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.

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.