Health Issues & Prayer Requests!

Pictured below: Feverish virus girls making the long journey home to make it to a US hospital.

Hello All!

Rory here! It has almost been 6 months since we left everything to come do missions in Ecuador and the time has flown by. At the same time, we have seen God working in some mind blowing ways, and have been humbled to be a part of His plan for this country. The funny thing is that when you go out to missions people usually warn you about how hard it is going to be,  but somehow the Lord has blessed us with such a beautiful and enjoyable situation and we have really been thriving. That is, until things started getting complicated about a month ago, and we urge all our prayer warriors to join us through intercession!

If you remember from our last update, in late September we went to a medical brigade in the jungle with a small team of Ecuadorian doctors and provided medical treatment for a whole Shuar community. Almost two weeks after the brigade, Claire and our best friend Natalie, who moved to Ecuador to do missions with us, developed a high fever, body aches and additional symptoms. We thought it was just a bad flu and thought nothing of it. However, a week went by and their symptoms did not improve and even got worse. Come to find out that 7 out of the 10 people that attended the brigade all developed similar symptoms. Long story short, it has been almost a month of symptoms including high fevers, body aches, night sweats, fatigue, and now due to the extended complications caused by this virus, secondary complications have risen up such as pneumonia.

In addition, Claire has also developed some heart issues including pericarditis (an inflammation of the lining of the heart) and a small pericardial effusion (a buildup of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and the chest cavity). Through all of this, we still have not been able to identify what virus is causing this illness. Claire, Natalie and some other members of the brigade team have traveled back the U.S. to receive medical care. Both are waiting on results from CT scans and lab work from an Infectious Disease team.

Please pray for:

Wisdom and knowledge to identify the virus/root cause.

Healing for the primary symptoms of the virus and the secondary symptoms of inflammation in the heart for Claire and in the lungs for Natalie.

Quick recoveries, and a prompt return to the mission field, as well as wisdom to do so adequately.

We are so grateful to have such a devoted team of prayer warriors, and we ask you all to rise to the call and join us in prayer over this situation!

Much love to you all,

The Angulos

The girls didn't move from this couch for 2 weeks. Gatorade and antibiotics and Tylenol and Gilmore Girls kept them going!

Divine Appointments, Homesick, Tired & Joyful

Hi guys! Brief update on the past few weeks: such special things happening. I feel like the theme is just divine appointments from the Lord. This is something we have been praying for and God has been providing at every turn. Prayer is powerful -- being bold and praying for specific things, even things that may seem silly, is so important. Our ministry has been so much more fruitful because of these prayers and also the prayers of our friends and family. Thank you so much for interceding for us from afar!

We are most definitely homesick. We won't return to the US until March of 2023, which will be 10 months away from home. Luckily, we get to see our family at Christmas in Colombia (most of Rory's family lives there and the O'Keefes are flying out to meet us there), but we are feeling the ache of missing our dearest people. Ministry full-time can be so exhausting, emotionally and physically, but we are trying to find time to rest and recooperate. Love and miss you all so deeply.

We've also been experiencing some spiritual warfare in the form of mental health flare-ups, discouragement, exhaustion, and fights right before we are about to do big ministry. It is frustrating, but better now that we have brought it to the light. Please pray for spiritual protection over us, we would be so grateful.

The Story of Home Church

We have been praying for a while to start a home church/life group for people who don't know Jesus. We specifically prayed for divine appointments for us to meet people who would otherwise not encounter the Lord or show up in church. And the Lord said yes! First, Rory met a friend playing basketball who got into a motorcycle accident (mentioned in our 2nd blog post!), then met another guy who wandered into a worship night days before he was supposed to go to trial for a crime he committed. The court trial has taken longer than expected, and in that time he has accepted Christ and is walking with the Lord. We don't know the results of the court's decision yet, but we just can't believe how good God's timing is. Next, I met a girl at a coffee shop who was recently beat up by her boyfriend. Her entire community abandoned her when it happened and she was in need of hope and support. One Monday morning, Rory had an idea. He asked me to invite everyone I knew that didn't have a community to dinner. I was so nervous because most of the people I knew I had barely met. Natalie and I went for a walk in the park that day and met two medical students and the Lord told me to invite them to dinner as well. I laughed and said okay, Lord, but they won't come! Then the next day while I was volunteering at the foundation, the Lord spoke again, telling me to invite all my coworkers to dinner that night too. Some of these people I had barely spoken to. I was nervous and resisting and eventually gave in, again thinking they would not come. That night I made a huge pot of chili and left the front door open. Rory and I prayed and waited. And waited. 30 minutes after we had planned, someone showed up. Then another, then another. Soon our table and our house was filled with strangers we barely knew. It was awkward at first, then people began to loosen up and laugh and sooner or later everyone was acting like old friends. Rory shared his testimony and I sat at one end of the table with tears in my eyes, thinking about how the Lord knew exactly who would be at this table. Thus began the start of our Tuesday night home group. It has been so beautiful to experience people hearing of Jesus for the first time, and still coming back every Tuesday. The Lord gave us a divine appointment for each and every person that came. To God be the glory.

