San Carlos and Mashient

Sunset on the Pastaza River

Laura and I in San Carlos

Our third week in the country was also my second week in the jungle.  San Carlos and Mashient were 2 communities that had been expecting us so we weren't able to postpone the trip.  It'd taken us a little longer to get back to Shell from the US than anticipated so we had to hit the ground running.  I'd just returned from Kapawari, had the weekend off, and then flew back out on Monday with Jonas (a missionary from Compassion) and with a medical intern (Christian Vazquez).  As before, we were going to do checkups on the children sponsored by Compassion and also see others that wanted to be seen.  With each trip we also try to arrange a time in the late afternoon or evening to share God's word.  Often it's either Jonas or I sharing our testimony and a story or lesson from the Bible.  Compassion usually sends in a pastoral team to each of the communities for a week at a time so that each community where there is a sponsored child gets visited 3 or 4 times per year.

Laura, in blue, with her mom and older cousin (also hospitalized with pyomyosistis).

San Carlos is the jungle community that is closest to getting road access.  It's only a 20 minute flight and sits on the Pastaza River.  We saw about 120 to 130 people there and had a great time.  What is always enjoyable is seeing patients in their communities that we'd cared for while in the hospital.  Below is a picture I took sitting next to "Laura" while in San Carlos and below that is a picture that I took when she was in the hospital last year.  She'd been admitted with a condition called 'pyomyositis' and needed to have surgery to drain pus from inside her upper thigh.  Pyomyositis is an infection rarely seen in the developed world but very common in the tropics. I'd never heard of it until I saw it for the first time in Nigeria in '96.  As cellulitis is an infection of the most superficial layers of tissue beneath the skin, pyomyositis is one involving the deeper tissue planes, usually large muscle groups.  It's linked to chronic malnutrition and also is typically caused by 'Staph'.  It is a more serious infection than the abscesses seen in the US as it can quickly travel to the bloodstream and lead to sepsis.  It typically responds well to antibiotics and, more importantly, surgery to drain the pus.  Laura was with us for 4 days in the hospital and I got to know her and her family fairly well so it was nice to see her again in her own community.



After our time in San Carlos, we flew to Mashient.  Mashient is only a10 minute flight from San Carlos and is also an Achuar community.  It's also down the Pastaza river from San Carlos. I'd been to San Carlos before but this was my first time visiting Mashient. Because it's a smaller community we didn't see quite as many patients but had more time to visit with the community elders.  Even though it doesn't have a church, it is home to a handful of devout Christian's.  One was a man named Carlos.  Carlos is a village elder that takes his calling seriously.

Carlos and his wife in their home

While we were in Mashient he was worried about a fellow Christian that was out in the jungle wanting to kill a young man that he thought was responsible for his sister's death.  Apparently this woman had died of unknown reasons and her brother was convinced that this other young man had had a witch doctor put a curse on her which led to her death.  He lives in a community about a 3 hour walk away and had mentioned that he was going out to kill this young man.  Carlos and a number of other Christians from that communiity were looking for the brother to talk him out of it.  They were not able to find him but at least warn the sought after young man to hide.

Carlos and Christian, our medical intern.

What struck me about this entire affair was how difficult it is for many Christian's to set aside their old ways and adopt a new life in Christ.  Their animistic and dark culture always seems to rear its ugly head.  I never did get to hear whatever happened to this young man or the 'Christian' that was out to kill him.  The other thing that struck me was how important his Christian beliefs were to Carlos.  Here he was willing to risk his own life trying to intervene on behalf of his Christian brother who was giving in to desires of the flesh (wanting to avenge his sister's death).  Carlos also talked about what he and several others of his brothers were going to do the following weekend.  They were going to get together and preach in a nearby community for a few days.  It was something that they'd done in the past and starting to do on a more regular basis.  Please keep Carlos and his brothers in your prayers as they try to live out the Great Commission.

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Sleeping quarters in San Carlos.

My First Caravan of 2014 to Bufeo and Kapawari

Map of Ecuador with Pastaza in Red

Pastaza with Bufeo and Kapawari circled in red (Shell is circled on the far left)

After being away for the better part of 7 months it was nice to be back in Shell and to get back to work.  There were no hospital duties awaiting me so our arrival in Shell was a bit surreal.  Normally I'd get anxious about returning knowing the responsibilities that awaited me - taking call, arranging schedules, dealing with the residents and the residency program, and all of the other little things that seemed to come my way.  What I did get to do was get ready for our first of many scheduled caravans into the jungle, the purpose of which was to provide access to medical care and help spread God's Word.

