Arajuno--or "Jungle Light"

Mike and I went with a small group of docs and nurses to Arajuno--a community that used to be considered jungle. But since a road and electricity arrived about 7 years ago it has converted into a small town--and what we considered "jungle light". We went as part of the regular medical screening required of the children sponsored by Compassion International. And whether due to the Compassion funding or the general well-being of this community, all of the kids were very healthy. The kids seemed happy, healthy and apart from some dental problems--too much sugar cane--and the regular need to deparasitize them (is that a word?) there wasn't much for us to do medically for them.


We attended the patients in the "comedor"-dining room-of one of the local schools the first day, and a classroom at the school the second day.

We ate our meals at a local restaurant--that included of all things, cable TV! Definitely jungle light. Mike thought about making the 2 hour trip by car to watch some American football one Sunday.

If you have read accounts of the death of the American missionaries--Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, etc--you will have read about Arajuno. In fact, the school where we attended patients is called the Edward McCully school--another one of the missionaries that was martyred.

The most heart-breaking story of the 2 days was that of an 11-year old girl that had been raped by a family member 2 years ago. She was doing well now--but I found out that on average 1/3 of kids, mostly girls, are violated sometime in their lifetime. I am not sure what the statistics are in the states--perhaps not much different--but it is tragic. And to emphasize this problem, when we arrived back in Shell one of the patients in the hospital was a 10 yearold who had been violated by her 21 y.o cousin and had hurt her badly enough that she had to seek medical attention. Although I don't think these acts are culturally "acceptable"--they certainly are common and it seems that the justice system rarely is able to convict the perpetrator.

Praise God for Compassion International and all of the sponsors that give so that these kids can be healthy, well-fed and attend school. And please pray for those that suffer the effects of past abuse.

Visitors

Mike's parents made the trip to Ecuador over Thanksgiving for a short visit. We were so happy to have them here and show them some of the sights in Ecuador. While we were in Quito, we drove up to the equator--or Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World). The large monument is at the first mitad del mundo--calculated in the late 1700's by french geographers. Notice the yellow line that divides the southern and northern hemispheres.

The second equatorial line and museum is relatively new, calculated by GPS. It is the red line in the bottom photo. We decided to visit them both. Sydney was the award winner at the second museum. She was the only one in our group who successfully balanced an egg on its end at the equator.

It was a wonderful visit with family--we were very thankful on Thanksgiving day to have family with us!

Hola Vida

To try to attract some visitors we had to show you some pics of a waterfall we went to a few days ago with some fellow missionaries who were visiting from Quito. It was a beautiful 20 minute hike out to the waterfall. And the water was COLD! But we got in anyways. Sam gets the award for the most passes under the waterfall.
We went in the morning on a national holiday and there were quite a few people there when we arrived. But as we left an hour later--busloads of people were setting out on the trail to see the waterfall. We are glad we went early, because it was like Labor Day at a park in the states---super busy! But beautiful all the same.
We'd love to take you to see it sometime. =)

Nate Saint House Dedication

Many of you have heard the story of Nate Saint and his fellow missionaries who come to this area of Ecuador 50 years ago to share the gospel and were killed by a group of indigenous people.

If you don't know the story you can learn more about it by watching the movie--the End of the Spear--or watching the documentary called Beyond the Gates of Splendor. It is an amazing story of sacrifice, forgiveness and love and since their death the Waironi people have left their violent ways and many have become followers of Christ.


Well, Nate Saint was a pilot and he built a house here in Shell when he was here to serve as a contact point, or base for their outreach into the jungle. The house was in disrepair and recently a mission group came in and restored the house.


There was a dedication a couple of weekends ago put on by MAF--Mission Aviation Fellowship-- that we attended. The kids even were involved because they painted rocks to decorate around the outside of the entrance. (Sydney's is the butterfly).
It was a special day, filled with emotion and history. In the pictures you can see the kitchen and phone that the Saint's used. One of the rooms is converted into a museum of sort of information about the 5 missionaries and the events of that time.
The first picture is one of Mincaye, the grandson of one of the Waironi men who killed the missionaries, who now is a Christian and a pastor among the Waironi people. It is a great example of how God can work amazing good out of the most horrible of circumstances.

