Team Wieck

My friends, family, random blog readers, strangers in a grocery {liquor :)} store…

Some may have heard and some may not! This July, I am headed to Chimbote, Peru with St. James Basilica as part of a mission trip. Fr. Jack Davis has been serving the people of Chimbote since 1975. The mission is simply known as Fr. Jack’s Mission or Friends of Chimbote.

Chimbote is about a 6 hour drive northwest of Lima, the capital of Peru. This former thriving resort town on the Atlantic Ocean, known in the 1950’s as the “Honeymoon Capital of the World”, is now in extreme poverty. The average YEARLY income of $300/person (no, I’m not missing a couple zeros) is unable to satisfy the basic needs of the population. Daily a meal is served at the mission, often this is the only meal the people of Chimbote receive. The cost of this meal is .30 per person, a total of 109.50 per year. I don’t know about you, but far too often the Wieck weekly grocery bill is over $109! Since 1975 the mission has created daycare, provides healthcare, opened a Hospice, and provides safe shelter for battered women.

In Chimbote, it costs $1.96 for a Well Baby Check Up!!!!!!!

March of 2013 a devastating rainfall hit Chimbote. The little that was owned by the average Chimbotano is now lost. Friends of Chimbote have been scrambling to assist procuring shelter and other basic needs that were lost as a result of the flood.

Prayers, prayers and more prayers are needed for our endeavor. Prayers for our safety, wellness and health while we are travelling to Chimbote are needed. Prayers for the ministry that we will be sharing with the people of Chimbote are needed. Prayers for the people of Chimbote are needed.

We are fundraising to offset the cost of the trip. We also hope to purchase beds, stoves and material to build homes. Our original hope was to raise $2000.00 per person (about $50,000 total). Now with so much of Chimbote in ruin due to the flood, I would like to personally increase my goal to $2500.00. I ask that you prayerfully consider helping me meet that goal. I have raised $1442.91 to date. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for your prayers as we work towards this worthy endeavor.

A Hyperlink to donation page:

St. James Mission Trip to Chimbote Form & PayPal

No donation is too small!

Never be too busy to count your blessings :)

Laura Wieck

Mission Prayer

Loving God and Father, we journey towards you.

We bring you our offering as a sign of our love and gratitude

for all we have received.

May this offering, loving Father, help build your kingdom here on earth.

We know that what we offer is little, but it is all that we have today.

Accept it, O loving Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Some Pictures of the Programs at Fr. Jack's Mission:

Well it's been a few months since the last blog update and our little boy is growing like a weed!

Jordy turned 1 on January 8, right after we returned from watching the Jimmies play in Phoenix and Denver. Both stops were SO much fun as we got to spend some time with Justin's great aunts and uncles on the Henning side (Kay & Dennise and Warne & Janelle) and with Sissa, Nick, their little boy Lucas and Angie, Paul and their little boy Oliver! Jordy even went to his FIRST NBA game, the Denver Nuggets! (it was mine, too!)

The Jimmies struggled on the trip but then had a great ending to the season, beating the #9 ranked team in the conference tournament to earn a trip to the NAIA National Tourney!!! Not too bad for Coach Wieck's first season. So, naturally, I took a week off work and packed a 1 year old for a 15 hour BUS trip to BRANSON, Missouri! The Jimmies came up short in the tournament but it was so awesome to get a quick stop in Kansas City to see my cousin Christopher and dear friend Tiffany, and then Jeff, Karna, Leah, Jalen, Jackson, Abby, Brent, & my parents all in Branson. While the coaching carousel can be really challenging sometimes on the homefront, we get to do a lot of fun and special things and do lots of traveling. And other than ME having a meltdown at a Wendy's and Jordy having a metltown at the Dixie Stampede, the trip went so well. The guys on the team are so great with Jordy, playing with him and teaching him tricks. He now nods his head "yes", gives knuckles, and loves stealing headphones.

We were able to make it back to Iowa for Easter. It was pretty fun watching Jordy "hunt" for Easter eggs with Cady & Owen. They were both SO sweet and helpful trying to show him what to do! Jordy didn't get much of an Easter basket but we decided it was finally time to get the kid his own hoop (I know you can't believe it, but he didn't have one!). So I guess we can consider that an Easter gift.... He has known since he was about 10 months (& walking) that the ball goes in the hoop and just begs the team or his daddy to pick him up high so he can put it in there. So now he has a 39" hoop and he loves it SO much and cries whenever we try to put it away.

We are learning the ins and outs of home ownership! Even though we owned our condo in Iowa City, owning a HOUSE is a whole new ballgame. Needless to say we are the two most un-handy people in the world and have all ready replaced our heater and we are going through a bathroom renovation which might just put me over the edge. It started March 25 and still isn't completed. Joke is on you HGTV fans, except the part about ALWAYS uncovering extra expenses... so far that has true :) Oh well. I know we will love it when we are done and fingers crossed that what they say is accurate about improving the re-sale value someday. Blessed are those who are able to pay their bills, right?

Our baby had his 15 month check up this week. As usual, we walked in and Jordy greets everyone "hi, hi, hi, hi" and makes SURE they say it back! He charmed all the nurses and is now 85% percentile in height and weight. He weight jumped enough that we were told to go from whole to 2% milk, so maybe he won't be QUITE as lean as Daddy! He is 25.8 pounds and 31 1/2 inches tall. I swear he is learning a new word every day. He "talked" so much at the check up the doctor forgot to order his shots because she thought he was 18 months all ready. Lucky boy, they recovered and gave him his shots. As usual, he hated it and told the nurse "No, No!" he quickly forgave her in exchange for the dum dum.

I am renewing my goal to blog once a month, it's actually helps me reflect when we are so busy and don't keep much of a schedule... how much we have done and what we get to do together! So until then, never be to busy to count your blessings too!