Ecuador, A Year Full of Positives and Negatives Part 4 by Bob Holbrook
Ecuador was to be my second overseas country–well actually my third. I was 2 years old when my parents accepted a call to Bolivia as Youth and Education Director for the Bolivian Mission. My brother was born there but within 3 years we had to leave due to the altitude issues that affected both my mother and my brother. So, I was 5 years old when we went to live in the costal deserts of Peru–hence my last article of memories and no article forthcoming on those years in Bolivia.
My experiences in Ecuador were a real mixed bag. It only lasted a year–1978. On the positive side I made friends there that I still communicate with till now and consider them among my closest friends. On the negative side…while my wife was in the hospital giving birth to our third son, she contracted hepatitis and would have died had it not been for God sending 2 young medical student friends to intervene. More about that later.
I should really start this with why I went to Ecuador in the first place. I had been with SAWS–a highly stressful yet extremely rewarding work. The church in Ecuador had held their periodic constituency session and the delegates had literally cleaned house. They were tired of the defeatist attitude of their past administrations–that “we can’t do that here” kind of leadership. Granted, Ecuador is the seat of the ultra-conservative Catholic church for South America. The country had at the time the smallest membership totals for our church in Latin America. The members chaffed at news from every other country about how our Message was exploding everywhere except here. Dave Taylor, our pilot in the Peruvian Amazon, was invited to go there and be the mission president–he’s the kind of person who automatically thinks outside of the box. The word “can’t” does NOT exist in his vocabulary. The only mission staff that remained were the secretaries–all new departmental directors, new treasurer–new everyone. Dave asked me to go and be the youth director. The challenge was exciting and fun! And I will readily say that the treasurer, Manual Egas, was probably the best treasurer I have ever worked with. He was a master at handling currency exchange between the Ecuadorian Sucre, Peruvian Sol, and the US Dollar. Thus even though we were a “poor mission”, he managed to make enough money to purchase a half dozen properties for new churches, build several new churches (including a church out on the Galapagos Islands), and when I needed funds, he would tell me, “can you hold on a couple weeks? and I’ll have it for you.” I never heard a “no we can’t afford that.”
I recall our committee meeting to discuss a project that was being launched across the Division with a small leaflet that pictured the Second Coming. The only words were “URGENT!–Christ is Coming, Prepare yourself… Your Friends the Adventists.” We decided to take the entire population of the country, divide by 4 as being the possible median household and order that many leaflets–millions, I no longer recall the exact number. We really had no idea how many that actually was. They were to be printed by our printers in Peru. Sometime later we received a phone call, “the trucks (plural!) are at the border.” Now what? It is illegal to transport paper from Peru to Ecuador–we had not taken that into consideration. One of our staff said, “I’ll go and see what can be done.” He met the trucks across the border and decided to take a detour along less traveled roads. When they arrived at the border control. The guards stopped them and asked what was on the trucks, he responded “it’s URGENT!” The response was, “OH, OK, go ahead!” When the trucks arrived at our office is when it actually dawned on us just how many leaflets we had ordered. The office was so full we had no place to work or even access the building! We sent word out to the churches immediately for them to place their orders. There was so much excitement that Dave informed us only 3-4 days later they were all ordered and we were short! Over the next few weeks, literally every home in the entire country had received a leaflet about the Second Coming!
The 50 mile bike trip. The trip was uphill going and against the wind returning. And yes, that little bike on the right made it all the way!!
In youth ministry, I found that my predecessors thought youth ministry meant a game of soccer every Sunday–period. I began immediately to give Pathfinder Leadership series in each district at the mother church. I ordered hundreds of uniform and honor patches. I wrote instructor materials for the PF organization as well as for the classes and honors. We had summer camps and with a group of senior youth we did a 50 mile bike ride from Guayaquil up the highway towards our school in Santo Domingo as far as Babahoyo. The first PF club we started was at the Guayaquil Central Church and by the time I had to take a permanent return to the US a year later we had about 20 clubs scattered around the country. At this time our total church membership had barely reached 6,000 souls. What a surprise and joy it was when I returned many years later for a Camporee that was a part of the church’s Centennial celebration (100 years since the first missionary set foot in Ecuador) to find that now there were more Pathfinders in Ecuador than we had total members back then. There were at my visit over 60,000 members and over 6,000 Pathfinders! So many of the club leaders present had been those kids that had joined those first clubs–the welcome was like a homecoming for me.
My “JMV” car–a Renault 10. It was so old I could see the pavement under my feet. But here I supported a group of Pathfinders and their “car-wash”. I had a fancy JMV painted on the hood (less likely to be stolen and fun). When we left, I left it as a donation to the Mission.
At the start of this trip down memory lane I mentioned my wife’s health. I was away on one of my many trips when she gave birth to our third son and again away when the hepatitis kicked in. The 2 young medical students Lauro and Yusty (now married) had not seen her at church and were worried she had indicated she did not feel well so after studies one day they dropped by the house to find her flat on her back very sick, the 3 boys in dire straits. They took immediate action, called their professor to confirm their suspicion and began immediate treatment taking full care of her and the three boys, rotating between studies and other personal needs. News traveled slow in those days and travel was not easily resolved, but when I arrived home, I realized our days in Ecuador would be shorter than I hoped. When I finally realized that she would not get well as long as we stayed, I turned in my resignation. I felt that I was also turning my back on God’s calling. I had to send my family on ahead to the US while I stayed an extra couple months to be sure there would still be a Youth Ministry Department functioning after I left. But to my amazement I discovered that God had not taken notice of my “turning back.” Instead, within 4 days of my arrival back Stateside, we were on our way to the Alabama-Mississippi Conference as Youth Director. But that’s another story…God is Good!!!!!!
As you enjoy these stories share them with your friends.
