The Christmas season definitely looks a little different here in Ecuador. Being away from home during this time has been weird and hard at times, but I’m learning to embrace it.
We’ve spent the past week or so away from our normal home in Quito, up another 2,000 feet in the mountains at a place called Dunamis. We’ve been sleeping in our cozy lil tents in a field that overlooks the rolling hills and valleys of the highlands of Quito, and serving at this amazing ministry over the holidays. Dunamis is an organization that rescues women from sex trafficking, and ministry there has looked like community outreach in the mornings (playing, singing and dancing with street kids for hours, doing skits, and just loving on the locals up in the mountains and showing them the hope of the Father), and manual labor around their beautiful property in the afternoons (digging and helping build a guest house so future volunteers won’t have to stay in tents). It’s been tiring yet so fruitful getting to see how much genuine love affects kids in the community, and how much our digging and pouring concrete is helping and pouring into the staff here at Dunamis.
Even though I’m thousands of miles away from home over the holidays, Jesus has been teaching me so much in this season. Being filled with love and hope, and then overflowing that onto others is truly the greatest gift to give and receive over the holidays. This past week has given me a fresh perspective of thankfulness and the freedom we have in the name of Jesus that I’m excited to carry into these next 2 months in Ecuador and into the new year. Who the Son sets free is free indeed, and we are called to walk in that freedom and hope that is placed in our hearts!
This past week has left me feeling so refreshed, and it is so evident how the Lord moved each step of the way, both in me and in those around me.
