Hello from Cuenca, Ecuador! This city is beautiful and I’ve been enjoying the little bit of time we’ve had here so far with Bob and Lori Leek of Kingdom Life Ministries. They are great hosts and I’m so glad we get to spend our month in Ecuador here with them. They are very intentional in making us feel like part of their family and have spoiled us as far as world race living conditions go! Before diving into this month’s ministry however, I’ll start this blog where I left off and rewind to the end of our month one of ministry at Ciudad Refugio in Medellin, Colombia.
The morning of Oct 29, our world race squad had all our belongings packed up for the long bus rides ahead. We said many goodbyes to the friends we had made throughout our month in Colombia, and prayed for the foundation and the leaders that pour themselves into what goes on there before we left. We made our way to the bus terminal in Medellin and began the long journey to our squad debrief location in Banos de Agua Santa, Ecuador. Our first bus ride to the border of Colombia was a 22hr ride that extended on throughout the night. We made it through the Ecuador border the following day and then continued on with another 7 hr ride to Quito, where we spent the night in a hostel to break up the ride, stretch our legs and treat ourselves to a warm shower. This left us with just one last 3 hr ride to arrive at our cool little mountain tourist town, Banos, where we were to spend 4 days together as a squad for debrief. The bus rides were long, but I actually enjoyed them a lot. There was good leg room on the busses we took, and the views along the way were incredible. It was so cool to see little fields of coffee plants and other crops scattered along the steep mountainsides through Colombia. As we made our way across northern Ecuador, we saw more cattle out on hillside pastures as well as agricultural fields and flower farms. Our bus made its way up into the Andes highlands where we could see for miles between vast mountain valleys and at one point our bus was rolling above the clouds at an elevation of nearly 12,000 ft. I was not initially looking forward to these travel days, but I found my eyes glued out the window most of the time and really enjoyed taking in the views along the way.
Kaelyn taking advantage of the long bus rides (Yes I got permission to use this photo!)
We arrived in Banos de Agua Santa the afternoon of the 31st and got checked into our hostel where we stayed for our squad debrief. After eating pb&j’s on the bus for a few days, we all went out into the town and split up into a few groups to grab some dinner. Banos is definitely a little tourist town nestled up in the mountains with lots of cool little restaurant and café options. It’s located near an active volcano “Tungurahua” and also holds several different waterfalls in the area which brings in vacationers and a tourist economy.
So why was our squad in Banos and what is squad debrief? Debrief is a time when our squad meets up to reflect on experiences and thoughts from the previous month(s) of ministry to process through everything in a way we can apply it to our lives and the way we live. There are 5 of them throughout our trip. Adventures in Missions also fly’s some leadership personnel out to meet up with us and lead us through some sessions to initiate growth in us as well. We spend time in one on one meetings between us racers and leadership, as well as some free time to reflect on our own and have conversations with our squad mates. I really enjoyed the free time we were given to hang out with squad mates and get to know them more personally; building deeper relationships and becoming better friends! We spent a lot of time together doing ministry as a squad last month in Colombia, but it was great getting to know each other on more of a personal basis of who each of us are just being ourselves. The last day of debrief, our squad did a group adventure together where we took a tour bus through the mountains and stopped at a couple of different waterfalls, as well as a couple of opportunities for some adventures including a zipline and a swing that extends out beyond the edge of the mountain. It was a great four days together as a squad before we split into our 3 separate teams for month 2 ministry in Ecuador.
Team Cafe (Courageous Adventurous Friends Evangelizing) packed and ready to head to Cuenca for ministry after our debrief
We set out for the final 7 hour bus ride to Cuenca, Ecuador the morning of Nov 5. For some reason, 7 hours suddenly seems like a hop across town. We made it to the bus terminal later in the afternoon, and our host, Bob Leek, left a pretty accurate first impression as he snuck up behind our team leader, Sydney, to give her a little scare while on the phone with her in the station. We’ve had a lot of fun with Bob in our time together so far this month. He’s true to himself and always carries a fun, positive perspective. He’s a New Jersey native with 25 years between the state police dept and correctional institute as well a marine corp veteran. He is intentional with people and has a heart for discipleship and mentoring others. Bob’s wife, Lori, is also a huge part of the ministry that goes on here and from what I’ve seen, might accurately be described as the glue that holds things together. Bob and Lori have been missionaries here in Cuenca for just about 7 years with their own organization, Kingdom Life Ministries. They originally moved here with 4 of their 5 children, but they have all since moved back to the states to pursue college education and other callings. Bob and Lori warmly welcomed us upon our arrival as they had a big taco dinner with us the first evening, as well as tell us all about their ministry and hear from each of us about where we come from.