Youth Conference

Rory and I also recently got asked to speak at a youth conference about God's intentions and heart regarding sexual trauma, abuse, relationships, God's design for us, social media, and pornography. It was so powerful to get to share truth with these young adults, many of whom have experienced very difficult sexual encounters and hard examples of relationships. Watching students hear that their trauma wasn't their fault, the God heals all, and that his grace is boundless was so powerful. I sat with tears in my eyes as so many women bravely opened up about being raped, molested, or abused in their home. Them getting abused is the difference between food being on the table and shelter being over their heads or not. Many women stated that if they reported their abusers, they would be homeless. It was shattering to hear. We prayed and offered resources and just loved on these kids as much as possible. So many people accepted Jesus and were educated and it was so special to be a part of.

Photo Updates!

Franklin got baptized!! This is a young man that Rory has been discipling and Rory got to baptize him last week. Praise the Lord! Pray for Franklin's new walk with Christ: being a believer, after living a certain way for so long, is so hard. Navigating friendships, relationships, work, etc. Pray for strength, courage, and that He would feel the Lord walking with him every step.

Rory started doing lunch time devotionals at the Family Health Foundation! It is so fun to see him sharing Jesus with my coworkers and seeing how the Lord uses him. Every week has been so good and people have been so involved, interested and listening so intently. Thankful for the boldness Rory has for Jesus.

We finally started home visits!! Natalie, my dear friend and social worker extraordinare, has started up providing social services for families in need in our city. Tons of families have reached out to the church for help and so we have an every growing list to continue working with! Essentially, Natalie goes with Rory and I to homes of families requesting help and does an assessment of needs: physical, emotional, spiritual, social, etc. Addressing their safety, food security, access to healthcare, mental health resources, community, education and tangible needs, then consolidating a list and providing for each one as well as we can. I go along as a public health nurse to provide physicals and assess their needs for medical care, and Rory helps translate for Natalie, provides some physical protection just in case, and is so good at connecting with the families, praying for them and telling them about Jesus. It has been so fruitful and exciting!!! Pictured above is a sweet family from Venezuela who currently live in a carwash. They have 2 young kids and are such good parents. We were able to provide their kids with physical therapy (specifically for the son who has had several falls and head injuries from slipping on wet floors), vitamins, and bring them food and personal hygiene supplies, as well as connect the parents with a life group and pray over their family. We are working on bring the parents some new clothing and find them furniture for their space. This ministry has made such an impact already and its only been a week! We are seeing 2-3 new families a week, as well as following up with previous families we have seen.

Rory was asked to be a substitute teacher for 3 days and the kids loved him so much that they drew incredibly accurate portraits of him and traded world cup trading cards with him.

Pictured below: Taking our youth leaders out for dancing at a rooftop bar with a stunning view of Cuenca

Leading Bible study at the Recyclers Foundation in the photo below! Explained in a previous blog, essentially a program empowering underpriviledged kids to finish their education and break through generational expectations to recycle for a living.

Pictured on the right is Rory with his Venezuelen basketball team! Refugees are usually not allowed to enter tournament, so the boys mad a tournament of their own for all the people being excluded from tournaments. Rory's team got 2nd place! Just so you know, the people Rory is pictured with are considered tall in Ecuador... yeah.

Santa Rosa Medical Brigade!

We spent a week on the coast of Santa Rosa, Ecuador putting on a large brigade. We had several general pracitioners, two dentists, an eye doctor, and 6 nurses! It was a stacked team and we saw and helped copious amounts of patients! We really loved this team! They were from Ohio and quickly became good friends.

This tent was constantly filled with people waiting to be seen. We worked all week from 7 am to 6 pm! We set up at another Arco church location and they had an incredible evangelism team praying over people and sharing the gospel. It was one of my favorite brigades yet!

Photos & captions below!

Pictured here is our nurses doing triage! We had a lab set up for blood sugars, pregnancy tests and urinalysis, and these we took vitals and did assessments all day! Woohoo!

The view in our clinic! Waiting room, clinical rooms, eye doctor, etc!

