La Luz de Cristo para Perú
COCHAS CHICO | THE VELI FAMILY
I wanted to share one of my favorite places in Peru with
you this month. I continue to find myself
drawn to the town of Cochas Chico and Co-
chas Grande. The two towns literally meet on
the corner and share a common road down
the middle. And, humorously enough, Cochas
Chico is bigger than Cochas Grande. It takes
us about 30-45 minutes to get to Cochas from
our home in Huancayo. We catch a combi
bus and ride out of town, over unpaved roads
and up through tiny villages and mountain
farm land. Almost always, we share the bus
with people loaded down with market pur-
chases ranging from fruits and vegetables to
meats and live animals. It is not uncommon
for us to sit across the aisle from a woman
holding chickens or baby lambs. But we never
mind, because the people from Cochas are
perhaps the sweetest natured people that we
have met in Peru!
Maybe it is because they are all artisans by trade. Or
maybe it is because they live in the country and still cherish
their quiet lifestyle. Or perhaps it is because so many of
them have accepted Christ and hold His spirit in their
hearts. Whatever it is, it is contagious! When we arrive in
Cochas, our hearts are suddenly lighter and life just seems
to be a little brighter. Every single time we visit, we are
greeted with hugs and kisses and smiles that seem to ooze
sunshine. Sarah jumps off the bus and skips down the
street like a pied piper, gathering friends along the way and
singing and laughing with everyone. Little voices yell,
“Sarita!” when they see her coming.
The Veli Family is the reason for our visit. We met their
family of artisans (carved gourd art) in May of last year.
They are Christians, and it shows in everything they do,
including their art. Pedro and Paulina are definitely the
glue in the family, and everyone is always over at their
house—”family central”. I’m still not positive how many
Volume 5 Issue 1
January 2010
children Pedro and Paulina have, but I know
that there are probably more Veli family
members in Cochas than we can count! We
have met several daughters, sons, grandchil-
dren, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. Everyone
in the family works in gourd art in one way or
another. We have helped one son with
some translating between himself and a
buyer in the United States who sells his
gourds. One son works in import/export in
Lima, as well as studying cultural art. Sev-
eral daughters are artists and sell their works. Even
the children are involved… on one visit, we watched as
the children molded tiny nativity pieces from clay, dried
them in the sun, and hand painted them for use in
gourd nativity scenes. Karina (12 yrs.) carves gourd
pieces into jewelry and sells them to help pay for her
schooling and clothes. Karina has begun to call us
“tia” and “tio” (aunt and uncle). Pedro and Paulina
have fed us many a meal cooked over a wood fire and
spent long hours talking with us and teaching us about
their art and their culture and history. Pedro even said
to us, “I know it is difficult for you to be so far from your
family. Please consider us your family here. You
should never be without family.” Is it any wonder that
we love Cochas? Next month, we have the pleasure
of taking a short-term team into Cochas to help the
local Christians begin a new Kid’s Club. Please part-
ner with us in praying and supporting this effort… an
effort by the local people to spread the Word to their
own people. This is what it’s all about!!!
 PERU
TRAINING:

March to the Beat with The Drums

“What’s going on in the Drum household nowadays???” Well, we just fin-
ished spending Christmas holidays with visits from Laurie’s mom (Patricia
Goins) and Ryan and Miles. We were able to get some mountain hiking in,
ARE YOU
some travel to the jungle (lots of waterfall hiking!), some visits to Peruvian
ruins dating from 0—1500 a.d., and way too much eating! Now it’s back to
READY TO
work… COME AND
• Sarah begins her “vacaciones utiles” this week, which includes classes
in dance, piano, theatre, and art. Peruvian children don’t usually take SERVE???
any extracurricular classes during the school year, only during summer
break. We have spent the past few months
• We are working on updating the website, newsletter, blog site, etc. writing and planning a new training pro-
gram for people who wish to come and
• We welcome a visit from “the big wigs”… Darrell Whiteman (Mission serve in Peru with us as short-term mis-
Society office) and Ben Reyes (South American Field Leader) will visit sionaries. The training consists of a 5
week devotional component (one devo-
our team this month to make plans for future training events in Peru. tional reading and lesson for each day)
• We welcome Billy’s mom (Sherilyn Drum) in mid-January for a month- and a 5 session online training consisting
of videos, audio, and mini-lessons on
long visit. A visit from Billy’s mom always means good cookin’!!! culture and how to prepare for Peru. We
• The Kuyay Talpuy school will begin their summer break /summer school know that the majority of you are not
going to come down and serve with a
this week. short-term team or as interns, but you
• We will finalize plans for the first of several short-term teams (February). might like to follow the training and devo-
tionals to learn more about the culture
and life here. If so, please join us at
www.perutraining.weebly.com! Just
download the devotionals and follow the

Kuyay Talpuy school Christmas lessons! Hope you enjoy learning more
about Peru.

ON DECEMBER 22, THE KUYAY TALPUY SCHOOL HELD IT’S FIRST EVER CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION.

