While I don't have a full write-up prepared to share about our time in Ecuador, I have uploaded the rest of my photos from the trip to Flickr, which are accessible here.
Ecuador, coming to an end...
Wow, what a week it has been! I just haven't had the time to put any updates up - what with all we've been up to. Super-ultra-brief-recap:________________
Mon, Tues, Wed: Door to door evangelizing in the morning/afternoon Helping with Vacation Bible School in the afternoon Visiting/sharing at house churches in the evening
Thurs: Our day off - checked out some of the sites, got to hang out with some of our new Ecuadorian friends
Fri, Sat: Flood relief in Salitre - out in wooden canoes handing out food/supplies/water to people who have had everything destroyed - crops, animals, houses, spirits
Sun: We'll be flying out in the afternoon, arriving in D.C. around midnight, driving back up to the 'Burgh and going to class at 9am Monday morning! ________________
I can't wait to send out a full summary to everyone - especially all those who God used to help support us financially and in prayer - thanks so much for the essential part that you played in this mission trip.
Ecuador, Photo Update
Here's some photos I just uploaded from the past couple days:
Ecuador, Day 2
Wow, have things gotten started here. We began our first full day in the country with a great breakfast on the veranda of our hotel and then made it to the missionaries' office for 'orientation.' We got to meet a handful of the locals working with Guy - Marcos, Julietta and Giovanni. We worked through the details of the week and sang a few Spanish worship songs together.By lunchtime we had worked up another appetite and went down the street for an excellent local lunch - I had a shrimp platter with rice and fried plantains for $4.50. Upon arrival back at the office a group of women had gathered for their weekly bible meeting. These were around 20 former and current local prostitutes that had been meeting regularly - most were even baptised. Us guys stayed out in the smaller room and gave them and the girls on our team time to meet, share and celebrate a few of their birthdays. Then it got exciting - we all piled into the cars and drove out to Marcos' neighborhood, Balerio Estacio, a very poor slum with roads that certainly tested our then-shiny-clean vehicles. We split into groups that each included an English/Spanish speaker and visited homes in the immediate area. Sam, Guy and I first said hello and shared with one of the strongest believers in the neighborhood. She told us about her sister and how she was one of the only members of their family to not have come to Christ. We left with her and walked down next door and met Francis, their 61 yr-old father. He was an amazing man, so passionate for God and thankful that we could come and share a few words of encouragement with his family. His daughter said she loved to read the Bible and hear the gospel from people, but still just wasn't ready to make any commitments of her own. She let Sam and I hold her little daughter, who had a full head of dark hair and was so adorable! We moved on to our third and final house, belonging to a woman who was not connected to the missionaries but did have some faith of her own. She said that she somtimes heard the worship music from Marcos' house and loved to sing along to the songs. The word of God is contagious! After leaving the slum we headed back into downtown to go to Giovanni's house church. We were all introduced to one another and sang a few more Spanish worship songs. Sam was able to share with the group about how God has been teaching her to live in His joy and to possess a heart of humbleness. The entirety of the rest of the evening was Spanish-only, so I tried to pick up as much of it as I could. We made it back to the hotel just before 11pm - a long and especially fulfilling day in Guayaquil!
Ecuador, Day 1
March 5-6, 2008Today and last night were our time of travel as we (Doug, Greg, Cristina, Sam, Alex and I) began our journey to the people of Ecuador. Upon arrival, we were introduced to Guy Muse and his friend Paul, who taught us how most traffic laws are optional in Ecuador, but that you never want to injure another driver, as it´ll result in immediate jailtime. We were delighted to see how nice the hotel is that we´ll be staying at and wasted no time in dropping our bags (which all made it safely) off in our rooms to hit up the pair of hammocks beside the pool. We got a brief safety rundown with Guy (I probably won´t be bringing my camera along everywhere) and then were off to the mall for some dinner. Ordering was certainly clumsy at first, but was made easier with Sam and Alex ahead of me to put the cashier on his best behavior. We walked back to the hotel, stopping only at the very nice 'SuperMaxi' grocery store, and now have a fair amount of time to relax and prepare for orientation downtown in the morning. Even only so far, Cristina has been such a practical blessing to us - it´s helped so much to have a native along with us, although my Spanish appears to be coming back much better than I had expected it would. In our first few days we are most likely going to be helping out a newly targeted region of the city that a handful of the missionaries have only just begun to reach out to. I am excited to see how God will be using us in the coming days and am especially looking forward to seeing us grow together as a team.
p.s... I´m typing this up from my journal on a computer here at the hotel - I just was able to get some pictures transferred up to Flickr, so here's a couple:
Alex checking out the view from the plane:
The view from the plane shows the flood-ravaged Ecuadorian countryside below:
Greg is ready to go after arriving at our hotel:
