Jenny Torres, director of nursing at HCJB Global Hands' Hospital Vozandes-Quito (HVQ), encountered plenty of doubters when she offered to organize the hospital's first international nurses' conference to help staff members improve their skills and knowledge.

In fact, when Torres invited the 130-member nursing staff at HVQ to join the vision, most were pessimistic and skeptical. Initially, only two people responded to the invitation.

It's no wonder that organizers felt overwhelmed just a few months later when the five-day conference began on Monday, July 7. The minimum number of registrants needed to break even-200-had been far surpassed. "The Lord sent 430, and 200 more attended via satellite!" Torres exclaimed.

With encouragement from HVQ General Director Dr. Marcelo Zambrano, she had agreed to open up the event to nurses not only from the hospital, but from across Ecuador and beyond.

Five committees comprising 28 nurses helped organize the details regarding presentations, logistics, entertainment, publicity and workshops. At the beginning of June, the publicity committee promoted the conference through radio and traveled throughout Ecuador's Pichincha province, distributing 2,000 pamphlets.

Participants at the event came from Ecuadorian cities such as Cuenca, Guayaquil, Latacunga, Riobamba, Santo Domingo, Ambato, Machala, Ibarra, Tena and Zamora-and a delegation of six nurses traveled all the way from Medellín, Colombia.

Among the guest speakers was Margaret Corin of New Zealand who formerly served as a missionary nurse in Quito and had become director of nursing at HVQ before leaving HCJB Global 16 years ago. Other speakers came from as far away as Chile and Argentina.

Corin said it was rewarding to "see how God had worked in the lives of so many people through either being on staff at the hospital or having been influenced by the hospital. This conference was yet another example of how God was bringing people together and the many wanting to experience professional development in a Christian setting and context."

"I had been on the planning committee for the renovation and expansion of the hospital 20 years ago," she continued. "To see the results, after so many years, moved my heart. Tears came and I escaped to the chapel for some moments of solitude with God who had made it all possible. The tears of gratefulness continued to come as I noted the others in the beautiful chapel with its lovely stained glass windows, a haven in the middle of one of the busiest hospitals in the world."

Corin spoke on the theme of gerontology-an apropos subject as about 60 percent of the hospital's patients are elderly. "As I presented some of the global issues on gerontology I was well aware of how much I had learned, all those years ago, from the Ecuadorians about caring for the extended family," she explained. "I was once again having the privilege of discussing together the present needs and challenges."

Amid the unexpected larger attendance, committee members were praised and applauded. They heard enthusiastic comments such as, "There has not been another congress like this one.... You've touched the human and spiritual aspect of nursing that has been forgotten for so long." At the end of the event nobody wanted to leave, and 90 percent of the attendees asked for another congress.

"The event was full of blessings," added Mónica Ortuáa, secretary to the hospital director. "Those who caught the vision could see fruit multiplied. It was impossible to forget the Lord's promise, 'Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.' To Him be the glory!" Story posted: Sept. 10, 2008