Raising Daughters Of The King

MissionsDecember 2014

Ecuador

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers for my mission trip to Ecuador! It was wonderful! There are so many special moments that I would love to share with you that occurred during almost a month trip. But, I recognize that words cannot express some moments and readers would grow a little weary of each detail so here will try to write only the most vivid of memories as God guided, protected, and used His clay vessels.

The best part of the trip for me was the company. To be able to travel with my youngest as well as her friends, was truly the most special part of the trip. For so many young adults today, the 21st birthday is seen as a time to party hardy and celebrate oneself with over indulgence. Jenny spent her birthday in a country reaching out to others and celebrating the self-worth of others.

Ecuador is an intriguing and beautiful country. We were blessed to see some of its snow–covered mountain peaks and volcanoes. We have the privilege to hike down to a gorgeous waterfall. Thanks to Amanda and Jenny, I actually reached the waterfall and returned with the group — that was quite a challenge but well worth it. and travel by small motor powered canoe on the Amazon tributary with its piranha and other dangerous inhabitants. The humidity, high altitude, mosquitoes, tarantulas were definitely present during the month of May and most impressive were her precious people. What a lovely, loving people!

The children are beautiful! All of tm had a way of stealing our hearts. One darling child was named Doris. We had taken a canoe to a jungle village. The heat and humidity was harsh, to say the least. But, there in this tiny, insignificant location, our group was met by laughing darling children. I felt the urging of our Lord to plant seeds of hope in their hearts for their futures. Dreams of growing up to become a nurse or doctor or teacher or even a mama are as common as sunshine in Texas for our little American children. For these babies, I felt like I was planting priceless seeds that may never grow into fruition but may have deposited a tiny droplet of self esteem in these hearts. To see their little faces and hear their giggles was worth the hike in and the drain of strength due to the heat. A few minutes passed as we set up the location as an efficiently operated health clinic. When I turned around, there stood little Doris in a fresh pink shirt and with wet hair. She beamed as she told me that she had washed her hair with champu — then when no one could hear, she whispered that she needed something for lice. Precious baby girl. All we had to offer was a small can of hairspray that might suffocate the unwanted creatures. Before we left, that precious Doris presented me with a sweetly colored picture and all the love that she could squeeze into the picture. This precious group responded to all the college kids soaking in all attention and love they could attract. The ladies of the village had cooked up their best meal for us. It included hearts of palm, yucca root, rice and chicken. We checked to see that all was cooked safely and we found out that the chickens they had killed for us, their honored guests, were part of a project to advance their village. We were so humbled at this huge sacrifice and we forced ourselves to finish ever bite. (Americans have quite a reputation for waste.) Once we had almost finished eating, we were told that at this village, it was acceptable to share our scraps with the children. It nearly broke our hearts to realize that we could have offered this food back to hungry children as they had offered it to us.

I have thought of you so much and wanted to share how the trip to Ecuador went. Life has been a little busy. A month on a trip is full of events to write about but I will try to touch on the most special moments.

We hadn't been there a full week when my purse was stolen. God is completely sovereign. I know He could have prevented the loss in several ways, but instead, He allowed it. I lost all our trip money, 2 passports, my camera, my phone, credit cards… I tried really hard to react the way God wanted me to. I tried to be the testimony to the college kids, as well as all the restaurant staff, and the local church members. I was able to praise God with joy. But the next day was Mother's Day, and even though I only lost things, not a life or anything of true value, it was just a little harder to praise with joy. I was talking it over with the Lord and mentioned that “it was costing me some to find joy in my praise.” The phrase “costing me”reminded me of the time when David wanted to buy a threshing floor to offer a sacrifice to God. When the owner found out, he offered to give King David the floor for free. But David rejected it saying that he could never offer to God something that “cost” him nothing. Then I said, “But God, I only brought my old Spanish Bible without a concordance. How will I ever find that verse? You'll have to help me.” It's the Bible that I had taken to Argentina in 1979. I needed God to help me find that verse. So I did what I never do, I randomly opened my Bible to wherever it would open expecting a precise word, and it fell open to the verse — underlined from 1979. (2 Samuel 24:24). With God being so clear in His Word to me, then I determined to take this as an opportunity to praise God with joy over something that cost me something. It was a very special moment.

Now, after that, Jenny and I were able to get our emergency passports with one trip to the embassy. Within about 3 hours, we were set to continue our trip. I've prayed for those people who got the contents of my purse. May they find Christ.

Another special moment was when we visited the home site of Jim Elliot and Nate Saint. What an honor to be in the home of such consecrated missionaries. To read verses on their walls about laying down their lives for Christ, knowing now that they walked their talk even to the end, was very life impacting. Another special realization was that the area around Jim's house was surrounded by believers. When he first built that house, it was a different story. His life's blood made a difference.

