Street ministry in Puyo

Street ministry is something I love doing. In fact, it is one of my favorite things to do. Martha and I prayed we would get the opportunity to do street ministry while in Ecuador, and God answered our prayers.

Martha, Karen and I have hit the streets twice this week with Rick and Andy, two missionaries living in Shell. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings we went to a nearby city called Puyo, which is a good deal larger than Shell. The first night we ministered around a small park, and the second night around a large shopping market, kind of like a mall.

Rick has lived here around 35 years, so he is very fluent in Spanish. Andy has been here a little more than a year. Rick starts out singing praise songs in Spanish, then Andy preaches a short message and Rick translates it into Spanish. Martha, Karen and I walked around the area handing out Christian tracts.

The three of us do not speak much Spanish, though Karen is getting better at it. However, God still used us to be effective, despite the langauge barrier.

Many of the people would stop and read the tracts, which amazed us. In the U.S., usually only the homeless will do that. A smile translates into any langauge, too. It was cool seeing people who looked down as we walked up to them change facial expressions as we smiled, said "Buenas Tardes" or "Hola" and handed them a tract. Most of them smiled back and said, "Gracious."

The first night, a man walked up to Martha and starting speaking. We couldn't understand him, so he tried harder to explain himself. He kept looking and pointing to the gray streak in her hair. Then he showed us a photo on his cell phone of his daughter. We were able to understand that she died and is in Heaven and that Martha reminded him of his daughter. For about 15 minutes he kept looking at her in amazement and talking about his daughter. You never know what will give someone hope.

Thursday night, Karen was talking with a vendor and figured out he had some kind of infirmity, and he allowed us to pray with him.

In Shell and Puyo, there are a lot of children running around the streets and riding bikes. They all wanted tracts and many read them. I had fun with the kids and played soccer with some of them, which was cool. That was one of the things I wanted to do while here. I grew up playing soccer, or futbol, and even played a year in college. Knowing it is their national sport, I was hoping to play some while here. Plus, these children crave attention from adults, so that made it even more fun.

I have seen God move through us over the years even with langauge barriers. It all comes down to faith and obedience. God will honor that every time.

Please keep the Ecuadorian people in your prayers.

Hurts so good

I have never been so happy to be so tired and sore.

Today, Ted, Rick and I mixed and poured concrete at Casa de Fe in Shell, Ecuador, for their education building. We were working on the first floor, mixing and pouring concrete for the flooring. Knowing the building is going to be used to educate orphans made every lift of the wheel barrow worth it.

Here in Shell they mix and pour concrete the old fashion way. Ted loaded three two-men buckets of gravel and dumped it in a cement mixer. Rick filled four buckets of sand and stones and dumped it in the mixer. I manned the "truck," better known as a wheel barrow, and wheeled it into the building and dumped it. We did that all day. We weren't sure we were going to make it, but we did. We did pray for God to give us strength, and He did. I prayed that prayer a number of times throughout the day. :-)

It has been a great privledge serving beside Ted and Rick this week. They are both true servants. No matter how tough the work has been, they have kept smiling and serving with great joy.

We have mixed and poured concrete, dug through dirt and sand pulling out wood and nails. We have pulled nails out of boards, built cabinets, modified a bed and repaired a bicycle. The whole time we have thanked God for this opportunity. Why? Because this is the heart of God. He tells us in James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress."

This has been and awesome experience and we still have four days left. And, it won't be Love In Action's last trip to Ecuador. This is only the beginning.

Introducing Celebrate Recovery to missionaries

The Love In Action team is accomplishing a lot here in Ecuador. One of the areas we are seeing God work is spreading Celebrate Recovery in Shell and Puyo.

One of the goals of this trip is to introduce Celebrate Recovery and it is taking off. Love In Action CR Director Emily Hinderhilter and Love In Action's Tuesday night director Judy Olski have been busy telling missionaries and a couple of churches about CR, and they are all excited about it.

Love In Action Vice President Martha Tuck and LIA volunteer Karen Hils told Patty Sue, director of Casa de Fe about the CR children's program, and she was very receptive.

We brought books and other literature so they can all see for themselves and decide. It looks like each group here is going to start CR groups. We are helping to start groups for children, teens and adults. We know what a great program CR is, and we are humbled and excited that God would use us to start it here in Ecuador.

I am really thankful for and proud of Emily and Judy. They hit the ground running here to fulfill their purpsoe for this trip. They didn't know how it would go or if anyone would be receptive. They just decided to trust God and be obedient to Him, and every day they have had meetings. People are calling the hotel to set up meetings with them. Wednesday afternoon a missionary just showed up at the hotel because she heard about CR and wanted to know more about it.

This Monday, a large group of missionaries and local pastors will come to the hotel to meet with Emily and Judy, and they will give the give a presentation and share about the great impact CR is having in Dothan.

Emily and Judy have really stepped into the calling and cause God has placed in their lives and hearts. They are great leaders and they lead with great compassion. I am so thankful to have them leading CR for LIA.

Praying in the Amazon Rain Forest

What an incredible honor we had today to be in the Amazon Rain Forest with the Houaroni tribe. This tribe killed the first missionaries who visited them 50 years ago. Today, the majority of them are Christians.

We flew to the Houaroni village in a Cessna. The pilot made a perfect landing on a dirt runway. Members of the tribe met us and warmly welcomed us. The pilot gave them bags of rice and other supplies.

They took us to their church and about six tribal elders welcomed us. They didn't know we were coming today, but two of them said they had dreams the night before that people were coming today.

They sang and talked in their native langauge. One of the elder's sons translated it into Spanish, and then our pilot translated it into English.

One of the elders was a member of the tribe that killed the missionaries 50 years ago. Thanks to the family of the missionaries who kept reaching out to the tribe for Jesus, he is a born again Christian.

The elders prayed for us, then I was honored to pray for them. It was an incredible experience, and one that none of us will ever forget.

It is so cool to meet people like the Houaronis and listen to them worship God.

Every tongue, every tribe and every nation will sing God's praises and worship Him.

God keeps opening doors

The doors God keeps opening up in Ecuador are incredible.

Today, Ted, Rick and I were back at the Casa de Fe orphanage working. We did more work on the school building, and we started work on modifying a bed for one of the orphans. Because of health problems, the child has to eat sitting up. We are modifying the bed so they can raise it up to a sitting when she eats.

Emily and Judy talked with Claudia, a missionary, for a second time about Celebrate Recovery. Claudia is very excited about it, as is another missionary named Sharron.

Martha and Karen spent time with Patty Sue, the director of Casa de Fe. They shared with her about Celebrate Recovery for children, and she was very interested in it.

Starting Celebrate Recovery in Ecuador was part of our mission here, and we are well on our way. Praise God!

Then tonight, Martha, Karen and I did street ministry in Pujo, Ecuador. Street ministry is at the heart of Love In Action, and to do it in Ecuador was great. We went out with missionaries named Rick and Andy. We handed out Christian tracts, Rick sang and Andy preached, while Rick translated.

Afterward I had the honor to pray with some people, including members of the tribe who killed the first missionaries in Shell, Ecuador, years ago. They are now Christians.

Then, I played soccer with some children in the park.

It was another great day. Thanks for everyone's continued prayers.