To my friends and family in support of 7 years of Mission: Ecuador.
Looks like a new phase is launching, and it goes something like this:
* Jhon managed to sign up his whole gang (12 of them) for the city soccer tournament in the park. They invited me to see them practice, I got to meet the coach, and they all did incredibly well for a 2-hour intense work-out... but they ended up discouraged for having lost a scrimmage game, and haven´t gotten back to practice as of yet. Please keep them forever in your prayers,, that they would keep trying and never give up. They´ve made such huge gains and growth steps, to have been able to risk doing something like that. And for strong Christian men to "get in the game" and start backing these kids up... I´m still praying someone will come to follow through with them in their older teenage years.
* I have significant possibilities for continuing here in Quito next year, for doing some interim work with colleagues in the States, any time in the near future, and possibly even specialty recognition. We´ll see what God does there.
* UTalca has let me know (yesterday) that I´m on their payroll for August. I assume that means I should be going down there in the next week or so. It´s a good thing. And very certainly a God-thing.
* My family is doing incredibly well.
* I´m getting ready for a special meeting tonight at the Swissotel and complete with dinner,, sponsored by the Ecuadorian Academy of ORL... they´re formally presenting the Dysphagia book. I wish you could see how excited everybody who has participated on the team is about the whole deal. I hope we have a good turnout. Dr. Juan Carlos Vallejo is just about the most amazing person. He´s president of the Academy, and is the one who decided to take responsibility for us as we grew up in the hospital. He also sat beside me and edited the book line-by-line,, to make sure I was saying what I thought I was saying in Spanish! He has made sure this launch happened. For me, it´s a wonderful closure to this tremendous mission project.
I´m convinced it´s so much more fun to take God with me, in me, wherever I go -- then it can all be used according to His discretion. Staying empty and alert, ready to move as He leads. Nothing boring or even close to predictable that way! And forever seeking His face, because I have to admit constantly that I don´t already know.
Thank you all for trusting me to follow God´s lead and represent Him and you here in Quito. You set an incredible challenge for me, and with God´s provision we all made it a very long way, , with lots of collateral effects. I pray that everything we worked so hard to plant would bring God honor and glory,,, and restore our trust and confidence in Him,, no matter what.
m
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Back to the beginning :)
It´s my privilege to share the following updates with my friends and family who have supported Mission: Ecuador for the past 7 years:
* the Dysphagia book is in my hands, and is being scheduled for a launch on the 28th of July, sponsored by the Ecuadorian Academy of Otorrhinolaryngology, and SEFAL (the SLP association).
* there is currently underway a small possibility that ASHA (my professional organization in the States) recognize my clinical skills and accomplishments here in Quito, and designate me a specialist in the area of dysphagia (this is good for program credibility and/or growth, and offers the team here access to some very accredited professionals stateside, as God sees fit.)
* the road ahead, as of 1 August, currently smacks of several different possibilities, still. I´m concentrating on keeping my eyes on my immediate next steps, and not getting ahead of God. I´m learning new ways to trust Him and step firmly in the meantime, while I still don´t know. I do know He won´t leave me stranded. And I do know, He will work it all out for my good and His glory.
I don´t know how many more blogs I should or will write, as Mission: Ecuador officially draws to a close on the 31st of this month. I realize that that date isn´t a magic one, and I may indeed have several more months (or even longer) of twisty turny roads and hops, skips, and jumps to make before I have any real idea of what´s coming next. So although I may not be able to tell you all how things have neatly finished and closed, and this-that-or the other thing is coming next, you can all count on the fact that God is still Lord of my life and He is still leading me. And wherever He takes me, I´ll still be in His service.
And I pray that you all have enough evidence, having passed through these things with me, to trust Him in new and amazing ways every single day -- maybe even especially in the most insignificant details and supposedly humdrum places of daily life... because I´ve seen God is willing to use it all,, whatever we give Him. Even the tiny details.
Thank you all for the amazing difference you´ve made in my own life, and in the lives of I really don´t know how many others here in Ecuador. Thank you for stepping it through with me. I will continue to hold you all closely in my prayers.
M
* the Dysphagia book is in my hands, and is being scheduled for a launch on the 28th of July, sponsored by the Ecuadorian Academy of Otorrhinolaryngology, and SEFAL (the SLP association).
* there is currently underway a small possibility that ASHA (my professional organization in the States) recognize my clinical skills and accomplishments here in Quito, and designate me a specialist in the area of dysphagia (this is good for program credibility and/or growth, and offers the team here access to some very accredited professionals stateside, as God sees fit.)
