A Jungle Ant Farm

Caleb loved the ant farm his Grandpa Benedick helped him put together in Idaho, so we decided to make an ant farm for him here jungle style.  Since you can't buy prefabricated ant farm kits here, we just made one out of coke bottles.  We had to be a little careful when we collected the ants for fear they may bite us, but we successfully got quite a few in the "farm" and Caleb has had fun watching his little guys at work.

Rayana

The local orphange here in Shell, Casa de Fe, is a haven for abandoned and special needs children in the heart of the Amazon.  Their mission statement: Believing that all children are created in God’s image, and for his perfect purpose, Casa de Fe is a Christ-centered ministry caring for abandoned and special needs children, providing care in a loving and supportive environment until they can be united with their biological or adoptive family. The orphange is currently in the process of contructing a new building to house all these beautiful children. 
Patti Sue, who runs the orphanage, is a wonderful lady with a true heart for the children.  Occasionally she asks if the mission community here in Shell would like to host children in their homes to work on their developmental skills and love on them.  Recently she received a little girl from the jungle named Rayana.  She is eight months old but developmentally delayed and cannot see.  We've offered to take her into our home every now and then.  This was our first weekend to have her with us.  Though she's much like a newborn, she has a great smile and a very content demeanor.  The kids have really enjoy having her, too.  Jael likes to give her kisses, and Caleb doesn't want any of the neighbors holding her too long for fear they'll keep her. We plan to have her come over more often to have her be part of our family.


If you'd like, you can check out the orphanage's website at www.lacasadefe.org   

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights

of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly.

Defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31: 8-9

Operation Christmas Child in March

We had the opportunity to give out Christmas shoe boxes through Samaritan's Purse at our church this past week.  Often children in other countries don't receive their boxes until after the holidays, but local churches are able to put on special presentations for the children before handing out the gifts and can follow up afterward with the kids.  If you've ever done shoe boxes in the past, or would like to do them this next year, we'd really encourage you to do so. Besides all the smiles on the kids' faces, many unchurched children and their parents were able to come into the church, get to know the pastor and other church members, and hear the gospel. The fiesta included songs, popcorn, and a puppet show with drama.  The story was about a little boy who "was cruisin' for a bruisin'" because he had stolen his mom's money and hit his sister.  The little boy decided to ask his mom for forgiveness, and he was surprised when his mom said that she'd throw him a party instead of punishing him!  The pastor taught the kids that, though we all deserve to be disciplined for our sins, we can have forgiveness if we'll only accept the free gift of Jesus.  That was when the gifts were passed out to bunches of excited kids!

Waiting for the boxes.

Can you spot our little gringo son....

and daughter?

"Can I open it yet?"

Three Year Theology

It's been quite a blessing to live on a mission compound with other children close to the ages of our own.  Three mornings a week Caleb attends preschool at the Nate Saint Memorial School.  Since we don't have a car another missionary family picks him up and drives him over.  Yesterday Tracy, the mother who often takes him to school, said Caleb and his friend Josiah had an interesting theological discussion about heaven on their way to school.
Caleb, "The cars in heaven will be fast."
Josiah, "Caleb, there aren't cars in heaven."
Caleb, "Yes there are."
Josiah, "How do you know?"
Caleb, "Because the Bible says there are streets of gold."

To a three-year-old mind there have to be cars if there are streets for them to drive on.  Why would someone make a street otherwise?  I guess we won't really know the answer to this questions until we're rejoicing with Jesus in heaven.

