Ecuador trip recap

The Lord blessed us with a great trip to Ecuador this past week.

We took 100 filters with us and distributed about 85 filters in homes, and we prayed with each family.  A handful of the undistributed filters will be used with a recently constructed cistern to provide water to families without filters.  Here are several things that impressed me from the trip:

Sunday: Pastor Marcelo shared from John 1 that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Listening to the sermon in a different language and on a different continent, I was impressed with the global aspect of Jesus's salvation.

Monday: We traveled to a remote town to distribute five filters where they have recently planted a church.  The local pastor was formerly a member of a militant faction, but he turned to the Lord.  Several years ago, he became sick and was paralyzed (the doctors could not do anything for him), but several Brothers and Sisters prayed for the Lord to heal him, and he was miraculously healed.  He has devoted his life to full-time ministry, and his story was very encouraging to me.

Tuesday: We distributed filters to the families of the kindergarten students that the El Recreo church runs.  Most of the students are from the poorest section of El Recreo, and many of the homes are in a region that floods during the monsoon season.  The local pastor and church members are so devoted that they often walk through knee-deep to chest-deep water that is contaminated with flooded septic systems just to visit these families.

Wednesday: We distributed filters to neighbors of church members, and our team visited the home of a child who was severely burned in a tragic house fire.  One of the members of our team is a lawyer, and she is working to complete and submit paperwork for financial support for extensive medical treatment.

Thursday: We invited 10 civil engineering students and their professor from ESPOL to join us in distributing filters in the afternoon.  It was a vivid experience for the students, and I feel like it was a very effective communication of genuine faith and love as opposed to religious activities.

Friday: In the morning, I met the Dean of the engineering college at ESPOL to ask for support in international research collaboration.  Then we drove several hours to distribute five filters in a remote town on the coast where they are planting another church.  The church planters became disciples of Christ only four years ago, and they are already mature disciples who are devoting their lives to expanding His Kingdom.  The Lord gave us a safe trip back to El Recreo.

Saturday: In the morning, we attended the baptism of the husband of a lady to whom we gave a filter two years ago.  This man has been working with the local pastor in El Recreo for the past several weeks; he is such a genuine and sincere man and is learning pastoral responsibilities very rapidly.  Saturday afternoon, we cooked "Mexican" tacos for the church; they were not familiar with tacos or our style of tortillas.

It was a blessing to work with this church again, and we look forward to working with them again next year.  I have learned so much, both spiritually and vocationally.

We pray that the distributed filters will be a blessing to the families and will provide a connecting point for a long-term ministry relationship between the families and the local churches.  In this way, we pray that these are more seeds, water, and cultivation for seeing more people experience the love and joy of life with Christ.  I pray that the Lord will continue to use me to share clean water and the Living Water.  And I pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send out more workers.