Day 2 – January 8, 2025
Last night we stayed at a small hotel near the airport. The accommodations were very nice and clean and the sleep was wonderful. In the morning Jane, Claudia and I had breakfast in the dining room which was more like a sun porch. It was all glass and the view into the back yard which as very nicely landscaped. After breakfast we began our journey to San Lorenzo.
The route to San Lorenzo goes through the Andes Mountains with incredible mountain scenery on both sides of us. The mountains are all covered with lush green grass with valleys in which were rivers with many rapids as the water flowed fairly fast over large boulders and rocks. The road is full of curves and switchbacks making travel slow. We encountered several areas that had washouts having been filled with gravel and dirt. Those areas were full of potholes. One area the road narrowed down to 1 lane as a large portion of the mountainside had disappeared in a landslide. The road was marked as one lane so we had to stop and wait till oncoming cars and trucks worked their way through this area before we could go. Jane said this washout occurred some months earlier but no work had been done yet to repair it.
Eventually, we arrived at Ibarra, a larger city surrounded by mountains. There we stopped at a rather modern shopping mall and had lunch in the food court. We then went shopping in the grocery purchasing almost two carts of meat, produce, bread, and other foods for our time here at the clinic.
After we loaded the coolers in her pickup truck bed, we traveled on to San Lorenzo. We arrived here about 5 pm. We then decided to gather at 7 in the kitchen for a light dinner. Now that dinner is over, I am back in my room getting this blog entry written.
Jane is having Claudia and I stay in the hospital section of the clinic instead of the guest house. The hospital rooms are quite large and extra clean. Each room has two beds plus a full bath with shower and even hot water. The rooms are air conditioned which will make sleep much easier without needing a mosquito netting over us. This is luxury for us compared to the guest house accommodations. The guest house needs some maintenance and thus is not usable at the present time. I am very thankful for this comfortable room which will be my home here in the clinic.
Over and over on these mission trips I have seen the Lord work in miraculous ways. Every time He will take us to the limit in expressing our full faith in Him before He answers our prayers. This came true to me again last night when Claudia’s flight to Miami was delayed and I was certain she would miss the flight to Quito. If so, she would have flown in the next day, but that would mean Jane and I would have to stay over and then miss a day in the clinic seeing the patients she wants me to screen for surgery. Claudia and I had texted back and forth as she sat in Dallas airport watching the projected boarding times bypassed for later times. We prayed earnestly for Jesus to help her arrive on time. There was nothing we could do to assure ourselves that she would indeed make it.
Eventually, I boarded the plane about fifteen minutes before the boarding process would end. When there was five minutes to go before the airline doors would shut and we would begin backing away from the gate, Claudia’s plane pulled up at the gate right beside ours. She and another passenger were going to Quito and they got off the plane as fast as they could and walked to our gate and boarded the plane just before the door was to close.
Once on the plane, I told Claudia that I didn’t know if her luggage would be transferred as the loading process was done. Plus, they would have to be extracted from the plane right away and brought to our plane. So, we prayed about that. In Quito, at the baggage claim, there on the carrousel came her luggage, all intact. Again, we were reminded of God’s faithfulness and He worked out what looked to us like an impossible situation. It seemed He waited till the last minute to see if we still exercised our faith or just gave up on Him.
I find that delay in God acting upon a situation I am praying about is all too common. He wants me to build my faith, to exercise it to make it stronger, and He tests me in situations where He seems quiet up to the very end. Then He acts miraculously. It demonstrates to me that only He is the one who can make those situations happen. Only He is the one who uses moments like this to make me become more and more confident in Him and His Word. I am learning that my position is to just trust Him and not allow stress, worry, and even jumping ahead to fix the problem myself. He asks us to rest in Him, to let go and let Him handle the issue before us. I am so thankful that He is willing to go to great lengths just to cause me to exercise more faith in Him. I anticipate His miraculous help to appear over and over the next several days as we serve Him by serving those patients coming to see us for help.
Medical Missions 