CLEVELAND — Kathy Dickriede and Carmen Kluth are both missionaries based in Northeast Ohio.

What You Need To Know

  • Last year, Kathy Dickriede and Carmen Kluth, who are both missionaries, were planning a mission trip to Peru

  • The trip was canceled because of the pandemic.

  • The Peruvian church that invited them on the mission has asked them to do a virtual visit

  • People that before only could give money for a mission trip now actually can go because it's virtual 

"I was really taught to try to leave the world better than how we found it and to go out of my faith in Jesus and try to bring the kingdom of God right here on Earth and not wait for that to happen until we all get to heaven," said Dickriede, a pastor and missionary.

Both women have been serving for over 20 years. 

"I actually went to Argentina for a year and a half a long time ago, maybe in the 90s, early 2000s, and I worked there doing some kind of evangelism, preaching and then, you know, you will see a need you need to respond to," said Kluth, a missionary.

Last year, the two women were planning a mission trip to Peru after the Peru Methodist Church invited Dickriede to come to the country as part of a medical mission trip.

"We had recruited some nurses and a couple of doctors to go with us and we were going to probably do some nutrition information or dental hygiene clinics and give some things away," Dickriede said.

The trip was canceled because of the pandemic.

Dickriede said she felt "sadness and disappointment" when the trip was canceled.

"Terrible. The pandemic and, you know, the trip. I also thought, 'Oh my gosh, United States can survive this. I don't know if Peru can,'" Kluth said.

Kluth, who is from Peru, said she was looking forward to visiting her homeland but the trip likely won't happen for another year. So instead, the Peruvian church that invited them on the mission has asked them to do a virtual visit, something both women are excited to do.

"People that before only could give maybe money for a mission trip now actually can go because it's virtual and it's only just a couple of hours on Zoom," Kluth said.

"We had two team meetings with about 50 to 80 people on that Zoom . . . sharing different languages, channels, and trying to figure it out. But we divided up into different work teams and so we have a group that is researching what we should read about Peru, cultural understanding about Peru. Carmen mentioned that she's in charge of the cooking food network for Peru," Dickriede said.

And together they’re cooking up creative ways to be help people across the world from home. ​​

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