Not Ready for the Promotion

One of the challenges about living here in Shell is transportation.  Thankfully, almost everything is within walking distance: school, work, the main grocery store, and church.  However, while buses and taxis abound, many of the locals keep their eyes open for other transportation options.  Today we saw about 15 kids piled into the bed of a little pick-up.  I will now show you a picture of many people's idea of the family vehicle (the Ecuadorian mini-van, if you will):

That's right folks, this beast has enough room for Dad on the front, Toddler on the handlebars, and Mom in the back with Baby on her lap.  It's enough to make my mother-in-law cringe in fear, and for good reason.  I saw a girl in the ER the other day who was riding in the family vehicle when they went over a bump and she came tumbling off.  Unfortunately, helmets are rarely used here, and this incident was no exception.  As we evaluated the ten-year-old with an obvious bump on her head and a confused look on her face, we began to ask her some questions.
              me:                 "Where are you?"
              girl:                 "At home."
              me:                 "Who is that lady?" (the patient's mom)
              girl:                 "My aunt."
              me:                 "Who is the president of Ecuador?"
              girl:                 "You."
I often ask those questions and more to find out if a patient is confused, but I had never had THAT answer to the president question.  Within an hour, the patient's confusion had disappeared, appropriate tests and observation were performed, and it was time to relax and have a good laugh about her silly response.  I told the little girl that I'm definitely not ready to be president of Ecuador.  My hands are full enough as it is!

Please be praying for us as we lead the resident Bible study this week.  As many of you know, one of our main goals here is to train Ecuadorian residents and medical students in the practice of medicine, but more importantly, to mentor them spiritually.  While some of the trainees are Christians, many of them do not have a personal relationship with Jesus.  Please ask God to be speaking to their hearts.

A Few New Photos

I keep telling Dan he needs to remember to take his camera to the hospital, but in his busy days he forgets, so sorry for the lack of hospital pictures, but one day they will come.

To get to Caleb's school we cross the swinging bridge with a 80 foot drop.  It's a little precarious when I have both kids by myself.  Caleb is looking forward to taking his grandma on it to scare her when she visits. 

When we went to Banos several weekends ago, John and Mary Doerfer came with us.  They lived in Shell for 11 years as missionaries.  Although John is retired in the states he comes back every year for several months to work in the hospital and help relieve some of the family doctors here.

Our strange bugs for the week are:

the big moth we found outside by the playground one night...

and another crazy caterpillar. 

The crazy food for the week: cuy...guinea pig.  Actually, we still haven't tried it as it's a bit of a delicacy and somewhat expensive compared with other food.  We just can't bring ourselves to paying more for food we view as a pet.

Daddy and the kids are getting ready for Easter by going through our  Bible story eggs that relay the story of the Resurrection.

Praising in the Mundane

Dan comes home with exciting stories of patients he’s helped in the hospital: a baby saved from meningitis, a cured snake bite, a life rededicated to God. I love to hear the work he gets to be a part of there, but at times it can be a trial for me. Nobody ever says, “I want to do the mundane and ordinary for God,” instead they say, “I want to do glorious things for the Lord.” God is chiseling away at my heart and mind to be satisfied with the small work of being a mother and wife here on the field, and I’m afraid He’s had to do a little more hammering and it’s been a little more painful than I would like to admit. Since receiving a call to missions when I was 17 I have had a lot of time to contemplate what my service on the field would look (and feel) like. Reading some of the biographies of passionate missionaries from earlier years one’s head can get filled with all kinds of ideas how the field will be. I’m not in any way saying we shouldn’t be filled with hope that hundreds can be reached through the ministry the Lord has placed us in or that we should ever give up on the idea that awesome things can occur on the mission field, but to be here day in and day out cooking, cleaning, and changing diapers it can be a challenge to see things in an eternal perspective. I must be confident of God’s call on my life and rest in his peace that I am here, “For such a time as this,” changing diapers and all. Only God fully knows the sphere of influence I have on those I may interact with and maybe it’s better this way. If we always knew how our Christian, Spirit-filled lives lived out every day in the normal activities of living affected those around us we may take to our own credit the good others saw in us, instead of the glory given to God. “So Lord, help me to praise You as I clean up spilt milk and cookie crumbs, help me to smile at the fruit vendor and say, ”Hi,” to the bread lady. I need your grace to make my tedious, repetitive everyday action a song of praise to You. And help me to trust that You have me here for a reason as I seek to glorify your kingdom.”