There were some concrete stairs that led down a fairly step walk to a beautiful beach by the river he used frequently to reach the locals. However, the steps were known to be very slippery because of the moss that grew in that rainy area. The nurse, Connie, who had seen how slippery it was the year before, and I decided not to risk a fall that had the potential of ruining our trip there. I was feeling a little old and frustrated that I wasn't up to the walk down the stairs, when a lady we had talked with before came over and invited us to walk across the path to her house and look at her crafts that she was trying to sell, so we did. In our conversation, we discovered that her niece was in active labor with her first baby and they were trying to sell enough crafts to get her to the hospital. Connie offered to go inside her little house and check her precious niece. The beautiful eighteen year old named Flor, “Flower”, was very frightened. Her mother-in-law and aunt were still grieving the recent loss of another son so their fears and sadness were being added to the fears of this precious mother-to-be. What a special moment we experienced there. God was able to work through Connie's medical expertise to give this sweet girl some exercises to do to help her transverse baby turn head down, and I was able to translate and share words of God with this young believer. By the time our time at that village was over, the baby was head down, the little mama was smiling and believing God that she would be a good mother, and the older ladies heard God's comforting Word to their grieving hearts. I can't imagine how that sweet child will feel when he is older and his mama tells him how he was in distress and people from far away came right at the exact moment of need to allow him to enter this world safely.

On this trip to Ecuador, I was able to ride a canoe on a tributary of the Amazon, see incredible sights and places, including the Middle of the Earth. We stayed in a lodge in the jungle where tarantulas were in our rooms and mosquitoes were everywhere. There we were able to examine and prescribe antibiotics for ear infections and distribute vitamins and refer others to clinics. Parasite medicine was given to each patient. Words of hope and seeds of dreams were given to children and parents. Heat, humidity, bugs… and the love of Christ were everywhere.

Two more children, I must tell you about. Besides the fact that their stories are precious, I request that you take just a moment to pray for these two. I will go ahead and change their names so they never feel embarrassment or shame over this. First, there is a sweet fourteen year old girl that we will call Guadalupe. She, like many little girls in America, has a bully as a boyfriend. She shared her story with us and we were able to get her local help. In the time of sharing, we were able to tell her that she is a child of the King and that no one has a right to treat one of His children like she was being treated. The next day we saw that her facebook status had changed to “I too am a child of the King.” Another precious child is Pedro, who is twelve but looks to be the size of some eight year olds. His mother and aunt were desperate to get him some vitamins and advice to help him grow. Once more, we were empty handed to fill this need. But as this young man allowed tears to flow down his cheeks, we offered him words of life. I was able to share with him that Christ had created him exactly as he is for a specific purpose and offered him the salvation bracelet. Please pray for Guadalupe and Pedro that God would help them as they face their struggles over self-identity — Guadalupe about allowing bullies to control and define her and Pedro that he would experience a growth spurt and that his self-identity would be in Christ and not in his height.

Finally, we went up to the mountains. There we were honored to worship in a church and with a congregation of Kichwa indigenous people who had come to know Jesus and whose church had been born out of intense persecution. Where at first there were only 11 believers, now there are 200. There is nothing but genuine faith and consecration in that congregation. Their health issues were fairly intense, but their walk with God was the purest of pure. The health clinic we held at this location involved 2 translators for each patient. First the patient spoke in Kichwa to her translator who translated into Spanish to the next translator (sometimes, that was me) who translated back to English to the nursing students and then back through the two translators to the patient.

The missionary who allowed us to serve with him on this brief trip, told us a story of his. I will share it here. After years of work with the Waorani Indians who killed Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and their friends, there were still pockets of tribes that had not learned of the love of Christ nor put aside their violence. Through a lengthy process of relationship building, our friend was taken to the area by jeep then canoe and finally by hiking for more than 8 hours. After presenting the Gospel and discipling this particular tribe for weeks, it came time for him to leave. The people had been so touched by Christ through him that they wanted to make him an honorary member of their tribe and write his name in their special book of members. They gave him the name of their great-great-grandfather of their tribe, “Namunca”. When they explained to him the meaning it was especially touching. It seems that no one had been given this honored name since their founder. It was from the name of a beautiful jungle butterfly that was brown and camouflaged on the back side with iridescent blue on the tops of the wings. So as it flies through the jungle, only flashes of blue light appear and disappear. Its name means “reflector of light”. How honored our missionary was that these people would call him such a meaningful name, “Reflector of the Light.” How honored he was to be written in their book under that name! Then he explained how God has written our names in His Book of Life long before we were born. How honored these people were to hear that and how honored and blessed we are as well. May we all be reflectors of His Light wherever we go and reside.

Thank you for the gifts you sent. We took vitamins (gave them out to over 500 children and sick adults) and crafts for the children to work on that went along with the Bible stories that were shared. And we treated hundreds for parasites they get from their water supply. It was almost a month of not easy work, but it was an amazing trip. Thanks also for your prayers!

In His love,
Janice