La Libertad, Ecuador Mission Trip

Once again my wife Barbara and I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip with Healthcare Ministries and to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the Ecuadorean people. This was our third trip to Ecuador, but this time our destination was La Libertad, a coastal city along the Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun). La Libertad is about 100 kilometers west of the beautiful seaport of Guayaquil, which is the largest city in Ecuador with a population of around 3 million.

Our medical team totaled 17 people of various professional background, which included doctors, nurses, an optometrist, another dentist, and accessory personnel. Our team prepared for the clinic late Sunday night, which would be held during the week in a local church.

Word spread quickly throughout the city of La Libertad and nearby coastal communities with radio announcements and a couple TV stations inviting people to the free clinic. The response was dramatic.

In past clinics, we would usually start the week with a modest number of patients, and then, as word spread, the crowds would increase during the following days. At this clinic, the first day we saw close to 400 patients, and the second day over 500 patients. By the end of the week the clinic had treated over 2000 patients. People would start lining up as early at 2:00am in order to have an opportunity to see a doctor or nurse. By the end of Wednesday’s clinic day, we were becoming concerned with the building crowds. Several hundred people were pressing the iron gates to get in. The team was forced to leave the clinic by an alternate route to assure our safety. The Lord helped our situation and by Thursday morning the crowd was surprisingly well organized and everything proceeded smoothly the rest of the week.

People, desperate to get into the clinic, tried different approaches to gain access. One amusing incident involved an older woman who got past the guards and into the clinic prior to opening, without a registration card or special pass. Knowing there can be special circumstances, a local church worker asked her what she was doing inside. She replied that the pastor had given her a “personal invitation”. When she was asked when the pastor had invited her in, she replied that she got a personal invitation from the pastor from the radio announcement. She was then escorted to a waiting line for some medical treatment.

Overall our medical clinic went very well. The Lord provided in some new ways. Dr. Mark Pinter, a dentist from New Jersey, had brought posterior filling materials which enabled our dental department to provide treatment to the majority of patients who needed fillings as opposed to extractions. This worked out perfectly for our clinic. Additionally, a local dentist provided a loaner dry heat sterilizer after ours became inoperable the first time we tried to use it. The loaner unit was much more efficient and Barbara, our chief sterilization officer, was able to keep both dentists well supplied with sterilized instruments.

Of the 2000+ patients seen in the 4 ½ days, we had over 500 of them invite Jesus Christ into their lives. How awesome this is! The Bible says, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul.” (Matthew 16:26) We had nothing when we came into this world, and when we leave, we certainly can’t take our belongings with us. In Psalms 90:5-6 it says “Our lives are as grass, which flowers in the morning and soon withers”. Compared to eternity, our lives on earth are but for a moment.

The Lord has given us the greatest hope of all for eternity when he stated in Romans 10: 9-10, “if you confess the Lord (Jesus Christ) with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (i.e. go to heaven). Also, John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish (eternally) but have everlasting life (eternal life in heaven). May you to prayerfully consider the words of God and ensure your eternal destiny as so many people did recently in La Libertad.

Dr. John A Johnson