Last Week's Kids Club at the Dump

I have been staying in touch with Michelle and Violeta - the two girls in our high school group who help with the Kids Club at the dump each week. Last week was spring break week at Alliance Academy so we didn't have a Kids Club planned.

Nevertheless, Michelle and Violeta decided to go ahead and go out there with the high school's chaplains and some other students for a "Ministry Day" - we are so proud of these girls for taking this initiative to spend their holiday time out at the dump and to give time to the children there.

Here is what they had to say:

Ministry Day! This week it was spring break vacation and most of the students were not able to join us. There was a ministry day which included a visit to the dump in the afternoon. About ten newcomers were able to join in with our fun and we had a small kids club this week. We played awesome games with the kids and then had time for singing. After the singing the story was told, it had to do with the parable of the lost coin. Then the kids did a craft which was a frog origami, and after that we sang the frog song. As we finished up, we decided to play some soccer and more games. While some of us stayed up and swept the kids club room, we took so much trash out of there, the floor can actually be seen now. The afternoon finally finished up with us handing out the bread and taking them home. Thank you All for your prayers.!

Bottle Brush Tree

Several people mentioned that the tree in my previous post is probably a bottle brush tree - I guess they are seen in the US too. Today on our walk, I thought I'd take a close-up photo of the blooms for your enjoyment.

And at the end, I have also included a photo of the huge eucalyptus trees outside of our condo community. Eucalyptus trees are very prevalent here in the Andes mountains and grow to be very tall. They also grow very quickly. You can trim them down and within months it is growing back again. These trees are my view outside my kitchen window and they make me feel like I'm in a woods - especially with the wind blowing. The trees also smell wonderfully.

Walking . . .

. . . with Nathan seems to be quite an adventure! Since the weather has gotten much better and Nathan has been off of oxygen during the day, we have been able to get out almost daily to take a walk which has been good for both of us.

Nathan loves his stroller and usually falls asleep. And I have decided to start bringing my camera along because it seems that we see so many interesting things during the walk in our neighborhood. Here are a few photos from this week!

Here we have Nathan in his stroller, all set to go!


GOATS - Yes, there is a family who brings their herd of goats through our neighborhood every day! Today, the lady was telling me that she had three baby goats at home that were just four days old. Did you know that the mama goat always has 3 baby goats at a time and that they have babies every 6 months? That was something I learned while talking and walking with the goat herder lady today.



MOUNTAINS - it seems that no matter where you go in the city of Quito, you are surrounded by the beautiful Andes mountains. Don't forget that Quito is at 9,300 ft. altitude, so the mountains you see are even higher than that!



TREES - this tree is rather unique. I have no idea what it is called. Maybe someone out there knows what kind of tree it is?


CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS - it seems that there is constant construction going on near our house. I thought this door was really unique - I had never seen one like it before. And the stack of pavers out front is interesting - I wonder how they will design their sidewalk when it's all done?


DRIVER'S ED - in the past year or two, Ecuador finally started a driver's education program. We are all very much relieved as it was very needed . . . any of you who have been here to Quito know how crazy the traffic is. I can't necessarily say that the required driver's education course is improving things, but we hope it is! This fleet of cars (there were actually six cars in all but I couldn't catch them all in one photo) descended upon us on Monday when we were taking our walk! For some reason, they like to use our neighborhood to practice.


AND FLOWERS - I couldn't resist taking photos of these pretty flowers! With a year round growing season here in Ecuador, we are very blessed to see flowers all the time! With all the rain we have had, they are out in abundance!

Three Months Old

Nathan turned 3 months on Tuesday and he also had his monthly appointment with the pediatrician. Thanks for all your prayers. All went well. The doctor is just thrilled with his progress.

Nathan now weighs 13 lbs. 8 oz. and is 62 cm long (when he was born he was 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 52 cm long to give you an idea of how much he has grown).

