Hello All!
So much has happened in these past few weeks.
God is doing amazing things here.
I am seeing Him in every single thing that we do and realizing He is a
part of the tiniest of details. Recognizing
His presence in the hardest of times and the most Joyful of times.
When we
were playing basketball one day I was suddenly seeing how our team was all
coming together. I was seeing the
different gifts that everyone possesses.
It is so encouraging that no one is a ball hog, we all pass it and work
as a team. Even when passing the ball to
an unlikely person it usually works out better than if you were to just try to
take it to the hoop by yourself. I was
seeing different strengths in everyone, each player has a key role and not one
persons’ role is the same or more important than another. If any of us had the same strengths then we
would but heads. When we would all try
to go and stand under the goal we would end up taking the ball from our own
teammate and hitting each other. I loved
how fearless everyone was. We would
shoot and shoot and shoot even if we only made one basket out of every
ten. I started realizing that fear
paralyzes me and has for a long time.
The fear of failing at something stops me from trying it at all. Not trying doesn’t put you any closer to
making a goal, trying even if you miss most of the time, will still make it in
more times than you would of if you didn’t try it at all. Everyone is so supportive of each other even
when our attempts don’t succeed. It is
so encouraging to have such a loving family who supports each other through
thick and thin, loving each other through our successes and failures. Celebrating and rejoicing in each others
gifts from the Lord. We are learning
that our ministry is with our contacts as well as with each other and that
pouring into each other and our family is just as important as pouring into
these wonderful Ecuadorian people. 
The other
day we were putting up 20ft metal columns into the earth and then pouring in
concrete and rocks into to stabilize them.
In the midst of this it decided to have a lightening and thunderstorm
and pour down rain. Prayers began
breaking out because we needed to finish putting in the columns. Ah God you are so good and you have planned
it all! The rain settled, work picked up again, moving buckets of concrete had
never been so fast. Rapido Rapido. God
is in our clouds; in the clouds and through the rain He is working in us
molding us into His image. I have never
seen our contacts more grateful than seeing us push through the pouring rain,
pushing through the lightening, we were freezing and wet and exhausted but
loving being able to serve them and love on their church.
They have
been trying to build this church for 20 years and they were just able to get a
loan for $1,000 to have enough money to get construction started while we are
here and are free labor. Papito (the
grandpa) has a wife who lives in Spain and has for 14 years, working 2 eight-hour
jobs a day in order to provide for her family here in Ecuador and pay for the
house that we are staying in. This
breaks my heart. They need only $15,000
to complete the church, I think in completing the church that will be less
money they have to put into rent for the building they are currently in and
Papitos’ wife could finally come home.
We got to
live in the Jungle for a night this past weekend in Mana. We lived in a tree house for a night and it
was amazing, I have always wanted to live in a tree house. The boys chased the
chickens around the rainforest yard and tackled them to the ground. The chickens were then put into a bag and
brought to the chopping block. Kursti
and I were in charge of killing these live chickens with a knife. Scariest thing I’ve ever done. Holding the
neck of a chicken and then taking a not so sharp knife to the neck and just
sawing away while it literally screams for its life. My chicken when I first put the knife to the
neck shot out poop! I literally scared the crap out of it, poor little guy, but
all in Gods provisions. I had to close my eyes I couldn’t watch. Now that I have killed a live chicken I think
I could do anything. The men gathered
oranges and we peeled them and squeezed them and made fresh orange juice. They went and picked yucca out of the ground
and we peeled and cut it in order to put it in our soup along with the chicken
that we de- feathered. We cut down sugar
cane and cocoa plants. It was the most
amazing experience living off the land, using the provisions from the Lord that
he so graciously provided our earth with.
He has blessed us with the yummiest creations that are ours for the
taking and stewarding of. We woke up a
little before 6 the next morning and plunged through mud and poop to get to
cows where we milked them for breakfast.
I had always wanted to milk a cow… not as easy at all as I would have
thought. 
We climbed
a mountain, passing 7 waterfalls a long the way. This was not just a little hike; this was a
using your hands and feet scaling a mountain in the mud. We had to use branches
that we would come across to pull ourselves up. The climb was hard, yes, but oh was it more
than worth it. The creation we saw, the
adventure, its really all about the climb.
We are so destination focused as a society and I am seeing, it is not at
all about the destination, it’s about the journey. It’s all of the things that God teaches you
along the way; its how He uses us amongst our mess and through our storm
clouds. And in the end there is a wonderful cold waterfall waiting for you to
just jump in and enjoy, swimming in His Love.
At the 7th waterfall, you better believe we climbed to the
top of that 30+ft waterfall and fearlessly jumped in. That’s what God wants us to do, we’ve never
done it before, we don’t know exactly how we are going to land but he wants us
to fearlessly jump in His water trusting he is going to guide us and let us
land smoothly. It’s scary and that first
jump may take a while, but golly is it worth it. 
