Desi and Carolin Perez, crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, are ministering in Ecuador, which was shaken by a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake in mid-April. The Perezes speak Spanish and have been able to help the medical personnel communicate with patients while also offering emotional and spiritual care both in the field hospital and the community.
The sound of ambulance tires on gravel is common around the field hospital, and the chaplains are often on-hand to help medical personnel communicate with the Spanish-speaking patients.
A peek inside the hospital operating room.
The fatal 7.8-magnitude earthquake not only damaged the main hospital in Chone, Ecuador, but also was catastrophic for many residents in the area.
“The thing that has amazed me the most is their resiliency,” Carolin Perez said. “The thing that we’ve been seeing through the ER are devastating injuries, and the people have just been amazing at how well they’ve tolerated the things that have happened to them, and how quickly they bounced back from some extreme changes to their lives.”
Chaplin Carolin Perez and members of the Samaritan's Purse team celebrate with the hospital administrator (she's the one holding the tote bag) after her decision to accept Christ.
Chaplains Carolin and Desi Perez talk with a local pastor about holding a baptismal service for new believers at his church in Ecuador.
During the deployment, Carolin and Desi Perez had the privilege of attending an impromptu wedding between two nurses, who had been dating for years. “They were married in their scrubs, and they wrote their vows to each other,” Carolin said. “We had an ordained minister as part of our staff here so he married them.”
With help coming from all over the world, volunteers made a sign with arrows pointing home. You can partner with the Rapid Response Team from wherever you are.
