October 4th-October 16th
Hey all!! These past thirteen (a pretty great number) days have been incredible and full of intimate moments with God and my teammates! Friday the 4th, we packed up and left CasaBlanca. I’m not gonna sugar coat it and say we weren’t sad, because we were. Leaving Fabi, Mabe, and little Allegría was devastating. I know for me it meant leaving the familiarity I had created in the last month and a half. CasaBlanca truly felt like home and felt safe. Having CasaBlanca to rest in is something that is gonna take some time to adjust from. It was incredible and I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to learn and live at such a powerful place. Thank you Fabi, Mabe, and Allegreía for being the greatest first World Race host one could ever have. I won’t ever forget the lessons and the love you showed to us!!
Our next stop was Dunamis, a woman’s shelter for those victimized by sex trafficking. It is located in the mountains of Quito & it is incredible!! We live life in the clouds, literally. Everyday around 1pm, the clouds roll in an surround us with there presence. We learned the hard way, clouds aren’t fluffy and warm. They’re cold and rainy. However, that doesn’t change the fact that we are living on cloud 9. Dunamis is an incredible ministry that’s goal is to eradicate sexual trafficking both here in Ecuador and globally. It has been a pleasure working with them and learning more about the ministry! There is a missionary family that lives here on the compound with us. There names are Gina, Dan and Savannah. They have been so incredibly nice to us, they let us worship on their roof, let us watch the sunrise on the roof at 6am, and even let us play Wii with them. They were such a nice taste of home for so many of us. Gina loved us like we were her own kids, giving us plenty of mom hugs. Savannah was a breath of fresh air for me because she is 11 and Zoe, my younger sister is 12. I do miss my siblings, so having this family love on us like this was everything we needed!! We helped this ministry with some good ole fashioned manual labor. We were building the foundation for the volunteer house. One may be asking, where are you sleeping? All 21 of us are sleeping in one giant room on the floor….don’t worry parents, I have a ‘bag barrier’ surrounding my bed. Lol. It truly has been a blast, it might not be the most comfortable thing in the world, but we are appreciating life so much more. This place is an escape and the view is incredible! Mountains surround us and the vastness of our God is in every direction! Seeing how big our God is made me feel small and humbled me a lot!! This place truly has become one of my favorites on earth. The ministry, the people, and the beauty in creation have taken my heart. Thank you God for this place and these beautiful days up on the mountain!
To all who haven‘t heard about the economic and political unrest here in Ecuador. It was real thing & it was definitely not a light matter. Some of our plans got significantly delayed due to protests and violence in the city. (My upcoming blog titled 24hrs goes into much more detail about this) As I just said above, were we’re high in the mountains with no threat of harm. That is something we all thanked God for daily!! We were supposed to travel to Banos, a town south of Quito for midpoint debrief. We were supposed to leave on the 10th and arrive in Peru on the 15th! Let me start out by saying, our God had much bigger plans for this team. He decided that he was gonna break this team and keep us up here on the mountain a little bit longer! Our God is so good and so faithful! I’m gonna be honest and say, I wasn’t happy at first. I wasn’t happy about staying longer and having to sleep on plywood! God broke me and told me to quit complaining and look around me. Look at all that I’m given, look at the safety, look at the loving parents I have at home. I was reading through the book of Habakkuk and it was this that changed my perspective. Habakkuk grumbled and complained to God, thinking that he wouldn’t answer. However, God answered him divinely! He answered him so boldly and so loudly. I have been very confused lately about life post race and honestly some things God said to me a few weeks ago. However, one night we worshiped on the roof of Gina and Dan’s house and God showed up and showed out. He brought me laying face up crying out to him. He remained me of this lesson, that he will answer me divinely in due time. He will show up and show out on his time not mine. This was simple yet so beautiful. I am so thankful for God and thankful for his love!! These last thirteen days have been trying and so hard. God has showed me so many things and taught me so many lessons! I am nothing without him and being blessed to spent more days than expected up on the mountain helped me figure that out!
To all of you reading this, thank you. I am sorry for the delay, in the blog m! I ask for prayer for my team and for my squad! I ask for prayer as we depart Baños tomorrow for three days and then too Guayaquil for a night, then too Lima!! It’s going to be a long five days and I ask for prayer for safe travel. I also ask for prayer that these next five days we as a squad keep our ministry switch on, looking and seeking ways to invite others to know Christ. I ask for prayer for Dunamis and the girls they pour into daily. I ask for prayer for Gina, Dan, and Savannah that they continue to minister well to the girls as well as each team that comes to serve! I also ask for prayer for Camp Hope and that they continue to bless each child of God!! I also ask for continued prayer for Pan de Vida and the work they are doing there. Thank you and God Bless.
-Ben
