Trip Report: ECUADOR 2026
- Apr 22
- 2 min read
A letter from Dr. Bill - Ecuador 2026
There’s a Biblical truism that says it’s more blessed to give than receive. After having regularly served overseas for the past 30 years, I can attest to this firsthand. This was one again demonstrated in many and different ways on our recent spring break trip to Quito in Ecuador.
I wish that I could say that everything went smoothly and without issue. Unfortunately, life is not that way, especially including airline travel these days. The team encountered more flight complications than usual. Praise God that everyone finally arrived even though some were delayed. Certain long suffering team members deserved a medal for their patient perseverance.
As if flight issues were not enough in themselves to challenge the team, a number of people became ill with what we think was norovirus. It’s doubly challenging to be sick away from home. Fortunately we had good medical and nursing care to provide for those who were definitely under-the-weather. All made it home. Some even lost a few pounds in the process.
There’s a popular Christian song entitled ‘God On The Mountain’ that aptly describes some of the ups and downs from the trip. The chorus contains the following lyrics; “For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley. When things go wrong, He’ll make them right. And the God of the good times, is still God of the bad times. The God of the day, is still God in the night”.
There were too many highlights from the week to fully list them all. However, special thanks goes out to the leadership team. Ken presented a challenging series of messages discussing how success and significance interact in the lives of dentists. Zack and Jon did a wonderful job of leading music while Nate and Evan helped coordinate our gathering times. Mary Alice spent hours on clinic assignments while Mama Bill (Susalee) kept track of team members coming and going.
From a clinical standpoint each area of the clinic worked very hard. The optical area served over 100 people each day with reading or sunglasses. We were blessed to have 4 hygienists on the team to teach and clean, an endodontist, 4 pediatric dentists, 2 oral surgeons in addition to 15 general dentists mentors. Each student team participant had almost one on one instruction from our dental faculty.
The bottom line is that over a thousand patients received some sort of care, new friendships were made while old ones were strengthened, the team was challenged professionally, and in the end those who were ill improved. The primary reason that we serve is in response to God’s call on our lives and are reminded that “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast”. Ephesians 2:8-9.
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