Today is our last day in Ecuador, so I figured it was about time to get a blog out about it : )
We leave for Peru at midnight tonight!
It’s been a busy month; it was all squad month, so for the first 3 weeks we were partnered with an organization in Quito called Incalink working with several of their different ministry partners. For the first week I was with a team that worked with Pan De Vida. Pan De Vida translates to mean bread of life and they aimed to be just that for many of the homeless or poor in Quito. They served literal food through feeding programs and aimed to feed them spiritually as well by ministering to them and teaching them life skills to help get them on their feet and out of poverty. It was a really cool organization! They had awesome vision and it was fun to work alongside the kitchen staff and serve the community in that way. We also did construction while we were there. We helped build walls and mix concrete for this one woman’s home. She had a crazy story- the people at Pan De Vida had found her, collapsed from hunger, just outside their gate. It turns out she hadn’t ate for 5 days when they found her. She used to sell drugs on the street and she has 2 boys, but she doesn’t know who their father is. Pan De Vida helped her get a house, but she struggled to make the minimum payments to keep it. One morning, at a loss as to how she was going to continue to feed herself and her boys, she decided to put poison in her coffee and her kid’s coffee. She thought it would be easier than them dying from starvation. Right after setting the coffee down in front of them she heard a knock at the door, it was one of the volunteers from Pan De Vida with his wife, they had just come to check in on her randomly. She fell to her knees and started crying when she saw who it was and she poured the poisoned coffee down the sink. She took that as God telling her that he wanted her to hang on. Her life is a true testament to the love and grace of Jesus and she thanks him everyday.
The next week I was with a team that was working with an organization called COVI. Our ministry was in the middle of a beautiful park in Quito called Parque Carolina. It was kind of like a Christian based after school program for kids. We played some soccer, did some gardening, and just helped out as needed around the center.
The next week was PVT! Parent Vision Trip. All four of my parents and step parents came out to Quito to serve alongside me for the week! It was awesome. We got to go to different ministries almost everyday- Camp Hope (a school for special needs kids), COVI, and Cumbre Alta (sports ministry). Every night we would have worship and session, I loved the opportunity to worship alongside my parents and see their heart for the Lord. I had some anxiety before PVT unsure as to how it would go with all four of my parents there, but the Lord covered the trip in peace and unity. The Lord has been teaching me a lot about intentional prayer and surrendering people to him in prayer so it was really cool to see how when I surrendered PVT to him and entrusted it to him through prayer that he provided and made it go far better than I could have imagined.
And now we are in Banos for debrief! It’s been an incredible month, but a lot of change and a lot of people 😉 I’m excited for next month!! Keep our squad in your prayers as we embark on these next couple travel days and the last 3 months!
