Ecuador Mission Trip: July 2015

I just got back from spending the week in Ecuador with the Crossfire youth group team! We spent July 21-28th partnering with Operation Mobilization and the local church of San Antonio de Encalado. We worked alongside the people of the Nanzag community digging a 1500 mts long ditch and putting in pipes that will eventually bring clean water to the village. 

The Nanzag community is incredibly dependent upon water-for their plants, animals and for their own survival. Nanzag life is primarily based around farming and agriculture. Most people are shepherds, cow-herders, or harvesters of the many crops like potatoes, quinoa, habas, choclo, wheat, and avena (oatmeal).

Normally, community members have to hike down the mountain to a little spring in order to get water and hike back up the mountain. If they don't use fresh water, they have a much higher risk of disease, early death and teeth degeneration. Without knowing it, we were helping to bring healing both spiritually and physically to this village.

In the afternoons, our team ran Vacation Bible School (VBS) activities for the local children. We started outside with songs and games to welcome the kids and make them feel comfortable and then went inside the little Catholic church to do crafts (manualidades) and a memory verse. Playing with the kids and getting to share Jesus with them was definitely a highlight of the trip for a lot of us.

There's something about the faith of an 8 year old that just inspires you. 

We were told that the kids would be quiet, shy and not very open to strangers, but (glory to God), by the end of the week, they were singing loudly, doing most of the motions, and even a few of them could say the Bible verse by memory. 

Our goals were to act as Christ to these people, so they could begin to understand who Jesus is. We were there to support and encourage the local church as they tried to reach this community with the gospel. It was a much larger project, physically and spiritually, than we ever realized.

And there were many many:Lessons I Don't Want to Forget