Oct. 8, 2010

Taxi Ride Ends with a Fare and a Prayer
Source: HCJB Global (written by Marian Douce and Ralph Kurtenbach)

As a taxi carried Dick and Marian Douce across town to visit a friend, their driver revealed to them his sadness and the hope he'd found recently via the radio.

The Douces serve as missionaries with HCJB Global in Quito, Ecuador. The driver, Pablo, opened the conversation with "Do you work at HCJB?" Then he told them about the life-changing turn he experienced while listening to the program, Al Oído (A Listening Ear), on Radio Station HCJB.

Pablo is caring for his four children after his wife (his second) left the family. A friend told him that if he listened for a while to Al Oído, he'd hear of somebody else's life unraveling in the same way. "So he started listening, and sure enough he heard good advice for his situation," wrote Marian in the Douces' web log (http://doucehouse.blogspot.com).

Al Oído's hosts, Marco and Martha Claudia Mosquera, field many calls. People's choices-or the choices of those near them-have brought pain and confusion. While on the air, the Mosqueras offer biblically based advice and then pray with callers.

These distinctives set the one-hour daily program apart from other stations' advice and counseling programs, according to Taty de la Torre who directs radio programming at the ministry's AM and FM stations in Quito and Guayaquil. In addition, the stations offer pastoral counseling.

Al Oídowas launched in 2002 when staff members "saw the need for a voice that would provide orientation centered on the Word of God," said de la Torre. "We thought of Marco and Martha Claudia, and they agreed to do it. They didn't have radio experience, but a lot of experience in counseling. God was using them in Ecuador already as missionaries from Mexico." (Marco is Ecuadorian and Martha Claudia is Mexican

Text messages to the program range from 50 to 120 per day. "As to calls, each one takes time," de la Torre added. "But calls are always coming in. If I were to say 10 calls, it's because that's how many could be handled on that program." The callers still waiting at the program's end are referred to one of two staff pastors.

Cruising the streets of Quito one day, Pablo keyed in to the Mosqueras' suggestion to a caller-attending church is important for finding friendship and support of Christians. So he sought out and attended a worship service at a neighborhood church.

"People were so caring that he decided he would continue attending and bring his children," Marian recounted. "He proudly told us that he and his oldest daughter will be getting baptized this month."

"It was a real pleasure to talk with him," Marian said. "We prayed with him, too." Hymns and uplifting choruses now waft from his car windows as Pablo plays compact disks that encourage him.

And when he's not playing CDs, the radio is set to HCJB.