Source: HCJB Global

On a steep and narrow street in Oruro, Bolivia, Dr. Carlos Pinto wasn’t too sure he’d found the radio station he was looking for.

“I checked the address and it was correct,” said Pinto, a trained psychologist serving with HCJB Global, “but found no sign indicating it was a radio station. I tapped the bell on the door of what looked like a garage, and quickly a person’s very friendly face appeared.”

Intermingled joy and pride at receiving a visit from an HCJB Global staff member bubbled forth as Radio JHV’s general manager, Fernando Valdivia, greeted Pinto.

“And what does JHV stand for?”asked Pinto as the pair became acquainted. “Jehovah” was Valdivia’s reply.

At 13,000 feet above sea level, the mining town of Oruro is inhabited by about 200,000 people mostly of Quechua origin. Several years ago, Fernando’s wife sensed a leading from God that He would provide Christian radio in the community.

“I started buying Christian music CDs,” Fernando recounted. “My wife told me that we’d wind up having the station, so little by little I began buying the necessary equipment. God has been faithful.”

Radio JHV’s affiliation with the satellite network, ALAS-HCJB, began when Fernando met Dairo Rubio who directs programming for the network from Quito. As Fernando showed Pinto the receiving dish, his telephone rang.

“You can imagine how wide his eyes opened as Hola Familia (Hello Family) hosts chatted with him on the telephone and the conversation was going out live on the air,” said Pinto, who appears regularly on the show.

During the visit, Fernando shared further dreams: a bigger antenna for better coverage and training for the communications students who volunteer at Radio JHV.

About to leave, Pinto mentioned HCJB Global’s October launch of Corrientes, an initiative to train bi-vocational, cross-cultural Latin American missionaries. He recently began leading the new inter-agency initiative in Latin America.

“To my surprise, he told me his church had sent five missionaries, now serving in Japan, Spain, Russia, India and Burkina Faso,” Pinto declared. “A bit doubtful, I went immediately to talk to his pastor, Julio Aramayo, who then detailed how active in missions the church is.”

“I discovered that among its missionaries there’s a couple serving as physicians, and that they’d love to learn how HCJB Global Hands and Voice, along with Corrientes, trains and mobilizes missionaries,” said Pinto.

The church in Oruro exemplifies churches in the new Global South—those lesser developed countries that are home to 61 percent of the world’s evangelicals, according to Pinto. “These Christians continue changing their self-perception from being a mission field to being a force that is sending missionaries,” he said.

Source: HCJB Global
Clutching their diplomas, four communications graduates were hugged and congratulated by professors, family and friends after an Oct. 17 ceremony at Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador.

The graduates of the Christian Center for Communications/Northwestern College (CCC/NWC) were admonished by NWC President Dr. Alan S. Cureton that tough times may lie ahead, but that “dark days give God an opportunity to show Himself strong.”

Class 2009 valedictorian David Changoluisa told the crowd, “The reward is large after completing this. We don’t leave with just one diploma, but with three. We’ve gained friends, confidants and experiences that have helped us grow.” The other graduates were Santiago Clavijo, Sara Ortiz and Mónica Posligua.

Ortiz said later that she had enrolled after hearing about the school from a friend and from a university exposition in her home city, Quito. She hopes to begin work at a newspaper and move to being a magazine editor. Each student must complete a final project before graduation, and hers analyzed the communications strategy of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.

Under Ecuador’s National Council of Higher Education (CONESUP), the graduates were awarded a two-year technician degree followed by a three-year technologist’s degree. NWC, based in St. Paul, Minn., also awarded each graduate an associate degree in applied sciences and Bible. Since the CCC has received U.S. educational accreditation under NWC’s auspices, several graduates have completed an additional 27 credits for a bachelor’s degree from the Minnesota school.

During the ceremony, several seconds of applause followed Dr. Alford Ottley’s slow and determined delivery in the Spanish language that he is learning. His words congratulated the graduates and sent them forth to join other CCC and NWC graduates around the world.

Ottley serves as vice president of NWC’s global initiative, a position the college created three years ago. “This gives us an opportunity to put our money where our mouth is,” he said, as both NWC’s mission and vision statements project a global reach. In addition to Ecuador, the college has partnerships and anticipated alliances in Kenya, India, South Africa and Ukraine.

In a symbolic handover of Studio 7 at Radio Station HCJB studio on Oct. 20, Ottley and the CCC staff received the studio from Anabella Cabezas, director of media for Latin America.