And he did well with his vaccine even though he did scream for a while afterward - the doctor teasingly said that this is about the age of children he becomes increasingly unpopular with the children! I can see why!

Nathan can continue to be off of oxygen during the day. We try to put him on it during the night, but he now knows what it's like to NOT have the tube in his nose and more often than not, he manages to take it off while he's sleeping.

Otherwise, we are just waiting for our appointment with the cardiologist later on in April and for the ultrasound he will do which will indicate to us whether the duct in Nathan's lung has closed and if the pressure in his lungs has improved.

And we just love being his parents - we enjoy seeing Nathan's personality come out almost daily and it brings us so much joy to see him smile, giggle, coo, talk, slobber and do all the fun little things that 3 month olds do!

Kids Club at the dump

I so much appreciated reading this article written by two of the girls in our high school group who do the Kids Club every week on Weds. What a blessing to have read this report.

First of all, to see how our high schoolers have done such a great job this year - they have learned so much and grown so much - now they are able to practically do the Kids Club on their own and do a great job of it!

And secondly, to see the impact that they are having on the children's lives! To us as leaders, this is a special moment . . . something that we have been working towards, mentoring them into ministry!

Read on to hear what Michele and Violeta had to say about last week's Kids Club at the dump.

The Fantastic Five!

This week we were a little bit short handed, due to illnesses, homework and difficult circumstances some of the usual students/volunteers were not able to accompany us this week. Our all time sponsor had fallen weakly ill with the terrible flu that has been affecting our entire community for the past two months.

So, this wednesday it was only a group of five: The Fantastic Five. Surprisingly more dump kids decided to show up, all of the tables were filled with little boys and girls wanting to sing and play and color.

Realizing that we were a bit short handed, we all stepped right in to do the songs, the story and the crafts. With no guitar and increasingly loud voices we sang of Jesus's majesty.

The story came up next and it told of the grandeous courage Jesus had when he was viciously tempted by Satan after a fast of forty days. Wouldn't we all be so hungry that we would immediately turn the rocks into bread? As we told the kids, Jesus resisted the devil and he immediately fleed from him.

Then the fantastic five joined in with the kids in the memorization of Psalm 121:1-2. After a continuous repeating, most of the kids had memorized the hand motions along with the verse.

The craft then was passed out, it was a world map with a heart and cross that was to be pasted on the side of south america were Ecuador stands today. It is to be a reminder of the love Jesus has for this country and for these kids.

Finally, the kids gathered up to pray and lined up outside to receive a deliciously nutritious snack. Each of the five took many of the kids home, and some of took them back to the site where the homes used to stand.

We slowly began approaching the destroyed bricks, the torn down walls, were their memories and lives used to stand for at least the past 2 years. The girl who was walking with us showed us her new home, a 4 foot shack made of wood boards and cardboard were now a family of six lives.
A room the size of a bathroom that holds all that they now have. I couldn't help but imagine the cold at night they had to endure and the rain penetrating their home. But that is the reality of it. These people must stand in the midst of the fog and drizzling rain because thats all which envelops their home.

Please continue to pray for these families!!
They are so grateful for the warm clothes they received, but they still have a long road ahead in rebuilding their homes.
Please pray that they wont be bitter at God because of their circumstances but that they will understand that HE takes care of them!
Please pray that we will become a true example of Jesus's love in all of their lives.
Also please pray for the well being of the students/volunteers and our sponsor.

THANKYOU for your prayers!!

Happy Easter!

We want to wish everyone a wonderful Easter - a very special time of the year to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour.

