Gapito's Heart

No matter where a Christian lives, there are little opportunities to serve the Lord. We all have gifts that the Lord’s given us, and there are people out there who can benefit if we’ll listen to the Lord’s leading.

I’ve been blessed with a six figure school debt that translates into a little bit of medical knowledge. I’m finding out every day how little my knowledge still is! Back in the States, I often was able to use my education to treat an ear infection or deliver a baby for a fellow church member. Here in Ecuador, there are other opportunities, including the preschool right at our own church. The preschool mainly consists of 4-6 year-olds who come from low-income families. Most of the kids don’t actually attend our church, and many of their parents are not Christians. We view the school as an effective outreach to the community.

The pre-school’s director, Marcela (who is also the pastor’s wife), asked me if I could come take a look at the kids and give them a bit of debugging. It’s the old Albendazole+ Secnidazol one-two worm-killing punch. A few weeks ago I was able to get a few hours off, and I went on over to give them a quick exam. I found some of the things that I had expected to find. A few kids were underweight and malnourished. One girl had impetigo on her nose. A few other kids had fungal rashes on their skin. And one boy, little Gapito, had a heart murmur that was much too loud to ignore.

                                                                            GAPITO
Another thing that we’ve been blessed with is a group of supporters who have given to us financially to help with special people such as Gapito. Thanks to your support, Gapito got his echocardiogram, and he was diagnosed with stenosis (narrowing) of his aortic valve. He is now in touch with a cardiologist and receiving appropriate follow-up. Perhaps someday he will need surgery to replace or open up the valve.

To thank us for our involvement in the diagnosis and coordination of Gapito’s care, his mom found me in the hospital one day and brought these hand-painted bowls as a gift.

A New Bug Box

Great Grandma Mills sent the kids a bug box to collect all their live treasures they find near our house.  Caleb has had a great time collecting strange looking creatures.  The other day, however, Mommmy helped him trap this hairy guy.  I'm not sure this is what Grandma had in mind when she sent her gift!

 

Smiles, Slides, and Spit

We were blessed to have our first visitors from the states come to visit us in Shell this week. Brian and Hollie Lindner, and their 18 month old son Dalton, made the trip from Nampa, Idaho to share some wonderful memories with us, encourage our work here, and to have some cultural experiences that were new to all of us.

As we don't have a car yet we were planning on making the five hour bus ride to Quito to pick up our friends. I loaded the kids on the bus the day before our scheduled departure to head to the town next to us (Puyo) to pick up the tickets we'd need. We headed back again the next day, but on arrival discovered that the roads were closed due to mudslides. We headed back to Shell to wait for several hours and returned to Puyo where we were told we could take the "back" way to Quito through Tena on a seven hour ride. We wanted to greet our friends so we loaded up on the bus and drove 2 hours (plus the 1/2 hour wait while the driver ate his lunch). Upon arriving at Tena we were told the rode to Quito was indeed open but only through Puyo,the way we had come. We returned through Puyo planning to continue our already 5 hour trip with two hours of backtracking and then five more to Quito. As we passed through Shell, we decided our kids weren't going to make it very well and jumped off the bus at the last minute. Thankfully we had friends "caught" on the Quito side who picked up Brian and Hollie and delivered them to us safe and sound.

Another "cultural" experiences we had occurred on one of our day outings. Upon getting off the bus Jael fell and bumped her head. A women selling candy from her stand rushed to our side and spying our bottled water cried, "Prestame su agua!" (Lend me your water!) We obliged, and then watched as she took a large mouthful, swished it around for several seconds, and blew it directly into Jael's face. We all stood there in shock while the lady said something about not needing to thank her for her help. After quieting our upset baby once again and drying the water off Jael's face (and all of us around that had received some of the "blessing") we took off to enjoy our day. Upon questioning some of our Ecuadorian friends we were told it is the belief that if a baby is startled by a fall it can cause death right then and there. To counteract it water is spit in the child's face to "restartle" them and "wake them up". I don't think this is a custom we'll soon be adopting, but I guess we better have some water handy all the time just in case.

Children from the Quichua village we visited.

Chief of the Quichua village

A Week in Photos

Here are a few pictures from the last week to show you what we've been up to.

Receiving a package is a big deal.  We were very excited to get two in one day; it's a little like Christmas morning for us.

 Jael was all ready to start the Easter egg hunt with the other missionary kids.

 Some of our Mission Aviation Fellowship and HCJB (hospital) missionary kids ready to start an egg hunt.

Going to Good Friday service was no easy feat when we had to walk there in a downpour.

"Let's go!"

Caleb was very excited to receive two turtles from Christa Fischer, a friend in Quito who will be moving to the United States soon to attend college.  He's been doing a good job of keeping their bowl clean and playing with them (although I'm not so sure the turtles like going for airplane rides and playing on his train track, as he insists.)

The eggs are all dyed and ready to hide.

Two cuties on Easter morning.

Easter Eggs

At Easter time we think about how the egg symbolizes life.  According to an ancient Ecuadorian tradition, the egg itself actually has special powers.  In the hands of a shaman, an egg has the power to cleanse a person from diseases of the mind or body.  During the "egg" ceremony, the healer takes an egg and waves it around in front of the sick person, focusing on the sick parts.

Then, he sets down the egg and repeats the procedure with a live guinea pig. 

For extra power, smoke from a cigar is blown into the sick person's face. 

Does this ceremony sound stange?  Yesterday I was taking care of a hospitalized baby with malnutrition.  

Baby's Aunt: "May I take the baby out of the hospital for a few hours to get her cleaned?"

Me: "We have baths right over there."

Baby's Aunt: "Well, I wanted to take her out to be cleaned with an egg."

Me: "Hmm, I'm not sure if that's the best idea.  Do you have a faith?"

Baby's Aunt: "Yes, we're Christians."

Me: "Isn't the egg ceremony performed by the shaman?  I mean, I think prayer would be more powerful."

Lady in the Room Who's Been Eavesdropping: "He's right, the egg ceremony doesn't work.  Only prayer works."

Me: "Would you like me to pray for the baby now instead of doing the egg ceremony?"

Baby's Aunt: "Oh, please do."

Many people in Ecuador have learned about Christ, but they are still wrestling with how the Christian life collides with their cultural beliefs.  Those of us from Christian backgrounds still wrestle with the same question: "Upon whom or what are we depending?"  When it comes down to it, are we clinging to Jesus as our only hope?  We're here in Ecuador to teach the people about the only One who can bring real life, the One who died for us and had the power to rise again.  Through that same power, though our bodies waste away, we will never die.

It Sold!

Praise the Lord!  After many prayers, discussions, emails, and paperwork our house in Idaho has sold.  Though selling it for half the price we paid wasn't part of our plan, we are confident that God was in control of the whole situation.  It caused us to seek Him more in prayer and trust that He would provide.  Thank you to all who prayed about our housing situation, to Cindy and Josh Oldenkamp, our diligent realtors, and Dan's parents who took on the responsibilty of overseeing the process while we were out of the country.

Ciudad de los Perros-City of Dogs

This morning I took a run in Shell for 30 minutes and decided to count all the dogs I saw loose.  In this short time I spied 32 different dogs wandering around the streets, not including all those that barked at me from within the confines of gates and fences; that's more than a dog per minute.  Most of the dogs are pretty calm, and if they start coming close, all one usually has to do is bend over and pretend to pick up a rock.  This will usually make the dog run off.  However, it's probably a good idea if we get our rabies shots soon, just in case.  We just "dewormed" our family last week, which is something most missionary families do here every six months.  With deworming and rabies shots for us I'm beginning to feel like a dog myself.