“We’re sending students out, and we expect them to be professional,” Ottley added. “We want to train them in a professional manner—not makeshift, not secondary—but using professional equipment and professional studios, including the one that we are able to use now from HCJB.”

Little Jhony (Johnny) Chuin Vargas is getting fat.

The bane of many, weight gain is blessed news for Jhony. At 4 months old, his plumpness connotes health despite the odds formerly against him. He began life in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest with a brain/facial malformation called frontonasal encephalocele.

Jhony needed medical attention, but the geographic barriers to care were only outdistanced by what seemed like economic impossibilities. That’s where Patti Sue Arnold and the Love Fund at Hospital Vozandes-Quito (HVQ) were used by God to divert Jhony’s life from pain to gain.

His Achuar parents, having few economic resources, took him to Casa de Fe (House of Faith) in the jungle town of Shell. He was then referred to HCJB Global Hands’ Hospital Vozandes-Shell and finally taken to HVQ for an operation by neurosurgeon Dr. Hugo Velasco. The hospital’s Fondo de Amor (Love Fund) paid $2,668 of his nearly $9,000 bill. (photo shows Jhony, mother and uncle)

“He’s doing great [and gaining weight],” Arnold said. “I have a therapist who comes two days a week and he says as far as he can see his development is that of a normal 4-month-old.”

Jhony’s case represents tens of thousands of patients helped with outpatient or hospitalization costs. The concept dates back to 1949 when Canadian physician Dr. Paul Roberts envisioned a full-service hospital to serve Ecuadorians of all social classes, regardless of their ability to pay. In fiscal year 2007-2008 alone, the fund helped 8,014 HVQ patients with $323,451.

The cost of private healthcare is prohibitive for the average Ecuadorian. Many rely on the country’s social security system or government hospitals, but the realities can be harsh and stark. A mid-2006 editorial in the Quito newspaper, El Comercio, spoke of “reluctance—even fear” of going for care at a government hospital. That same year, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa campaigned on healthcare improvements as part of his platform.

At HVQ a young man ducks his head into the small office to the side of the information desk and asks for help with a pharmacy bill. “I used to sell people coffee to drink, but then my thermoses got stolen,” he said. In the tough Quito neighborhood of El Camal, his family of six needs money to fill the prescription, plus some used clothes.

Social workers Zonnia Robalino and Kely Cadena approved his request, sending him to the pharmacy with a note. It’s a tough job for them and co-worker Margot Soria, hearing the pleas, reading the faces and issuing funds for outpatient care. “We need to play ‘Sherlock Holmes’ sometimes [checking out patients’ stories],” Robalino says with a smile.

Financial help, used clothing and a small room to stay overnight at the back of the hospital—all offered by social workers to patients in need. Many are also referred to the hospital’s weekly health fair. When it comes to more expensive surgeries, a committee reviews applications for the funds and determines how patients are helped financially.

“The physician is key to helping us know how much longer a patient’s hospitalization will last and when, and if, a transfer to another hospital is possible,” Robalino said. “God gave us and continues to give us this responsibility. It’s God’s money and we answer to Him. We need wisdom in directing and administrating this fund.”

That same balancing blend of responsibility and fulfillment is expressed by HVQ Financial Director Geovanny Suntaxy. “This is a great blessing—the greatest in my job,” he said, adding that while “each case is really painful, we’ve been a part of the gospel” in helping people. A percentage of the physicians’ fees on HVQ-generated cases goes to the Fondo de Amor while those physicians may also bring in patients from their private practices, according to Suntaxy.

Now recovering at Casa de Fe, Jhony is seen twice a week by a therapist. “While his father remained in the jungle, Arnold said that “the mother and uncle were very excited to see how well he was doing.”

“Achuar don’t smile in photos,” she added. “But they cried tears of joy when we told them he didn’t need a shunt and should develop normally.”

By Jessica Siekmeier, working visitor, HCJB Global

Early Sunday, Oct. 4, a 19-year-old woman gave birth to the first set of triplets known to be delivered at Hospital Vozandes-Shell. Tania Caiga arrived at the hospital at full term, expecting to give birth to twins.

She had learned by an ultrasound at 30 weeks that she was expecting twins, but after delivering two babies early Sunday morning, it was clear there was still another baby on the way! One girl and two boys were born between 2:55 and 3:05 a.m.

Drs. Mark Nelson and Becky Brice delivered the triplets and were as shocked as the parents to discover there was a third baby. Brice was the first to suspect something was awry when she felt Caiga’s abdomen after the second baby was born.

