I Have Seen God

Klaus-Dieter John

Description

Klaus-Dieter and Martina John had a vision; to build a top quality health facility for the Indians of the Peruvian Andes. Neglected and marginalised, these people suffer appallingly from the diseases of poverty. Klaus and Martina were highly qualified in surgery and paediatrics, but they had never taken on such a project. Now they set about raising the millions of dollars needed. They watched in astonishment as God opened hearts and pricked consciences to create not just a health centre, but a fully-equipped hospital. If faith can move mountains, it can also shake wallets and transform hearts. This faith has overcome the mire of bureaucracy, deep rooted scepticism, and even blunt rejection. It has cleared blocked roads, blown away arguments, and united Catholics and Protestants in one love for God and their fellow people. Klaus-Dieter and Martina John had a vision; to build a top quality health facility for the Indians of the Peruvian Andes. Neglected and marginalised, these people suffer appallingly from the diseases of poverty. Klaus and Martina were highly qualified in surgery and paediatrics, but they had never taken on such a project. Now they set about raising the millions of dollars needed. They watched in astonishment as God opened hearts and pricked consciences to create not just a health centre, but a fully-equipped hospital. If faith can move mountains, it can also shake wallets and transform hearts. This faith has overcome the mire of bureaucracy, deep rooted scepticism, and even blunt rejection. It has cleared blocked roads, blown away arguments, and united Catholics and Protestants in one love for God and their fellow people.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 19 septembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780857215758
• Langue: English

Extrait

I HAVE SEEN GOD
I HAVE SEEN GOD
The miraculous story of the Diospi Suyana Hospital in Peru
Klaus-Dieter John

Oxford, UK & Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Text copyright 2014 Klaus-Dieter John This edition copyright 2014 Lion Hudson
The right of Klaus-Dieter John to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Monarch Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England Email: [e-mail] www.lionhudson.com/monarch
ISBN 978 0 85721 574 1 e-ISBN 978 0 85721 575 8
Original edition published as Ich habe Gott gesehen by Brunnen Verlag GmbH
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover image: Klaus-Dieter John
To you, Tina: For more than thirty years, you have shared in the writing of every one of these pages
Contents