A happy patient ready for an extraction! I actually assisted the dentist for a few days and helped translate as well. Let's just say I'm very glad I chose nursing instead of the dental field...

Our fearless Drug Lords counting medication and educating patients! Pharmacy is a grueling station!

To finish off the week, the mayor challenged us to a soccer match and got us jerseys and reserved a field an everything. I am proud to say that our team won. Somehow. Maybe they let us win...

While Santa Rosa is a humid, hot, misquito ridden beach town (team Cuenca all the way), we have now been there several times and have really connected with the people. We've gotten to be good friends with our Arco team members down there and it's a joy to get to go see and spend time doing ministry with once strangers, now sweet, sweet friends. It reminds me of how in the New Testament, there were church members and churches all over the world that encouraged each other and helped each other. It's freaking cool.

Jungle Brigade!

Last week we went to the jungle again to provide medical care to another community in the Shuar tribe. We drove again, this time with no car troubles (!!), and got to bring Natalie with us!! This was extremely special because the jungle teams can be very exclusive, only allowing Ecuadorian healthcare professionals and people who live in and are dedicated to Ecuadorians due to the fragile and carefully kept relationships with the tribes. She was an ASSET. Our team was the smallest we have had with the most patients seen in a day. 285 patients with me as the only nurse and then 3 other doctors. Insanity. Miracles were had in the name of Jesus!

Started off with an eventful drive. Found a man sprawled in the middle of the road unconscious with his crumpled motorcycle a few yards away. He was breathing and alive, praise the Lord, but was heavily intoxicated and unable to properly follow commands. He had a probable R femur fracture and some other small wounds. His cousin arrived at the scene a few minutes later, and the man began to blame our team leader for hitting him with his truck. This was obviously not the truth, but our team leader told us we needed to leave him with his cousin because it had become dangerous for us due to the advantageous attitude of this particular group that he was familiar with. The justice system in Ecuador is guilty until proven innocent, so the odds of us getting thrown in jail if we brought him to the nearest hospital were very high. This was extremely hard for me, going against all my instincts as a nurse, but it made a lot of sense. Praying hard that he made it to a hospital and is okay.

We made it to the Chichis community within the Shuar tribe and set up shop! I did a lot of wound cleaning, injections, and assisted my friend Federico in procedures. Natalie got really good at taking vital signs really quick so I could be free to assist in other areas. She was amazing!

Rory did eye exams all day and shared the gospel. The people in the jungle always love Rory because he is so tall and fun. He's always the best with the kids and they always beg him to come play soccer.

The photo below is him sharing Bible stories with eager, silly kiddos.

Natalie & I with some new friends!

An amazing woman made all of us hand-made earrings as a thank you. They are truly exquisite and one of the best gifts I've recieved. We danced with them and ate with them with joyful, tired hearts. Our hearts are very joyful and tired these days- haha!

The beautiful lunch they made! Palm tree, chicken, and raw yucca, fresh pineapple, all served on a banana leaf. Not pictured- fresh coconuts as our beverage!

Looking for puppies with the kids!

Thank you all for your continued love and support. We could not do this without you. I hope you see all these beautiful things happening and know that you, whether prayerfully, financially, or through encouragement, are serving the kingdom of Heaven with us. All we desire is for all people to know Jesus and be loved the way He loves us. That includes all of you. If there is a way we can be loving on you or supporting you or showing you Christ better, call us or message us. We would love to talk and learn and grow with you.

Let the joy and peace of Jesus Christ be with you always.

Love,

Claire and Rory Angulo

Daily Life

Hey everybody! We miss ya. But daily life has finally started to feel normal here and we are really settled, which is just the best. Cuenca feels like home, and we have made awesome friends and have been keeping busy! This is going to be kind of a random update, sharing photos, new projects, prayer requests, etc. We have so much to be thankful for and a lot that is inspiring us. God has been so active and present, putting dreams on our hearts for new ministry projects. I'll do my best to be organized but I am pretty sure this will be word vomit. I'm also not into editing things before turning them in so excuse the many errors there will surely be. Carrying on.

Firstly, had an awesome time having Mark Buckley from our church in Phoenix come to visit. He spoke several times to our staff and congregation in Cuenca and it was so special! He also brought his granddaughter, Ava, who also happens to be one of my dear high school students from Living Stream's youth group! We did some fun projects with her and also got to host her in our house! We worked with Manos, a ministry targeting single moms and kids that are refugees from Venezuela! We typically help out with groceries, make them meals and spend time with them, and work to find them jobs and security in Ecuador. It has been such a fruitful ministry and its beautiful to see women that have been impacted by Manos over the years now spearheading the project!

