Ecuador bound

It's hard to believe Oct. 22 is already here. We started planning our trip to Ecuador early in the summer. We even took six weeks of Spanish classes. I'm pretty sure none of us are ready to communicate completely in Spanish, but at least we know some phrases.

Seven of us are going on this trip, and we are excited. As we go to minister the love of Jesus Christ, we all know that we will be forever changed by what God does in our hearts through this mission trip.

We are going to serve at the Casa de Fe (House of Faith) orphanage in Shell, Ecuador. These precious children are shown the love of Christ and given a new chance at life through the love and compassion of a wonderful staff and volunteers.

Some of the children were born to tribes in the Amazon jungle with birth defects. In the jungle, the weak do not survive, so they are tossed away. Thankfully, Casa de Fe is there to catch them.They take these beautiful children in and raise them. Other children are at the orphanage because their parents have drug and alcohol problems and are in jail. There are various other reasons, but the main thing is to let these children know that there is a God in Heaven who loves them and people who love them.

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (NIV)

Martha and I have never served at an orphanage, so we are excited about this opportunity. We know it will be heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time.

Another reason for this trip is to introduce and teach Celebrate Recovery to a group of missionaries who are interested in the program. Love In Action's Celebrate Recovery director, Emily Hinderliter, and Love In Action's Tuesday night Celebrate Recovery Inside director, Judy Olski, are going on this trip mainly for this reason. This is exciting, and a great opportunity to make a positive impact and bring great encouragement to missionaries who are on the front line every day.

Another aspect of this trip we are excited about is flying into the Amazon jungle to minister to a tribe.

All of Love In Action's ministries back home in Dothan, Ala., will continue. We have great leaders and volunteers who will keep everything running strong.

This trip is not costing Love In Action any money as all of us are paying our own way.

Please keep the seven of us going in your prayers. We will keep you updated throughout the trip on this blog, and also on Twitter (www.twitter.com/liaministries) and on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lia.ministries
So please follow us on Twitter and "Like" our Facebook page.

I also have a nifty little device called SpotConnect. It's very inexpensive satellite technology that allows my smart phone to connect to Twitter and Facebook with messages up to 41 characters when there is no cellular service. It also tracks our location, so you will be able to keep up with us even when we are in the middle of the Amazon jungle in Ecuador. Pretty cool.

Thank you for your prayers.