Thanksgiving Week in Quito

We had one more picture of our moms’ visit that we wanted to share. We sure miss our families this time of the year. With the holidays upon us we’re feeling the distance quite a bit more. When we begin to feel sorry for ourselves (as I did on Thanksgiving Day) we’re trying to remember what Jesus had to give up to come to earth. We’re only in Ecuador, a flight or skype call away. I can’t imagine the wonders and closeness that Jesus had to give up with his heavenly Father to come here.

We took a trip to one of our professors house to prepare an American meal for her with the rest of our class. After lunch she wanted us to take home as many avocados as we could carry. Jael loved making little piles with them, and Caleb wanted to be buried in them. Sorry we can’t share some with you at home

The Nazarene missionaries who live in Quito prepared a very USA Thanksgiving feast, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and even pumpkin pie (which is hard to make since the filling has to be brought from the states). The turkey was wonderful; which it better have been since a turkey here cost $50. Dan tried to enjoy some American football but all he could find on the missionary’s TV was futbol (soccer). Some of the women worked on scrapbooking and the guys played a card game, with Caleb very intent on learning how to play.

Graduation for the seminary was last night and today they have set up small booths to advertise different aspects of the work they do here. Dan will be fielding questions in Spanish for our language program. Caleb was enjoying one of the display’s animals and wanted to take home a rabbit as a pet. Unfortunately this display presents the food-producing program they have on the seminary and these rabbits will be tomorrow’s lunch.

Still Chugging Along

Since we will be moving to Shell soon, we wanted to make sure everyone knows our new mailing address:

Dan Benedick
Hospital Vozandes del Oriente
Shell, Pastaza
Ecuador, South America

We love receiving mail : )

It’s amazing to us that our time in language school is winding down! We’ll have three more weeks of intense language study here in Quito, as well as one more quick scouting trip to Shell, prior to moving to the jungle for good on December 21st. Time really flew by during this past week, as we had our moms here visiting. We had a great time! We took them to see all the sights around Quito, and they babysat the kids for us while we were in class. They sniffed out a few good deals while shopping, and Caleb and Jael had tons of fun reconnecting with their grandmas. We had a mini Christmas celebration while they were here so the grandmas could watch them open their presents. Caleb is now ready to join Buzz Lightyear in the battle against the evil emperor Zurg. The only hard part about their visit was having to say good-bye. We feel very loved by all our family and friends!

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for Caleb. He seems to be adjusting better all the time! He’s been interacting more and more with Ecuadorians without bringing out his angry eyes.

Language school is going well. I’m super-impressed by how quickly Kristina has improved. Both of us are getting much better at comprehension as well, and we’re even able to understand most of the sermons that we hear in church (even while juggling a couple of antsy kids). We heard a great sermon last week about our call to go and make disciples. Please be praying that we’ll find people in Shell that we’ll be able to disciple, and others who will come alongside and mentor us.

Pray for Rain

This is supposed to be the rainy season in Ecuador, but unfortunately, the rain hasn't shown up yet.  The entire country of Ecuador receives its power from hydroelectric power from on reservoir.  Currently the reservoir has only nine centimeters of water left above the line allowing it to work.  If we don't get rain soon, we won't have power.  There have been "apagones" (blackouts) lately in random parts of the city in an attempt to try and conserve power.  Sometimes the news notifies us, but other times it's a surprise, and unfortunately the power company/government doesn't always let the police know where the power outages will be either, so there have been a lot of traffic problems when the stoplights don't work.  At least we have gas run water and a gas stove, so if we were to loose power for a awhile we could still make a hot meal for the kids.

Teaching Endoscopy to Future Missionaries

We wanted to elaborate a little bit regarding the endoscopic equipment that Olympus has agreed to donate to our hospital in Shell. With the gift that they’ve sent, we’ll be able to view each procedure on a screen (video endoscopy), instead of looking through a little eyepiece on the instrument. If you’ve never been in the driver’s seat during a colonoscopy or EGD, this may not seem like a huge deal; in reality it is enormous! As you may recall, one of the primary goals of our hospital in Shell is to teach and mentor residents who will carry on the work as medical missionaries in other parts of Ecuador and around the world (two of the doctors from Shell are currently on a missions trip to a hospital in the Congo). Trying to teach endoscopic procedures while looking through an old eyepiece, while not impossible, is far from ideal. It would be like trying to whale watch through a high powered telescope while standing on a boat that’s being rocked around by the waves. You may be able to focus on a whale in the distance for a moment, but by the time you hand off the telescope to your friend who wants to see it too, everything has moved. So you can see how nice it will be to be able to point things out on the screen. We are really excited about the teaching/mentoring aspect of our work in Shell. Thank you so much to Olympus for joining with us in this ministry! Thank you again to all our financial supporters—your gifts are being used in part to bring the equipment into the country. Thanks be to the Lord who continues to bless in so many ways!

This is an example of a video endoscopy unit.

You Know You're in Ecuador When...

The first time I went to the bathroom when we were on our trip to Shell I got very excited.  There was no little garbage can filled with used toilet paper next to the toilet.  I left the bathroom to find the lady in charge of the guest house where we were staying and questioned her about this, since every other toilet we've used here necesitates that used paper be thrown into a garbage can and not the toilet. She informed me that I was indeed able to throw my toilet paper actually into the toilet...AMAZING...and our toilet in Shell will have the capability to handle toilet paper.  You know you're in Ecuador when you get excited about throwing toilet paper into the toilet.