Mike's trip to the jungle

Our clinic has been contracted by Compassion International to help with check-ups for their sponsored kids here in the jungle. So the docs are taking turns taking 2-night trips out to the jungle communities to check on the kids. They are usually accompanied by one of the Family Practice Residents from Hospital VozAndes in Quito who are doing their one-month rotation at our hospital. So last month it was Mike's turn to go to a community called Charapacocha.
He and Betzabe (a resident from Quito) traveled by plane 45 minutes south down the Pastaza river to this community. For Mike the flight was the highlight of the trip--because he has always wanted to be a pilot. But the experience of going to the jungle and living life there for a few days was very eye-opening as well.
Of course a visit to the jungle included the opportunity to drink,chicha , a drink made by fermenting yucca mixed with the saliva of the women. Yummy!

Fortunately, the kids were all doing well with the help and support of the Compassion program. Now just 30-some more communities to visit over the next few months and I (Heather) have to decide if and when I want to go out.

Our first visitor

We had a wonderful time with our first visitor here in Shell. Jessica McMillan, fellow HCJB missionary nurse and former neighbor and colleague at Partners in Hope in Malawi. "Auntie Jessica" as the kids call her is in Ecuador getting ready to be part of a short-term medical team that is going from Ecuador to West Africa and we were lucky enough to have her come visit us here in Shell. We had lots of reminiscing to do about life in Malawi and talked a bit about the similarities and differences between life in Shell and life in Malawi.
Certainly the medical work is very different as the prevalance of HIV is so much less here in Ecuador as is malaria and tuberculosis. But whether being the lower socioeconomic status or the tropical climate or both--we still see plenty of sick patients.
The climates are comparable--although Shell is perpetually in a "rainy season". But both are definitely comfortable.
In Malawi we were in the capital city--one of the most "developed" in the country and here in Ecuador we are in the "sticks". However the level of development is pretty similar between the two cities as far as roads, restaurants, housing, etc. That's just a few of the similarities and differences that I can think of right off the bat.

Mostly we just loved seeing Auntie Jessica again!

Volquetero

I had to include some pictures of the lunch we had last weekend in Puyo. It's called the Volquetero which means dumptruck. And it sort of looks like a dumptruck just dumped a bunch of stuff on your plate. It's tuna, toasted corn nuts, beans and fried banana or platano chips. It's salty and tasty. It's sort of like the chips and salsa of the Pastaza region of Ecuador.
It is good, but personally it doesn't compare with chips and salsa. =)

Puyo River Walk

Well, after 4 days without internet--we are back on line. And now I know how to fix the problem. Flip the switch and reset the router that is located in our neighbors carport. I wish I would have known that 4 days ago. =) But at least we are back on line for the time being. We lost the internet because of some serious rain. Yes, the true Shell weather has arrived--just in time for us to host our first visitor. More on that in a future blog.










Last weekend we had a field trip, paseo in spanish, with some of the other missionaries to Puyo. The "big" city located about 6 km down the road. They have a nice river walk--along the river, obviously--that we enjoyed as a group. Then we climbed the lookout tower for a view of the river and the city. And we finished the mornings adventures with a yummy lunch--a local specialty that you can't find anywhere else in Ecuador.






The kids and Mike enjoyed swinging on the vines and contemplating some cliff jumps into the river. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the river is very shallow in most places so there wasn't much opportunity. It was a fun day and after almost 2 months of getting settled and spending the majority of our time in Shell--it was a great to get out and see just a bit more of this beautiful country and enjoy time with our new missionary friends and colleagues.

Angel

We want to introduce you to Angel (pronounced "on-hell" in spanish). He is a little boy who lives at Casa de Fe (House of Faith)--an orphanage in town. We don't really know much about him--he was left at the orphanage without a lot of information a little over a month ago. He came from one of the towns in the jungle and is somewhere between 18 months and 2 years old. But a little hard to tell because he was malnourished when he arrived.

Mike drove up to Quito with the director of the orphanage 2 weeks ago--so they had 10 hours in the car to talk about what goes on at the orphanage. At times Patty-Sue tries to find missionaries to "foster" or care for some of the kids who need a little extra attention for some reason. They have some very good caregivers, "tias" or aunties in spanish, that look after the kids the majority of the time. They have also recently started a school for the kids as well. I've added a link to their website on this blog if you want to know more. Anyways, we got to "baby-sit" Angel the last 2 Saturdays.

