Last week we left Colombia, and took a 30 hour bus ride through the mountains to Quito, Ecuador. I thoroughly enjoyed this bus ride, and the views left me in awe. My team of 7 was told during this bus ride that we won’t be staying in Quito with the rest of the squad as planned. Instead we were chosen to go 6 hours South to Portoviejo, Ecuador to do slum ministry. There were mixed emotions when I first heard this news, because I had been so excited to live with the whole squad in Quito, but immediately after arriving here I knew there was no place I’d rather be for this month.
We’re staying busy here with a variety of different ministry opportunities. One thing we get to do is work in the local hospital, moving things around, filling orders, sorting files and also filming our telenovela, “Días de Hospital” when we have any down time there. Last year there was an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude that hit Portoviejo, scattering all the files in the hospital, so that’s why we are helping out there. As we spend more time there, we hope to find opportunities to pray for patients as well.
Three days a week we go to a community in a literal garbage dump, to be with the kids there and provide them with a meal. The kids are overflowing with joy despite their circumstances, and I’m so happy to get to be there loving on them. To make a living, the parents sort through the garbage and seperate out anything they can sell, such as platic or glass bottles. Tonight when we were there, the police had come and set everything the people had sorted through on fire, just because they could. It’s heartbreaking, because that’s literally what the people have to survive.
We’re also going to be painting the whole outside of the church we’re partnering with here. We attend different church services there, and are split up within the churches’ life groups. Our first night at our life group, my teammate Chris and I were asked to sing a couple worship songs for the group. As we were about to begin, almost everyone in the room pulled out their phones to record us or put us on Facebook live. It was intimidating to say the least, especially considering the fact that I have never sang in front of a group. But I sang. And I found so much joy from stepping out of my comfort zone like that.
Overall, I LOVE it here. Our hosts make us feel like literal family, and take us out to do random things like going to the fair or to cool parks. It’s so nice getting to live and do ministry with just my team this month. We have a blast together and have cultivated such a fun and encouraging environment within our little family. It really does feel like home here, and I already know this is going to be a hard month to leave.