* the road ahead, as of 1 August, currently smacks of several different possibilities, still. I´m concentrating on keeping my eyes on my immediate next steps, and not getting ahead of God. I´m learning new ways to trust Him and step firmly in the meantime, while I still don´t know. I do know He won´t leave me stranded. And I do know, He will work it all out for my good and His glory.
I don´t know how many more blogs I should or will write, as Mission: Ecuador officially draws to a close on the 31st of this month. I realize that that date isn´t a magic one, and I may indeed have several more months (or even longer) of twisty turny roads and hops, skips, and jumps to make before I have any real idea of what´s coming next. So although I may not be able to tell you all how things have neatly finished and closed, and this-that-or the other thing is coming next, you can all count on the fact that God is still Lord of my life and He is still leading me. And wherever He takes me, I´ll still be in His service.
And I pray that you all have enough evidence, having passed through these things with me, to trust Him in new and amazing ways every single day -- maybe even especially in the most insignificant details and supposedly humdrum places of daily life... because I´ve seen God is willing to use it all,, whatever we give Him. Even the tiny details.
Thank you all for the amazing difference you´ve made in my own life, and in the lives of I really don´t know how many others here in Ecuador. Thank you for stepping it through with me. I will continue to hold you all closely in my prayers.
M
Friday, July 01, 2011
Hungry
Do you believe, like I do, that everything God makes has His signature on it? Do you believe that by studying, or getting to know His creatures, His universe, and all those things that we get to know Him better? I remember the email a friend sent me once that talked about the "cross in our bodies". The white blood cells (infection control) that are shaped like a cross.
Well, as I´ve been studying to boost my dysphagia CV, I´ve gone over the respiratory system in a fair amount of detail. Basic life function, right? The study I was reviewing talked about the difference between normal respiratory function and the use of a ventilator. It described our normal system design as being based on differences in pressure between outside air and lungs --- that is to say, there is lower pressure in the lungs (an empty space, as it were), which sets up a flow that goes from higher to lower pressure. The "emptiness" inside, pulls the air in from the outside and inflates the lungs. Necessary for life. (For those who have an even better understanding of this system,, please forgive if I´ve over-simplified; and please correct if I´ve mis-interpreted.)
The contrast, in the man-made system (mechanical ventilation), is that it pushes the air into the lungs, and forces the lungs open and then sucks the air out according to the machine´s timing and strength.
It´s Biblical, isn´t it? An emptiness inside that actually pulls life-sustaining breath into us from above. Strength in weakness. A higher thinking that uses inequalities to create flow, instead of "forcing air in."
As I continue to wait on God´s timing, and feel that emptiness inside that comes from having breathed it all out, I guess I can choose to be "ventilator-dependent" or let Him fill my lungs. I guess, in that sense, it´s really good to be hungry. To not have everything I need at hand, right when I think I need it. To have to ask, to have to wait, to have to wonder -- and trust. To empty out and fill back up, according to God´s timing and design. Necessary for life.
Now, what do you think about when you sing "This is the air I breathe"?!!
Gonna run get some lunch now -- I´m hungry!!!
Wishing you all of God´s best, always.
M
Well, as I´ve been studying to boost my dysphagia CV, I´ve gone over the respiratory system in a fair amount of detail. Basic life function, right? The study I was reviewing talked about the difference between normal respiratory function and the use of a ventilator. It described our normal system design as being based on differences in pressure between outside air and lungs --- that is to say, there is lower pressure in the lungs (an empty space, as it were), which sets up a flow that goes from higher to lower pressure. The "emptiness" inside, pulls the air in from the outside and inflates the lungs. Necessary for life. (For those who have an even better understanding of this system,, please forgive if I´ve over-simplified; and please correct if I´ve mis-interpreted.)
The contrast, in the man-made system (mechanical ventilation), is that it pushes the air into the lungs, and forces the lungs open and then sucks the air out according to the machine´s timing and strength.
It´s Biblical, isn´t it? An emptiness inside that actually pulls life-sustaining breath into us from above. Strength in weakness. A higher thinking that uses inequalities to create flow, instead of "forcing air in."
As I continue to wait on God´s timing, and feel that emptiness inside that comes from having breathed it all out, I guess I can choose to be "ventilator-dependent" or let Him fill my lungs. I guess, in that sense, it´s really good to be hungry. To not have everything I need at hand, right when I think I need it. To have to ask, to have to wait, to have to wonder -- and trust. To empty out and fill back up, according to God´s timing and design. Necessary for life.
Now, what do you think about when you sing "This is the air I breathe"?!!
Gonna run get some lunch now -- I´m hungry!!!
Wishing you all of God´s best, always.
M
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