“God is not unjust; He will not forget your work or the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” Hebrews 6:10-12

47 Cents and an Honest Man

Since Caleb seemed to be doing much better after his "ride in a rocketship" (see previous blog) we decided to proceed with our plans for Dan's four-day weekend.  Dan hadn't been far from Shell in over a month so we headed to a town an hour bus ride away called Banos.  One nice thing about living in Ecuador is that activites for the family are usually quite inexpensive.  We got to visit the zoo there and stayed at an hostel for the night.  We decided to take a taxi to the top of the ridge that overlooks the town.  Just after arriving Dan realized that his wallet was gone.  Since he had purchased breakfast for us just a little earlier and had it at that time we knew it had been stolen within the two blocks we walked to get the taxi.  Though a stolen wallet isn't life-or-death it can be quite frustrating, especially in a foreign country.  We became a little more anxious when we realized that I had given all my "extra" money to Dan for safe keeping, and that morning he had moved it from his sock to the wallet.  Now we had to hope that the cash I was carrying would cover our taxi ride, hostel fee, and bus ride back to Shell, since we had no way to pull out more cash since his credit card and debit card had been in the wallet, as well. We did some quick calculating and knew that if there was any tax on our room or the second taxi driver charged us more we would be stuck in Banos.  God provided for us: no over-charged taxi fees and a tax-free hostel stay.  We made it home with 47 cents (and when we stopped our cards nothing new had been charged on them).


The next day when Dan returned to work he received $60 unexpectedly.  A few weeks ago he had given this amount to a father from the jungle with little money so he could purchase medicine for his son.  Upon later discovering that the medicine isn't available at this time in Ecuador the man walked back out of the jungle (not always a small feat) and returned it to Dan at the hospital.  In a country where lost money is never returned and the wages are barely sustainable, we were stunned by this man's honesty and integrity.  Dan would have never known that the money wasn't used for medicine if the patient's father had chose to keep it.  God used money lost and money returend to teach us a lesson in His provisions and gifts.

A Ride in a Rocketship

After working a full weekend on call, I get rewarded with a 4-day weekend sometime during the month.  We've been enjoying that time this weekend.  We went to a fun swimming pool that appeared pretty clean, followed by a nature walk through the jungle.  In the evening we enjoyed dinner with some friends.  Just after dinner, Caleb decided to take a swing in a hammock.  Hammocks are super-prevalent here, as many of the indigenous cultures use them every night to sleep.  Unfortunately, Caleb was having a little too much fun in the hammock and he fell to the cement three feet below with a crash.  Some kisses from mommy were applied, and he seemed to be doing much better.

                            Cooling off on a hot day.                                      

Caleb's jungle rabbit ears

Unfortunately, after the kisses we started hearing things like, "I'm sick," and "This car makes me feel really tired".  Over the next 3-4 hours back at the house, Caleb had SIX! episodes of vomiting, and he seemed much more drowsy than normal.  These can be signs of increased pressure inside the head (i.e. bleeding caused by the head trauma).  I called up my buddy Joe Martin, one of the other family docs here.  When I'm at home I'm "Daddy", and I don't like to be "Doctor" at the same time.  Joe was immensely helpful and understanding, and he arranged for us to have a CT scan of Caleb's headl in another town, as there is not one at our hospital.  We were thankful to the Lord that this was available, because often the scanner doesn't operate after hours (this was all going on at midnight).  We drove Caleb over to the next town, and the poor little guy was dry heaving the whole way.  Of course he was taking it all like a trooper.  In the scanner, Caleb was pretending like he was riding in a spaceship and he held very still.  Pokey, his little rag-doll teddy bear, got to ride too.  The head CT didn't show any signs of trauma inside the brain, and little Caleb started to feel better.  It looks like he's had his first (and hopefully last) concussion.  Caleb slept well from 1:30 am on.  We thank Jesus for watching out for our big little astronaut man! 

 

What we lack in choices of pop flavors, 

we make up for with choices of pop sizes.