We will be going to the Hogar Betania (the Bethany Home for the elderly) tomorrow. Or rather, I probably will go and Santi will stay home with Nathan. We'll share the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus, by using a dozen Easter eggs filled with various things to represent the story. Some of you may have seen this before - the set I have is done by Family Life - and a good friend of ours gave it to us to use with the Kids Club (Thanks, Sam & Karen!). And yes, normally you would use this with children, but I figure that the elderly at the Hogar Betania will enjoy it too!

some of the items/object lessons in the eggs include:

a donkey - Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem
coins - the betrayal of Jesus
cup - the Last Supper
praying hands - the Garden of Gethsemani
crown - the "King of the Jews"
nails - the crucifixion
stone - the stone moved away from the tomb

AND . . .the last egg is EMPTY! what a fun way to represent the empty tomb!

We'll hand out the dozen eggs and give them an opportunity to open them and tell us what is in them. They do so much better when they can actively participate in the service (i.e. they at least stay awake! smiles).

We wish you a blessed time together with friends and family tomorrow as you celebrate the resurrection of our Saviour!

and here is another photo of our own little Easter bunny

Good News!

We stopped by the doctor's office this week so that we could weigh Nathan. We needed to find out how much he weighs so that we know how much of the Synergis vaccine to buy for this month's injection. This will be the third month for the injection which is to prevent respiratory infections in premature babies and babies like Nathan with pulmonary problems. The plan is to give him a fourth and final injection next month.

Nathan now weighs 13 lbs. 4 oz.! The doctor was very pleased with this. It also means that we now need to buy two full vials of the vaccine (at $861 per vial! hard to believe).

And they also checked Nathan's saturation level in his blood among other things. I have been disconnecting him from the oxygen tank for about 2 - 3 hours at a time during the day. Well, his levels were so good that they told us that we can now keep him off of oxygen during the day. We only need to keep him connected while he is sleeping during the night! We are so excited about this news! And Nathan is too, I'm sure, because it means he doesn't have to have that tube around his head and stuck in his nose and the messy tape trying to keep it all in place!

So we are glad about this good news, knowing that things are progressing for the better! Thank you all for praying! We have so felt the love of God's people during this time. We are truly blessed.

We will still have the ultrasound scheduled for the end of April to find out if the duct in Nathan's lung is closing or not. Please continue to pray about that.

Making Friends

Nathan is already making friends - with another missionary family's little girl, Sara! Santi works with her dad, Geoff, with Engineering issues for the radio department at HCJB Global and Ruth is friends with her mom, Tammy - we sometimes get together to do stamping. Geoff and Tammy also have two older children, Emma (in the second picture) and Jacob. Nathan is already fitting in quite well with the Kooistra family.

Sleepyheads!

Rainy Wednesday

Below is an article that our high schoolers posted on a group page in Facebook, giving us an account of how things went yesterday at the Kids Club at the dump! I can just hear the excitement in them as they saw God provide the clothes for the children and then also the excitement in handing them out! What a wonderful lesson in learning about God's provision!

If you have a Facebook account and would like to join the group "I'm Praying for the Families at the Dump" - click here. Help us pray!

FROM MICHELE AND VIOLETA:
We are so grateful to all the people that were able to contribute by donating clothes in good condition. The barrel was overflowing with clothes. God has been so faithful through the provision of magnificent pieces of clothing for those kids.

We began sorting the clothes about two hours before kids club. The room completely filled with huge bags full of clothes, thanks to our sponsor's excellent organization skills and a group of girls, forty bags were piled. Twenty for girls and twenty for boys, each containing clothing specific for each age group.

The extreme responsers began carrying those huge bags, as if they were santa claus, in the midst of the rain towards the van. We all were excited to be the means by which God was going to provide for those kids.

We prayed and we all squished in between the bags of goods. Once we made it to the dump, we realized that many kids had been waiting a while already.

It was dreary and cold, but it did not stop us from worshipping God along the kids.
Little Dayana could not help but make up her own motions for the songs. She was ecstatic to be able to praise the Lord.

The craft this week was shirt painting. As soon as the correct sizes were passed out to each kid, a work of art began to be created at each table. Hearts, flowers, and names and stars and suns were painted on each shirt.