Since we're living in the big city of Quito now, it's not too difficult to get what we need (though this will likely change when we get to Shell).  There are, however, things that are very expensive to buy here or that we can't get.  Contact solution costs an arm and a leg as does sunscreen.  We have yet to encounter Mt Dew, Dan's pop of choice, and I miss peanut M&Ms.  Of course these things aren't necesities but they are a nice treat every now and then.  We're looking forward to our first visit from our moms next week (and I must admit, the treats the're planning to bring us, too :)

Our First Trip to Shell!

Earlier this week we took our first trip to visit our new future home.  Just the trip there was absolutely breathtaking.  As you can see, we got to ride across a little cable in a Willy Wonka basket over a 300 foot drop to the waters below.  My knuckles were very white after this one!  The road to Shell passes by more waterfalls than a person could count, and the jungle is absolutely alive.  What an amazing Creator we have!

The road from Quito to Shell is called "The Avenue of the Volcanoes", and they aren't kidding.  This is a nice shot of Cotopaxi that we took during a bathroom break.

 

Since we arrived in Ecuador, everyone has been telling us how much we're going to love Shell.  We've only seen Shell for 1.5 days, but it was love at first sight for us!  This is a shot of our new home.  It is very nice inside.  We'll have a guest room for anyone who wants to visit.  Right now we're working on getting it furnished.  We did buy some orange couches already.  Sweet!

Shell is a great little town.  It is home to quite a few missionaries because, with the hospital and the airport, it serves as a central launching point for ministries to all parts of the jungle.  Shell was originally founded by the oil company.   Nate Saint arrived in the late 1940’s and contributed to the ideas for the airport, hospital, and school. We took a tour through the guest house that he and his friends built way back then (see below).

I started feeling emotional just thinking about the sacrifices that people like the Saints have made over the years to bring the Gospel to others.  I'm praying that we can be just as commited to the goal of bringing Jesus to those who don't yet truly know Him.  An opportunity to do just that may be brewing in a place called Centro Yuu, which is a Shuar community.  The Nazarene church in Shell has committed itself to supporting this pueblo. A water project is already underway to bring clean water to each home, and plans are being made to bring full time ministers to the community. We are excited that we might be able to participate in what’s going on—that is, bringing Jesus’ love to these people by ministering to their hearts and their physical needs. Below is a picture of some of the children in Centro Yuu.  We decided to take one of them home.  

Perhaps the biggest blessing of our trip was getting to meet some of our future ministry partners in Shell. The pastor and his family at the Nazarene Church have amazing servant hearts. Also, we got to hang out with some of the extremely chévere (cool) missionaries from the hospital, and we had a great time with all of them. They are very kind and welcoming, and we can’t wait to work alongside them. A bunch of them have a bunch of kids that will go well with ours. They’ve already been playing in the mud together. We fit six adults and eight kids into a Ford Explorer on our way to dinner.

Well, that about sums up our quick trip to Shell. Now we’re back in Quito, and we’re working hard on our Spanish. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! If you are reading this now, I can tell you that you’ve surely been a blessing to us.

A Week in Photos

There was trouble with the internet this week on the seminary grounds, so we weren't able to keep everyone updated with our blog.  Below is a week in review though pictures.

With all the changes for the kids, we want to be sure to incorporate special events/traditions into our ives in Ecuador.  Some of the missionary kids in Quito attend a school that was putting on a harvest carnival.   Caleb's birthday gift from his Uncle Gene was perfect, as the theme was "Super Heroes".

One of Dan’s school assignments was to find a friend to help him make an Ecuadorian dish. Sunday night Harrison came over to help Dan make empanadas; jam and cheese wrapped in fried, doughy goodness. They were so good we decided we needed to purchase our own mold so we can continue to make them.

Caleb had fun filling his empanadas with chocolate and apples and cinnamon.

Tuesday’s class took us on a field trip to see some archaeological sites. Quito was once an Incan center, so there is a lot of history in the city. We love the opportunity to be able to take the kids on our school field trips.

Friday night we had a school outing to see Quito nocturnal. A large statue overlooks Quito that was built in reference to Genesis 3:15  "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."  We think that the statue depicts Mary rather than Jesus because of the huge Catholic influence in Ecuador.

The group that we’re currently studying with is made up of college and professional students. With the different ages and backgrounds it makes for a unique group. We’re blessed to have wonderful directors and teachers who are quickly becoming friends.

On a Saturday we had another school outing. Jael really enjoyed a chocolaty treat on the hike (though Mommy’s shirt suffered for it).

Caleb enjoyed a quick ride down a waterfall during a break in our hike.

Tomorrow is Kristina’s 30th birthday. In the same water where Caleb took his ride Kristina received a ”gift”. Thirty little leeches attached themselves to her legs to enjoy a meal. She didn’t even notice until several hours later on the ride home. By then, most of the creatures were gone and had just left their mark. How fitting that there were 30 of them. Thankfully, the kids didn’t have any on them.