Tuesday, 11 July 2006

• St. Luke's Medical team is humming along!

     Hello all the  viewers of the SIFAT Ecuador website! Thanks for taking time to read this page and we at SIFAT hope that it edifies your day, your Christian walk, and your understanding of Missions here in Quito with SIFAT Ecuador! Thanks for your support!

     Well, the St. Luke Medical Team arrived late Saturday Night and have been a blessing, like all the teams, since they set foot here in Quito, Ecuador. All 11 team members are part of the medical team, who, along with Dr. Roberto (SIFAT Ecuador Director), are helping the children of the daycares in the south of Quito. These daycares are also sponsored by SIFAT Ecuador and are helping change the lives of these children in very amazing and practical ways!

     Before we started the medical team's work this Monday, we had a service in Atucucho at Mama Yoli's House. The service was another eye opener for many of the team members and helped serve as a reminder to all as to why we are here in Quito: To love on God's people and to be loved on by God's people. Many who come on mission trips, including us, come expecting to serve God by serving His people, but many times we ourselves are the ones who end up being served. God has a neat way of doing that in our lives--just slightly twisting and turning something we expect to be into something that we did not expect. Praise be to the Lord for His many and manifold works!

     Yesterday the medical team ate an early breakfast (7:00am) and loaded up the SIFAT bus to take the medical supplies to the Communidad de Fe Iglesia de Sur (Community of Faith Church of the South). Many of the SIFAT staff, including Sra. Cecelia, Fernanda, and Mario, attend Communidad de Fe in the northern part of Quito. It is a wonderful ministry in which the members are passionate for Christ and compassionate for the poor. There have been several church members who have helped and a special thanks to the bilingual family of Sr. Carlos and his wife Gabriela. They have been excellent help in translating and their daughter has been a great help with children! It is exciting to see how our God prepares the way and helps build the teams that have come here, are here now, and those that will come!

     After arriving at the church, we "set up shop" throughout the once-warehouse-now-church. The patients, the children, arrive in at the front door to be "checked-in" and to fill out their name atop a Spanish/English Doctor's form. Each child, and the daycare mothers, then await the doctors' call to come into the exam room. They come in and receive a comprehensive medical check-up and then take the Doctor's form to the pharmacy where the pharmacy people fill the order and place it in a small bag and then into the larger bag for the whole daycare. In the meantime, when the children are not being examined, the children are outside playing with the parachute and beach balls, playing soccer, blowing bubbles, or drawing with sidewalk chalk. Also, inside, the daycare children do VBS where they color and make crafts that go along with the Bible School lessons. When everyone is finished, the daycare mothers grab their full bags of medicine and take the children back to the daycares. Every child receives vitamins, medicine to remove and stop parasites, toothpaste and toothbrush, and the other medicines prescribed by the doctors. Those children having lice, scabies, or other skin problems are treated on-site by the team members and community mothers. Many of the St. Luke team members have exhibited much courage and care for these little ones in their words, actions, and prescriptions. It is a blessing to help treat and prevent illnesses in these hundreds of precious children in the South of Quito.

     Also today, after lunch, the ladies of Sister to Sister came to speak and share their testimonies and wares with us today. The Project Sister to Sister is at work in Atucucho to help change the lives of the families there by involving the women in Bible Studies and Cell Groups, and teaching them to use micro-enterprises, such as making bags, necklaces, belts, and earrings, to help support their families and to enrich their daily lives. It is both a blessing to the teams and to the ladies who participate in this amazing project.

    It has been amazing to see these team members in action as Christ acts through them to serve and love and heal these little children. Thanks to all who have supported this team and to all those who are praying for SIFAT Ecuador, the teams, and, most importantly, the children. Have a blessed night!  To see more photos please click here: http://photo.xanga.com/SIFATecuadorAWF Enjoy this picture of baby Vanessa!!

  

  • 5:28 PM
  • 138 Views
  • 4 eProps
  • 2 Comments