Once they all had finished, and put their shirts to dry, the story group went up and shared with the kids the nativity story. Each one of them had their eyes wide open waiting to hear how Jesus came to be alive.

Concluding the day, we prayed and ask each one of them to form a single file line outside the van. All excited holding their shirts and cookies, they tiptoed and tried to see within the windows.

The extreme responsers excited grabbed and bag and the kids could not believe their eyes once they received such goods. They could barely contain their emotions and wiggled the bag in between their hands and tried to make it home all right. Each kid received a bag and they understood that God always provides.

It was unbelievable to see the way God moved people all around us this week through the clothing drive. It was amazing to see how God can bring beauty from ashes. How even though all their belongings were destroyed, God gave them even better and warmer clothes.

Please keep praying that each of the families will find new homes! Thank you for all that donated clothes, the kids of the dump greatly appreciate it!

Video of Flood Relief Efforts

Yesterday, we had a staff meeting at HCJB and they shared this video with us - a quick review of the flooding on the coast and relief efforts that HCJB Global and Extreme Response are a part of along with a number of other organizations. You can also go to YouTube to see the video (and several other interesting HCJB Global videos) - click here.





Please continue to pray as the rains are continuing throughout the country of Ecuador - including here in the "Sierra" (mountains) - yesterday when I was out running a couple of errands, I could see snow on the top of mountains that normally don't have snow from all the rain we have been having.

According to the latest report from HCJB Global's news:

La Niña is a climatic phenomenon which from time to time has a dramatic effect on the weather patterns of the world. In a loose sense it is the opposite of El Niño which is probably better known. In Ecuador La Niña has been causing persistent and heavy rain for the last two months and may continue to do so until the end of April.

Floods are now affecting many areas of the country, the coastal plains being particularly affected. More than 13,000 people have been displaced from their homes and it is estimated that over 3 million people have been affected in some way by the flooding and heavy rains. Landslides have been reported in many areas. As is often the case, those living in poor housing on steep, marginal land are frequently the victims.

In response to the growing humanitarian crisis several mission agencies (including HCJB, Samaritans Purse, Extreme Response, Youth World, Water Missions International and Operation Blessing) are working alongside the national church to bring practical and spiritual help. HCJB has sent an emergency response team to the area around Babahoyo, a city of around 150,000 people.

Doctors are helping with the medical needs of people affected or displaced from their homes by the floodwaters. The HCJB radio network is running an initiative to collect food parcels in Quito and these are being delivered and distributed in rural areas around Babahoyo. Several emergency water filtration units are being installed to ensure clean water remains available to all.

Amidst the disaster it has been amazing to see how God has been at work. Whilst doctors attended patients in makeshift surgeries along the roadside there were Bible clubs for the children and Christians simply sharing the Gospel and praying with people. Many are finding Christ for the first time. It has also been an opportunity for churches to put aside denominational differences and pull together with a common objective – sharing Christ's love.

The climatic effects are not only being felt in the lowlands. In the mountains people are having to live in prolonged cold and wet conditions. We have felt the cold even in our comfortable homes in the city. How much more will those who live in inadequate housing be suffering. There have been higher levels of illness which may well be attributed to the cold and wet.

Please remember to pray for the people affected by the prolonged bad weather, that their material and spiritual needs would be met.

Please pray for the co-ordinated response of mission agencies and the national church and that the barriers that have been laid aside would remain that way permanently.

We appreciate your prayers for Nathan

As you can see, we never lack in photos of Nathan to share with you all!

Nathan continues to bring us lots of joy, love, happiness and laughter. He's a typical two month old - laughing, smiling, cooing, growing and learning to put his hands into his mouth (thankfully he hasn't found his thumb yet) - often getting frustrated when he can't get his WHOLE hand into his mouth!

I had mentioned in an earlier post that he is still on oxygen. Thankfully, we are able to take him off the oxygen when he is awake, so that makes it a bit easier to move around. The saturation level in his blood is good now, so if it were just for that, we could take him off the oxygen.

