With the big diesel engine roaring, we eased our way carefully down the winding dirt roads and dry river beds. Our thoughts were with Doña Felicia, suffering advanced heart failure, whom we had just left behind in her Andean village. One month earlier, she had been brought to church in a wheelbarrow and had made a commitment to follow Jesus. But as her health grew worse, she wondered if she was being punished for becoming a Christian. Her grown-up daughter had stopped bringing her food because of her new faith, and she was too sick to look after herself.

We visited her at home and confirmed her diagnosis with our portable ultrasound. We gave her some medications to help her breathe. The Bolivian pharmacy student who was helping us on this trip prayed with her. “You have to pray and have faith,” she said. “Don’t give up. Maybe the Lord will heal you now, or maybe He won’t. But you can be sure that you’ll have eternal life with Him one day.”

Birth of the Tan Van

Our first couple of terms in Bolivia we were based in the city of Sucre, but visiting rural hospitals on behalf of the State Health Department opened our eyes to the enormous needs outside the city. Rural health workers lacked training, and leaders of small struggling churches wanted to learn how to teach the Bible. Would we move to one of those small towns as a family? Or would I travel by myself, leaving Liling and the kids in the city?

	Dr. Lawrence and Liling Tan with Madison, Alexandra, and Anneka

The Lord brought to mind another strategy. “Let’s buy a bus,” I said to Liling. “We could all live in it and travel from town to town!” I expected her to say “You’re mad, forget it!” but she didn’t. On home assignment back in Australia we mentioned our idea to supporting churches, and the Lord surprised us by bringing in double what we had budgeted to buy and equip a medical van.

The Essentials

Now we travel in a mobile home/foldable clinic which we built in Bolivia on an imported 1992 Nissan truck chassis. It has space for our family’s home and school, solar panels on the roof to charge our equipment, a satellite phone and GPS, and a 10-day water tank. In the storage lockers we have medical equipment and a small pharmacy.

Faith, prayer, and compassion are also essential equipment. Our strategy includes Christian health professionals and Bolivian pastors who travel from the cities to help train and mentor medical workers and church leaders. Above all, we want the compassionate life of Jesus Christ to become real in the lives of rural Quechuas—and to see that happen, we go to them. Project # BO 91210.

Pray

• for safety on treacherous mountain roads.
• for effective outreach to rural health professionals.
• for healthy, growing fellowships of worshiping Quechuas.

Go

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