2/2/05 (Wednesday)

6:50 AM. I am up and showered. Another couple is in the room next to me and we chare a bathroom. So I got up early to shower and shave. I don’t need to be at Jane’s office until around 9:30. I plan to sit and read this morning. I have read most of the New Testament. I hope to get it all done this trip. I have really enjoyed reading God’s Word.

Lord, Thank You for the restful night and this new day. Thank You for allowing me to walk with You here in Ecuador. Guide me, Lord, as I look to the future and consider more mission work. I want to serve You and use the talents and skills You have given me to reach out in Your name. Help me in this, dear Father.

Lord, I give you this day. Be with Jane as she deals with her issues today. Thank you for bringing me here. Amen.

8:50 AM. Breakfast is over and I am reading Scripture. Soon I will walk to Jane’s office so I can do some email and will continue to read while Jane is in a meeting. After the meeting we will head out to visit a clinic up on the mountain. This is a very poor area of Quito. The clinic is part of the HCJB community development program as is San Lorenzo. We will have a good view of the city and I want to get a few pictures. The rest of the day will be reading time. I am packed for the flight so it won’t take long in the morning to get ready to travel. My flight leaves at 7:39 so i will need to be at the airport by 5 to 5:30 to check in. Traveling first class should allow me to check in faster.

3:45 PM. I went over to Jane’s office and was able to go online and read and send some email. I enjoyed hearing from the family. I had written to Ben, my grandson, that I was going to the equator and told him to look at his globe and find the equator in Ecuador. Kim wrote that Ben found Ecuador on his globe and then asked, “Will Grandpa see the red line?” I wrote back to Kim stating there was indeed a red line at the equator and I straddled it. Ben will be impressed when he sees the picture. Jane and I went to a shopping mall where I got some film for the camera and then went to a food court for lunch. We then drove up the mountainside to the HCJB clinic there.

Standing on the equator

The red line was actually orange.

The area up on the mountain looked a lot like San Lorenzo. The higher we climbed, the poorer the people became. The clean city turned into shacks and cardboard houses, dirt roads, trash everywhere and squalor. It was quite the transition. Yet, the view from there was spectacular. You looked down on the city. We were probably 500 to 1000 feet above the city. The homes were built into the side of the mountain. They were so run down it was hard to imagine how they stood. There were street dogs everywhere. I did get some pictures of the city as well as the neighborhood.

Entrance to clinic

The clinic consisted of three levels. Entrance at one level, steps down to the next level and then steps down to a third level.

Looking over the clinic onto part of Quito below

Looking down the road in front of the clinic

Clinic neighborhood

Looking up to part of the clinic neighborhood

Clinic neighborhood with Quito in the background

Looking at Quito from the mountainside

Quito

Another direction

The airport is in the center of the city.

Jane is coming about 5:30 to 6 so we can walk over to the Sports Planet restaurant to eat. I’ll come back and finish packing and then get to bed. I’ll need to be up by 4 so I can be ready to meet Jane by 5.

9:15 PM. Jane came about 6 and we walked over to Las Americas Plaza to eat at the Sports Planet. Jane had received an email from John Wallace, son of Dr. John Wallace. Through a friend at home we learned that John was teaching English in Quito. We connected and we met at the Sports Planet and enjoyed some good Fort Wayne conversation. John is teaching lower elementary at a Christian Academy in Quito. As we talked we learned he taught a couple relatives of Damarys. He is interested in going with Jane to San Lorenzo sometime. She will keep in contact with him.

Jane and I also talked about improving her financial support. Through L.A.M.B., her own mission organization, she is helping support tuition costs for Jorge’s son, Maria Luisa’s son, and Angelita’s daughter for college. Jorge’s sone is trying to get into law school. Maria Luisa’s sone is heading to dental school. Angelita’s daughter is interested in computers. This is the opportunity these three have to get out of the rut they live in. The cost is about $1000 per year each. What a way for Jane to multiply her ministry!

We also talked about getting donations to start and endowment fund so she could have steady income to support the clinic. When Jane stopped to pick me up she talked with the man who runs the guesthouse. He took her email address and wants to contact a physician friend in Austin, TX, who is the director of a fund of money. He wants to donate to mission organizations like Jane’s. Jane was very excited for this link. I would hope some avenues like this will open up for her.

Lord, I pray for Jane and her clinic in San Lorenzo. I pray for funds for L.A.M.B. to help with the clinic and even help with the three children and their education. Lord, move hearts, including mine, and bring in the resources for Jane and San Lorenzo. Thank You for what You have done for Jane and the people of San Lorenzo. I want to partner more with Jane to make this ministry even more effective.

Lord, I pray for restful sleep. I pray for a safe journey home tomorrow. I pray for Phyl and her travel to the airport. Thank You for giving me this opportunity to reach out in Your name. I want to come back, Lord. Help me do that. Amen.