Ecuador 2011

As the leader of the team, I am always commissioned to write the last and final blog of the trip. Every time, you put your finger on the keyboard, and wonder, “what do I say”? There is so much that could be said from all kinds of different angles.  However, I believe there is one thing that is of utmost importance to tell about the trip: how did Christ work and show in us more of Himself? At the beginning of the trip, we were struck with sickness from the start; not to mention many other happenings that time will not permit to tell.  The first week was also one of the busiest of the trip adding to the pressure that was thrust upon us. The struggle was to grow weary, fill discouraged, and even fear. The tendency is always to become inward focused when hardships begin to hit you.  Yet, one theme kept coming up in our team devotions: “its not about us.” Rather, it is about the incredible glory of our God. This is why we do missions. This is why we can endure sickness on a mission trip. This is what brings a group of young people together from different backgrounds and situations in life to accomplish one goal: proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3: 21 tells us, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” This theme; this motto is what the Team Ecuador 2011 rallied around.  It took three weeks, but through it all, God molded, shaped, pushed, and produced in us a heart to do one thing: glorify our God through His gospel. It was through suffering and hardships that we learned this. It was through God’s spirit opening our eyes that we saw it in our hearts. It was through building each other up in the Lord that we were strengthened in it. It was through the powerful working of God – not of our own strength – that we experienced it. In the end, we saw one thing: Jesus Christ and Him glorified! Christ became our unifyer. Christ showed us what it means to make Him your all. Christ made Himself known to us as only He can and will do with His people. What a privilege it was to serve and learn with this team. You are my brothers and sisters and may this trip only be a step in the process of Christ making Himself known to you more and more. After all, He is all and in all.

Daniel Cavanaugh

Team Leader

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TOMA TOMA TOMAAAA!!! (TOMA TOMA TOMAAAA) MATE MATE MATEEEE (MATE MATE MATEEEE) TOOMAAA (TOOMAAA) MAATEEE (MAATEEE) Too00OOMATEEE!!!!! The cheers can be heard in china! Time to congregate on the basketball court. First team to have all their kids in line gets 10 points! Enthusiasm, excitement, and team spirit describes the atmosphere of the camp! The first day of camp is ready to start! We all brake up into groups and make team bracelets. And then we head out for free time! It has been a great experience for me to be at this camp living with the kids! It is a whole different perspective of the kids from the first two weeks! Where as normally we just come do the program and leave, now we get to know each individual child and there story. Because I am forced to speak in Spanish, unless I don’t want to talk to anybody accept my team, I have begun to think more and more in Spanish. After free time we head to the beach. We are released by color to walk the half a mile walk to the beach. Once there, each color draws a circle and puts their stuff inside of it. Then we hit the water! Splashing, throwing, and body surfing, its all there! Even mud bathes! It is very surprising how many Ecuadorians do not know how to swim. After two and a half hours at the beach we head to the camp completely exhausted. We eat the food they give us for so called lunch, we’re still not sure what the meat actually is though, and then we head out for more free time playing soccer, face painting, and playing EcuaVoly (the Ecuadorian style of Volleyball). Finally it’s time to do the kids program. Today, in the lesson team, we told the story of creation and taught the seven days of creation with hand motions and sound effects. Then we have more free time till dinner at 7:30. Following dinner we do large group where we tell the story of Jonah. Following large group we sent the kids to bed and had devotions. As we walked to our rooms it was completely silent. All the kids were tired as well!  We were so exhausted and it was only the first day! However, we all agreed that this week was going to be a very fun week!

John

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Let me tell you one thing: everyone is having way too much fun here in Ecuador! We’re all pretty exhausted including the kids but the fun factor overrides exhaustion at this point. A normal schedule looks something like this. Breakfast-8, Games-9-10, Beach-10-?, Lunch… changes everyday, Class time-3-5, Dinner-7, Large Group-8, Bible Study- 10, Bedtime… varies. Let me tell you, we have a blast! All the kids are super sweet and forgiving of our Spanish. We have been becoming accustomed to the phrase “Como se dice…?” We’ve also taught them to say “Sup Homie?” They think this is pretty cool.

Tonight was rather memorable as Pastor Benjamin arrived with his wife and son. We set up a warm welcome for them with balloons and streamers and a surprise gathering. But before this happened we needed to keep the kids occupied. They decided to teach us a song with dance movements. First everyone did it then, to our surprise, they had all the team leaders come up to do it. This would be Daniel Dickson (Green), Brandon Dickson (Red), Nate Foreman (Blue), John Foreman (Orange), and Danny Fox (Yellow). This was very entertaining to everyone but even more so to the team members when we later learned that the song was about a big fork, knife, bowl, plate, and spoon!

God is doing amazing things in the lives of everyone here. All the team members have changed in many ways. We are praying for the kids that God will reach them during this time and that we will have a lasting impact on their lives. I can already tell you they have impacted mine. Saying goodbye will be difficult for more than one team member.

