I have officially been in Ecuador for one week, and all I can say is “Wow, great is thy faithfulness, Lord.” My team has 8 hour ministry days, and we have experienced so many different facets of what it looks like to do ministry full time. We have been working with a ministry called Pandevita, also known as the Bread of Life. For the first few days we made relief kits for the victims of the earthquake that devastated the coast this past April. After making all of the relief kits last week, we were actually able to drive 6 hours down for a couple of days to pass out all of the supplies. Twelve of us loaded and unloaded an entire uhaul-sized truck at 4 different locations. After lining everyone up, we would individually walk each person to the supplies. We would greet them and here in Ecuador you kiss each other on the cheek, and the looks on their faces were so beautiful and amazed to see us actually trying to live in their culture, and speak with them. After we passed out each bag, we asked the person if we could pray for them, and it was such a beautiful opportunity to just love on hurting and oppressed people, and to speak life over them and their community. I was able to walk with a woman who could not speak english and who could barely walk, but I was able to pray for her life and declare over her that the Lord was not done with her yet, that through Jesus she would be the light in the community.
The days were very hard not only physically, but mentally, because 7 months after the earthquake, the people are still not restored. The one word to describe the relief experience is a “mountain.” It is sometimes a gruesome climb to the top, sometimes unbearable. But once you reach the top you can fully see the beauty all around you. You look out and can see that even though it initially appears to be a wasteland, there are rivers of living water springing up. Isaiah 42:10-12 adequately describes these past 3 days by saying, “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.”
Ministry has been such a beautiful experience to be apart of, and this is only week one. I can’t believe the Lord would even allow me to be in Quito, Ecuador, with these amazing people who keep pushing me closer to Jesus. I can’t even comprehend the reality that I have 9 months of this hard, challenging, yet beautiful and transforming experience. I am hungry and thirsty for more of the Father, and to see people actually encountering Christ and being changed forever!
I was doing quiet time, and the Lord asked me if everything I had, everything… was taken away… would Jesus still be enough for me? He asked me to be honest and take an inventory of my thoughts and life, and really be vulnerable. The Lord said, “If I take everything from you- the little spending money you have, your comfort food that you can find at the tienda, the bed and clothes you have, all of your expectations and desires… Would I still be enough for you, Alexis?” I had to really look at my life because the fact is ministry isn’t easy, team leading can be extremely overwhelming at times, and sometimes we fall into the victim circle of saying “No one understands me, or gets me,” but the Lord will NOT make my decisions for me. He desires for me to choose him, and for me to choose my team. It is easy to say you can do this, but I found out day two that my strength comes from the Lord and not from myself. I cannot do 9 months of this without the Lord. I cannot love my team and my squad on my own power. I cannot share the Gospel on my own power, and I most definitely cannot go into these hard, unreached places on my own will and strength. I’m excited for what the Lord will continue to do, and I’m so amazed that he has opened up so many doors already, and that He continues to make rivers in the wastelands. Thank you for praying for me and my team, and praying that the Holy Spirit would continue to open our eyes to see the needs around us, and give us the boldness and the words to respond. Thank you for partnering with me and the Lord in this endeavor, and seeing lives dramatically changed!
