Trip to Manta AGAIN!

On Friday we had to fly to Manta, a city on the coast with a doctor and another man in charge of Area Projects for the Church.  They are trying to help us make our projects more meaningful rather than just donating equipment.  We went to visit a small clinic where we had previously donated some medical equipment for children and expectant mothers.  Now we are hoping to have some doctors come from the church to do some training next year.  The reason we went to Manta was to meet with some of the staff of the clinic as well as people from the community to see what training they would like. 

A view of one of the 5 volcanoes that surround Quito.  Not a very clear shot from the airplane window.  The flight only takes about 40 minutes but we have to get up around 3:30 am to make our early morning flight. 

When we arrived at the airport there was this huge sign and a crowd of people.  We learned later that a missionary was coming home after his 2 years of service!

Here is the newly returned missionary hugging his father.  The hugged for a long time!!!!  Maybe that's what heaven will be like when we arrive.  Lots of hugging and smiles and tears!!

The main square in Montecristi where our meeting was at.  It is a city about 30 minutes from Manta.  We were a bit early for our meeting so we sat in the square and had a little preliminary meeting.

Here is Dr. Archibald on the left, a retired surgeon and Steve Dobbs on the right who works for the church.  They were here to help us find out what more we could do to make this project more meaningful and helpful to the people.

Montecristi is a small city and I guess the newspaper thought our meeting was newsworthy.  Here they are interviewing Steve Dobbs and in the background is the stake president, his wife and counselor.  The lady in the foreground is Yolanda Loor and we are doing a vision project with her clinic in a city about 30 minutes away called Portoviejo. 

Here we are talking to Pablo Herrara, the director of the clinic. 

The newspaper reported wanted to interview Elder Francom as well.  Guess we made it into the newspaper!!!  To these wonderful Equadorian people, Dad is a giant!!!

Some of the attendees.  They asked for training in non communicable diseases, diabetes and emergencies. 

More attendees.  The nurse in the middle is from Japan who is studying here for a few years.  She speaks really good Spanish!

Dr. Archibald speaking to the people and Yolanda was his translator.  She was good!!  It's hard to translate between 2 languages.

We had some extra time so we visited a dialysis center in Montecristi.

Some of the people that we were with went inside the sterile rooms.  We waited outside.  We've been there, done that!!!  Now we are home and recuperating from our trip.  We're not as young as we used to be!!