December 3, 2024
Dear friends,
Due to family commitments, I (Richard) had to go it alone to Ecuador. The list of things that need to be done is always long and never gets completed. However, I was able to finish some very important tasks along with wonderful fellowship with all of our staff and church community.
When was the last time that you saw this in the USA? (This pole is across the street from the clinic. Some poles in Quito have four times the amount of wires.) It makes you wonder how a person approaches the challenges appearing on this pole. So, it is with life. Thanks be to God, we not only have His protection but the assurance that He is always with us. (Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you.”) We all recently celebrated Thanksgiving for what God has provided and now we approach the wonderful time of the year celebrating and giving thanks for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we prepared for Christmas, we had a birth of our own. Our administrator specialist Dolores (fondly known as Loly) had their second child on November 28th who was given the name Lucas (Luke – from the Bible). Do you think he will become a doctor?
For many years Elizabeth and I were able to celebrate in mid-December and host a staff Christmas party enjoying food, games, a white-elephant gift and wonderful fellowship. Sadly, we will be unable to be there this year, they will celebrate on the 20th.
Wouldn’t you like to know what is in these white-elephant gifts prepared before I departed for home? I’ll let them know you’re coming.
We’ve always had Christmas lights in the patient waiting room and, on the roof, but this year they asked us if they could purchase a Christmas tree and decorations. Elizabeth also said that we needed to put up a nativity, so I brought down an extra set that we had at home and mounted it on the wall next to the tree.
The church next to our clinic that we attend while there was able to secure additional funds to finally complete construction and are now enjoying their newly refurbished church. The main structure, the walls and floor, were not replaced. It did receive a new roof, chairs and interior modifications along with new paint jobs.
It was wonderful to be there to help celebrate. Pastor Gabriel gives the sermon most Sundays but is often joined by other seminary pastors. I was pleased to see our friend Carlos (who had heart surgery) lead in the singing – which lasts an hour, standing and clapping.
Staff birthdays are always celebrated with food, drink and of course a birthday cake. I was fortunate to be there for Dra. Karolina’s birthday on November 17th.
Since they had the chance, they decided that they wanted one with me in it (go figure!)
Our four wonderful water techs always make the day lively even though the work is physically tough, and they get exhausted. Here they are performing a difficult and ‘not fun’ task changing out the material in one of our water processing tanks. The one in this case is an annual change of the carbon tank.
Lunch time is a welcome break. Here two of my water techs (Michael and Fabian) along with our custodian (Junior) are enjoying their lunch in our guard shack.
This year we had an intern student (Jennifer) from the university studying administration. Here she was allowed to work in the water plant taking care of all the computer entries. She will complete her required hours (144) the middle of January.
After telling you about all the wonderful times that were enjoyed, I find it disheartening and necessary to tell you about all the difficult times that the Ecuadorians are going through. It was mentioned in past email updates that the country was going through a very difficult season combatting the drug gangs, cartels and mafia. Earlier in the year it was extremely difficult for the country at first, then calmed down, then flared up again, then down and now up again. During eleven of the days that I was in Floron, there were four different shooting occurrences with a total of six men killed. They were all within close proximity of the clinic. Floron (population of around 14,000) is the “wrong side of the track” of the main city of Portoviejo and it has three known drug gangs.
This was the scene two blocks from the clinic the following Friday during the day – three men were killed. The sad thing is that only one was a gang member while the other two were construction workers from Manta. All three were working together on a building. Ten officers came to investigate.
During the first Friday night I was there a friends son named Joffre was killed. The funeral was held the next day (normal for Ecuador as they don’t embalm or do very little cremating due to the cost). I was not told about it until several days later as the staff feared for my safety. I finally was able to go visit with Joffre’s mother (Maria). Her husband, also named Joffre, had passed away a few years back due to a weak heart from childhood measles.
The last shooting occurred a week ago. Due to work being done on my 27-year-old car, I rode on the back of our day guards’ motorcycle to do a little grocery shopping at a nearby store just outside of Floron. We had to go on a different route (the back way) returning to the clinic. On the way we had a little accident that we believe was an act of God because it delayed me enough to just miss another shooting – bullets flying everywhere – killing one person. I’ve always believed in miracles, and this certainly was one. I only injured the left knee (painful but intact) with no other damage in spite of going down to the pavement with the cycle on top of me – there was no need to go to the hospital.
If the drug problems weren’t bad enough, the country is experiencing a severe drought. The lack of water in their lakes/reservoirs minimizes the operations of their hydroelectric generators. Ever since September they have had rolling blackouts throughout the country. We would lose power for 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week. This will continue until sometime in January when th rainy season starts. Fortunately, I purchased a 22kw generator for the water plant back in 2018. The rest of the offices (admin, lab, dentist) are being fed by two portable generators on the roof. The lack of electricity certainly put a damper on my ability to get certain things done – but fortunately not all things.
Therefore, I will close with this prayer request: Continue to pray for safety for all. Continue to pray for Ecuador's president, police and military with the country's drug battle.
Dios los bendiga,
Elizabeth and Richard <><
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