Chapter 1: Arrival

Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins

Well, I don't have a ton of time to write, but I will try to summerize a little of what has been going on for me here. I arrived in Ecuador last Friday. That night we went to a prayer meeting in the Andrangos local church in La Luz--the neighborhood they live in. At the meeting I met some new people and also was reunited with a few men that I had met in my 2 previous trips. Among them: Christian (from Nigeria, but has lived in Ecuador for 11 years) and Nelson (a relative of the Andrangos who I was able to room with for a week last year when we did our medical project in Esmeraldas).

On Saturday morning I helped with a childrens outreach (called "La Hora Feliz") in a poor part of Quito called La Bota. We had almost 70 kids (ages 3 to 11) come to a small piece of land in the middle of rows of houses on streets lined with garbage. The kids were absolutely wonderful and I had several that followed me around holding my leg, hand, or sitting on my lap while we sang songs. There were about 7 people helping with the outreach (5 young men and two young women). Diego (the brother of a missionary named Jaimie that I met last year in Esmaraldes) helped lead the time with singing and games. After this they broke the kids up into groups based on ages and worked with a leader on coloring pictures that represented them and what mattered most to them. The leaders used this as a way to lead into sharing the gospel. Before leaving we fed the kids and invited them back for a another outreach on June 6th.

We (me and Daysi) spent Saturday evening and night in Sanguaquil (a city about 40 minutes from Quito) with Susana's daughter Patti, son in law Alex, and their kids: Gabriel, Melenie, and Samuel. Over the last two years I have spent a lot time with this Patti's family and we have become very good friends. In particular, Samuel (age 5), runs to see me when I arrive and has developed a fondness for me that even their family cannot explain. When I am in Sanguaquil I am constantly playing with him and giving him piggy back rides. It makes for a fun yet tiring stay. On Sunday we went to church with Patti's family at Los Chillos church. Los Chillos is very involved in missions and a woman from the church spoke before the sermon about her calling to missions. I also met a couple from England who were passing through and an American (I think) named Timoteo that runs some local orphanages. Timoteo invited me to help with some of his programs if I have some free time after the Banos project.

Monday we rested in Quito and Tuesday went back and hung out in Sanguaquil with Patti's family and a pastor from their church.

On Wendnesday morning we headed North of the city to the Centro Cristiano. The Centro Cristiano is a biblical institute and home for a number of missionaries (mostly native, but a few foreign). I helped paint benches and railings for most of the day as they were beginning their preparations for a missions conference this weekend at which they are expecting upwards of 400 missionaries from around Ecuador. I worked with some students and a few teachers including Milton (teacher) who I have become friends with over the past few days. Partway through the morning Milton informed me that I was to be meeting with "Don Daniel" at 2 oclock for him to get to know me and give me some advice. I did not realize it at the time, but I have since learned that Don Daniel (Lloyd Daniel Rogers) is perhaps the most well know missionary living in Ecuador. Him and his wife have been missionaries here since the early 1960s and oversee the Mission Aviation Fellowship and Project Ecuador in which they have 5 planes, more than 48 missionaries, a bible institute, and have helped start dozens of elementary and highschool's in the jungle regions of Ecuador. They (and their group) are currently the only missionaries that travel into the jungle to the places where there are no roads and you can only get their by plane or several days journey. After telling me many stories and giving me advice about my future, Don Daniel invited me to accompany him this morning at 6am on his way to the coast to get extra mattresses for the missionaries that will be coming tomorrow. On my way out he also loaned me a copy of the book "Jungle Pilot" about Nate Saint that was given to him in 1959. When I left his office and went back out to help paint everyone asked me "Que te dijo? Que te dijo!?" ("What did he say to you?").

So, at 4:45 this morning I got and Susana drove me to the Centro Cristiano to accompany Don Daniel and another friend to the coast South of Esmeraldes where he has a four story cement building on the shore were they bring children from the Oriente (Jungle) for camps. To say the least, I was a bit nervous to be traveling with this man who had decades of experience in mission work in the Jungle and coastal regions of Ecuador. It was about a 4 hour drive down from Quito. First we passed from the mountains through the cloud forest, then to the coastal regions covered with forests of palm trees and finally to the Pacific coast. I sat in the back seet of their 4 door truck and mostly listened to Don Daniel and his friend talk in Spanish about life, gas prices, fishing, and missions. Occasionally I would interject something into the conversation or asked Daniel a question or he would describe something to me. I learned a lot about the history and current state of missions in Ecuador, what methods have been succesful, all the provisions God has provided for them over the years, and what hurdles have faced in seeking to share the gospel in some of the most remote regions of the world among the diverse cultures that are found there.

Well, there is so much more I could say about the time I spent with Don Daniel, Milton, and the dozens of other Ecuadorian missionaries that I have met and worked with in the past week. I cannot say enough thanks so Dr. Susana or her daughter Daysi. They have been driving me around everywhere and have introduced been introducing me to everyone they know. I have recieved a number of invitations to help in different parts of the country. Tomorrow I will be helping Daysi do a lesson for the children of the missionaries that are coming for the conference. There will be close to 100 kids and I am supposed to learn how to play and sing 2 songs in Spanish tomorrow morning. On Saturday and Sunday we will attend the conference.
Already my Spanish has been improving, but I am more and more aware of how much I still need to learn. The people here have been far to kind to me and I cannot think how I will ever be able to repay them. Next Tuesday we are traveling to Banos to prepare for the upcoming medical project. I have only been here a week...

I will write more again soon...