I apologize for this long overdue post. I’ve been tired and busy and lazy and everything else.
After an incredible first month spent with the whole squad of over forty people all working and living at the same ministry, we went our separate ways in Ecuador for the month of February. Six teams, six ministries, five cities across the country. I had an incredible time with my team working at different churches in Guayaquil, but my perspective is only one piece of the larger story that our squad is telling this year.
To help keep things in perspective, at the end of every month, I’m asking one person from each team to summarize the ministry work that they did, and highlight one testimony from the month that really stood out to them or impacted them the most. As with my Colombia wrap-up, this post is long, but I promise you, it’s worth your time. My squad has some powerful stories to share from some truly wonderful ministry partners, and I want to bring you all along not only on my own journey, but on the journey of everyone traveling with me as well.
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Carly Moniz – Santa Ana, Ecuador
This month our ministry looked like a lot of different things. We helped shovel rocks & dirt at church construction site, they are hoping to raise the funds to finish the building this year. We helped with a children’s program, youth program, we were given the opportunity to hand out operation Christmas child shoeboxes, teach English at a nearby school, and help do some gardening at the guesthouse we were staying at. I think we all need to live with the mentality of looking out for the opportunities to share the Gospel with people even when we are technically not “doing ministry”. I think on one day specifically this month my team did a really great job of reaching someone even though it was our off day.
We decided to spend our adventure day exploring Quito and when it came time for lunch we walked into a Texas Chicken. Three girls from my team decided they wanted to eat there and three others and myself wanted to get empanadas. That’s when Maria came in. She came in and asked if we could spare some change, that usually they give her soup but the boss was there today so they wouldn’t give her any. I told her I would buy her lunch and we went over to the counter and I told her she could pick anything she wanted. She picked a hamburger meal for $3.99, she kept saying thank you and she was crying. I hugged her and I told her that I came to Ecuador to share the love of Jesus and that’s why I was buying her meal. We then left and went to get empanadas and when we got back Maria was sitting and eating with the girls that had stayed behind. We sat down and talked to her and she told us that she had lived in California ever since she was a little girl but how three months ago she was deported and sent back to Ecuador. Where she has been working at a church, parking cars for mass. They give her a place to sleep as well. She was telling us about her son, who was taken from her, but that he found her and she talks to on the phone every night and that he prays for her. We were able to talk to her for awhile and she offered to show us which bus would take us to the equator.
At launch we were given a cross that a woman makes for every squad and the purpose of them is to give them away to someone while we are on our trip. I didn’t have mine with me and I turned to my teammate, Lauren, and asked her if she had one with her, thankfully she did. I gave it to Maria and told her that God loves her and that we wanted to pray for her and that we would continue to pray for her. That we would not forget her and that I wanted her to remember that Jesus loves her every single time she looks at the cross. At one point she asked, “why are you like this?” and I responded, because of Jesus and His love. He loved us and saved us and so we want to share His love with the people around us. We shared the gospel. Through the tears, we prayed with her, hugged her, and showed her love that she may have never experienced before.
That day was such a good reminder to use every opportunity that comes your way to share the gospel. To show someone the love of Jesus. You never know what the impact is going to be. You never know how something so little might mean so much to someone. I challenge you, next time you see someone in need, don’t just ignore them, don’t just think that someone else will help them.
Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
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Shelby Kaplan – Cuenca, Ecuador
This month we had the beautiful opportunity to partner with Kingdom Life Ministries here in Cuenca, Ecuador. This ministry is all about building relationships and maturing the Body of Christ. We served in a church by painting, teaching English classes, leading Bible study, sharing our stories, and organizing Friday night youth group. My favorite memory was the youth night service and y’all, the Lord did things that only He could do!
So, when we were preparing for it, the Lord placed it on our team’s hearts to do a teaching over the Power of Words. So, we prepared a teaching, a quick testimony, and then we created letters with words and scripture on them. Each letter was individually prayed over so that the right person would pick it up. As the night began, I expected one person to experience freedom. I mean, that’s all I really asked God for…just one person. But GOD! He had his own agenda 🙂 That night, I can’t even remember how many people experienced the presence of God for the very first time (or for the first time in a LONG TIME!!) Young men came to the front of the room (in front of their peers) weeping and begging God to renew their minds. We saw salvation. We prayed with young girls who NEEDED to know they are strong AND beautiful. This night was my absolute favorite because I saw God in a brand new way.
It was like He told me, “My girl. Just leave me room to move and I will do things you would not believe…even if I told you :)”
There is nothing special about us. It’s all God. We are ordinary girls changed by an EXTRAORDINARY GOD. This month with Kingdom Life Ministries was AMAZING and changed my life. God is so good.
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Will Schneider – Portoviejo, Ecuador
Our ministry host was a youth pastor, his family named Percy, and his wife Hama. There was also another missionary there from America named Ms. Kai that was the best and loved joining us each day. We started off by first cleaning the guest house the seven of us would be staying in. The next day was Sunday, and Percy took us to a town called Jippijoppa (pronounced hippyhoppa) where we were asked to help with worship.