It's been very fun to have Angel in our house. Sydney absolutely loves being like a big sister or babysitter. Sam's not too sure still--but he enjoyed reading to him and teaching him some spanish and english. Of course our house no longer has many baby toys so we made due with laundry baskets, buckets, tupperware and balls.

So any visitors that need a baby-fix--Come On Down! There are lots of opportunities to love on kids.

Dying

Both of the kids just finished a studying seeds and plants in science. They each planted some kernels of corn (choclo in spanish) and had fun watching them germinate and grow. As they finished the subject last week, they each brought their seedlings home and now we have to find a place to plant them at home.

But these same plants were a sort of object lesson this morning at church. The preacher spoke from John. John 12:24-25 says "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

What a challenge! No one wants to die to themselves. I know I don't like it--I like to fight for my rights and for what I think I "deserve" in life. But until I am able to give that up for the sake of God--my Lord--and die, I will never be fruitful. It is a good reminder to daily die to self and surrender to our Lord who loves us. Our God who died for us when he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us.

Oh, and by the way. We had our first tarantula in the house yesterday. No, no one "died" but we were all a bit freaked out by the fuzzy spider by our front door.

Sydney's room

Here is Sydney's room makeover. We have very white walls in our house. And for years, Sydney has been asking us to paint her room--but since we have a habit of moving every few years we just haven't done it. So we told her that when we get to Shell we would paint her room. She held us to our promise and I (Heather) painted her room.
I've never painted before. Mike has been our resident painter since that was his summer job for years during college. So I just took it for granted that one day you had a white wall and the next it was a nice, pretty color.

Well, it was a bit harder than that. And I have great respect for all of you who love to paint and change the colors in your houses from time to time. Maybe it was the first day--when me and the kids decided to paint while Mike was on call. Painting with kids is not easy! We managed to keep most of the paint on the walls and not too much on each other or the furniture. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have a ladder and kept climbing up on a chair to reach the ceiling. But after the first day/ the first coat--I was less than impressed. Streaky and messy looking. But look what a difference a second coat makes--and this time without help from the kids =)
Well, you know what's next. Sam's room. I'm taking a break for a day or two. Then we'll try and tackle that one.

Healing

One reason both Mike and I went into Family Practice is the chance to get to work with and get to know families. To make relationships with patients that go beyond the results of their blood tests--and to help in times of sickness, both physical and emotional. The latter always being more challenging and more delicate.
I had my first taste of working with a family yesterday in clinic--that definitely pushed my limits and forced me to cry out to God for the wisdom and words to say to help this broken family. A dear little girl, her mother who is still reeling from the death of her first-born son 3 years ago and the toll that has taken on her, her marriage and her family, and the dear abuelita (grandmother) with some serious health problems of her own, but a bigger concern for the well-being of her daughter.
I know that God's Spirit was present during our visit--and yet my spanish seemed so inadequate and my wisdom so limited to speak into her life. Please pray for this dear family--that God's presence would be real and would continue to heal their broken lives with His peace and His love.

Back at work

Well we now have a couple of weeks under our belts back at work as doctors. We have felt many emotions during the transition (which I'm sure will last a lot longer than 2 weeks). I have really enjoyed being back in clinic, sitting in on morning report, talking about patients and using the "medical" part of my brain once again. But I have found that after a morning or full day of trying to communicate well with my patients in Spanish I am beat, worn-out, exhausted. Sadly, the other day at clinic I think my fatigue caught up with me and I could not keep my dates straight--saying noviembre (november) instead of septiembre(september) over and over--which greatly confused my pregnant patient who was hoping to have her baby in september (her due date) and not wait another 2 months!
And while I am sure in Malawi many of our patients had parasitic infections--they are rampant here. Itoo succumbed to a one of the wonderful stomach bugs--and have responded to medicine. Luckily I did not experience what many of our patients experience here in the hospital--that when they are sick and not eating--their parasites/worms start crawling out of their mouths or coming out their bottoms. Kind of gross--yes. But super common! Mike even had a patient in the hospital with so many worms in his intestines that they plugged up his gall bladder and the surgeon had to remove his gallbladder along with all of his worms.
All to say, it's good to be practicing medicine and it's definitely interesting.

"firsts"

Well, we have a few new "firsts" today. It's the first day of school for Sydney and Sam. Sydney is starting 3rd grade and Sam is in 2nd grade. They are attending Nate Saint Memorial School--a missionary school that was the vision of Nate Saint, a missionary who was martyred in the jungles east of Shell in the 50's. There are about 30 kids in the whole school (grade 1-8). Sam is in a room with 1st and 2nd graders and Sydney is in the 3rd and 4th grade classroom.