“I looked at the mom and said, ‘Are there three babies?’ And sure enough there was another head,” Brice recounted. The third triplet had to be resuscitated, but like his siblings weighed almost 5 pounds and recuperated quickly. Caiga was treated for high blood pressure after the delivery and spent a day in intensive care, but by Wednesday the mom and all three babies were ready to go home.

Triplets are normally delivered by Caesarean section because of the high risk of complication if delivered naturally. Because the doctors thought they were delivering twins and because Caiga came in ready to give birth, they proceeded with a natural birth. Despite the high risk, all three babies were born head first and without complication.

Nelson estimates that one set of twins is delivered each year at the hospital, but this is the first known set of triplets. The hospital was dedicated in 1958 as Epp Memorial Hospital.

“I could be in the U.S. filling out insurance forms in triplicate. Instead, I am getting to deliver babies in triplicate, and that’s tons more rewarding!” said Nelson. He then cited a statement by Dr. Paul Brand, a longtime missionary surgeon in India and pioneer in leprosy treatment. Brand once said missionary doctors are often asked if it’s worth the “sacrifice” to be a missionary doctor when the reality is that most missionary doctors are having the time of their lives.

Brice had jumped at the opportunity to help Nelson, and eventually took over with Tania and the triplets when Nelson responded to another emergency case at the small hospital
Two other moms were in labor at the time of the triple birth. One walked the halls to induce labor; another’s C-section was postponed without problems. “So all three of the families were all ‘watching’ the delivery and sort of participating as you might expect here in Ecuador. It was sort of a group scene.”

“Everybody was asking, ‘Is it triplets?’,” he said.

It certainly was, according to Nelson, who also cited former HCJB Global Hands physician Dr. Steve Manock as having own phrase for the medical ministry at Shell—“wonderfully exasperating!”

Source: HCJB Global
Missions topics ran the gamut during workshops offered in Quito, Ecuador, as part of HCJB Global’s launch of the missionary mobilization initiative called Corrientes.

Altogether, the seminars drew 150 people—ranging in age from the 20s to the 80s—from Quito-area churches. The workshops took place late last week amid missionwide and citywide launches of Corrientes that aims to help prepare Latin American bi-vocational missionaries to serve in other parts of the world.
Cutting-edge digital media and use of social networking was highlighted by HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson who spoke on the topic, “Evangelism Through Digital Media.”

Of the 40 attendees at Pederson’s talk, one was Young Min Lee who later offered a workshop on a method Christians have used for centuries to share the gospel: Bible translation. He serves as coordinator of the Asian diaspora with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Americas area.

In another workshop the question was asked, “What is preparation of a cross-cultural missionary?” with Jessie Ritchie of Christian & Missionary Alliance providing her insights.

At one of three formal launch events, coordinator Les Hirst said that though HCJB Global is setting Corrientes in motion, partnership is a key component. He and his wife, Priscilla, worked to form alliances with several mission agencies. Pastors and church members were invited to attend two days of workshops that Hirst and his team had billed, “Global Mission and the Local Church.”
Pederson credited his predecessor, former HCJB Global President David Johnson, with the concept of mobilizing Latin Americans to foreign mission fields. However, Johnson in turn replied from the podium, “It isn’t me. This has been a vision of the Latin American church for many years.”

Argentine pastor Carlos Scott, president of COMIBAM, an organization that supports mission agencies in Latin America and Spain, illustrated a daunting task, referring to a current “crisis in Latin America” and a time of trial for the region’s church. Drawing on the oft-told biblical account of young David’s triumph over the giant, Goliath, Scott pointed out David’s availability, passion and humility.

“I believe Corrientes will fill a need in Latin America,” Scott said, “above all with those who hope to use healthcare, media and community development. And also, the personal mentoring that is so necessary.”

Cristian and Isabella Ferreira found a discussion of microenterprise especially appealing. Serving in Quito, these 20-something Brazilians minister to youth who run with “urban tribes”—some living in the streets. They offer the kids alternative church at “The Catacombs” and promote training of church leaders for a new generation.

Retired HCJB Global physician Wally Swanson attended as many workshops as possible. “I’ve come to understand a whole lot better where the cutting edge of missions is right now,” he said afterwards. “And I’m trying to imagine where our hospital and medical work can best be a part of that. It’s really exciting to think about these things and we’ve still got a big part to play. That’s exciting!”

