San Lorenzo

For most of our time here in Shell, Paul has occasionally visited another clinic on the Northern coast of Ecuador to help a missionary surgeon who has a small clinic and operated one week out of every month.  This Spring, the rest of us were able to go with Paul.  The kids brought their week of school work with them.  They weren't too thrilled about Mom being their teacher, but we got it all done.  We stayed in a house next to the clinic and slept under mosquito nets - a new experience for us.

One difference we noticed in San Lorenzo was that we stood out!  A LOT!  Shell has had missionaries for so long, that no one gives us a second look.  But in San Lorenzo we had kids at the windows of the house where we stayed all day long and we won many more curious looks when we ventured out from the clinic compound.  One of the beautiful results of this was that after we finished school work, our boys played with these kids and they all made new friends, especially with the kids of a family of 6 kids, most of whom are boys.  Here they are with their new friends.

Paul had a busy week of surgery and I was able to fit in a couple of pediatric visits with the children of some of the staff.  Paul plans to go back most months for the surgery week and maybe we'll have another chance to go back as a family.