Gloria and Hanibal (both strong Christians in Kapawari)

My first trip took me to 2 communities that I'd visited in the past, Bufeo and Kapawari so it was nice to see some familiar faces.  We didn't have much time to prepare before we flew in so it was helpful that these were known communities.  The funny thing is that we arrived right during election time throughout the country as we did last year so it was almost like deja vu.  Last year it was the presidential election and this year it was for all of the provincial and city positions and it's mandatory that every adult vote.  If you didn't vote, you would be fined $90.  That doesn't sound like a lot to us Americans but wee need to remember that the stipend that government gives each adult from the jungle is about $90/month.  What makes matters worse for them is that you have to vote in your home town or the voting post that represents your area.  Bufeo had its own voting station but Kapawari did not, so those from Kapawari had to travel 2 days on foot in order to get to that community (Montalvo, which is due east on the above map).  All of those adults that would vote left Friday morning, our last day in the village.

Carlos Padilla and my posse.

Shoving off down the Kapawari River to see some kids in a nearby village, Pukuan.

I got to take a medical resident with me who was from Cuenca and hadn't been in the jungle before.  You can see from the pictures below that he had a wonderful time.  We saw a number of kids in both communities and I even got to share God's word with them.  We try to finish early enough each day to set aside some time for a 'culto' (a time of worship).  Since there is no electricity out there we have to be done before 6:30 when it gets dark.  The kids almost always come but you never know about the adults.  This time, however, many of the community elders were there.  Bufeo doesn't have a church and many of the Christian's have left to form another community so it's a village that needs God's word.  Kapawari, on the other hand, is a much more close knit community with the elders all coming from 1 family (they're all brothers) and they take worship time seriously.  Even though there isn't a pastor in Kapawari the kids go to Sunday School every week in a new church building and many of the adults take turns singing hymns in Achuar (their native language) and sharing Bible stories.  Here is a link to a story written on our mission's website about my visit there.

Since the Bufeo/Kapawari trip, I've gone back in 3 other times to other communities for a total of 4 weeks of travel.  Each community is different and has its own set of challenges.  Please pray for wisdom and His favor as we continue to reach these people groups.

Joe

I always get interesting things to eat when I go to Kapawari.

Chicha break (Jonas spilled it, not me ;-))

Flexibility is Such a Dirty Word

Shannon over at Sweet Blessings posted this today and it really spoke to me.  Shannon has put together this wonderful graphic you can download along with lots of other great sayings.

The job that I trained for, scientific research is pretty precise and require a lot of planning, so unless you really mess things up, there isn't much of a reason to flex.  On the other (extremely different and far away) other hand, my second and third jobs, mom and missionary require extreme flexibility and sometimes....... I don't want to flex..... even if I can.  I just don't want to anymore. I'm done.  And (please don't tell my kids I just started a sentence with And.) so what happens?  I snap.  I snap at my husband.  I snap at the kids or the dog, or some poor person on the street who just happened to walk in front of me.  So even though it isn't a beatitude in the truest sense of the word, blessed are the flexible.

History and Impact of Hospital Vozandes del Oriente

https://reachbeyond.org/read/12714

Here is a link to a great story about the impact Christ has made through our hospital over the last 60 years. My favorite part are the quotes from national employees. They really highlight the eternal impact, but also that the Ecuadorian church is alive and well prepared to influence their own country as well as other nations with the love of Christ.  I know many are saddened by the closing of the hospital  but I think that this is the culmination of many years of hard work and that these employees are ready to go out and be the salt and light in other hospitals.  We aren't called to stay, but to go.  I miss seeing them every day, but am excited to hear how they will change the world for Christ. 

Sun, Internet, Dr Who and Bible Studies

         Good Friday morning and I do mean good.  I am sitting here in the sun.  Yes you heard me right, we have sun today.  This is the first sunny day since we arrived the first week of February and I am beyond excited.  I am even prepared to sweat a little this afternoon if it will just hold up and stay sunny all day.
         Praise God that we have internet in our house once again and that we have a God who cares about the little things in life.  However, now that we have internet Joe and I don't have any excuses for not answering emails and blogging more often... gulp.
Most of you know about our newest addition, Rose Tyler.  I thought I would include some pictures to show how she has grown over the last 5 weeks.

        Last night at the ladies meeting at our church, our pastor's wife, Blanca spoke about tending to your spiritual life like it is a plant and that really spoke to me.  Am I weeding enough?  Am I catching enough of God's sunlight?  Am I soaking in the rain and fertilizer? or are my leaves turing yellow and fading?  I really need to make sure that my spiritual life is flourishing enough that I can produce flowers and be aware if my leaves are turning yellow and fading.  

Shell Life

Last week there was a talent show at the missionary school here.  Our friends, the Irwin family, made this amazingly talented video about life here in Shell.  I hope you laugh half as much as we did.

Sorry For the Silence

Well, we are back in Shell and what started out as very fast internet when arrived, died a quick and permanent death, so sorry for the silence, but we will hopefully get internet back this week.  While checking my enormous amount of email today I came upon this wonderful video that my friend Ty Stakes did of our time in Nepal.  I hope you enjoy.