Sources: HCJB Global, Stemm Lawson Peterson Funeral Home

Edmundo E. Zarria, an Ecuadorian technician who worked at Radio Station HCJB in the 1940s, died Saturday, Sept. 19, in Elkhart, Ind. He was 91.

Zarria was born on Aug. 18, 1918, in Quito, Ecuador, to José María and Julia (Chávez) Zarria. As an adult, he owned an electronics repair shop and also worked at Radio Station HCJB.

Zarria helped with live radio links during the station’s coverage of relief efforts after a devastating earthquake struck the central Ecuadorian city of Ambato in August 1949, leaving thousands dead and even more homeless. He also helped with the “Gospel Sound Truck,” a vehicle fitted with radio equipment and public address speakers in which station staff performed music and preached the gospel message across Ecuador.

“He loved the mission and everything that it stood for. His father was instrumental in helping HCJB Global acquire the Pifo property,” said David Russell, referring to property that became the mission’s international transmission site in the 1950s.

Russell, who directs the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, knew Zarria in recent years. After immigrating to the U.S. from Ecuador, he worked for International Radio and Electronics Corp. and C.G. Conn in Elkhart. He was also a longtime technical volunteer at the HCJB Global Technology Center.

Zarria is survived by a son, Reuben, and a daughter, Gin, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Ruth. Memorial contributions may be given to the HCJB Global Technology Center.

Source: HCJB Global
A pill or an injection cannot cure the ailment of many who live along Peru’s Ucayali River … because the problem goes beyond physical needs.

And the solution is the gospel of Christ, according to Paola Vélez, an Ecuadorian third-year resident at HCJB Global Hands’ Hospital Vozandes-Quito. A family practice physician, she visited Shipibo indigenous villages such as Nuevo Ahuaypa along the upper Ucayali in late September. Vélez and others offered medicine with the message of the gospel whenever their barge-like ministry boat, the Evangelista, docked.

Returning to Quito after the trip, Vélez told a gathering at HCJB Global Hands of her adventure of ministering to some among the 16 or more ethnic groups along the Ucayali that haven’t yet heard the gospel. Through times of personal reflection, she realized how strategic missions is to change entire communities for the glory of God. The Lord confirmed to her again her role as a healthcare provider to reach the unreached peoples of the world.

Some 100 people on board the Evangelista combined missions learning with practical applications during the trip. “People were asking to know God,” said Román Miranda. “Even crying out [in their need for Him].”

Miranda, a resident of Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, now studies at the mission’s Christian Center of Communications/Northwestern College campus in Quito.

“God’s Heart for the World” was one of the topics covered by Pastor Eliezer González. Other mission themes were addressed by missionary Peter Hocking from Peru, along with Jim Yost, an anthropologist who has lived with his family in a Waorani community in Ecuador’s jungles.

Peruvian HCJB Global missionary Américo Saavedra asked the “So what?” question after each session, challenging participants to connect truth to life situations.

Trip objectives included exploring new strategies for bringing the gospel to unreached people, exposing people to village life and to the hardships many face there and connecting with mission agencies and individuals already working in the jungle region of Peru.

A laser focus is important, but even more so during one’s last months of life. So it was for Pastor Brian Cooke. In failing health and with his own mortality looming before him, Cooke marshaled his energies for a long-held earthly passion before meeting his Savior.

Cooke coordinated one last church work team, traveling thousands of miles to help Ecuadorians build and maintain a clean water project.

Cooke died on May 31, 2009, with loved ones and friends holding a thanksgiving service honoring him at Mayfield Community Church in Harrogate on June 11. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Enid, a son, Tim, and a daughter, Alison.

Born the fourth of five children in 1937 in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, he was educated at Monmouth School for boys. He came to know Christ as his Savior during his years at the school.

Following agriculture college, he joined the Animal Health Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and was moved to Somerset where he met and married Enid. Brian threw himself into Sunday school and youth work, preaching in local churches and heading up Christian campaigns and crusades. His work with the government moved the family to Wales, Wiltshire and again to Somerset where he took on the role of a lay pastor for many years.

Cooke also served at the HCJB Global-UK World Office from 1996 to 2002. He began his service as associate director at the office in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He was also an honorary member of HCJB Global.

“Brian’s enthusiasm for HCJB Global was huge,” said Colin Lowther, who heads the U.K. office. “Both he and Enid would travel to the far-flung corners of the U.K. to let people know all the latest goings on in Ecuador or North Africa—wherever HCJB Global was making inroads for the gospel. He wanted to pass on his passion.”