However - due to a condition called PDA (click here to read more about it), he still needs to be on the oxygen. A pediatrician friend of ours from the US explained the condition to us like this:

The duct you are talking about in Nathan is the ductus arteriosis. When babies are inside mom's they don't need blood to go to the lungs because they get oxygen from mom's blood through the placenta. So there is a little "detour" vessal called the ductus arteriosis that takes off from the artery headed for the lungs and dumps that blood right over onto the side of blood flow that takes it directly to the body where it picks up it's oxygen from the blood coming in from the placenta.

At birth, this little vessel usually closes in response to factors that are not entirely clear to us. There are a small set of babies (often premature or with other problems) in which the closure does not occur. Many of these will eventually close on their own, but a few have to be done surgically. Though it is scary to think of surgery in little Nathan, it is not the same as "open heart surgery" as it is often accessable from a small incision in the back or at times can even be done by using a cardiac catheter through one of the arteries in his leg and inserting a small coil into the little duct to close it. It sounds like your doctor is on top of this and they are watching it, so hang in there. We'll be praying that it closes on its own.

The doctor here feels that to help him with this condition as well as the fact that he still has high arterial pressure in his lungs, he still needs to be on oxygen . . . we hope that the oxygen will continue to help his lungs develop well and to help the duct close on its own.

We will have his usual monthly appointment with his pediatrician March 25. And then another ultrasound of his lungs/heart the end of April. At that time, we will be able to see if the duct is closing like it should.

Please continue to pray that the duct in Nathan's lungs would close - we'd love to see some improvement by the time of the ultrasound the end of April. Now that we have had two months with our little baby and know him so much better, it seems like the thought of another surgery is even harder to bear. But we keep trusting him in God's hands, knowing that God has a plan for him - our little gift from heaven.

Latest on flood victims on Ecuador's coast

Here is the latest news release by HCJB Global on the flood victims on the coast of Ecuador! We appreciate everyone's prayers and emails expressing concern!

Thank you to Graham Bulmer, HCJB Global's Executive Director, for the above photo of the home affected by the floods.

HCJB GLOBAL HANDS JOINS CHURCHES, MINISTRIES AND GOVERNMENT IN ECUADOR FLOOD RESPONSE

Amid rising flood waters, the message of a relationship with Jesus Christ accompanies delivery of food and medical assistance to people in Ecuador as HCJB Global Hands dovetails efforts with local churches, other agencies, and with the government's Ministry of Health.

"The collaboration with the churches works almost perfect," said HCJB Global's Herman Schirmacher at San Vicente, near Babahoyo in Ecuador's Los Rios province. "They organized two busses to bring patients along the road to this place, to the doctors."

Schirmacher is accompanying a second team of physicians that travelled to the flood zone from Ecuador's capital city, Quito. They work in tandem with efforts by Mission Aviation Fellowship, Extreme Response International, Youth World, Pan de Vida and Samaritan's Purse in coordination with Centro Cristiano in Babahoyo.

Another church, Maranatha Christian Church, coordinated health efforts in Catarama that saw physicians Francisco Mejía and Galo Nuñez attending more than 230 patients, with the Health Ministry supplying tetanus vaccines.

"They had spread the word that a medical team had arrived from Hospital Vozandes-Quito," said Nuñez, who led the first medical team. "And they began bringing in people from outside Babahoyo - the outlying areas that are more affected. We also had an opportunity to provide medical attention to handicapped people."

People then stayed for evangelistic campaigns at the church. Additionally, team members were dispatched by Ecuador's health authorities, with Dr. Vladimir Melo attending about 120 patients at Recinto Las Cañitas and Nuñez helping patients at Recinto San José.

