Help for Melchora and Valentin

Many of you may have met our dear friends Melchora and Valentin when visiting Cusco or helping with one of our campaigns for the church. Melchora often catered the meals for campaign groups and she and Valentin also worked to help clean the church building for several years. She helped several of the missionary families in our homes and is truly like a family member to us. Valentin and Melchora have two children, Andrew (age 10) and Ruth (age 3).

Valentin has worked in several jobs over the past few years, most of which require a great deal of physical labor. For years he has suffered from bone pain, and his doctors now believe they have found the root of his issues. He was recently diagnosed with lupus and has had several pretty severe flare-ups in the past month or two. He is currently hospitalized and is unable to work. He was notified this past week that he will no longer have insurance. Melchora has been working several jobs to try to help the family make ends meet, but none of these jobs provide insurance. This is a devastating financial blow to their family, as hospital costs can run around 1500 soles/day (about $390 USD).

Several members of the church in Cusco are working diligently to try and find Melchora a job with insurance as soon as possible, but in the meantime, they are incurring some very deep medical debt. Melchora's father is also in the final stages of cancer and they have been caring for him as well. Their family is going through some very deep suffering at the moment and any financial support and prayers from their Christian family and friends would be greatly appreciated.