La Vida!

I left for Ecuador on the morning of July 18th (the week after VBS, 4 days after my big birthday bash, and 2 days after my friend Katherine left....crazy couple week I would say) 

I flew to Atlanta where I met my parents. We then boarded a plane all together for Quito Ecuador (only after going to every terminal looking for a Chili's b/c that is what I was craving. Got to get suburban food when I can) We arrived in Quito late on July 18th, so we spent the night in a hotel before boarding another flight to the small town of Manta on the 19th.  We got picked up from the airport and headed directly to Portoviejo to visit La Vida.  

To tell you a little on why we went on this trip.......

Good family friends of ours (known them since I was 7, my dads best friend and golf partner, and my mom and I lived with them for 6 months in Alabama my senior year in high school when our house sold and my dad began a new job in North Carolina) 

started going down to Ecuador 11 years ago to do orthopedics surgery on people who needed it and could not afford it.  Through that they, along with Dr. Fellers medical practice in Alabama, began a surgical missions outreach in Ecuador.  It continued to grow and eventually a small surgical hospital was built in Portoviejo, called La Vida .  You can read all about Bayside Medical Missions HERE, but I just wanted to give you an overview of their work in Ecuador.  We have been wanting to see their ministry for several years and finally decided that July 2012 would be the time to go.  We were hoping for it to be a family trip, but with cute little Mary Blake it was not possible for Cat and Gary to go this year.....although hopefully they will have the opportunity in the future.  

We have heard about their ministry and hospital for years, so it was a great blessing to finally see it in person!  

During the first part of our trip they were in the middle of a big surgery week. They had a team of doctors and nurses who had flown in from different parts of the country to donate their time and perform operations on kids and young adults.  They did multiple surgeries each day, so it was a very intense week for all involved

 Dr. Fellers would came out and give the reports to the waiting families.  It was very cool to see families rejoice over the successful surgeries that were performed on their loved ones.

 Dr. Fellers took some time to teach me about a surgery he was getting ready to perform.  I was actually able to go in and observe some of this surgery!

 Mom, dad, and I all went in to surgery to observe, although neither one of them lasted very long.  I am normally an incredibly squemish person, but I actually loved being in the operating room!  I watched one knee surgery and one foot surgery and both were pretty cool!  I think my fascination with medical dramas prepared me well for the gore and guts:-)

 This was a little girl who was run over by a bus and did not get good medical care afterwards.  Her family eventually brought her to La Vida and she had an operation to fix the mistakes that were originally made.  It was a huge blessing for this family to receive an operation that they could not have afforded otherwise.

 Towards the end of our time in Ecuador we went on a little overnight trip with the Fellers.  I will share more about that in a future posts, but while there we were able to make a couple different "house calls".  One of the cool things about La Vida is how people find out about it.  People will travel hours on buses to get there to receive this medical care.  While re-connecting with a former patient's dad (he took us on his fishing boat....but more about that later) he mentioned that he knew of several kids in the little town who needed surgery but their families could not afford it.  Since we were so close we went to visit them and see if it was a possibility.

We were greeted by many people who were so excited to have an American doctor come visit.

 The homes were very much "shacks" down a dirt road.  I was again reminded how grateful I need to be for the many blessings the Lord has given me.  I know I don't deserve a roof over my head, let alone the nice apt that I have.  It is always good for me to have visual reminders every so often.

 The little boy (pictured above) and the little girl (pictured below) both had hand and foot deformities. The parents were so thankful when they found out it would be possible for Dr. Fellers to operate.  The best part was when Flor told them that they only needed to pay what they could and if they could pay nothing then it would be free.  There is such inexplainable humble gratitude in a person when you give them news like that.

What impacted me the most is that these people had no idea that an American doctor would show up at their house that day and in many ways change their child's life.  The Fellers really are giving their lives away to change other peoples lives.  It was very challenging and encouarging to watch and be a part of.

 This girl pictured below flew to the states with the Fellers a couple years ago to receive surgery that could not be performed in Ecuador.  Before the surgery she was completely hunched over and was too embarrased to go out.  After the surgery her back is straight......and she has won several beauty competitions!  Talk about a changed life!  We stopped by to see her one day while we were out.

I think the cool thing about Bayside Medical Missions and La Vida is that they are not only performing surgeries. They are changing people's lives physically, but they are also having the opportunity to share the Gospel with these patients and impact many people in Ecudor with the good news of Jesus!  

As I watched their ministry I kept thinking about the book "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper.  In that book he talks about "sea shell collectors". By that he means people who are living for retirement so they can sit on the beach and collect sea shells.  In his John Piper way, he talks about Heaven and how that is our retirement.  That is our time to rest and collect our sea shells.  Now, I'm not saying retirement is bad or sitting on the beach and collecting sea shells is wrong BUT I do love that the Fellers are committed to giving their retirement days away for Jesus!  They are living out what John Piper challenges his readers to in "Don't Waste your Life"  

I am a looooong way from retirement, but I do pray that no matter what stage of life I am in, I would always be giving my life away in some capacity.  It's the Great Commission.  We are his ambassadors and we are called to use our gifts for the Lord.

If you read this and are in the medical field, the Fellers are always looking for doctors and nurses to come down to Ecuador to help with surgeries.  I promise if you go you will be blessed! You can e-mail me if you are interested and I will connect you to the Fellers. bethanygriffith@gmail.com.  If you are not in the medical field and would like to support Bayside Medical Misisons, you can do so by going HERE.  Changing a child's life (like the children pictured) by letting them have the surgery they very much need and can not afford is only $350 in Ecuador!  If you go to the giving page there are also other specific needs that you can give towards.   You gift is tax deductible and would be an incredible blessing to this ministry.

I have so much more to share that I will share in the next blog post! 

Stay Tuned....