Ecuador - Days 4 and 5

We were able to see many more patients the past 2 days than the first day. I think that word got out that we were here because when we arrived at the clinic site today there was already a large crowd waiting outside. I've uploaded some pictures to my Facebook page, so hopefully you can view those. In case you're wondering why a few of us seems to always be wearing the same shirt, it's because a company donated them and wanted us to distribute them out of the country. So we each brought tons of these shirts to wear and give away. Either that, or Nelson just really likes dressing like me!


The carnival team is doing a fantastic job of playing with the kids while they wait. They are also sharing Bible stories. We were stunned to find that none of the children knew the Biblical account of creation from Genesis and only one had ever heard of the 10 Commandments. On Wednesday, some of the locals "caught the vision" and set up some additional kid's craft areas of their own to help us out! How cool is that!!


SIFAT, the organization that is coordinating our trip, has an amazing and thorough program that trains local Christians to impact their own communities for Christ. The missions teams come in and support the work being done locally. We are working in Cotocollao with Mercedes Cruz, a graduate of their program. Since the local people know that Mercedes is responsible for bringing us to their community, we are building a ton of goodwill between her and the people in her community. We are praying that our presence and work will lead to many opportunities for future ministry and discipleship for Mercedes.


This evening a few of us wandered down to a local restaurant with Ecuadorian food. We should find out in the next 48 hours whether that was a good idea! Thanks again for all of your prayers!