Such a Simple Thing…
Such a simple thing…hydrocortisone cream. We use it frequently for a multitude of reasons. Who would of thought a simple packet of cortisone cream could open my eyes to God’s grace and mercy and TIMING! To set the stage. I had been seeing patients on a Wednesday. I saw a young boy and his mother for what seemed like a fairly simple problem. However, what would help the boy was hydrocortisone cream. I didn’t have any that I could find in the clinic so I wrote a prescription for them to fill at a local pharmacy. When I do this, it is always unclear if patients will be able to fill it or not and I felt bad about this, but there really wasn’t a whole lot I could do because I didn’t have the medicine. I saw other patients and was basically finished for the day except for unpacking a couple of boxes. We had recently received the container and were still going through a lot of the boxes. The last box I opened was a box full of Hydrocortisone cream! At that same moment, the boy I had previously seen and his mother walked by. I was able to give them the medication the boy needed. Is it a simple thing? Of course. I may have dismissed it because it was so simple, but to see how God even worked out something SO small in such a simple way was ONLY His hand at work. So, as simple as it was, it was a reminder how God works together the small things. I’m thankful for the simple things!
Happy Easter from Quito!!
Medical Caravan in Lote Cuatro
Last Friday and Saturday, we conducted a medical caravan in the Quechua Village of Lote Cuatro (up in the mountains outside of Cayambe) in which we saw over 170 patients. It was an incredible blessing for us to have this opportunity to minister. Two of of the Santiago Partnership Board members, Jeff and Kristi Lundblad (as well as their two daughters) were a critical part of the activities. Thank you for your partnership in ministry!
A Vision team from Dassel, MN
Joel was able to help with a Vision Team from the Covenant Church in Dassel, Minnesota this past week. The purpose of a Vision Team is to help them see, meet and get to know various Covenant churches and ministries in Ecuador so they can know how to partner with these churches/ministries in the future. The team had 7 members from the church, including the pastor. We visited 4 different Quechua communities in the northern part of the country, as well as our project in Cayambe, the national church offices in Quito as well as our home church in Quito. On Sunday, Joel translated for the pastor from Dassel during the service. Here are some pictures from their time:
Blood Samples
This past weekend we were up in Cayambe and one of the Quechua villages in the mountains called Lote Cuatro. We were there to draw blood. Even though the clinic is not yet operational, we are able to participate in our first medical caravan. In a couple of weeks, we’ll be heading up to Lote Cuatro again to hold a two-day medical caravan for the children that are a part of the Compassion program in Lote Cuatro. The blood samples were taken so that way laboratory tests can be performed on them to see if there are any conditions the children are under and are in need of further evaluation. Here are some pictures from this weekend.
Off to the Jungle!
We had the opportunity to partner with a dental/medical team in the area of Tena this past Saturday. The connection we have with them is actually with one of our supporting churches, Hope Covenant Church, of Indianapolis, IN. A couple who are members of Hope Covenant, Tim and Ann Carlson, take a team of dental students each year to practice and help out in the more impoverished parts of Ecuador! They invited us to come out and see what they do as well as allow Kim to help out as they also had a medical clinic setup. After they showed us what they do, we will soon be showing them what we do as the team is on their way to Cayambe to visit our ministry.
Project Complete in Lote Tres!!!
This past Sunday, I (Joel) took a group of representatives up to Lote Tres, a small Quechua community up in the mountains around Cayambe, in our van. The group included David Husby, the Director of Covenant World Relief, Pia and Eugenio Restrepo, the Latin American Regional Coordinators for the ECC, Henry Burbano, the president of IPEE, and a couple of the members of the FACE Board of Directors (Many Hjelm and Moises Clark). We were traveling to Lote Tres to celebrate the completion of the CWR/FACE project there. Here are some pictures and videos of the day’s celebrations.