Medical Missions Ecuador 1998
"Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land
I will show you." Genesis 12:1
Our group which consisted of five Grove City College students, my GCC professor and his family and myself left the United States Monday, July 6th from the Pittsburgh airport and arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador which was to be our mission field for the next two weeks. We arrived to a hot and muggy airport and were greeted by several people. Much to my suprise we were to work with two differnt groups of missionaries. We met Sara Risser, who has been a missionary in Quito, Ecuador for many years. She is originally from Lancaster, PA, and has spent the last several years doing the Lord's work in Ecuador by coordinating medical missions teams and building teams. We also were greeted by the Horne's who are natives of Canada and now serve as the local missionaries in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Our team was completed by the addition of two nurses and a nursing student from Tampa, FL as well as medical staff from Quito which included a doctor and two assistants.
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his won glory and goodness." I Peter 1:3
The entire country of Ecuador is about the size of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia combined. The two largest and most populated cities are Guayaquil and Ecuador. Guayaquil has around 2-3 million inhabitants and it is a port city. The principle export from Guayquil is shrimp. My first impression of the city was that it was a fairly modern city, but with heavy smog and pollution. Our accomodations were wonderful. We stayed at an International Youth Hostel which had all the modern conveniences including air conditioning. It was quite a difference from the camping I experienced on my medical missions trip to Brazil. We ate almost all of our meals at the hostel as well. One night we opted for Pizza Hut as we were a little tired of guessing what we were eating and didn't want to eat another fish head.
"For the needy will not always be forgotten nor the hope of the
afflicted every perish." Psalm 9:18
Tuesday, we awoke and took our first journey into Bastion Popular where we were to hold our clinic. Bastion Popular is an area of Guayaquil which houses approximately 200,000-300,000 people. These are families which previously resided in the mountain and jungle regions of the country and have come to the city in search of a better life. The people were promised homes in the city and what they received were cement block, brick or bamboo homes which measured approximately 12' X 12'. The houses usually had dirt floors, windows without glass and did not have running water, or toilets. The residents do however, have electricity because that is stolen off the existing electric poles. The families are very poor as you can see. The women work in the homes to clean and to wash clothes by hand while their husbands go into the city and work in factories or work sellig anything and everything. They work just to put food on the table. In all the poverty, I think one of the most striking things though is the filthy way of life. As we would drive on the horribly bumpy roads, the areas would reak of garbage stench and piles of it would be everywhere. There were pigs and chickens running around as well as the barefoot children. Somehow in all the mess, the people lived and survived.
"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." I Peter 4:10
Tuesday we began our first of eight days of medical clinic. Our clinic was held in the second floor of the school building. The missionaries have worked to establish the school and it was begun in 1996. It is their vision to add another class each year. We held our clinic in the upstairs of the unfinished school building. The patients would line up for our just to get the chance to see the our team. We saw over 800 patients during our eight days of clinic and there were many more that could have been seen. We saw a variety of illnesses ranging from colds and parasite infections to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The majority of the illnesses were directely related to the living conditions. We tried to offer as much patient education for hygiene as we did medications.
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love
and of self discipline." II Timothy 1:7
After medications were prescribed, we would take each family and explain the gospel of Christ to them and offer a prayer for them and their salvation. Some days we had members of the local supporting churches come and help with the ministry in these regards. At times, it was difficult to share the message of Christ with the people of Ecuador because of the language barrier. We had translators, but some of them were not Christians and were therefore just saying the words. I think that through the awesome Spirit of the Lord we were successful in doing his work. I will never forget the one family that I had who as soon as I mentioned the name of Jesus smiled brightly and went on in Spanish for about 15 minutes. Apparently the lady was a Bible teacher and she loved to share about Christ. It was wonderful to see how God was moving in the Bastion.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:37-38
I was sad to see clinic close because it seemed like there was so much more work to be done. I think this trip made me see the need for foreign missionairies even more. The Horne family are the only missionaries in the Bastion and they have a huge heart for the Lord. Please continue to pray for their ministry as they continue their ministry in Ecuador.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. . ." Matthew 28:18-20
There are many people who do not know the word of God and Jesus calls us to go and be his disciples to tell of the Good News.. You don't have to be a missonary and go abroad to teach the gospel, there are many people in our own backyards who do not know Christ. I challenge you, if you do know know Christ to search your heart to see if Jesus is calling you. I challenge those of you who are faithful followers of Christ to continue the road for which you are called and to pray for those missionaries in the field and for the work that is being done through Christ in this world.