Snapshot of the Summer

Dear Friends, Family, and Prayer Warriors,
Thank you again for partnering with me this summer to serve in Ecuador. I am thankful to testify to God’s goodness this summer. I appreciate your financial support, prayers, e-mails, and encouragement as I served as a host for short-term mission teams. God provided more than enough funds for my summer so that I was able to give financially to YouthWorld.
As I served as a short-term host, here is a brief summary what we did in ministry:
I served in Shandia, a jungle community, where Jim Elliot use to reside. We helped build a road for a future retreat center for pastors and a camp for kids. We partnered with the village in a church service sharing testimonies, a sermon, and we led vacation Bible school.
I served in Puyo, a jungle city, at Kairos Baptist Church, where we painted their sanctuary, helped clear out a field, painted a mural, played soccer, and participated in a church service with their youth group.
I served at Santos Pamba, a school in a Quechua (the indigenous population) neighborhood in the south of Quito. We built a fence together, built stairs, fixed some of their electrical problems, played with their kids, and participated together with them in church services. I spent time with the other hosts with women of the church in the kitchen laughing and sharing stories.
I served at La Roca, Youth World’s newest ministry, a skate ministry in Calderon, Ecuador. We attended a church service and hung out during a skate competition. Our team lacquered ramps and painted school classrooms.
I served at a soup kitchen called Pan de Vida where we served breakfast and lunch to the children. We ran a soccer camp for the kids with a devotion and singing beforehand. For the soccer camp, our team organized drills and games that would reinforce the spiritual lesson. We also helped with painting, organizing donations, and washing doors.
Our teams visited Casa Gabriel, a leadership program for former street boys. We shared testimonies and played soccer together.
The highlight of my summer was seeing God’s work in the jungle community of Shandia. I had the privilege of meeting with Mariano, the spiritual leader of the community. Mariano showed me the garden of the school where they grow bananas, pineapples, and other various plants. I was encouraged by how he uses the garden to teach life lessons to the children. It was also a blessing to translate with him during church; as I translated from English to Spanish, he would translate from Spanish to the native language of Quechua. God is truly working in ends of the earth.
I have grown through many practical experiences this summer. I learned the importance of taking care of myself, I handled team money, and I had many opportunities in church services to translate from English to Spanish. God taught me significant spiritual lessons of greater dependence on him, the importance of enjoying the process of any given activity, and the necessity of prayer in difficult times.
God is doing a great work in Ecuador through YouthWorld. Please continue to join me in prayer for YouthWorld. I would also ask you to join with me in prayer specifically for three Ecuadorian leaders of the ministries: Pastor Pedro Pablo of Santos Pamba, Brother Mariano of Shandia, and Pastor Ramiro of Argelia Alta.
Thank you for your friendship, prayers, and support.

In Christ,

Chris

Heartland Alliance

This last group I have been hosting, Heartland Alliance, has worked at a school called Santos Pamba, spent time at Casa Gabriel, and is now ministering at Youth World’s new skate ministry called La Roca (The Rock). They are a group of about thirty with a positive attitude, hard work ethic, and hearts for the Lord.

We spent our first four ministry days at a school and church called Santos Pamba (Santos for holy and Pamba is Quecha for Land). We built a fence, stairs, helped build their roof, and repaired some electrical problems. In addition, we played soccer, ecu-volleyball (similar to nuke-em), and played with their kids.

The highlight of our time at Santos Pamba was talking and interacting with the women who cooked lunch and dinner for us. They made some tasty typical Ecuadorian meals of soup, rice, potatoes, meat, and salad. It was a fabulous cultural experience. I thoroughly enjoyed our time with them and the opportunity to be a part of a reciprocal relationship. Here at Youth World, we try to cultivate an experience where both the host church and the sending church give and receive. For example, the Santos Pamba dance team taught some of the girls on our team a dance, the choir invited our site host, Kristin, to be a part of their formal choir, and they invited me to accompany on the piano as Leigh (another host) sang with a woman from Santos Pamba. Not only did Heartland Alliance serve through construction, but they have also shared how they have been taught life lessons by partnering with Santos Pamba.


Saturday, we spent the day at Casa Gabriel. Casa Gabriel is a house for former street boys. It is not a typical homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Rather, it is a discipleship, education, and training program to equip these men to become ambassadors for Christ. All of the boys have to apply to be a part of the house and they receive formal education, learn about Christ, and some times they travel to the jungle to minister to the native people. God has transformed these young men into responsible, loving, and caring men of God.
Heartland Alliance exchanged testimonies with Casa Gabriel, played a large game of soccer with them, and wrote thank you notes to the sponsors of Casa Gabriel. The team thoroughly enjoyed their time with the guys.
Yesterday, our team spent time at Youth World’s newest ministry, La Roca. We went to a church service of the sponsoring church and then hung out for a best-trick competition.
One of the highlights in this block is our team debrief time. I have had the opportunity to lead worship for the team with another team member. It has been refreshing and encouraging to play with a talented musician.
It has been a blessing to walk with teams in their experience here in Ecuador. It has been a privilege to serve them and experience the culture of Ecuador for almost the entire summer. I am humbled when I think of all of my sponsors who are partnering with me to make this summer possible. I wish all of you could meet the pastors, leaders, and congregations of these churches and schools with which Youth World has a long-term relationship.
Thank you for your prayers. My health has been great the past two and a half weeks. Please continue to pray for me as I say my goodbyes and return back to the States in a week.

So much has happened!

Hello Everyone,

So much has happened since my last post! My apologies for my tardiness...

Our current team is a group from Alberta, Canada and they actually have their own blog.



I am super impressed with it...so check it out!

http://www.heartlandecuador.com/

God is so faithful.

I am continually reminded by the amazing ways in which he is working here in Ecuador.

I will post more soon!