First Presbyterian church family travels to Peru for mission work
Published 3:03 pm Thursday, January 3, 2013
A local family will spend their holidays a little different this year after following what they felt was “God’s calling” for them to do missionary work in Lima, Peru.
Jimmy and Nadia Dukes and their two young girls of First Presbyterian Church in Demopolis recently left Marengo County in late November for Lima to pursue missions. Nadia has family in Peru.
Nadia said they will be doing a variety of missionary work while in Peru. She said they will work to aid married couples with counseling. In addition, they will do evangelism, church work and other things they feel called to do.
“We are here to do whatever the Lord wants for us to do,” she said.
Their journey began with an eight hour plane ride, until they found some troubles at the airport with locating their suitcases.
“Somehow our seven suitcases didn’t get in the plane from Miami, but not just that, they took two carry ons from us, they destroyed both of them but the worst part was that in one of them we had a laptop,” she said.
She said despite, all of that her husband was still trying to convince her that everything would be fine. When they arrived in late November, Nadia’s family was there to welcome them.
Jimmy and Nadia Dukes of Demopolis have recently left to do missions work in Lima, Peru. Nadia is shown in the middle with her daughter Isabela and her husband Jimmy. They are pictured with other family members.
The family recovered their suitcases the following day, but soon were to get some more unsettling news.
“While my sister was here she decided to take her little daughter to the doctor, very soon the doctor decided to do an ultrasound on her and they found a dark spot in the very low part of her stomach. Later, they asked for an X-ray and they saw it again something they thought was a tumor in her colon. Of course, the news destroyed and worried all my family,” she said.
She said she was happy to be there so she could be close to her sister during this time. After several other tests, Nadia said she was glad to find her niece did not have a tumor.
“I could not be more thankful to my Lord for this and that he is watching over my family in a miraculous way because I know it is a miracle,” she said.
Nadia said her and her family are missing home, their family and friends.
“We are grateful to the Lord for letting us meet so many precious people while living there and to know that many people in Demopolis care about us it makes us feel very special and loved, and love all of them as well,” she said.
