The main goal of our mission was to throw a Christmas banquet for orphaned children who live in an orphanage named Mi-Tambo (My Hope).  We thought we would spend the entire trip with the orphans but we got to do so much more in addition. 

 

We did have the banquet.  Each child was given shoes and clothes as their Christmas gifts as well as a beautifully catered meal.  The kids sang and danced for us and even though most of us could not understand their language nor could any of them understand ours, the language of love spoke loud and clear.  Several of the children formed a bond with certain missionaries.  A partially deaf child, Daniel, fell in love with Shaun, our associate pastor and my husband.  Shaun wore Christian t-shirts that Daniel would point at and  motion his approval of.  One in particular had a motorycycle on it and a Christian verse and it seemed to be Daniel's favorite.  At the end of the trip, on the night of the banquet, Shaun wrapped the shirt and gave it to Daniel and though it was 3 sizes too big, he put it on right then and broke into tears over the gift.  A 9 year old boy named Raphael won my heart over the night of the banquet.  He sat by me at the table and we would use universal signs to communicate the best we could.  He went outside and came back with a flower to put in my hair and as the other kids were entertaining us with their songs and dances, he laid his head on my shoulder and held my hand as if he'd known me his entire life.  Raphael is the youngest of 4 siblings.  His oldest sister is 19 and since she is too old to stay at the orphage any longer, she has taken her 3 younger siblings to raise.  The oldest 2 have jobs while the younger two are still in school.  Their parents are drug addicts and convicts.  If not for the orphage, these children would not have turned out as well as they have and they still need much prayer and support.  The local churches oversee their care and make sure they have food and are able to make it to church.  Other children in the orphanage come from much worse cirumstances than Raphael and his siblings.  Ricardo, a teenager, is mentally and physically impaired.  He was found in a dumpster as an infant.  After being discovered, he was taken to the Mi-Tambo orphanage where he has remained and lived.  Ricardo is a little shy but his face lights up when visitors come.  He loves the other kids in the orphanage, too. They are his family.  Pepe, another orphan, has Downs Syndrome.  He is over 35 years old but he gets to stay in the orphage because he has no family and he could not make it on his own.  Pepe loves the ladies.  He wanted to kiss each female missionary on the cheek the instant we got off the bus at the orphage the first day.  I could go on and on about these amazing kids.  They all grabbed at our heartstrings and left us feeling so humble at just how much we take for granted. 

 

Outside of the orphanage ministry, we all got to participate in other missions while we were there.  We went on medical missions far up in the mountains in remote Quechua villages.  Some of the people there had serious medical issues and no money or transportation to get care.  Most of the children have worms because of the water they drink.  We would give shoes and clothing items and things like antibiotics, tylenol, cough syrup and vaseline and lip balm.  Some of us would greet the children with balloons and one coloring page and a crayon while they waited in line to be de-wormed.  I was brought to tears over the tiny wind-chapped faces that were so grateful to get one crayon and a coloring sheet and some of them were so amazed over balloons and bubbles as if they'd never seen them before.  We would take pictures of them with our digital cameras and they would hover around us like we were celebrities.  They each wanted to see themselves in the screen on our camera.  They reverenced us as if we were Kings and Queens and after seeing the joy and love on their faces, we felt like unworthy paupers.  If our children need clothes, food or medicine, we are able to provide it to them.  Ecuador is such a poor country.  In the Quechua villages, the average salary of a Quechua adult is $300 per year.  Our government provides so many opportunities for us here.  If we need medical care, regardless of income, our hospitals have to provide it.  In other countries, health is a luxury only afforded by the wealthy. 

 

Ecuador is an interesting place.  We saw beautiful settings of lush mountain and thriving nature and we saw gorgeous architecture.  We saw wealthy people in city settings with expensive shopping malls and restaurants and we saw trash strewn mountainsides with poor families roaming the street to find scraps of their next meal, trying to sell anything they could get their hands on or make to anyone who would spend a coin to get it.  We saw jungle and rivers as far as the eye could see and we got a glimpse of jungle natives still surviving in an ancient culture nearly extinct.  In a lot of ways, Ecuador is like America.  We have poor people here, homeless people, children without parents.  The ministry field is everywhere.  Like Ecuador, we all need Jesus and that is what this mission is about.....Opening our eyes to the ministry here and abroad through experience of something greater than us....the need for the gospel to be shared....to ALL of God's people. 

 

I could continue with story after story of the people and things I saw and experienced in Ecuador but it is my prayer that what you have read already will compell your heart to support this ministry and this cause.  We can't do it alone.  God bless you for your acknowledgment and support.

-Jennifer Suggs, Missionary & Vice President of Ladies Ministries, Ray City Church of God