"We have volunteer teams coming to wrap food packages all week," said Oscar Aguirre of Pan de Vida, a Quito ministry. "We are expecting some other monetary donations to come through that will allow us to purchase more food."

He said the effort has identified over 2,000 families that have not received any aid at all. Two truckloads of supplies (about six tons) have already arrived, after broadcasts on Radio Station HCJB made the need known and listeners brought donations. Aguirre says each packet provides enough food for a family of five for one week.

Another ministry, Operation Blessing International (OBI) is working in cooperation with the Ecuadorian government and international freight forwarder, DHL, to provide two portable water purification systems.

These systems will join the two previously installed by Samaritan's Purse in the flood zone. The systems are from Water Missions International (WMI). HCJB Global Hands engineers Bruce Rydbeck and Martin Harrison are working on installation with WMI engineer Walter Torres. The systems can provide a combined 40,000 gallons of clean drinking water daily in four needy communities.

While the first team consisted largely of medical staff, the second team's make-up reflects the multi-national, inter-disciplinary relief and ministry being offered. The second team is composed of US and Ecuadorian physicians and a US nurse. Rydbeck and Harrison are American and British respectively. Schirmacher, who serves as HCJB Global's Associate Director for Latin America, is German.

He says of Ecuadorian pastor, Edgar Benalcazar, "He doesn't just entertain and evangelize the children and parents waiting to see the doctors. He also trains the pastors and youth, showing them ideas and illustrations from teaching materials. Many people have accepted the Lord."

"A woman came, very appreciative of the medical help, even to the point of crying," Schirmacher recounts. "She shared about her wrecked marriage and Edgar's words encouraged her."

The efforts at meeting needs haven't escaped officials' notice, according to Judd Johnson of Samaritan's Purse, who said the Housing Minister had congratulated the missions on combining efforts. The government official also passed on greetings and thanks from President Rafael Correa, according to Johnson. The missions' efforts are coordinated with the local government Disaster Committee and the UN by Samaritan's Purse program managers.

With rains expected to continue through March and April, preparations are underway for a third Quito team to go to Babahoyo early next week. "It was fascinating to see the faces of hundreds of people who received foodstuffs from the donations of radio listeners, HCJB employees, missionaries and others," Schirmacher said. "Before we delivered the food, Edgar shared the gospel."

Friday, March 7, 2008

New Update on Dump Families

THE CHILDREN'S HOMES ONCE STOOD HERE




THEY HAVE SET-UP LITTLE SHACKS WITH MATERIALS THAT THEY COULD FIND


THIS WAS WHERE THE BIGGER "RED" HOUSE ONCE STOOD THAT HOUSED 8 FAMILIES

DYANA STILL HAS A SMILE ON HER FACE, BUT WE NOTICED THAT SHE'S NOT AS CLEAN AS SHE USED TO BE. . .

EVERYTHING WAS IN SHAMBLES AND LEFT A MESS.

My friend, Teri, who helps me co-lead the Kids Club at the dump on Wedsnesday afternoon, just sent out this information (read below) after having been out to the dump yesterday afternoon with the high schoolers for the Kids Club.

Please keep praying as we seek ways to show Jesus' love to these children and families. To see more photos and description of photos, please visit the on-line album. Click HERE. And then click on View Album to get into the photos. To start the slide-show you need to click on the first photo. We appreciate your interest and prayers in this situation.

Here is what Teri has to say in regards to what they saw and did yesterday:

Hi Friends!
We started kids' club yesterday with the song, "Levanta Tu Casa sobre la Roca que es Jesus." (Build your house on the Rock, who is Jesus.) Our prayer for these families in Zambiza is that their true home will be with Jesus; their hope will be in Jesus; and that HE will be their comfort in the time of trouble. Please keep praying for the children at the dump.

In this picture album, you can see pictures of what got destroyed and where some of the people are now living. I wrote more specific information in the album description, and under each picture (in the slideshow view). We know that about 20 children from our kids' club lost their homes. Some of them I was wrong about last week (like Paola, who DID lose her home.) So I updated all that information.