Ashley Dickson

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Sunday was our last day in the beautiful city of Esmeraldas. After working all week with children from all over the city, we had the opportunity to visit the main host church for our Sunday morning service. During the service, several team members performed piano and violin numbers and delivered testimonies. Worshiping with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, it was amazing to see that despite the cultural differences, the object of our adoration remains the same. After the service, we were swarmed by children who we had worked with during the week and their parents. After tons of pictures and autographs, we were treated to one final amazing “Esmeraldas” meal.

After our lunch, we headed over to the camp were we would be teaching and living with kids from Quito for the next week. Let me tell you, the transition from comfortable, air-conditioned, hotel rooms to the bare, concrete floor, barely ventilated cabins was rough. Here’s just a little run-down on the camp facilities: no air conditioning, no consistent running water (it comes and leaves ever 10 minutes or so), no hot water, no internet (this blog post is being posted by our faithful team leader, Elizabeth, who is making the long trek to the local internet cafe), and TONS of bugs. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The kids make it all worth it. It is SO much fun to see their expressions at everything from the beautiful beach with its enormous waves to the “larger-than-life” grasshoppers that make their home on the ceilings. Since all of the kids are from the mountain city of Quito, beach trips are a rare occasion for them, and every trip to the beach is a new experience. “Cuando vamos a ir a la playa?” (When are we going to the beach?) is definitely the most asked question.

Despite the “less than 5 star” accommodations, this week is turning into my favorite week of Ecuador. Even though just getting a shower has turned into quite a feat, this camp has made me appreciate the “little” things of life. (For example, after being in a hotel and bed and breakfast for the past two weeks, most of the team members never missed their own personal towels. Let me tell you, after drying ourself off with old shirts for a day, we have NEVER been so glad to see the towels that the team leaders bought.) This week will truly be summed up in the verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9 – And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

-Nani, on behalf of the team

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Today was WONDERFUL! After a lovely but exhausting week in Esmeraldes, the team went to the beach!

Thanks to our awesome photographers, we got our team picture set up and over with quick enough. Afterwards we went whale watching and some much needed shopping was accomplished =) One broken shoe and a lot of spent money later, we headed back to the beach.

At night we hosted the youth program at Pastor Louis’s church. Danny (Fox) and Christina shared personal testimonies and Daniel (Cavanaugh) gave a short sermon. As usual the ladies of the church made AMAZING food for us for our last night in Esmeraldes. Afterwards the teens plus some of the team members got together for an impromptu worship group. And it was lovely. To hear half of the teens singing in English and half singing in spanish was truly beautiful. It just showed once again that a love and passion for Christ is never contained by langues or cultures.

Personally, my favorite part of the day was the boat ride out to the whale watching spot. Boat rides on the ocean are truly one of my favorite things. It’s so hard to imagine the fact that the ocean goes down for hundreds and hundreds of MILES. It’s more than I can fathom. How tiny we are compared to everything else. Think about the size of the ocean, the earth, the universe…. but even after all of that, after you feel completely negligible, trivial, insignificant, and infinitesimal… God whispers “I have called you by your name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1b) Wow. I think I’m just gonna go and marvel at the love of God for the rest of my life. =)

Nikita, for the team

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You know that connection that you have with people in the Body of Christ? It transcends culture and location. It lasts for years; kind of like meeting an old friend and just picking up where you left off.

This is how I feel about the people in Ecuador.

We’ve been here almost two weeks already and, still, one of my favorite memories was seeing the smiling faces of my Ecuadorian friends waiting to greet us in the airport as we exited the baggage claim. These people are some of the same people who have been with us throughout this trip as our translators. They are so giving and we would not be able to teach anything without them. They have been a wonderful part of the team!

We were blessed with a whole group of youth to translate for us the first week – Roberto and Sam were the Amazing Craft Team 2 translators A whole team of them came with us to Esmeraldas and have become near and dear to all of us.

One of our translators, Andreita, had to go back to Quito today because of her work. She is less then 5 feet tall and has the most sparkly face and eyes. I have so enjoyed sitting and talking with her on the bus, or when we get ice cream. She will be very missed.

The last day of the kids program was a little different because many of the school children had “examines” that morning. I hope they all did well – sometimes we wonder how the kids learn anything in this learning environment. Some of the same kids came to see us that night at the evening program. All week we have been “encouraging” the kids to sit quietly and listen (and the parents not to talk) and tonight they were really quiet (by Esmeraldas Standards). We told them about how God is Eternal and never changes and that the things they’d learned about Him this week were things they could count on forever.

“Is this the last day?”

“When are you coming back?”

“Look, He’s crying because he doesn’t want you to go”

These were some of the phrases we heard as we ended both the morning and the evening programs. Sometimes it is hard to see the fruit of what we are doing – but I do know that there were many kids who felt loved this last week. I pray that the seeds of God-Love that were planted in their hearts would grow and that when a team comes here next time they will be able to see how God has worked in the people here.

