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- Bro. David standing on the equator
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- A servant´s heart…..
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- A heart for the children…..
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- Bro. David and I, preaching and translating at Linaje Escogido
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- Bro. David with Cotopaxi in the background
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- Some of the group at the mission on Saturday
Last April we did a presentation at West Shiloh Baptist Church in Stantonville, TN. It was a special day for us because it was our first visit to that church, only 5 miles from our furlough home in the Gilchrist community. It was also special for me because it was an opportunity to become reacquainted with the pastor, Bro. David Simmons. We had been part of a mission team to the eastern Europe country of Moldova in 1998 while we were both attending Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. In fact, that trip had been the first mission trip for both of us. I had not seen Bro. David since I graduated in May of 1999, as he had later pastored churches in Oregon and Iowa, before returning to Tennessee some four years ago.
A few months ago, Bro. David contacted me about bringing a team from his church to work with us here in Ecuador. He had served on five short-term missions teams to Peru in the past (as well as several other trips to eastern Europe), but this would be his first time in Ecuador. We began our initial planning with him and five others committed to coming, but the team began to fall apart. There were health conditions, new jobs, etc., that prevented all but Bro. David from making the trip. I told him to come on down and he could stay in our house with us. He offered to bring materials to do a VBS Bible study for the kids in the barrio of Guadalupe where we work with the mission. Everything began to fall into place.
We picked Bro. David up at the Quito airport late last Tuesday, January 25th, for a five-day stay. We were delighted to see the variety of materials he brought for us to work with. These included over 150 activity books, 200 packs of crayons, an assortment of tracts, pencils, balloons, some music DVD´s for the kids, and more. We were definitely excited about what the Lord had in store, as we had afternoon sessions of VBS scheduled for Both Saturday and Sunday at Guadalupe.
We were out and about most of the day Wednesday as we introduced Bro. David to some friends and began to show him around the area. That evening we went to the mission for our weekly Bible study, giving him an opportunity to meet the folks we´d be working with during the weekend. It is always such a blessing to witness the fellowship that Christians can share, even when there is a language barrier.
On Thursday we visited Middle of the World Monument, located on (or very near) the equator north of Quito. This provided a few hours of souvenir shopping and a taste of traditional Ecuadorian food.
On Friday morning, Bro. David and I visited in the home of my ministry partner, Sixto Salcedo, in Quito. We had planned to do some sight-seeing out in the mountains that afternoon, but heavy clouds and rain obscured the view. So, Bro. David and I went to Pifo that afternoon and looked at a hostel that will serve as housing for some teams we have coming later this year. In fact, Bro. David is determined to bring a team later this year, perhaps in September.
Much to my dismay, there was still rain in the area on Saturday. We arrived at the mission at Guadalupe after noon to find that they were prepared for the rain. They had put up a couple of large tarps like we´d used there on Christmas day. We experienced light rain throughout the afternoon and figured this kept many of the neighborhood kids away. We ended up with about 50 kids and 20 adults. Some were adults from the mission who had agreed to be teachers or helpers; others came to help from Linaje Escogido Church. We had a good afternoon, teaching two Bible lessons and a song, serving bread and cola in between, and giving out balloons and tracts at the end.
We got up to a beautiful, mostly clear day on Sunday, and got an early start. We arrived at Linaje Escogido Church after the one hour drive and enjoyed an incredible view of Cotopaxi Volcano to the south. Bro. David preached a great message from Colosians 2:13-15 and I translated, which was probably not so great. After church, we drove a few miles northward on the PanAm until we could see Cayambe Volcano, another stunning sight. Then we made our way back toward Guadalupe, stopping in Checa for a great lunch of typical Ecuadorian food.
With the beautiful weather, we expected to have many more children present for the afternoon session of VBS, but it wasn´t to be. Turns out our numbers were almost identical to those of Saturday, about 50 kids and 20 or so adults. We had forgotten that futbol (soccer) is the god of Ecuador and Latin America. We were missing about a dozen kids from Saturday, but that many more took their place on Sunday. Many of the missing kids, as well as adults from the mission, were out playing soccer. The afternoon was a blessing in spite of this, as we repeated the activities of Saturday with two additional Bible lessons. I was blessed to see how the kids took to Bro. David, with two of them in his lap at any given time. They also had somewhat of a competition, bringing him flowers from the yard and the surrounding area. It was a long Sunday, as most of them are for us, as we arrived back at the house around 6:30 p.m. or so.
I took Bro. David to the airport this morning for his flight back to the States, and back to reality for him. It is hard to believe that the five days are already gone. However, was five days filled with opportunities to serve the Lord together, great fellowship, hours of good conversation, and many good meals. We are extremely grateful to Bro. David for co-laboring with us, sowing seeds of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for bringing the materials to work with. We are blessed to see how Bro. David touched so many lives in a short period of time. We hope to see him and a team back here in September.