For all of you Quito-dwellers, we will be having a clothing drive soon. For everyone: Thank you for praying. Most of all, pray that they will draw near to GOD in this time of trouble, and seek Him for refuge.

We saw the destruction first-hand today. I have to keep reminding myself that the people don't have the "right" to live there because they are squatters. But because they are our friends, we are sad for their loss. Some of them have left. Some are still trying to live there. One girl said that when the gov't came to destroy the homes, they told everyone that they had 10 minutes to remove their belongings.

Some of the families weren't home at the time to save anything. The girl said that they burned what was left behind and she lost all her school notebooks. I think her story is typical in that many of the families have very few clothes to wear now, and they don't have facilities to bathe. Some of the children hesitated before coming to club because they were so dirty.

We estimate that about 20 children from our kids club lost their homes. Read the photo descriptions for specific info. We are starting a clothing/food drive, but the best thing we can do is PRAY!!

update on Ecuador's flood victims

Below is the latest information from HCJB on the flood victims on the coast of Ecuador. This article was also posted on Mission Network News. Click here for Mission Networks News' website.

Thank you for praying for this situation.

Also, tomorrow, I hope to get you some new photos and information on the dump families whose homes were destroyed by the municipal of Quito on Friday. Again, thank you for praying for this situation as well.

Ecuador (MNN) ― Flooding caused by massive rainfall in Ecuador has left thousands homeless and is responsible for killing more than 20 people. Christians are reaching out to help physically and spiritually. The outreach efforts are also having another effect.

Hermann Schirmacher with HCJB Global-Hands is on the ground in Babahoyo. "Heavy rains since mid-January have led to severe flooding in 13 provinces of Ecuador. The floods so far have killed about 20 people and affected more than 300,000 others. The President, Rafael Correa, declared a state of emergency." More than 13, 000 people are living in temporary shelters.

Mudslides and flooding have collapsed bridges, cutting off transportation routes to areas hardest hit. HCJB Global medical teams from both of their hospitals are teaming up with Samaritan's Purse, Mission Aviation Fellowship, and others to provide relief.

According to Schirmacher there's a lot of work to do. "Right now, I'm in Babahoyo, with a medical team of seven people -- nurses and doctors -- attending every day hundreds of people who were affected by the flood. We have also started a radio campaign with local churches and several other local organizations to raise funds and food for these people."

Schirmacher says this disaster is unifying the Ecuadorian church, and Christians are "donating food and money. Volunteers and pastors from all kinds of churches are working very, very closely together. I haven't seen something similar in the area before. It is amazing."

They're also sharing the Gospel.

As the work continues, funding is needed, says Schirmacher. "We hope to get more funds not only to cover food, we also need funds to cover medicines. It is incredible: the national hospitals almost have no medicines. So we bring our own medicines to help the people here because if we didn't have the medicine, there would be nothing for us to do."

Schirmacher believes the situation will get worse before it gets better. "We are still in the middle of the season where we get a lot of rain which can last up to April. The water just raised 20 centimeters just today. And if it keeps raining like that, it will flood more areas that are not affected right now."

Flooding on the coast of Ecuador

You may have seen in the news about the flooding going on the coast of Ecuador after a month of heavy rains.

HCJB and Extreme Response are responding to the need in a great way. They are partnering with Samaritan's Purse as well as Compassion International and one of our partner organizations here in Quito, Pan de Vida. Working together with one another definitely helps to provide the greatest relief in these situations - what a blessing to have such great organizations to partner with.

We have sent medical/relief teams that are on the ground there doing what they can to help the people in need - people who have basically lost everything due to the flooding. HCJB has medical staff there right now and Extreme Response has sent one of our staff this week as well to just help in whatever way possible.

