One of the things that meant a lot to me, was just the way we felt like we were “family” with the Christians in Ecuador.  I know very little Spanish, but through interpreters and a lot of grinning, nodding and pointing, we were able to understand more than you might expect.  There was just a love that was felt among us.  And, as part of being a family, I feel strongly that we can continue to communicate with each other through prayer with the Holy Spirit being our “interpreter”.  Prayer is what will continue to unite us to our heavenly Father until we can get together again; whether here on earth or in heaven.  As we pray for them, and they for us, I hope we will hear stories about the God is blessing their church and community.

Joel Korns

I feel like God showed me so many things, and is still showing me more things as I continue to process through the trip.  One thing that was really encouraging to see while we were there was the Men’s Bible study they have once a week.  Many of the same guys we worked with during the day were there that night.  It was really cool to see the men of the church give up their days to come help with the construction, then go home to clean up and come back to church to apply the word of God to their lives.  During that time, one of the men shared how he tries to show love to others.  He shared how he used to not be able to afford a car, and his neighbor who did have a car wouldn’t give him a ride.  He said that now he always tries to give people rides when they need them.  As he was sharing this, I was realizing how many things I take for granted here in the United States, and just how many things I count as necessities that really aren’t.  Later in the week, we also found out that an average salary for a plantation worker is around $250 a month, and $200 for a teacher.  That amount is less than a car payment for many people in the United States!  Being down there and seeing things like this really reminded me of the book “Radical” that we read in Sunday School earlier this year and just how easy it is for us to get ensnared in the American Dream.

Nick Larson

Thank you everyone for your prayers as we were in Ecuador.  There is so much that the Lord did during our time there, and there is still so much that He's showing me since I've returned.  One of the hugest things that God has shown me is the great value of short term missions trips. Before going, the thought had crossed my mind...maybe it would be better to send the thousands of dollars directly to the church in Ecuador and let them use it to build an even better facility?  After spending a mere nine days with the people of Puerto Bolivar I clearly see how God uses these short trips in mighty ways!  The relationships we developed with our sisters and brothers of Ecuador are stronger than I ever thought they could be.  I saw the body of Christ in such a new way this past week; and I never would have seen it if God didn’t give me the opportunity to minister to these people.  The excitement of “new people in the neighborhood” brought children into the church where they heard the gospel for the first time!

We had many God sightings while in Ecuador.  Two of which God made most apparent to me are the following…

           In high school and college I had studied Spanish, but I felt that I had lost a lot of it since then.  I was apprehensive about how effective my Spanish would be on this trip.  It made me nervous that I may have to translate for people.  The beginning of the trip I felt a little overwhelmed by the Spanish and found myself not understanding nearly as much as I had five years ago.  I seemed to always be asking “What?  Can you talk slower?  I don’t understand.”  One day earlier in the trip I was pretty sick and had to stay back from the worksite.  I was so sad and even upset about this.  I wanted to be with everyone so badly, but there was no way my body could take it.  During my time of feeling sick, the only things running through my brain were Spanish words and phrases.  It was happening so much that I was getting tired of thinking Spanish, but I couldn’t seem to stop it.  When I was praying in my head, the words were coming to me in Spanish.  I’m not saying this was a miracle where suddenly I was thinking in fluent Spanish…but I know for a fact that God used that time of sickness to bring words and phrases back to mind that I had not thought about for five years!  I noticed a huge difference in my abilities to use my Spanish the next day on the worksite.  It was so encouraging!  God is so faithful!

       During the first day at the church I met two of the neighbor children.  They immediately had a special place in my heart.  That Saturday the boy, Carlos, told me that he and his family were going to the beach the next day.  I knew our group was also going, so I said, “Maybe we’ll see you there!”  In all honesty, I knew it was highly unlikely that we would see them, but it made for good conversation…and it was a phrase I knew how to say in Spanish!  The next day our group went to the beach.  We had to take a boat ride to the part of the beach that is nice and sandy.  There were tons of people at the harbor, and I can image that they send out dozens of these boats every day.  Well…it just so happened that the family I met was on our boat out to the beach!!  I had the opportunity to talk with them, give hugs, etc.  In addition, they were on the same boat back at the end of our stay at the beach!  God’s timing is so wonderful!

Lindsay Larson