– Amanda, for the team

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The kids’ programs started today! Here are a bunch of pictures of the activities, including the morning at the school and the evening program with the churches.

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And so our first week in Esmeraldas begins!

We will be working at a public Christian school called Luz y Libertad this week. We went to the school this morning to meet with Pastor Luis (Papi) and the director of the school. We also spent some time praying over the school and for the kids that we will be working with this week.

Today also started the ritual of three-a-days… that is three showers a day. Because it is so hot here, some of us *cough cough* (me) have been losing a lot of excess water through our pores. It’s pretty nasty.

We are all so excited to be working with the same people that we worked with last year. The hearts of the people here never cease to amaze me! They are so loving and kind! I don’t know that I have ever met a group of people that loves complete strangers so sacrificially!

We also did some training for the Ecuadorian teams that are going to be helping us in the children’s program this week. There were about 50 Ecuadorians who showed up excited to help this week! Boy, are they going to be such a blessing with this week’s children’s program as large as it is!

Pray for us this week, as we will all be stretched so much farther than we would naturally like to be! Pray that we will rely on Christ to give us the extra strength that we don’t have in ourselves.

In Christ Alone,

Nathaniel

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(Dearest readers and followers of this blog, I would like to preface this post by telling you that today we drove a very uneventful seven and a half hours from Quito to Esmeraldas today…)

Beep……………….Beep……………Beep…………Beep……..Beep…..Beep, Beep……Beep, Beep……. Beep, Beep…….. Beep, Bee-CLICK!

The lovely sound of David’s alarm clock was the sound that was first heard in our room of four boys this morning. (Me, Daniel Fox, David, and Tim) I lay they for a while meditating on getting up and what that would feel like. I finally arose, skipped a shower and went straight to the breakfast table. Breakfast was… well…. what we always have for breakfast (egg-something and bread). After a short meeting we hit the road. Our first stop was the “equator.” (I say “equator” because it the place we went and took pictures was not actually the real equator. The real equator is actually about 40 minutes away. Smooth, ay? But we did actually cross the equator later in the day.)

After a ridiculous amount of pictures we moved on to more important things such as driving… driving…. Driving…. And driving…. Driving….. driving…. and TIRE CHANGE….. Driving… Driving….. Driving….. and LUNCH….. driving…. Driving…… driving…… and SINGING….. driving…. Driving….. driving…. And BRIAN REGAN (a comedian)…. Driving… Driving…. Driving…. And GAS STATION…. Driving….. Driv-(You get the point).

Finally we reached Esmeraldas. We checked into our luxurious half-size rooms and then piled back into the bus to go eat dinner. We pulled up to the school. As we walked through the gate we were shocked and amazed by the amount of people that had shown up to this so called “dinner.” It ended up being more of an evening show then a dinner! First off on the agenda was the rain… Yes, Rain and lots of it. We had to dry off all of the seats before we sat on them. (Did I mention that the dinner was outside?) However rain or shine… the evening still went on! There was singing, dancing, and speeches from the Ecuadorians to give us the, hands down, best welcome to any city, country, or event that I think I have ever had! To add to that was the food that followed! (I have been sick for the past week and have not been able to eat food of any kind, however I ate THREE PLATES of food tonight!) Needless to say, the food…. WAS AMAZING!

It was so refreshing to see all the familiar faces that we left behind last year! The care that these people had for both God and us was evident in every little detail that they put into this fabulous dinner, from the flower arrangements, to the program, even to the gifts that they gave us! I am so excited and anxious to see what God is going to do through these amazing people and churches over the next week!

John

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Saturday July 23, 2010

…and on the 7th day, they rested.

After a very full week of kids programs we were blessed with a much needed free day. This included a trip the a “waterfall” and shopping and dinning in downtown Quito. We drove to what was projected to be a quick 30 minute drive to the waterfall, (for your information, Ecuadorian time projections should be multiplied by 4), 2 hours later we arrived at the destination. As it turned out, the waterfall was no small hike so a quick change of plans and before you knew it the team members were flying down a zip-line.

Over the many hours of commuting it gave me time to think through the past week. First off, I can’t believe we’ve only been here a week! It has been amazing to see the child who on the first of the week was a raging wild animal bitting at any person in sight at the end of the week had his arms draped around his teacher. Many team members had already faced sickness and we were finally seeing light on the other side. And finally, is has been precious to see how God has knit the hearts of all 22 team members is such a short time. God has given each of us a heart for these people, and trust me, they aren’t always the most easy children to love. And yet, now it’s hard to imagine life without them.

As the evening came to an end I found myself strolling down a cobble stone street that reminds me of some place in the U.K. It felt so peaceful and relaxing, like the calm after the storm. Over all the ups and downs I have seen God’s faithfulness shining through. It is so beautiful how God uses each team member and their gifts to create His grand masterpiece. This coming week we are given a new set of challenges, I wonder how will God continue to use us in this beautiful land?

For the team, Lorianne Barclay

Nathaniel and Amanda

Brandon and Daniel

Hannah gets ready to fly

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