We made it to Ecuador safe and sound with no lost luggage! Praise God for that! I will blog more in the next week, but I wanted to go ahead and cover the most common questions people usually want answered about ministry.
WHAT:
We are working with IncaLink ministries, an non-profit that works to reach young people in Latin and South America. Team Doulos' main contacts are Gustavo, a gentle, loving man of God who never stops smiling, and Pastor Efrén and his wife Monica at Iglesia La Luz Carapungo, where we go every day to do ministry. This week we have been working in the church's worship space painting, cleaning, and doing basic renovation tasks to make the space more comfortable for the three-year-old congregation that uses an abandoned, two-story club for their gatherings. Efrén has already asked us to use more of gifts to serve the church; for instance, Molly and Bri were asked to teach Sunday school this week! We are excited to be working with him and his wife, both of whom are always looking to help us help them in any way they can and always grinning ear-to-ear. They speak very little English, so I've been in charge of most of the translating, though I must boast that my seven team members have fantastic, eager attitudes to learn the Spanish language and have immensely excelled in just four full days here. We also work Saturday mornings with a woman named Anita who runs a morning program for children in which they do crafts, play games and hear the gospel. We'll be putting on a couple programs for her while we're here to alleviate some of the pressure of running a children's ministry by herself. Pray for Anita and for Efrén and Monica!
[efrén explaining which bus will take us home]
[abby and julie starting to paint the church]
WHERE:
We're staying at Casablanca, a guesthouse run by Incalink. Our funds for this month cover awesome Ecuadorian meals homemade by Mabe and Fabián, the kind-hearted, quick-to-joke married couple that live in a small cottage next to the guesthouse. The food is an absolute blessing, and we have been able to try all kinds of Ecuadorian fruits. Luckily for us, it's mango season! Not so lucky for us, they have what they call mangos de chupar (sucking mangos). A few of us had four in one day since they are mostly the best thing I've ever tasted, but they are quite complicated to eat as you might have inferred from their name. We walk every morning to the bus "stop," (pretty much buses stop wherever people wave them down here) about a ten minute jaunt, then ride another ten minutes to the church to arrive by 9:30. We work til 4 every day then travel back to Casablanca where we do everything from dinner to team time to worship to reading to playing games to working out to guitar lessons. We do have internet at our house, but I am making a conscious effort to present to the World Race and the people here, so I try to limit myself to it as much as possible.
[our living space at Casablanca]
WHO:
We're staying with two more teams, Agapetos and Kingdom Seekers (check them out under "meet my squad" to the left!). We eat breakfast and dinner together but work at different ministries during the day. It's been refreshing to work with my phenomenal team all day and have the opportunity to fellowship with other people at night. Community is becoming one of my favorite things!
[yoga lessons from julie… we're getting there]
HOW:
The Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit. There is no other way. It's awesome to see God at work in each of us as we begin to share our stories with each and get to know one another more deeply. Pray for us and for the grace we need to give each other.
WHEN:
We'll be here until the end of the month, when we'll travel to Peru where the whole squad will be working together! :):):):) Rumor has it we'll be tenting all month, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, we're loving Quito and all the Lord has for us here.
A humongous thank you to everyone who helped me make it here. Seeing your support enable my current reality is enough to bring me to tears. You not only helped me travel to new places with amazing people to share the good news of Christ, you helped me step into a process of spiritual growth that I don't know I could have received in another place or through another experience. I am humbled by God's love for me, for placing me on the team I'm on (seriously they're the best), for allowing me to take this incredible journey with Him. Thankfulness abounds.
Finally, for your viewing pleasure, a few of us did P90X the other day. Kyle captured some video of our efforts to make it through an hour-long plyometrics workout at 11,000 feet. The results were… hysterical. Much love to all and many thanks to each of you.
grace and peace
m
