear Jesus for this precious reunion and for dieing on the cross for the sins of Carlita and us, so that we may one day circle your throne together and sing your praises.

Nursing

Lydia is our wonderful nurse here with us in Lima, Peru. Her and her husband came with us on this awesome trip. She has seen so many people and feels their joy and happiness. But she also feels frustration of not being able to help these people more. Seeing a child having a seizure and the mother asking.....don't you have anything to help him? Rapping up a child's arm that she has bitten so many times that it is completely infected but knowing the rapping will only last a few days. Only having tylonol to give to people who are in so much pain.
But one great God thing that happened today was that she saw a woman with ringworm so bad that it completely covered her entire torso. It was probably the worst case of ringworm Lydia had seen. She did not have any antibacterial cream....only tylonol.... She dug through the bag of tylonol not knowing why because she knew tylonol was NOT going to help this woman......At the very bottom of the bag of tylonol, was ONE tube of antibacterial cream. Enough for this woman to get relief and get rid of the ringworm!!! God is so faithful and good!!!

Paul and Rico's quote

It is wonderful to come for a week and serve. It is another if you come here, serve, and are transformed. And it is even better if you come here, serve, are transformed, and go home and transform others.
We have no idea the ripple effect we have on others.

7 year reunion

Paul and Debbie first came to Lima Peru in 2003. They met a Carlita, a young lady, at that time who had cancer and was now paralized from the waist down. Her mother would go to Carlita's school everyday to brush her teeth, change her, and help her with daily activities that she couldn't take care of herself. The school really didn't want a disabled student there, but the mother promised she would take care of her throughout the day.
They absolutely fell in love with this sweet little girl. That night after recieving her wheelchair, they all went to a get together. There Debbie and Paul saw the mother hanging out with her adult friends with no child in her arms, and they saw Carlita playing with her friends. The first time ever. They took many pictures and to this day, still talk about her and show pictures of them all together.
Debbie was passing by the waiting room today. A place that she does not go to during the work day while here in Lima. She noticed a young lady that looked like Carlita. She let out a little scream. Then asked, "Is that you Carlita?" IT WAS!!!!
They hugged and were so very excited. Debbie immediately went to Paul and told him she had a huge suprise for him. When he was walking torwards Carlita, he too screamed and ran to her.
What a reunion. 7 years later.....this beautiful woman is now 18 years old, a basketball player, coming back to see 2 people that completely changed her life as well as her mother's life. Carlita still had the business card that Debbie and Paul gave her 7 years ago with their picture on it.
This reunion brought so many tears of happiness to so so so many people here in Lima, Peru today!!!

Injured police officer

When the terrorists occupied Peru, a police officer was injured and is now a quadraplegic. He was here today to recieve a chair. He was very angry and upset still about his injury. He did not know God. The translator, Valdo-a pastor who helps us out, talked to him while his therapist and mechanic were preparing his chair. By the time they came back, the police officer had accepted Christ and had a huge smile on his face. He was ready to take on the world and start living again.

LIMO

One lady today was so happy about her wheelchair that she called me over and said, "Look at my Limo!!! It has a seat belt, fancy wheels, a place to rest my feet, and is so shiny!!!" WOW, a LIMO? Boy....what a reality check.

Tuesday

Today I worked with Kathleen in the morning. Our first Peruvian was a 7 year old little boy named Francisco who had Polio. His mother still carried him every where they went due to his disability. She would come to school with him everyday because she needed to carry him. Kathleen stood him up and he seemed to be able to stand and walk a little bit with assistance. We thought that a walker would be good to strengthen his legs and possibly he may be able to walk someday.
There were no peds walkers. Kathy had a harness that could be put on an adult walker to adapt it to a child. We put him in it and a HUGE smile came to his face. He walked by himself (with the help of the walker and supervision). He did not want to stop to come sit in his chair. When he finally did, he was pushing himself all over. What a happy little boy. Now he could hang out with his friends, be more independent, and mom can be relieved as well.

Monday

When we got to the outreach everything was PERFECT!!! Tent was set up, chairs were in order, Peruvians were waiting, receipients were there. We got to work! We ended up seeing 67 peruvians that day. So many stories. So many smiles. So many happy people. Thank you all for praying for us to have everything ready. On Sunday, nothing was ready for our day on Monday....ONCE again, God showed up and made everything run so smoothly. Thank you Lord.
All the new team members just jumped in and started working. Not knowing what to expect...they worked like they had done this for years. There were perfect chairs for every receipient. There were enough translators, mechanics, supplies, therapists, and of course ..... LOVE to go around.
We worked just a little bit after it got dark... we got to use our head flashlights. Every receipient got a picture. Our camera man, Eric did a great job taking pictures and printing one out for every person who recieved a chair. Thank you Rosario (Local Peruvian) for helping him out too!!!
We were all pretty tired. We ate dinner and got some rest.