Sorry this update is LONG overdue!
We are in the midst of team season and it has been BUSY to say the least. We had the Oregon Vision Team back in June,
which was a great experience for all involved.
It was awesome to be able to share our hearts for Ecuador and the need
that still exists throughout all of Latin America to reach the unreached. I learned more about the culture here in my
first two weeks on the field because of this team, than I would have otherwise. The people of Latin America are spiritually
hungry and seeking answers in all the wrong places. The culture as a whole is turning back to
their indigenous roots and practices, and has become inundated with Shamanism
and a blended form of Catholicism with indigenous traditions (Syncretism). There is a lot of worship of the Sun and
other elements of the earth. It saddens
my heart to see that the people here simply don’t know and have never known the
love of Jesus.
After that team, we had about a little
over a week until the next team arrived, so we went into full on planning and
preparation mode. This side of it is way
busier than I ever knew coming as part of a team. Making sure we have
everything in place for the team from hotel reservations, to transportation, to
water, to food, to decorations prepared for the VBS, to a first aid kit
prepared, to you name it and we have it ready. One of the things I’ve learned most in this
culture is that you may have 10 things on your to do list for the day, but if
you accomplish at least two of them, you can count it as a success! It just
takes way longer to do the little things, and there isn’t a Wal-Mart to run out
to where you can get it all at once.
It’s a lot of running around, but it’s all worth it once the team gets
here and you see what God is doing in and through them!
Our first 3 days with the team were
spent doing a VBS for a local church in the next town over from where we
live. We did a superhero themed VBS
(with Jesus being our ultimate superhero) and went out into the streets
everyday beforehand to invite kids to come.
Many many kids came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior during this
time; praise the Lord! There were about
100 kids present each day (more on the last day), and we had some teenagers too
who would come. So we would do a separate break out session for them with a
couple of the team members and some of the Master’s Commission students from
here in Ecuador, who were helping us out.
It was awesome for me to meet some Master’s Commission students here! It
was also neat to see how Master’s Commission here is both similar and different
from Master’s Commission in the States.
If you are in Master’s here in Latin America, it means you feel called
to missions specifically and you are being trained to take the Gospel into all
the world. Students are actually assigned various countries where they will go
and serve during their three years in Master’s Commission. It’s so cool that
they get hands on experience in different places!
While we were doing the three days
of VBS, we were also spiritually preparing ourselves to go into another city
that would be much harder called Pedro Vicente Maldonado in the secondary
jungle region. This city has been more
closed off to the Gospel, and the people have been complacent, letting Satan have
his rule over them. One of the things
Ashley (my mentor missionary) challenged the team about on day one was that we
could either make peace with the enemy or wage war against him. If we made peace, he would let us think we
won and lie dormant for a time, but if we were to choose to wage war, he would
try attacking us from whatever angle he could.
The team as a whole decided to wage war, and the first three days we dug
in and prayed and prepared ourselves for what was to come.
I kid you not, as soon as we
wrapped up VBS on day 3 and started packing up the bus to head to Pedro Vicente
Maldonado, team members started falling ill.
About half the team was throwing up their insides as we made our way on
a bus through winding mountain roads towards the jungle. On top of that, the bus driver told us that
literally the day before the team arrived, his air conditioning went out. He was quoted that it would be $10,000 to fix,
so he couldn’t do it beforehand. So imagine yourself on a bus full of sick
people with no air conditioning as you move from the mountainous region to the
humid jungle region. Let’s just say that
that trip was not fun for anyone.
Spiritual warfare is real, and in this situation Satan brought physical
circumstances against us in every way possible before we headed into that city
that he had a hold of.
The team pushed through though and
within 24 hours almost everyone was back to normal. They had decided to wage war and they weren’t
going to run and hide now that Satan had made himself known. The team members rallied as we did street
outreaches in parks and went door to door handing out tracts and telling people
about Jesus. It was an awesome time of
ministry and many more gathered around then we expected to. God was moving and while children were coming
to know Christ through the programs, their parents were watching in the
background. Each program we did, there
were a handful of adults that came to know Jesus as their Savior, and the church
members that we were working with were able to go out into the crowds to get
follow up information and invite them to the local church plant there that we
were partnering with. It was humbling to
see that because of our obedience to go and to wage war against the enemy, God
was able to move in the lives of people where previously they had been so
closed off to anything dealing with Him.
It was awesome to see lives
changed! Not only was God moving among the people in those communities we went
to, but He was also moving in the lives of the team members. We debriefed on our last day together and the
stories that were told from the team of God moving in their own lives were so
touching. We were all in tears and
remembering all the good things God had done, and is going to continue to
do! A few students and leaders were even
called into missions and ministry while they were on this trip! That makes my
heart so full because it was on a trip, much like this one, that God called me
into missions, and I am so honored that I got to be a part of that in someone
else’s life!
After the team left, we took a day
to celebrate the Fourth of July here as a missionary family, and then it was
right back to work prepping for the next team that arrives early tomorrow
morning. We are near Riobamba, and
helping with a church plant that has been started in a little town called
Guano. I’m so excited to see what the
Lord does in and through this next team!
More updates to come, but it probably won’t be until after this team
leaves. Thank you all for your continued
support and prayers as I am settling in to my time here in Ecuador. Pray for the team’s health and safety as we
minister with this next team, but most importantly pray that lives would be
changed and that the people of Guano would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ!
Here is a pic of a sunrise during rooftop prayer with the last team:
**Unfortunately, I do not have great internet access here, so it took me forever to upload one picture. I will have to upload more pics later to this post, or you can go check out my facebook page and see all the pics I posted while we were there!
