Ecuador Mission trip

 Hello friends,

It has been a couples of weeks now since we have been back from Ecuador, and I have not taken time to write to you about our experiences there. Please forgive!

Luis, Izhar, my aunt (she was going to take of Izhar while i as away) and I got to Vilcabamba on Friday 22nd of June in the afternoon. It was nice to meet all the people we would be working with. We all talked about the plans and what we were going to be doing there. In the evening we all got together for worship. Part of the worship was to share how God had worked in everybody's lives to make the trip possible.

Luis was the last person to share our testimony. It was nice to relive every moment. We only had a month to put all the money together for this trip. But all this would not have being possible, firs of all without God and second of all, without you. You might not know this, but 2 weeks before the trip we did not even have 50 percent of the money and we were about to give up. The day we were about to tell the coordinator of the mission trip that we were not going because we did not have all the money, she comes to me and whispers on my ear “two people just donated a total of $500”. When she told me that, my eyes almost pop out literally. I was happy, but at the same time ashamed of not having enough faith. Even with that amount of money, we were still missing about 60 percent. After that, no more donations came. Until just days before the trip, my husband made a phone call to someone who had offered to help. We were expecting this person to help with another $300 or so, when I hear my husband saying, "Are you sure you want to pay for the tickets!!!" My jaw dropped to the ground. Can you imagine? A few days before that, we felt it was impossible to go, but right at the time of that phone call, God had showed us that He is a God of the impossible. What a great God we serve!

I still get excited about all the miracles God made to make all this happen. After the testimonies every one went to bed.

On Sabbath we went to the church the Single Ministry of Southern had built for this town. It was nice to see the church, and the people gave us a warm welcome. Luis translated part of the service. That day there was a re dedication. Five people decided to rededicate their lives to Christ.

On Sunday, the group was splitting in three; one group was going to do medical service to poor people, the other group would help to finish building the church, and there was the evangelist, he was going to be doing a week of evangelistic meetings.  The majority of the people, including me were going to a small village up the mountain called Chuquiribamba. It was a 4-hour trip in a bus provided and driven by the Ecuadorian Army. Luis would have to stay with the evangelist and help him with the translation. It was hard for me to leave my son. I was going away for 4 days. I wondered how he was going to do without me. We have never separated before.

One thing that caught my attention on our way up the mountain was that every little village had a Catholic church. It didn't matter how big or small, the Catholic Church was present there. Its then, when you realize that there is a lot of work to be done everywhere. When are the people from those little Villages going to hear that Jesus is coming again? or that Jesus died for them not the Virgin Mary?.

I am sorry if this is already too long. Please bear with me.

We arrived after traveling the last hour or so on dirt roads, washed out by the rainy season, and in the rain. Temperature in the 30's with no heat, and when we arrived, found out there was no water! Our quarters were to be in the nun's quarters of the Catholic Church. The Priest had asked that we not come until Mass was over, and not knowing any better, thought it would be over by noon, so we arrived about 12:30, and learned that Mass was just starting. Not only was mass just starting, it was a confirmation ceremony with the young girls in their white wedding style dresses, and did not get over until almost 4 pm.

While that was happening we decided to go check where the clinic was going to be. We were also trying to figure out where we were going to sleep. Up to that point because of a miscommunication problems nobody knew where the mattresses where we were going to sleep on were. Finally the Captain of the Army who did not have anything to do with that, was able to coordinate for somebody to take them there. He had sent his helper to a city about three hours away to get them, so that the group could stay in Chuquiribamba. He said. "I will coordinate everything for you so that you don't leave, because if you leave, the poor people will loose". That was nice of him. Finally 4 hours later we were settled. We knew where we where going to be working and we had mattress and blankets provided by the Ecuadorian Army, still no water, no working toilets or showers.

The ladies room had mattresses almost on top of each other to have enough room. Well, that many people breathing did give it a little heat. We found buckets so that we could carry water to the bathrooms so that we could flush the toilets, and had brought bottled water to drink, brush our teeth, cook, etc. Donna Shellman made due in a little kitchen area with a gas burner, and prepared a really warm and tasty soup! Nobody refused the soup. There were other things to go with it to.

 
The next three days the doctors would be seen patients. This is how it happened, every morning there was a line of people waiting for the clinic to be opened. They had to fill up a form with all their information and pains. Once inside, people were seen first by two girls who took their temperature, their pressure and gave them anti parasite medication. After that depending on their symptoms people would see a nurse or for patients with more urgent or difficult cases, they were sent to the doctor. They were next sent to get their medication at the pharmacy station. All medication was free. Then they would go to the clothing and glasses section. There they were also given literature. 

Dr. Tom & Nubia one of the translators

Finally they would go to Linda, the lady who gave them a pedicure and manicure, a pair of socks and shoes if they need them. For those parents with children waiting on line, there was a room where there were 2 ladies doing vacation bible school. I was there translating the bible stories, doing the puppet show, and translating everything.

