By Carol Duncan, IM missionary to Ecuador
April 2026
The Mazda B-10’s motor strains as it climbs the many hills leading to Puka Urku. Although they have blacktopped the road five years ago, it’s still a steep 20-minute climb from our house. It’s a village that isn’t far, but it has been forgotten. A nearly abandoned Catholic church, where someone gives mass once a quarter, sits on the left as you pass by to get to the community soccer field and communal hut. The two-room schoolhouse sits to the right, closer to the Napo River. It doesn’t take long to see the changing landscape and development once you are a mile outside of Misahualli, several miles further, and clusters of chozas and wooden homes on stilts, you realize that public water services have thinned or stopped altogether. I (Carol) have been going to Puka Urku with my friend Maria for three years now. She is a health liaison with public health. Her uncle and in-laws live in Puka Urku (Kichwa for red mountain), so it is close to her heart. She desires for her family to lead a better life, ultimately to know Jesus.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Romans 10:14 (ESV)
This verse and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) are often proclaimed as key missions passages. Paul walks us through the process of sharing the good news. It must be deliberate, but how does one start? We began home visits and portable clinics over 2 years ago in Puka Urku. The people always shared from what they had in exchange for the medical care received. In all of this, I saw recurring illnesses that seemed like basic hygiene and sanitation. Kids were using the bushes for the bathroom during the school day, and many homes didn’t have running water. Enter, collaborate to build a bathroom to have the opportunity to share the Gospel. One month ago, a CHE bathroom committee was formed with 4 work groups. Each group would work one day a week, so no one would lose time on their farms or earning wages. While there may still be laughing when I attempt to speak Kichwa, the laughing stops when we share a devotional or prayer; instead, there is leaning in, curiosity, and softened hearts.
Pray for the village of Puka Urku, more than unity in purpose and work, we want our neighbors to deeply know the love of Christ and the power of salvation.
From the book, Preach and Heal—” Remember, it is not the power of medical skills that brings people to Christ. Nor is it the power of persuasive argument. None of the disciples that Jesus chose went to medical school or seminary. They were neither preachers nor healers.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And I, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