Foreword

Introduction

1 On the Brink of Death

2 High-School Sweethearts - For Life

3 To Ghana and Back in Six Weeks

4 My Mailbox Experience

5 Zigzagging Through the States

6 Working Until You Drop

7 In the Empire of the Incas

8 The Years at Yale

9 Dodging Bullets

10 Setting the Course

11 Under the Equatorial Sun

12 The Starting Signal

13 Ten People Decide to Take Action

14 Peru or Bolivia?

15 Worthy of The Guinness Book of Records

16 Indoor Camping

17 A Marathon Through Germany

18 The Big Breakthrough

19 That s Who You Need to Talk to

20 The Kaltenbach Story

21 At the European Parliament

22 Cogs in a Large Wheel

23 Seeing It Through

24 WANTED: Warehouse

25 Joyous Celebration

26 Arrow Prayers on the Highway

27 Emigrating to Peru

28 In the Mire of Corruption

29 Hurdles and Dead Ends

30 An Amazing Turn of Events

31 The Amphitheater

32 Twelve States in One Trip

33 Red Tape

34 The First Container

35 The Snowball Effect

36 Siege Conditions

37 The First Members of Staff Arrive

38 The Christmas Gift from Siemens

39 Packing Up

40 Seven Containers in One Fell Swoop

41 Bellevue Palace

42 Such Expensive Church Windows?

43 A Bold Troupe

44 Panic, Prayer, and Progress

45 Curtain Time for Diospi Suyana

46 From the Mountain Top Down to the Valley

47 The Hospital Will (Never) Be Finished

48 Antroferno, Luciana, and All the Others

49 President Sherlock Holmes

50 Power On

51 Waste Not, Want Not

52 Salzburg, S o Paulo, Washington

53 Diospi Suyana Today

54 Our Most Loyal Friends

55 Faith in the Media

56 A Direct Line to God

57 In Appreciation

58 Our Team

Sponsor Companies
Foreword

I cannot ever remember reading a book that brought tears to my eyes. But when I read Dr Klaus John s book, I was profoundly moved and occasionally struggled to read the pages through misty eyes. While some books can inform or entertain, this book can change the way you see the world and transform your understanding of the meaning and significance of life. My hope is that as you read the story of Diospi Suyana, you will discover a new perspective on the sacredness of life and the transforming power of Christian compassion.
First published in Germany in 2010, the book has become a bestseller and is already in its seventh edition. I predict that this book and the incredible story it narrates may well become a sensation in the English-speaking world. The story of the miraculous events that led to the hospital s founding is deeply moving and the style of writing is lucid and compelling throughout.
Diospi Suyana is from the Quechua language and means, We trust in God . Although the author is unapologetically Christian and his faith perspective is apparent throughout, my hope is that people of all faiths and none will be able to read this book and be inspired and encouraged by the vision, warmth, humour, humanity, and compassion that exude from every page.
I have to admit to being somewhat sceptical when I first heard about the story of Diospi Suyana. I thought it was going to be just another one of those typical missionary stories that makes grandiose claims about miracles , but which appear to lack credibility and, on closer inspection, turn out to be rather insipid events for which there are perfectly rational explanations. But Klaus refers to miracle as a series of events that defies any kind of logical explanation or human expectation. Moreover, at a deeper level, he uses the term to evoke the value, sanctity, and dignity of human life and encourages us to think of life itself as the greatest miracle of all.
Klaus story evokes memories of the German-French philosopher and doctor, Albert Schweitzer. Abandoning a glittering career as a well-paid philosophy professor and leading thinker of his time, Schweitzer decided in 1905, at the age of 30, to devote his life to serving the poor as a medical doctor in Africa.
One of the reasons why I admire Klaus and Martina John is because, like Albert and Helene Schweitzer, they discovered from an early age their life s project and pursued it in faith and trust. From the mustard seed of a vision and a prayer, there has developed a thriving community of grace planted in Peru in the form of a missionary hospital.
Through their work hundreds of thousands of lives have been irreversibly transformed for the good. I therefore read the story of Diospi Suyana as a blessing and inspiration, but also as a challenge.

Dr Joshua Searle
Spurgeon s College, London
Introduction

T he book you are now holding was published in German in 2010, and turned out to be a bestseller. A few months after publication, on July 30, 2010, I was sitting at my desk at the hospital just letting my mind wander when I was suddenly struck by the thought that it would be a good idea to make the story accessible to an English readership. My thoughts turned to Janet Yachoua, a kind English lady who had been living in Wiesbaden, a town near Frankfurt, for over twenty-five years. She runs her own translation office and had translated items into English for our website on several occasions in the past. I sent her an email, hesitantly inquiring whether she had heard of the book and, if so, whether she felt she could possibly help with translating it. You could have knocked me down with a feather when the reply came the next day: Believe it or not, I was just thinking yesterday about translating the book, and spent some time praying for you a couple of hours later you emailed me - sounds like a divine plan :-) When do you need it? Janet.
I had not had much contact with Janet over the previous two years but she did know the book; in fact, it had been sitting on her desk for a while waiting for the friend she had bought it for to return from holiday. At exactly the moment when I was in the Peruvian Andes carefully wording my email to Janet, she was looking at the book and experienced an inner calling to translate it.
Over the next two months she painstakingly translated the entire book into English. The text was then revised by Jennifer Baldwin for an American audience. This English original was the basis for the Spanish version, the youth edition in several different languages, and the book you are holding in your hands at this moment.
I d like to add that Janet would not accept any payment for this mammoth task.
If you would like to know how Janet got hooked on this story of providence and wonders, just keep reading people have been known to read it in one sitting through the night.
1

On the Brink of Death

F og clothed the hairpin bends with an impenetrable shroud of white as I carefully maneuvered my vehicle around the endless curves of the mountain pass.
David Brady and I were returning from yet another meeting with government representatives of the Abancay Province in central Peru. It looked as if our persistence had finally paid off - the authorities had agreed to begin paving the access road to our mission hospital soon.
Unfortunately, we could not always avoid making this dangerous trip at night, and every now and then we were met by the hazy flicker of the lights of oncoming vehicles. I wiped the windshield with my hand and gave David a sober look.
It s going to take us an hour longer to get to Curahuasi in this weather, I said sullenly. We had long since left the treeline behind and would reach the pass in a few minutes.
Glaring headlights sped towards us. The vague outline of a tractor trailer left the inside bend ahead of us and suddenly loomed large. Something was very wrong. The truck s lights had already passed us, but something dark was flying at us, completely blocking the way. Instinctively, I jerked my 4x4 over onto the far side of the lane. I was familiar with every inch of that road and knew all too well that, just beyond the asphalt edge, there was a deep and deadly drop.
We hit the trailer hard. I took a heavy blow to my left side. Splinters of glass rained into the vehicle, covering the interior. The screech of twisting metal reached my ears but seemed to be coming from miles away. Then all was quiet. But my car was still spinning uncontrollably towards the bushes - and the dreaded edge. David Brady sat motionless beside me. The eternity of a few seconds passed. Then, without knowing whether or not I was even conscious, David cried out the command that saved us: Brake, Klaus!
My right foot slammed down on the pedal. Our vehicle came to a halt on the very brink of the precipice. We had survived. In fact, we had escaped death twice within seconds - a different angle of impact during the collision or a plunge into the depths would have left two widows and six fatherless chil