Lowther continued, “I think one of Brian’s most lasting legacies for the mission will be the people he’s encouraged into service. His passion rubbed off on people so much that some actually ended up working for HCJB Global!” During his years with HCJB Global-UK, Brian, along with Enid, headed up several work teams to assist with water projects in Ecuador.”

Cooke served formally with HCJB Global until 2002. The next year he arranged for a Christian musical/drama “At Any Cost,” that toured the U.K. This production told the story of the five missionaries martyred in Ecuador in 1956 based on the book, Through Gates of Splendor.

Memorial gifts may be sent to HCJB Global. Donations will be split between Water Projects (Account No. 374840) and Mobile Medical Clinics (Account No. 374891). Both are ministries of HCJB Global Hands’ Vozandes Community Development Department in Ecuador.

Ruta de las Iglesias

HCJB GLOBAL TROTTERS, RUNNERS and WALKERS

ALDAZ ANGULO LUIS GENARO 48:29
ALTAMIRANO CARRILLO WASHINGTON FABRICIO 52:57
ARCINIEGA VIVIANA ALEXANDRA 1:06
CARVAJAL CALLES JAIME EDUARDO 49:13
CHUMA REALPE CLARA ANGELITA 52:50
CUASCOTA SEGUNDO 60:00
CUICHAN TASIGUANO LUIS HUMBERTO 56:20
ESTRADA VERDEZOTO ANGEL OCTAVIO 57:37
GALLEGOS SIMBA XAVIER EDUARDO 1:08
GUANOPATIN CLAUDIO FRANCISCO JAVIER 47:25
HERNANDEZ ALMEIDA MIRIAN ALEXANDRA
HERNANDEZ PEREZ SANTIAGO URIBE
KINZEL BETH
KINZEL LEN LYLE 53:35
KURTENBACH RALPH 1:06
LLANO MARIA DEL CARMEN 1:02
LLININ YUCTA JULIO ALFONSO 51:05
MANOSALVAS ARAGON MARCO GEOVANNY 39:03
MENA GRANDA GONZALO DEMETRIO
MORALES SIMBA DAVID ALBERTO

NUÑEZ DE LA TORRE GALO ENRIQUE 1:01
OÑA GUALOTUÑA FREDDY EDUARDO 56:39
PILLAJO LOPEZ EDISON MARCELO 51:55
SANCHEZ HERRERA EDISON DARIO
TAIPE CHIMBA JAIME GUSTAVO 42:54

TEJADA GUAMAN EDWIN RAUL 1:04
VASQUEZ PERALTA LUIS HERNAN 52:24

Sources: Mission Aviation Fellowship, Mission Network News, NASA, HCJB Global

A small but significant symbol of evangelical missions is orbiting the earth during the 13-day mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery which launched late Friday, Aug. 28. On board the Discovery is a piece of the Woodbee, the yellow Piper PA-14 plane flown by missionary pilot Nate Saint of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

Saint, along with Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian, were speared to death in the jungles of Ecuador Jan. 8, 1956, by Waorani (also known as Auca or “savage”) tribesmen after landing their plane in the group’s territory.

The first broadcast of the event on Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, along with news coverage by NBC and Life magazine, revealed the missionaries’ tragic story. But their shocking deaths piqued the attention of Christians around the world, generating a new wave of missions fervor in churches.

After contacting MAF about carrying a memento from the plane, astronaut Patrick Forrester received an item from the plane’s battery box. “Bringing attention to and renewing interest in missions would be a great result of this experience,” he said. “My deepest intent is to honor Nate Saint, the Saint family and all missionaries around the world.”

The item was approved by NASA and will be returned to the Idaho-based ministry with a certificate showing it was part of a space flight.

Forrester, who has served as a short-term missionary, heard about Saint and the other four missionary martyrs while attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. Most of the tribesmen involved in the killings were later converted to Christianity by relatives of the slain missionaries.

Forrester sees missions in his career flight plan, perhaps serving as a missionary pilot. “We are all called to serve God in some manner,” Forester explained. “I have had the opportunity to participate in several short-term mission trips to Uganda, Canada, Puerto Rico and South Africa. Each time I have developed a heart for the people we served. I believe my wife and I will continue to serve in the mission field for the rest of our lives, whether it is at home or overseas, short-term or full-time.”

The Discovery’s flight includes three spacewalks to replace experiments outside the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory, install a new ammonia storage tank, and return the used one. Ammonia is needed to move excess heat from inside the station to the radiators on the outside of the craft.