Our weeks looked like this: Monday Tuesday and Wednesday morning we’d go to a group home for the mentally disabled. The men were elderly with dementia and Alzheimer’s, but there was one guy in his late thirties named Daniel, but I’ll get back to him. In the evenings we would go to the garbage dump and sing songs, play games, color, and feed dinner to the children whose families lived there. It wasn’t in the actual dump, but across the street from it. The kids were amazing and loved to play games and sing and laugh. We had Thursdays off, and on Fridays we were working construction on the foundation for a restaurant that will eventually feed future missionaries and help pay for the kids dinners five times a week. Saturdays we’d work around the compound and neighboring church picking up trash and moving furniture.
So back to the group home and Daniel. We started the first few days by weeding around the house then hanging out with the guys, listening to music, dancing, kicking a soccer ball, coloring, and then turning them into paper airplanes. There was no set structure, so we just came up with our own. After the first week and getting to know the guys and Daniel, Joseph said that we should have a Bible study with them. We started talking with Daniel and discipling him. We started by asking about his life and child, but when we started talking about Jesus he was hesitant at first. But eventually you could see the Holy Spirit come inside and light him up. The Holy Spirit moved in an amazing way. One of the more memorable parts was when I took the Bible we had given to him and underlined John 3:17-21. While Joseph was speaking to him about the light of Christ, next thing I knew was he opened his own bible to John and started reading John 3:17. He read to verse 21. It was amazing to see God move so quickly. We gave him a Spanish bible and a Spanish-English translated Bible so that he could learn more English. He loved classic rock and we gave him lyrics of his favorite Pearl Jam song. Amazing host and amazing ministry month.
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Tabitha Simmons – Quito, Ecuador
My team, Papoula Fogo, has had the amazing opportunity to work with the ministry of Pan de Vida (Bread of Life) in Quito, Ecuador. Our day to day ministry looked like so many things, but they all revolved around being the hands and feet of Jesus and showing His love in everything we did. Pan de Vida serves the community through six core programs: Hunger relief, education, health programs, microbusiness, shelter, and emergency relief. We would start each morning doing worship and devotions with the staff, and then take on whatever they asked of us. Whether we were organizing the entire attic, washing tables and chairs all day, cutting (or rather crying with) onions, preparing for children’s ministry, sanding off paint, washing all the walls, cooking for 200 people, re-plastering and painting walls (thanks mom for teaching me this skill), handing out food to the beneficiary 2-3 times a week, hugging a child, singing and dancing in the middle of 50 kids, painting the story of creation on tables, or struggling through the bit of Spanish we know in a conversation, we have felt sooo much joy in it all! Pan de Vida is such an amazing and loving organization with a heart to serve God and serve people. The last day of ministry, we were invited to a local christian school and got to speak with 8 classes, ranging from 2nd-9th grade, about who we were, where we came from all while sharing the love of Christ and getting to know the children.
I have fallen in love with this ministry, the staff, volunteers, the beneficiaries, the children and the city of Quito. Just being in the atmosphere you feel nothing but love, grace, intentionality and a fire for the Lord. My team said it was evident that I was in my element during children’s ministry and the day we served at the school. So much so that I might, possibly, potentially, probably, very likely consider moving back here after the race, if God allows of course. It only made sense that we were here at Pan de Vida over Valentines day, because I can sum up the entire month with one word.. LOVE. They love so well here and I have learned and even deeper meaning of what it means to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus everyday.
I encourage you to learn more about Pan de Vida and see how you can also get involved in this inspiring ministry. They can only continue to serve through the generous donations of people like you, whether it be food, supplies, or financial donations. And this is a year of transition for them; they don’t yet know how God will supply to continue serving, they only have faith that He will.
Check out their website here and watch their video to learn more about their heart: http://pandevida.org.ec/
short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=107&v=Ghpdl-IIkWw
longer film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=303&v=-6kTmdYNn-g
“My children, our love should not be just in words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.” – 1 John 3:18 (GNT)
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Kristin Haley – Quito, Ecuador
This month we are partnered with Cru-College Campus ministry. This organization is actually in places all over the world. We had the pleasure of working alongside Brianna, Sean, and Derek (all from the United States but felt called to work with Cru in Ecuador for over a year now) and college students who are key leaders for Cru on their specific campus. In such a short time, we have built close relationships with everyone.
Monday-Friday we would take a bus/trolley or multiple buses to meet the different students and Bri, Sean and/or Derek on a certain campus and worked together to reach out to the students. We were able to visit 5 colleges while we were here which was a cool experience to see what they all looked like. Very similar to colleges in the States, but all with the beautiful mountain views in the background.
On the campuses we would separate into groups and walk around campus going up to different students. We would do different activities to see what their views are on the nature of life (Perspectives) or see where they are spiritually using picture cards (Soularium). We would also go around seeing if anyone is Christian or if they know anyone to build up the Christian community on campus. This would lead to different conversations of either just talking about different perspectives and beliefs or some college students wanting to know more about Jesus and accepting Christ. Most of the time, the students would be open to listening, participating, talking with us and receiving prayer even if they believed something different.