Mike also has a "first" of his own today. He is taking call today for the first time at the hospital. It is his first call night in about 4 years since we only did clinic work in Malawi. It is also his first call in Spanish--thankfully he has some very good medical students and residents working alongside him tonight to show him the ropes.

We are thankful to God for his blessings--to get us here to Ecuador and to guide us through the adjustments of living and working in another country and culture.

Saturday morning walk

We had a beautiful Saturday morning this weekend. The sun was out and we could see the "big"mountains in the distance. Usually these snowcapped mountains are covered by clouds--but every once in awhile we get a pretty view. Sangay is in fact a volcano and is one of the active volcanoes here in Ecuador.


Another interesting site this morning was the recent slaughter of a pig by one of the local butchers. Isn't he huge! Sorry, if you get a bit queasy in the stomach don't look at the pic.

This isn't the butcher we have been using--although we could have had some fresh pork that day I guess.

You know you are in Shell

You know you are in Shell when a 3 course lunch costs $1

Having lunch with our "big brothers"--Steve and Diane Wilson

You know you are in Shell, when after one day of playing outside your legs are covered with bites from "no-see-ums"

Bites not withstanding, the kids are loving living in Shell.

The move

Cotopaxi--one of the beautiful views on the way to Shell

Thankfully we had a pretty uneventful move from Quito to Shell last week. We ended up traveling with one other family on a big bus--because we were transporting half a house--furniture, appliances and all of our suitcases as well as us.

Mike loading one of our many suitcases onto the bus

Thankfully it all fit and we rode in style as we left the mountains around Quito and descended towards the Oriente--the jungle where Shell is located. We had a beautifully clear day and were able to see many of the big mountains and volcanoes that pass through the central corridor of Ecuador. We spent the next week finding our way around Shell--which is not too big and would be very hard to get lost in--and getting settled. The mess at the end of the trip

We sat in on morning report at the hospital which made us quickly realize that although our spanish has come a long way--we still have a ways to go in order to understand and communicate at such a high and rapid level. But we are so excited to get to work and thankfully we are joining a very welcoming and supportive team of people at Hospital Vozandes del Oriente.

Despedidas y Saludas (Goodbyes and Hellos)

After a week of goodbyes in Costa Rica--with lots of tears once again on my part--we embarked on the next step of our adventure. Ecuador! We were welcomed by many HCJB missionaries in Quito who helped us do all of the shopping for outfitting our house in Shell--driving us around, feeding us, and helping us out with the kids. We are very grateful.Sydney and Sam with Iveth--their wonderful Sunday school teacher

saying goodbye to my wonderful translation class

more goodbyes with Lucia, our empleada

Then we took an interesting 5-hour bus trip down to Shell with all of our stuff and started moving into our house. I'll save those pics for the next blog! Thanks for your prayers--our move has been relatively uneventful and we are thankfully all healthy.

Vamos a Bailar

Vamos a Bailar or Let's Dance! The girls

I love this picture of Sydney. She looks like a princess.

Well, we did it! Sydney, Sam and I danced in a cultural presentation--twice! The first time for the school, and last night for the surrounding neighborhood and friends. All of it to celebrate a Tico holiday--the annexation of Guanacaste. This is when Costa Rica annexed all of the north-west part of the country from Nicaragua. For us it meant the chance to dress in twirly skirts and perform. What fun!

One of our teachers coordinated and choreographed all of the dances--and we had been practing for about 2 months in preparation for the big day. It was all beautiful and I was so proud of my kids--they did a great job.

Rollerskating

Yes, we are still in school but there isn't much to blog about when it comes to our day-to-day schedule of classes and homework. And definitely nothing picture-worthy. And I know that's what people really want to see--pictures. So must of what we have to write about is family events and happenings. We hope to have more stories about ministry when we get to Shell.

Well, Sam's 7th birthday is on Friday and he decided he wanted to go rollerskating for his birthday. So we did just that--and for all of our peers, you can imagine stepping back into the early 80's with vintage rollerskates, Michael Jackson music, strobe lights and tight flourescent jeans (yes, apparently they are back in style). We had a lot of fun and luckily had no major injuries. It was a memorable outing--one that I'm pretty sure that we won't have in Shell. =)