The children had been building up to this day for weeks now… the first-ever Christmas party of
Kuyay Talpuy. The date also coincided with the last day of school for the school year. The tree
was decorated (the ONLY Christmas tree that any of our students had ever known) and the chil-
dren were excited to find out exactly what a Christmas party was like. Extreme poverty being
what it is, none of our children had ever experienced this before. Even the parents were excited
to find out what would occur. Some of the children performed Christmas songs and dances that
they had learned during the past weeks. Darwin (the school director) read a portion of the
Christmas story from Luke and discussed the true meaning of the season with the children and
their parents. Santa Claus even appeared and brought a sack full of gifts… special thanks to the
sponsor who bought children’s Bibles for every student, for the bible study group who bought
every child new socks and small toys and candy, and to the Peruvian sponsor who gave every
boy a toy car and every girl a doll.
Santa told the children of the impor-
tance of their Bibles as parents mar-
veled at the only hardcover book that
their family owns. The father of one
student went to the front of the room
and he and his daughter gave us a
gift… a song that they sang to us about
going to school and learning about God.
(Of course, we cried!) And the party
ended with hot chocolate and
panetone (traditional sweet
bread) for everyone. It was a
very special day!!! Thank you
to all of the Kuyay Talpuy
sponsors who made this
possible!!!
 DEAR BILLY AND LAURIE,
† I will pray for you. Please send me your newsletter
by e-mail: ____________________________________
† As God provides, I plan to partner with you by giving
$ _________ Per month / quarter / year for _____ years.
† I would like to donate a one-time gift of $ _________
† I would like to sponsor a child’s education for $25/mo. ($300/
year). (Please write Iscos Project—Kuyay Talpuy on your check)

Name (PLEASE PRINT) ______________________________________

Address _________________________________________________
City____________________ State__________ Zip _______________
Phone _____________________ Home Church __________________

TAX DEDUCTIBLE GIFTS MAY BE SENT TO:

The Mission Society
PO Box 922637
Norcross, GA 30010-2637 USA
DESIGNATE GIFTS: “DRUM SUPPORT 5/321”
The Drums | HOW TO CONTACT US
MAILING ADDRESS: LAURIE & BILLY DRUM...JR. SAN JOSE 278…URB. SAN CARLOS...HUANCAYO, PERU
TELEPHONE: 979.985.5268 (TEXAS PHONE NUMBER—RINGS US IN PERU)
EMAIL: BILLY@DRUMSFORCHRIST.ORG OR LAURIE@DRUMSFORCHRIST.ORG
NEWSLETTER: VISIT THE WEBSITE AT WWW.DRUMSFORCHRIST.ORG AND CLICK “NEWSLETTERS”
SUPPORT US: USE THE FORM ABOVE, OR GO TO http://www.themissionsociety.org/people/drum
KID’S CLUB CONCERT
THE MUSIC MINISTRY TEAM HELD A CONCERT FOR ALL
OF THE KID’S CLUBS IN AND AROUND HUANCAYO.
On December 19, the music ministry team held a
concert for all of the Kid’s Clubs in our area. A
wonderful time of music, puppets, dramas, and
dancing was had by all, with approximately 500
children in attendance! Ryan and Miles were able
to participate in this ministry by dressing in mascot
costumes and dancing with the children, motivating
and exciting the crowd, and gathering participants
from the streets of downtown. The leaders of each
Kid’s Club played a part in the concert by helping
lead dances, act in the dramas or puppet shows,
lead the crowd in praise and worship, and work
crowd control. We were especially pleased to see
some of our children from the Kuyay Talpuy school
is Iscos at the concert, as this location presented
an hour of bus travel for them each way and the
dedication of their parents to accompany them to
the concert!
Miles (in purple) and Ryan (lion) help
gather children for the kid’s concert
downtown.
Prayers
and Praises
Praises for time spent with loved
ones during the Christmas sea-
son! It was a pleasure to have
Laurie’s mother here for awhile,
and it was really sad to see the
boys go home.
Special prayers for Miles as he
struggles with life as a young
adult—college, friendships, goals,
etc. Please pray that God’s light
will shine in his life and he will
soon find a focus and a reason
amidst his struggles.
Please continue to pray for the
Kuyay Talpuy school project in
Iscos and for the community.
Pray for the teams who are in
their funding and training modes,
planning to serve the people of
Peru during 2010.
Praises for a group of young in-
terns who will be joining us in the
summer of 2010!!! We really need
their help and we look forward to
hosting them as they serve the
people of Peru! We will host 5
young ladies beginning in June.
Please pray for their fundraising
efforts and their training process
as they prepare to come to Peru.
We continue to pray for all of YOU
as you continue to support us
through your prayers and your
financial support. Without you, the
ministries that are occurring here
would not be possible. Thank
you!!!
SERVING PERU | HOW TO GET INVOLVED
There are so many ways that you can serve God by serving the people of Peru. Just to list a few….
Pray for missionaries, provide for the purchase of Bibles, share our story with everyone you
know, help short-term teams come to serve, provide for medicines and medical care, sponsor a
child in the Kuyay Talpuy education project, help provide for missionary children in their educa-
tion expenses out-of-country, care for family members of missionaries who are back home in
the USA, sponsor a Kid’s Club in Peru by providing for craft materials/puppets/music, etc., pray
for new believers in Peru, sponsor a new disciple by providing for bible study
materials, … so MANY ways to get involved!!!
You might consider praying for a specific ministry, project, or missionary each
month of the year. You can pray for Kid’s Clubs, Kuyay Talpuy school, disci-
ple groups, educational ministries, missionary children, health minis-
tries, new believers, music ministries, etc.
But whatever you do… don’t “do nothing”!!! Get involved!!!

SHARE THE LOVE OF CHRIST WITH THE PEOPLE OF PERU.

WWW.DRUMSFORCHRIST.ORG | 979.985.5268

Laurie & Billy Drum

PRESRT STD
3907 Old Oaks Bryan, Texas 77802 USA US POSTAGE
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BRYAN TX
PERMIT #102
E-mail: billy@drumsforchrist.org
laurie@drumsforchrist.org