Here is a photo of a group of us packing grocery bags for Manos! Gracie is on the far right, and she is one of the leaders of Manos who was actually utilizing the services a few years ago! She is so passionate and knows exactly what these families need because she was in that exact same situation previously. So beautiful to see incredible leaders rising up in the community. She now works at the church and teaches Tango classes with her husband!

Another ministry we have been working with is the Recyclers ministry. It focuses on children of a group of people nicknames "the Recyclers" because their main source of income is recycling in Cuenca. They collect cans, bottles and other materials, with the hopes of gathering 1 ton total to trade in for $100. That is a huge amount of items for a small amount of money. They work extremely hard and often require their kids to work alongside them, which in turn makes them drop out of school and start working at a very young age, continuing the cycle of Recyclers, were kids follow in the parent's footsteps. Often, they cannot afford school supplies, and are ridiculed in school for not being prepared, which discourages them further. Our goal is to provide tutoring, school supplies, social work and psychological support, and enriching activities like music and dance to foster academic success and a safe environment, thus hopefully breaking the cycle and sending them to find a better source of income. We provide Bible lessons and share the gospel with them as well. A few weeks ago, Rory and I spoke with our friends Kyle and Lukas, and 18 kids accepted Christ for the first time!! Another exciting development is that my dear friend Natalie Orr is moving here in a week, and she is an experienced social worker who is going to do amazing things with this ministry! Please be praying for her as she makes this transition!

Sad intermission: Our besties Kyle and Lukas went back to the US. Boo. We miss them.

We also got to go on a really cool trip down to the coast to see the Compassion International site in Santa Rosa, Ecuador. We met a lot of the kids and families and saw what an incredible impact sponsoring a kid through Compassion has. My family grew up sponsoring these kids and I had no idea how lifechanging it is for these families. They get medical care, food, education, and get to experience the love of their Heavenly Father daily.

It's also easy to see these kids, who look healthy and clean, and not understand the severity and vulnerability of their situation. Their parents do an amazing job at caring for these kids, but when you see under the surface of their smiling faces and joyful laughter, it's so important to understand where they are coming from. There is not much keeping these families safe from intruders, sex trafficing, gang and domestic violence and illness because of the level of poverty they are experiencing.

This is just one example of the many houses we visited. Safetly and vulnerability is a huge issue. Compassion works tirelessly to change the situations in these neighborhoods, and their impact is massive. Just thought I'd share for those who maybe have thought about sponsoring a child or working with the ministry. The work they do is changing this city and protecting vulnerable populations.

Here is my view these days: I have been working in the Fundacion de Hogar, a hospital and clinic providing extremely affordable healthcare to the community. They offer pretty much every single medical, dental and optical service one could need. I have been posted in triage, assessing patients, performing eye and retinal exams, administering injections, EKGs, and prepping surgical kits. It has been super cool to learn about medical care in Ecuador and see the amount of people getting treated that would otherwise not have access to medical care. People will travel from all over Ecuador, sometimes traveling by bus for 8 hours just to make their appointment with us. This one little building is affecting the entire country, not just the patients but also the staff they provide jobs for!

We also have the fun task of organizing all the medications and supplies for the medical brigades. Who would've though inventory would be so satisfying! When outside teams come in, they leave us awesome stuff from the States to use and it is SO nice to have. We are able to give all medication out for free, with education and proper dosing and we have pharmacists and nurses checking everything. It feels so good to provide safe, ethical care FOR FREE for the communities here. Praise the Lord!

Prayer request: We are praying for a portable EKG machine and ultrasound machine to bring into the jungles and surrounding towns. Currently looking for options to purchase, but obviously they are very expensive. Please pray for the right equipment at the right price!!

Fun Picture Updates!!

Rory and I ran a Dodgeball Tournament for all the Home Churches to compete against each other! It was SO FUN: Rafa & Caro's team won!

MY LADIES! We helped with a youth staff retreat at our friend's quinta. These are the fearless women leaders that impact Cuenca youth daily! An honor to serve with them.

Morning worship and bible stuff with the youth staff!

JUST LOOK AT ALL THESE PEOPLE ACCEPTING CHRIST WOW

Family Lunch :)

Last but not least, I caught a piglet. It was not happy at all. I thought piglets were cute and stuff but they actually scream a lot when you hold them which makes it stressful and less fun. I also milked a cow.

Big things happening here. Love you guys loads, thank you for your continuous encouragement, support and prayers. How sweet it is to have you all in our lives.

Love,

The Angulo Family