Some amazing testimonies came out of these moments like:
- Finding students interested in joining Cru to build up the community
- Meeting students going through a rough time and felt at peace and comforted just by us taking the time to talk to them.
- We had moments where students told us they have been praying for God to show up more, to bring them support and strength and then when we talked with them they felt that was God answering their prayers.
- We were able to share how Jesus has changed our lives or what brought us to faith with students who were questioning the truth about God and Christianity.
- We had moments of students accepting Christ and wanting more for their life.
- We had moments where we just connected to students from the United States who were studying abroad and haven’t found a group of young Christians to connect to while they are here but want to.
- Valentines Day! We played music, sang and handed out love letters “from Jesus” around campus, using truths he speaks of us in the Bible, letting people know that they are loved and worth more than how people in this world make us feel. Later we celebrated Galentine’s Day! Met at Bre’s house with a group of girls from the different campuses. We made cookies, decorated them together, took pictures in front of our homemade picture booth, played games to get to know each other, had a devotion about our Identity and Worth in Christ, listened to God’s voice and individually drew a picture of how He sees us and shared about it. We were able to just hangout, relax, laugh, practice our Spanish and English and enjoy each other’s company.
This month God used us and is continuing to use Cru to reach His sons and daughters in college.
Similar to the United States, most students do not openly talk about their faith and sadly many students are searching for something and/or feel alone, depressed, lost. Currently, that I am aware of, there are no official Christian groups established for students to connect with and be a part of a community with other students of the same faith. That is where Cru comes in but it is still a building organization here in Quito.
To be honest, this month has been a challenge to some if not most of us. Evangelizing isn’t always the most comfortable thing for everyone. We let the “fear of man” sometimes hold us back from sharing about Jesus and our faith. The faith that has changed all of our lives and continues to bring us hope, peace, love and so much more. The faith that we have seen bring healings, comfort in tough times and freedom from burdens, brokenness, shame, guilt, addictions etc.
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Michael Williams – Guayaquil, Ecuador
Ministry in Ecuador has been filled with so much growth! I see the kingdom in a new light. They people here in Guayaquil truly live out the Gospel EVERY SINGLE DAY! Every day we lived out the Gospel alongside all of the pastors and their churches. My team and I went out to minister, encourage, pray, and love the people in their surrounding neighborhoods. This month we have visited over eighty homes here in Guayaquil. We have walked through the flooded streets sharing the Father’s love to anyone who came in contact with us. So many stories surrounded around healing, reconciliation of relationships with the father, encouragement through visions, and spiritual growth and unity within my team.
One day during ministry, we went to a house that had around six children and two women. The fathers of the children we didn’t get the opportunity to talk to, but we got to encourage them to go back to church, as they hadn’t been attending for over a year. They said that they had struggled with circumstances preventing them from going to church. Finances, health, and push back from the father of the house.
We sat down and got to know their story, and after 45 minutes the Lord put Psalms 98 on my heart that I saw in my vision. I read it aloud and then shared my vision with them. In my vision I was standing in the corner of their living room in spirit. The first thing that happened was a radiant light flashing inside from the front door. The children ran in laughing and filled with so much joy! The two ladies were also filled with so much joy! They didn’t have any worries. They weren’t crying, stressed, angry, or frustrated! They were all dressed in white! Their house was made of white brick and engraved all around the house was Psalms 98! They all had huge golden trumpet stations that surrounded the house! They all ran out at the same time to blow on their trumpets! The birds flew into the air and the whole earth could feel the joy of the Lord. They had golden illuminated paths that connected the church and houses to their house of joy! People began to follow the golden illuminated pathways to their house and everyone entered into the joyful house and all experienced the love and joy from the Father! So many people coming to their house to experience and feel the Lords joy and love shown through this beautiful family. I encouraged them to share the love with the people in the church and neighborhoods.
After I had shared, they were touched and began to cry. It was a beautiful moment where I saw the Lord touch them. They had so much of the Father’s love and joy! I was inspired by the compassion and love for the Lord despite their circumstances!
My team has grown in so much boldness through these home visits it is unreal! The unity we have when going into these houses to love and encourage is so cool. We are walking and believing in the Holy Spirit, and it’s amazing to see it play out as lives are being changed. We came from week one not having much, or any, idea of what we were doing, but by week three we were sharing encouraging visions and sharing the Gospel with no hesitation! Y’all we on fire! Peru don’t know what’s coming yet! But Lord knows we are walking in the light! Peru is about to get lit up!
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As you keep me in your prayers, please remember that I am not here alone. My team has five other guys that are doing life alongside me every day, and my squad has five other teams in different cities that are doing work just as incredible as the work my team is blessed to do. Please keep all forty of us in your prayers throughout the year as we learn and grow together, and I will keep sharing stories of how God is working not only through me and my team, but on my whole squad.
Stay tuned for my first post from Peru later this week!
