My name is Brooke Bernhardt and I’m a 19-year-old currently serving as a missionary in Pucallpa, Peru. Pucallpa is a city in the Amazon jungle where there is a vast amount of poverty and disease. Alot of people here struggle with malaria and Dengue fever. I work with an organization called AMOR Projects which stands for Ambassadors In Medical Outreach and Relief. I am volunteering here in Peru for a total of 8 months helping with medical clinics and children’s evangelism.
Just last Saturday, I visited a nearby orphanage and saw that their were so many needs that were not being provided adequately for the kids. There are eighty-six kids in the orphanage and ten of them have special needs. The children hardly have anything in their possession to call their own.
James 1:27 says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” God has given me a dream to provide a special Christmas for each one of these orphan children.
Similar to Operation Christmas Child that puts together boxes with a few basic hygiene items, school supplies, and special gifts for children in poverty, I want to make Christmas bags for all the children in the orphanage. They all need basic things like toothbrushes, soap, and washcloths as well as school supplies and some simple Christmas presents.
I need to raise $1700 for the project by November 30th — that way we would have about $20 American Money to shop for each kid’s gifts and supplies.
Christmas is coming soon and is a special time when lots of money is spent buying gifts for the people we love. These kids at the Pucallpa orphanage don’t have people buying them the things they need. They don’t have people to provide them with presents or lavish them with hugs on Christmas. But they do have us! It’s easy to simply close your eyes or turn your head to the sufferings and problems the world has. It’s easy to try and ignore it, but I’m begging you not too.
I will be visiting the orphanage again next Saturday, and I simply can’t ignore the problem right before my eyes. I want to make a difference in these children’s lives. I want to do something special for them on Christmas that they will remember all year long.
Please consider helping me raise money for the children in the Pucallpa Orphanage. For $20 you can give a nice gift bag to a Pucallpan orphan complete with special presents, hygiene needs, and school supplies. I will be hand delivering all the Christmas presents to the orphans on Christmas day with some of my friends here at AMOR Projects.
Money for Operation Orphanage Christmas Child can be donated to amorprojects.org/donate and just specify that it is for the Operation Orphanage Christmas Child. You can read more about my journey as a volunteer in Peru at brooketotallybrio.blogspot.com.
This is cool! I have been involved in Operation Christmas Child for a few years now. Although, I’ve had a heart for Peru and have been wishing my boxes would go there. For the longest time, I wanted to be a missionary there. So, this post is really cool. I hope that you are a blessing to those children. I will pray for your ministry down there. Keep doing what you are doing. God bless! 🙂
-Rebekah
Thank you for all your help!! We did it! We raised over 3,000 for all 89 orphans and gave them presents Christmas day! God is good; thank you for all your prayers and help! The kids were more than thrilled and at this current time I am living at the orphanage for 3 weeks. The orphanage is definitely in rough condition and it is quite an adventure but God never fails to provide.
Thank you Rebekah for all your encouragement and Peru is a wonderful place! I definitely encourage anyone called by God to visit different countries and provide relief to do it because it will change your life forever.