Greetings to my long (sort-of) lost friends in Christ!!! I´ve found the opportunity to sit down and re-access the blog account I had set up from Ohio -- then couldn´t use from here for COUNTLESS complications and overwhelming job responsibilities...
Anyways,
thought you´d be interested in knowing that all who have participated in the 5-year march to form the first-ever Dysphagia program in Ecuador are (apparently) super excited for the team and service they´ve created (yey!)!!! so much so, in fact, that different medical specialists are participating in all kinds of ways to make sure they don´t lose what they´ve all worked so very hard to achieve :) I just found out this week that one of the neurologists plans to mention the program while he´s at a medical conference in Argentina -- how neat!
For those of you who have been following me with the street kids, one of the twins (Joey) told me something very, very special a couple of months back... he said that he was sorry for getting upset with me a couple of years ago when I scolded him for sitting in the street, that he wondered if I´d forgive him; he said he remembered ALL the things I´d done for him and his family... sitting in the rain with them, playing games, and bringing them hot soup -- and he said "thank you for all you´ve done for us". He´s just 11 or so. And he´s the most quiet and shy one of all the kids I´ve worked with. Lots of the kids aren´t hanging out on the street anymore. I´ve found out over time that they really do have a lot of choice in the matter. It´s neat to find out that they´ve stayed home.
So another transition is starting, with God leading me slowly down this last stretch of road here... I´m working towards transitioning my ministry duties here to Ecuatorians who are passionate about seeing all of it along. That´s already happening in grand form at Vozandes (with God´s leading I stepped out in March, and am really tickled to see that the team has stepped up and is taking charge of the program.). And I´ve found some potential partners in the Street Kids ministry, which I´ll tell you more about as that crystalizes.
The other big news is that I now have Ecuatorian residency... it´s really a special blessing, because it facilitates my continued long-term support of the program we started here. Lots less paperwork and less expensive in the long-haul. There is now some communication with therapists in Chile, who may in the future be interested in some type of collaboration or academic support of us here. I´ve been working on a book (didn´t start out intentionally to be that) with one of the ENT´s here editing it with me (it´s in Spanish), that should be ready for publishing by the end of this month. Should help to network our program with others (I hope.). Planning to travel to Chile in October (mostly personal, but some professional reasons) - and hope to come back with LOTS of news!!
God´s best to each of you, and I´ll try to update once every couple of weeks here so you know what´s going on. Sometimes there are long gaps for me in knowing what´s next, and I see God teaching me patient, faith-full waiting. I´ll let you all know when I do what´s next.
love in christ,
michelle
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