April 2016 everything changed for a little town on the coast of Ecuador. An earthquake hit, devastating the region of Perdernales and city of La Chorrera. Homes crumbled, leaving families with nothing. The earthquake, measuring at 7.8 magnitude killed over 600 people and injured over 16,000, it was the greatest natural disaster to hit Ecuador since 1949. The region of Perdernales accounted for more than 75% of the fatalities.
This past weekend, my team and I were blessed with the opportunity to leave Quito and travel to the quaint fishing village of La Chorrera. All we knew when we left was that we would be building a house for a family, sleeping in a church, and lending a hand wherever needed. We had no idea how these 4 short days would make such an immense impact on the community and on us.
When we got to the church, the men doing the building looked at our team of 7 women with low expectations. We were handed shovels, wheelbarrows, trowels, an overwhelming amount of concrete, and we got to work. Moving dirt, hand mixing concrete, pouring the foundation, laying cinder blocks for walls, measuring things, doing whatever the maestro needed us to. Quickly, the Ecuadorians realized we are much stronger than they had originally thought #girlpower.
Besides the construction, we got to play and hang out with all the local children. I’ve written about the love of God radiating through kids before, but in La Chorrera it was different. They saw the love of God in us and clung to us for dear life. It was beautiful to watch how they felt so safe around us and so quickly recognized that something was different within us. We got to take them down to the beach, swim with them, and they taught me how to search for sand crabs. I’ve never been hugged tighter or felt more needed than I did when I was surrounded with these kids.
At the end of our trip, when we were getting ready to leave, the pastor and his wife gathered us all into the church where they had a circle of chairs set up. When we sat down, all the amazing people we had been living alongside began to tell us how much the lest 4 days had meant to them. It was the most humbling circle ever. There were tears shed, love poured out, and God reigned supreme. The city of La Chorrera and all who live there literally have nothing. Yet, their immense hospitality was shown once again in the form of a little turtle. The pastor’s wife went into town and bought us all little turtle keychains and had our names engraved into them. The turtle is made of an ivory like material which they said symbolizes our faith. It grows stronger with time and doesn’t break under pressure from wind and waves.
As I’m sitting to write this in a coffee shop back in Quito, we ran into a man named Carlos. Before we even got the chance to tell him why we are here, he began to tell us how he can see the love of God in us. As we got talking more (struggling with Spanish and English), we found out he’s a lawyer and a Christian. We prayed over him and him over us. It’s been two hours, he’s made himself a seat with us and continued in conversation.
This week has been an incredible testimony to prayers coming to fruition. Prayers to be so full of the Holy Spirit that it overflows onto everyone we encounter. Prayers that we are a light for Christ and an example of His unconditional love. From looking for sand crabs with 10 kids on the beach to sitting in a coffee shop praying for a stranger. No matter the task, no matter the crowd, no matter how big or small of a situation, God’s love is being made known whether we realize it or not.
I am only $1,894 away from being fully funded. If you’d like to join me on this journey, the link to donate is at the top of the page
