Jungle Missions — Echo Team Nonprofit

Medical Trip in Peru

July 4th-14th 2023

July 4th-14th The Amazon:

- Our most significant endeavor this year was taking a team out to the Amazon jungle!

- Conducted several transformative medical and dental clinic projects in the Amazon jungle, impacting over 800 people in three villages.

- We learned of and are privileged to now be supporting the labors of a few church leaders as they work on a complete translation of The Holy Bible into the Bora language.

- All those that came not only received much needed medical care and attention but heard, many for the first time, the Truth of The Gospel and God’s love for them. They were very hungry for the Gospel and we held revival services or workshops teaching spiritual truths almost every evening.

- At the last clinic, the people we were serving informed us that ECHO Team is the first medical team to ever reach them. This was hard for us to hear and we were overwhelmed with the great needs we saw all around us.

September 28 The Movie Premier : “Los Boras”

- Excited to share what the Lord did in the Amazon Jungle, we held a special Picnic Premier at Houston’s First Baptist Church. We had over 200 in attendance, it went very well!

- Many shared how they were very inspired to “Echo Christ” and one teenager got saved at the end of the event! The short film is in the blog page and our YouTube.

Update from October 14th-25th 2021

From the beginning to the end, this trip is a testimony of the power and sovereignty of God. Our team attempted to visit Peru twice in the past year, but were unsuccessful both times due to Covid or the Peruvian government’s decision to close their borders. God finally allowed us to return and we give Him the glory for bringing us back to Peru in his perfect timing.

Our Team - Having a small team of six people meant that each person served in many capacities. In addition to our doctor and dentist, our team consisted of church leaders, and missionaries. Everyone fulfilled multiple roles by leading worship, preaching, managing trip logistics, serving as dental and medical assistants, leading children’s programs, and evangelizing everyone we encountered.

Reaching the Unreached - After a 6 hour boat trip on the Amazon, our team arrived in the village of Cochiquinas at 3:30am and we ran a medical clinic from 9am to 5pm! Cochiquinas has a small existing Christian church led by Pastor Julio who was very appreciative of our support. Our goal was to work with him through sharing the gospel and providing humanitarian aid to surrounding indigenous villages that not only do not have churches, but have never heard the gospel before. These villages are so remote that if individuals could afford the expense of a medical visit and the cost of travel, it would take them 10 hours to reach medical and dental care. It is sobering to go to a place where no medical professional, let alone Christian has ever gone before.

One unreached people group we have been determined to reach again after our previous visit in 2019 are the people of Mogrobejos who live deep in the Amazon jungle. In 2019, the Mogrobejo chief sent a messenger to us after hearing about our medical clinics asking us if we could help him. After receiving such thorough and professional healthcare, he gave us an open invitation to go back and tell his village about our God. This is a very rare opportunity and an answer to our prayers because he has previously been very closed off to anyone outside of his village.

Sharing the Gospel Through Healthcare - Our team delivered excellent medical and dental care to all who came to our clinics. We were able to provide medical attention and prescriptions at no cost to the patients who were overjoyed to receive such quality care. Our dentist had a full time job and was often the last one to finish each day because the amount of people needing dental care was overwhelming. Thanks to your donations last year, we were able to purchase a mobile dental unit which we ran off of a generator!

There are countless testimonies from how God worked through the medical team. We are in awe of the power of God in how he healed patients in ways that medicine cannot. Several patients would arrive at our clinics by being carried in by two or three people and would leave our clinics walking! They were so surprised to see their pain or problem miraculously resolved, but we were very clear to them that God is the one who brought them healing, not us.

In the five days we were there, we saw in total about 350 medical patients and nearly 100 dental patients and the majority saw a doctor and dentist for the first time. Most importantly, they were finally exposed to the hope of the gospel!

Continuing Our Vision For Peru - On our way to and from the Amazon, the team spent a couple of days in Peru’s capital Lima where we held two youth events. Each person who attended was very encouraged to continue moving forward in their relationships with God and we are excited to take several of them with us on our next mission trip to the Amazon.

Our ultimate goal in Peru was not to simply share the gospel with people, but to teach the locals that they too could share Jesus with others and echo Him in their communities. Please pray for an opportunity for us to return to Peru so we can check up on these youth and bring them with us to the jungle to encourage the church in Cochiquinas, continue reaching the Mogrobejos village, and share the gospel with more unreached people groups!

Testimonies -

On the first day an elderly man was brought in by two people holding him up as he tried to walk. They explained that he had started developing partial paralysis and other symptoms over the last two years. The doctors decided that he had some neurological problems and there wasn’t much they could do. We prayed for him and gave him some vitamins and told him to come back and see us the next day. The very next day he joyfully came to see us and had more strength. As the week progressed, he reported that he felt a lot better and on the last day, he came walking by himself with a smile so big that we almost did not recognize him. He and his family thanked us very much for helping him but we assured him that it was God who had done the miracle and his life was changed by the power of God.
After picking up supplies and medications in Iquitos, Peru, we visited a local church in which the pastor was expected to pass away. We marveled at God’s timing because we were able to spend time with him in his last days and encourage his family and church through a very difficult time.
Before our first medical clinic we presented the gospel and about 15-20 people were saved! It was so encouraging to see that people recognized their spiritual need before we ever had to address their physical needs.
We hosted a public event in the village plaza where about 60 adults and 90 children attended and heard the gospel. This event included fun skits to capture the audience’s attention, worship, and a Bible lesson. We gave away toys and candy to the kids and small prizes to adults. Many were saved and we are thankful that Pastor Julio is there to continue following up with them.
An elderly lady with Parkinson's disease came to the clinic so we gave her vitamins and a steroid to treat some of her inflammation, but the key to her healing was prayer. She returned to the clinic a few days later expressing that her symptoms had significantly decreased and we saw that her tremors were noticeably reduced. Her family thanked us very much for our help, but we just pointed them to God! He is her healer!
A man who suffered a bad fall was carried to the clinic in a lot of pain. After being treated by our doctors, he could not believe how quickly he noticed the results and was so relieved that his pain had left. We just reminded him of how great our God is! He left walking and was so thankful that he always came to see us to ask how he could help serve with us in any way for the rest of our trip.
A worried mom came into the clinic with her crying baby who had been running a high fever for several days. When we provided medicine for her baby’s sickness, she was so relieved and thankful. There is always joy when a mother receives news that her sick baby is going to be okay!
Thanks to your donations we were able to purchase and give away over 100 pairs of glasses! Since we bought them in Mexico, each pair only cost 40 cents. Glasses are extremely hard to come by in the jungle so each patient’s life was changed when we offered them the chance to see more clearly.