The team with our hosts Pastor Bob and Lori Leek
So what happens at Kingdom Life Kinistries? Maybe, what doesn’t happen at Kingdom Life Ministries? Iglesia Impacto International is the name of their church where services are held Sunday mornings and evenings. Whether Pastor Bob preaches in English or the associate pastor, Javier, preaches in Spanish, the message is translated for both languages as there are a number of American Ex-Pats living in Cuenca and being ministered to through the church as well as the local people. Kingdom Life Ministries also runs a school of ministry and discipleship, youth group functions, college groups, young couple groups, and a new addition of a café across the street from the church building.
There are rising numbers of Venezuelan refugees fleeing the corruption of their country and finding their way to Cuenca, so Bob’s vision of this café is to give these Venezuelan refugees an opportunity and a new hope. The café is just getting rolling and has only been open for a few weeks. It is being managed by a young Venezuelan couple, Audri and Gregorio. A big part of what our race team will be involved with this month is helping out in this café and getting business rolling. We are helping to plan and prepare for a grand opening to come in a couple weeks through lots of promotions and advertisement. The hope is that this business will grow to where other Venezuelans can sell baked items and other goods from the café out on the street as a way to make some profit for themselves, as well as the café. What a win, win!
So what have we been up to these first few days of ministry in Ecuador? This past Friday, we took a trip out of town and up to the little mountain village of Jima. We went to work painting a couple of small school house rooms there. Ike and I got up on the roofs and put a fresh coat of red on top, with somehow keeping our pants mostly clean. At one point, we watched as a herd of cows walked past on the gravel road next to the school. The sights of rural indigenous mountain life! The girls worked on scraping the doors, brick exterior walls, and painting the interiors of the two buildings. We had some help from another mission team that is here for a couple of days with us from Portland, Oregon, but we didn’t get everything finished in a day so that might be on the to do list for us to finish up here yet. There was the distraction of playing around with the kids there during the school hours while they were free, so that may not have contributed to the highest efficiency. Well worth taking the time to love on those kids however!
One of the school houses that was painted in Quingeo
Break time from painting!
Saturday, we again took a trip up to another little mountain town of Quingeo. Here, we helped out with a medical clinic that was organized through the local church in the town. There were some nurses and a doctor on staff, as well as our team member, Kaelyn. She is a physical therapist and was able to help out with several patients. She shared with us about the opportunities she had to pray for her patients after helping them and how grateful they were. Way to step up and rise to the occasion with such little notice, Kaelyn! My medical expertise offered me the job of distributing toothbrushes to those waiting outside of the clinic. This most certainly did not take all day, so plenty of time was left in between to play some games with the kids while they waited on parents or other family members to get through the clinic. Lots of smiles were seen throughout the day! One girl in particular was hesitant to even let me in on her name, but after a short little while she was my sidekick around the playground. Although tiring, I find such joy in playing around with these kids. Some of them might not have a father figure in their life, so I smile at the opportunity of something as simple as a push on the swing. I pray they all might know the love of their good and perfect Father and their worth in Him throughout their lives ahead.
Playing a game with the kids in Quingeo
One of the volunteers from the Portland mission group asked me which country throughout this journey I’m most looking forward to. I found myself responding that I’d rather not think of leaving Cuenca just quiet yet. I’m really enjoying the time we’ve had here so far. Cuenca is a scenic place with 4 different rivers running through the city. There are nice green parks, running/ biking paths throughout and it seems to be an overall pretty safe place. The city also sits at an elevation of 8,000 ft so we get sweatshirt weather in the morning and evening, and some nice sunshine mid-day.
Bob and Lori have just recently moved into a smaller house in town, leaving us to their larger previous home they originally moved into with their children. We have hot water, laundry machines, and soft beds, so we have it made as far as living conditions go! We get to stay in the house with Gregorio and Audri from the café, along with their 9 month old son, Matteis. He’s quite the charming little guy and he gets plenty of attention from all of us! Gregorio speaks English, so Audri and himself have been giving us helpful Spanish lessons every night! Audri labeled everything in the kitchen with a sticky note and the Spanish word for it. We have a lot of fun with them. Our team receives a food budget this month and we are in charge of our own meals. We’ve had quite a bit of fun planning meals, grocery shopping, and cooking in the kitchen together! My favorite meal has been a massive pan of lasagna we put together. We eat pretty good for $5 per person per day and have also invited Audri and Gregorio to eat dinner with us at night. We are kind of like one big family.
Matteis! aka Senor Guapo
I’m looking forward to the rest of whatever this month holds here in Cuenca, Ecuador and being here with some pretty great people. God is so good. Thank you all for your continued prayers! God bless and thanks for reading!
