Crossing choppy seas in 20-foot motorized canoes and languishing in sweltering Pacific islands heat, a multinational emergency response team from HCJB Global Hands in Ecuador brought physical and spiritual aid to needy people recently traumatized by natural disasters.

The six-member team, led by Dr. Steve Nelson of the mission's Community Development Department, responded after an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale rocked the Solomon Islands on April 2 followed by a large tsunami.

"The Solomons trip seems to have surpassed our expectations in terms of ministry to those who needed help, strengthening partnerships with our radio ministries and mobilizing our Ecuadorian colleagues," said Sheila Leech, the mission's international healthcare coordinator.

"On their return the testimony of the two Ecuadorian doctors was, 'It was tough at times, but we have grown tremendously.'"

Nelson said the workers divided into two teams, each visiting about 10 villages in the western part of the Solomon Islands near Papua New Guinea.

"In each case we found the people to be quite resilient, already looking forward to rebuilding their lives and with a lot of confidence in the healthcare system," he said. "And we were impressed with the way that the nurses and the health promoters in the different sites were able to communicate with people in Taro [on Choiseul Island] and even in Honiara. So the radio communications of the [health] system seems to be functioning well."

Doctors said the trip was an excellent example of "two-way ministry. It helps to better understand other cultures in other parts of the world, to learn from the people here how to effectively reach out to a people group that we aren't normally working with. Clearly the team has benefited as much as the people that we came to reach. And that's the kind of synergism that we'd like to see happening on these disaster response teams.

"It was really a collaborative networking effort from churches all over the world-developed and developing countries-it really doesn't matter," they added. "God's people came together to work on this team! And certainly we needed to include our local partners, the staff of the Gud Nius Redio that went out with us."

Missionary Alex, who provided logistical support during the trip, added, "We were just so happy to be there and being used of the Lord. The people were so open spiritually. In fact, when we started talking to them about Christ, there would be more and more of a crowd gathering round to hear how they can have peace with God."

The medical team's work was coordinated by Gud Nius Redio (Good News Radio), an FM station in the capital, Honiara. Staff from the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind., worked with UCB Pacific Partners, a New Zealand-based ministry, to establish the station in 2004.

Reaction to the tsunami is speeding development of a Christian station in the hard-hit town of Gizo where residents have recognized the need for improved communications and spiritual growth. The new outlet will rebroadcast the signal from Honiara, linked by satellite.

HCJB Global Voice has committed $15,000 for the station plus 200 fixed-tuned, solar-powered SonSetTM radios. UCB Pacific Partners is raising an additional $15,000 for satellite equipment, a back-up power supply, the antenna tower and other equipment.

After a 48-hour journey to Honiara, team members arrived in the worst-hit area on Sunday, April 22, bringing medicine, basic supplies and encouragement to survivors. The disaster left 52 people dead and another 10,000 displaced, crowded into makeshift camps. More than 500,000 people live on 990 islands.

Team members were greeted by the staff at Gud Nius Redio, including Tina Lemazi who accompanied the team during the relief efforts. "It was a pleasure and great blessing to work with them," she said. "I have learned a lot from them, especially in organizing and making arrangements and also to make allowances when you have to. The people that we visited spoke very highly of the team."

The team saw a total of about 600 patients in Choiseul Island and the Shortland Islands. "The climate was hot," he added. "Mosquitoes were present to some extent everywhere, and malaria was an all-too-frequent diagnosis.

"As is typical for this type of work, many of the patients complained of everyday maladies such as back pain and upper respiratory symptoms," he explained. "The people were open, friendly, and grateful for the services that we provided. There were several opportunities to share our faith with the people of the villages, both individually and in groups."

Some of the medicine that the team handed out came from a $5,000 shipment of donated supplies that arrived in Quito just days before the quake hit the Solomons.

Among the team members was Ecuadorian Dr. Paola Estevez, a recent graduate of the medical residency program at Hospital Vozandes-Quito.

"When we heard about the tsunami in the Solomon Islands, I think Jesus chose me to come here and help," she explained. "Not only in attending patients, but more than that, giving the spiritual [encouragement] that people need in these kinds of [disaster] situations. We can relieve their pain, but Jesus can relieve the pain of their souls. So we think it was a very important mission that we came to do in this country."

Leech said she was thrilled to have Estevez on the team. "We are blessed as we see young Ecuadorian physicians who have graduated from our family practice residency program, taking their places alongside us in ministry." Graduates previously ministered via medicine on emergency teams in Indonesia, Pakistan and Lebanon.

Rounding out the team were Dr. Yvonne Orellana, a staff physician at the hospital, and Dorothy Nelson, who led women's and children's ministries.

Dave Pasechnik, director of HCJB Global's South Pacific subregion, added, "The media [helps people] hear the good news, but healthcare is how we demonstrate the good news to the ones who are suffering."