Also, HCJB has set up a donation center at our radio station where people can respond with donations of funds as well as staple food supplies and clothing. As of Saturday, 1,000 pounds of items were being packed up in a truck to be sent to the relief area. I'm sure that this week, more items are pouring in.

The government has declared a national state of emergency. This allows greater efficiency and mobility in moving resources to the flood area. It has also opened up new channels of communication for us as a mission to come along side the government in support of the relief effort.

Please pray for the relief teams that are coming and going on a regular basis - pray for their safety as they travel and also for wisdom as they are trying to help people the best that they can. Pray also for the victims of the flood - from various reports, it sounds like 200,000 people have been affected. And there will be effects from the loss of crops (banana plantations, rice, etc.)

If you'd like to see more photos, follow this link: Ecuador flood photos

If you'd like to make a donation through HCJB for the flooding victims, and/or read more information on the relief efforts, please click here.

update on dump families

It's been a sad weekend, thinking about the dump families who were misplaced from their homes on Friday - I have kept wondering about all the little kids and who scared and confused they must be. Extreme Response staff have been out there various time the past couple of days.

Paul sent me an email this afternoon - indicating that some of the families had left the area completely. 8 adults and 12 children have gone in together to rent a small room without a bathroom near the dump. Hard to believe. And five families are living in the same place having put up shacks with pallets and scrap material. Hard to believe this as well.

Paul & Susan then went out there this afternoon with some food, blankets, stuffed animals for the children and some clothing. We are so grateful to Paul & Susan who have taken so much time and effort to go out there and help these people out.

We are still trying to figure out how the whole situation will pan out. And we're still praying and looking for ways to help them. Sometimes it's hard to know what will best help them as we just don't want to encourage them to continue squatting on the land and risk having their homes bull-dozed again by the municipal of Quito. They seem to just keep doing the same thing which is hard to understand.

Please KEEP PRAYING!

Quito Dump Families

Yesterday, we found out that most of the shacks and shanties where a lot of the kids club children come from, had been razed to the ground by bulldozers from the municipal of Quito. This had been a threat for some time and it finally became a reality.

Their shanties were located right on a main road near the Quito dump (where we have held the Kids Club for the past four years) and many of the families were involved in the "recycling" process of going through the garbage and digging out any usable item for recycling. The families were living there as "squatters" . . . . and in reality this is kind of typical of their lifestyle. I remember hearing them mention this possibility to me over a year ago and they didn't do anything about it - just kept living in their shanties and going on with life.

However, that doesn't make it any less sad to see them being booted out of a shack that they have called home for several years. Extreme Response is looking for ways to help them out (aside from the most obvious one of building them a home!). Jose Jimenez, our "dump" pastor was out there today checking in with those who just camped out for the night after their shacks were bull-dozed down and I know that my co-workers Paul and Dan were also out there, trying to encourage them and bring them some food stuff.

The sad part is that we're not sure what will happen to these families or if we'll ever have contact with these children again. No one knew this was going to happen, so the high schoolers didn't have a chance to say goodbye to these children that we have literally seen grow up during these past four years.

We're also concerned that the run-down room that we were using for the Kids Club will also be destroyed. We are looking into other alternatives for the Kids Club - thankfully not all of the children in our Kids Club have been affected by this directly so we hope to continue with the program on Weds afternoon. This will also have a big effect on our high schoolers - they have poured their heart and soul into these children this year.

Please pray for the situation that God would give us wisdom and guidance as to know how to help these people - without creating a dependency, but rather helping them to be responsible citizens - while also showing them the love of Jesus.

I've included a couple of photos of the homes that were destroyed. Also, I posted an article about these children with photos of the homes back in August - if you'd like to read it again, click on this link: http://thearteagafamily.blogspot.com/2007/08/where-children-live.html

Additionally, if you'd like to see some of these children at our weekly Kids Club - here is the link to the on-line photo album. http://ercso.shutterfly.com/action/

Thanks for praying!