Nutritionist Roman Pawlak  & Me

 There also was a nutrition class for the people waiting. Roman a nutritionist would explain to them the risk about eating pork, cooking with lard etc, from the bible point of view and other things. I also had to translate that. The people were very interested in all the new things he told them. It was nice to see the faces of the people after they had gone through the whole process. They would say, “Please come back next year.”

Most of the people from the area came from the mountains around where the only transportation is by foot. Some of them said they came from a mountain closed by and took them 3 hours to get to the clinic to be seen. The last day of the clinic I was the one to give the unfortunate news that no more people were going to be seen. There still was a big line. It was so sad; they would come to me and tell me they had come from too far. It broke my heart but there was nothing I could do. We had to get ready to go back to Vilcabamba. The Priest was very happy for what the group did there.

Once we got there. We had to get ready again, for the next couple of days we would be going to another village called Quinara. Thankfully it was only 45 minutes away so we commuted everyday. And it was warmer, around the 70's. Again the priest of this community let us use the church and the convent next to it so we can set up the clinic. Though this community was a little more educated, they were more sick, specially the women and children.

The priest of this community was very thankful for the clinic; he even got a massage, a pedicure and manicure. On the last day of clinic we were knee deep into the program when the Mayors wife from Loja arrived with the finance director, video cameraman and driver. These folk visited each program, interviewing the leaders, the local people and took many pictures and videos. Each time they interviewed, they asked some pretty specific questions as to what the program was about, how did it affect the local folks that were receiving care, and why on earth would we come so high up in the Andes to such a cold place?

Priest and & Linda Roberts

They wanted to go to interview the local priest, but he was out of town. We were told that this would be on the local news tonight and in the morning. Those that had TV told us that it was! We did not see it, but there was a direct line sent to us, so that we could see some of the pictures, and a youtube of Roman giving a health lecture.

You can watch this link. This was in Chuquiribamba.

I am there Translating. I got nervous in from of the camera. Sorry! :) I promise you, not all the translation I did was like this one. LOL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I64VZkSxAfw

Our guests observed the very active VBS with the children so happy to sing the songs, listen to the stories, view the puppets, and recognize the love of Jesus that the children were taught. The coloring of the Bible story pictures were for the children to keep, as well as little gifts, etc.

 

This was in Quinara, the second village. The Mayors wife explaining what the group did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOCGiLTzYCw&feature=related

The rest of the evening everybody was getting all the gear ready to go back to the hotel

Every night, our worship consisted of the crew sharing their experience with God and the locals during the day. This sharing time was followed by a story from the Bible that relates to our day, and a prayer of thanksgiving for having the opportunity to be His voice, hands and feet for one day.

I believe that each one of the medical crew was more than ready to climb into a nice warm bed! not on the floor, and not in a cold room! As exciting as flush toilets are, a good warm bed runs a close second!

We spent out last Sabbath in Vilcabamba. David, the person who did the evangelistic series preached and Luis was there to translate. It was an exiting day. There was a baptism. The people from the church were thankful for the group's visit, for the construction work and for the daily meetings.

On Sunday we had breakfast and left Vilcabamba. The group traveled to Guayaquil where they would go sightseeing. Luis, Izhar and I, went to Cuenca to visit family. We were very thankful with God for allowing us to be used by Him. I hope, He continues using us, not only oversees but wherever we are.

From Luis

David Lassiter & Luis Jaen

When we arrived in Vilcabamba, I still was not sure what I would be doing, I knew I had to translate but I did not know anything in detail. Terry introduced me to David and said I would be working with him that week, but when I arrived at the church on Saturday, during the announcements the pastor said that there would be meetings every night, I realized then, that I would have to translate David’s sermons live. I got nervous and prayed to the Lord to help me and said I was willing to do whatever He wanted me to do.

It was an interesting week, the first two days we went in the morning with many “Steps To Christ” and some flyers to distribute them throughout Vilcabamba by foot. We gave the books and flyers away to anybody we came in contact with, on the streets and some houses, etc. The People were always very thankful and after receiving the book they would start to read it. I know the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of people.

Every night I had to translate, I saw the blessings of God. It was nice to see how He was using me even though I had never done it. I had the opportunity to share a lot with David the evangelist. It really was a blessing. We also went to visit some people with a sister from church called Carmita. We walked through the whole town on road that did not seem roads.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI4clG0zyOk

                                                                                    The people welcomed us very well. We spent some time with them and prayed for them too. It was a great blessing to see that some of the people we visited when to the meetings, specially a girl who was not even a Christian, she had many questions about different topics. The last Saturday, David prepared a special theme for the worship of God and was very inspiring to hear and translate for them.

We finished the Sabbath with another meeting and a social. We went back to the hotel and the people from church went to say good-bye.

I was blessing to have worked there in that little village. I know God has a big plan for that church.

Maybe God Bless you abundantly for all you did and do for Him.

Luis, Dayana and Izhar Jaen