Hey everyone! I am writing you from Ecuador. Yesterday my team; team silverback and another team; team tribe went to our ministry host for the day. The ministry host is called Dunami, and it is a ministry that rescues girls from sex-trafficking, and lets them live in the homes around the property for about 3 months. Dunami teaches these girls to survive in the world by making jewelry, and caring for themselves and their babies if they have any. Right now, Dunami is setting up a 10 acre wall that encompasses the grounds. This wall is here to protect the girls from the pimps that may return to get the girls that make them money. As a lot of the wall is done, we are helping Dunami make/continue the wall. Yesterday was our first day on the job, and it was very hard work. First, the concrete mixer wasn’t working, so we had to make it by our shovels on the ground. Next, it was really cold in the morning and barely raining, because we are working at about 11,000 feet. Finally, we were new to everything. I am glad that all of this happened to us on the first day because this really sets us up to be ready to handle most conditions while on ministry. I’m also very thankful for the weather because the temperature keeps away all of the bugs, and we don’t sweat much while we work.
Yesterday morning, before heading out on our ministry day, we had our Bible and quiet time. In the quiet time, God put on my mind the word PEACE. Over the next week that is my word, and I’m looking to find the PEACE in my day, and see God’s glory displayed through what he shows me. I also prayed for God to clear the rain and fog. During the morning of the work day, we couldn’t see the beautiful view. In the afternoon, God lifted the fog and the rain dispersed. WOW, the view was amazing. It was quiet on the mountain, it was so peaceful. Later in the day, on my squad leader’s hand was the word PEACE. This was crazy cool! I didn’t tell anyone about my word no one saw my write it down. God is so amazing.
For me, coming into this trip was actually very hard. It was hard to leave my family, hard to leave friends, and hard to leave almost everything I knew. But, the disciples left everything when Jesus said, “Come, Follow me.” My expectations were somewhat scattered as I was starting on this new area of my life. I was expecting rural villages/towns, and also a more poor environment. First off, our ministry hosts home and property is beautiful, and it has a great view of the lights of houses in the distance. Next, the towns/villages are pretty much the same as normal life for me. Right now I’m in a shopping mall, just like the ones back home. The language is Spanish though. I’m starting to have conversations with the people in the area. (Taxi driver and workers) It’s been exciting for me to be able to understand some of the people around me. The major thing that I’ve seen that is a little like my expectations is, there are many Venezuelan immigrants in the area. This is because Venezuela’s economy is very bad and dropping fast. Many of these immigrants are by the major bus stop that we are by. Because everyone is looking for money and food, the place is very dangerous and we need to be very cautious with our belongings.
The love of our ministry host is incredible. Mabe and Fabi cook our food, are very hard working, love us, and I love being around them. God has been so good to me over the last few days and I want to give all of the glory to Him.
