Every place you go you meet people- I know that’s super profound! Here are some of the people that we have met this month and their beautiful stories!
Marcello – A 15 year old boy who is part of our team for the time in Ecuador. He was living on the streets from age of 11more or less. To get money he would steal from tourists and rob people in the park at night. One day a man named Victor Hugo saw him on the streets and asked Marcello if he wanted help to get off the streets. Victor introduced Marcello to an organization called opsion de vida (life option). Here Marcello was able to get a meal, shower and wash his clothes. At the age of 13 Marcello made the choice to no longer steal, live on the streets, or mistreat people; and he gave his life to Christ. For the last two years he has been learning and growing and is so excited to be with us for this month.
Gary – A humble electrician that we met while carrying the posts up to Nuevo Esperanza. The night we met him, my teammate really felt led to talk to him about Jesus and then invited him to church. When Gary came to church we could sense a soft heart and he asked that we prayed for his knees. In a way that only God could do the prayer quickly turned from his knees to matters of his heart and his family. At the end Gary was teary, and told us that even though he had asked for prayer for his knees he was hoping that we would pray for his heart because he knew that having a healed heart was more important than any physical healing.
Rosa – A young 22 year old mother to a beautiful daughter. Her husband works in a town rather far away from Huaticocha and only comes home once a month for 4 days. She is an incredibly strong woman who loved serving us when we visited her. As soon as we began to talk to her she just began to cry. Rosa told us that she had been feeling lonely and that the words we brought her, that God gave us to give to her, were exactly what she needed to hear. We were able to invite her and her daughter over for dinner multiple times and it was beautiful to see her smile.
Columbian Man – We visited a church in Sumaco who had additional guests from Iglesia Cristiana Evangelica. This one man from Columbia gave his testimony and it went something like this…By the age of 8 he was traffiking drugs into Columbia. At the age of 10 he was involved with a rebel group. During his life he robbed and killed people along with making a pact with the Devil. One day while he was going between towns he heard an Evangelism campaign. He said that in his heart he had always felt that there was something more to life and this campaign really helped him to begin asking bigger questions for his life. Not too long after all the men in his gang had either died or were in prison but somehow he managed to escape! Despite making a pact with the Devil this man has given his life over to Christ! He hasn’t turned back to drugs, using or selling, and he has dedicated his life to spreading the gospel!
We met over 200 children this month and over 100 adults as well but these are the stories that impacted me the most!
