“Finally! There is Hope Again”

Yesterday, our squad came together and we stood on a hill top in a circle facing the city of Quito surrounding us. For several minutes, we prayed out over the city, the people, the darkness of fear and hopelessness that is clouding over their souls. We prayed that the Lord would break off fear, that people would find Jesus as their Lord in the midst of hopelessness and follow Him. We ended our day with prayer and worship at one of our ministry sites where we are staying. (Pictures are at the bottom of this blog). 

Individually and as a squad, we have been learning that some people including the people we are doing ministry with in Ecuador are saying “FINALLY, there is hope again!” 

They are seeing the light of Jesus coming through at this dark period of life. 

The long term affects of the pandemic are leaving so many people hopeless and financially unstable for their families. Just as we see it happening in the States, we are also aware of people here in Ecuador as they struggle to provide for themselves. 

Yesterday our squad’s bus passed some vendors who ran/walked from their homes to their mini store just to hope that we would buy something from them. Vendors who used to make business when tourists came everyday have lost so much since the pandemic hit. Yesterday, after I heard the price for sweaters that my squad mates bought surprised me as they have lowered their prices to get just some profit. 

Ministries and ministry bases are affected as well. Today, we are seeing the hand of God for allowing our squad to take part in His blessing to his people who are serving Him in ministry here in Ecuador. We have been doing mostly manual labor at our ministry locations (with blisters,splinters, and all) helping the staff to get things done that have been put off due to the last 10 months of the pandemic as well as teams and staff being absent. The staff had a hard time getting to the big projects that we are currently working on or have already helped complete for them. Many projects on site that may have taken the staff to fix and work on for several weeks/ months are getting done within days! Praise God! 

Projects we’ve been doing are repairing and replacing a roof to the main building at the camp, shoveling and filling in dirt roads up the mountain on this property, weeding, filling in concrete, picking up trash, collecting old cut grass, repairing trails, and machete cutting grass through the trails in the mountain where teams come to do adventure team building exercises. Hauling lumber and Hurricane debris when we served with Samaritan’s Purse for disaster relief is paying off. We are squad that loves being the hands of feet of Jesus, bring hope to those who struggled to find ways of fixing properties up on their own. 

As our ministry site is beginning to have hope again in bringing teams in to minister and disciple in 2021, we’ve been able to bring the blessings from God Himself to the staff. 

Though we haven’t been able to get out into the city much, we know that God has His perfect plan for us to be exactly where we are! 

Many ministry/ missionary organizations have still yet to send people places due to the continued affects of the pandemic. As we were flying into Quito, the Lord reminded me of this. Our squad from Adventures in Missions is one of four that launched internationally and we may be one of the first organizations to send Christ followers back into the world to make His name known! 

This pandemic and whatever the enemy has planned and brought into the world will not keep Jesus from being the Victor! The Father will do what He can to make the Good news of His Son to further spread into the world. The enemy will not stop us and we have the authority of Jesus Christ to keep His name known and to rebuke the devil in any tactic he may throw at us. For we are sons and daughters who know of God’s great love for us and knowing that Christ is returning. We must do what we can to follow Christ and obey Him when He calls us even if it looks like serving at an Ecuadorian Christian Camp doing manual labor with the staff members. 

We are serving at a camp where people including Ecuadorians and youth teams who will come to know Jesus while they stay here at this camp. We are here because this is what the Lord planned and this property is currently being blessed by our obedience to come and help maintain the grounds for future teams. 

It is beautiful here!

I thank God that he’s revealed His goodness and His plan for us getting to be here as maybe the first movement of missionaries again since the pandemic came. You and I don’t know that for sure, but that is what this looks and seems like. 

I invite you to pray with me. Lord we pray that you continue to have your way and your will be done! May the name of Jesus spread further than we can comprehend and may those we are blessing see that it is from you, an answer to prayer and your provision. May people in Ecuador and all over the world seek you while you can be found and to call on you while you are near (Isaiah 55:6). We know that you are coming back, and we pray that your Church would rise up to rid fear of man and the enemies plan, and rather fear you, Lord. May the church understand that they have the authority in you your name Jesus to conquer any tactic from the evil one. We pray that your people would rise up and be Jesus to those who need you and to remind the world that time is passing by before you come back. May we be your love and light, to tell the world to repent and turn to you before it is too late. Lord we pray that your sons and daughters serving as missionaries and in ministries that they would not lose hope but see your blessings coming forth. May they be encouraged! Lord we thank you for never letting us fall too far from you and providing everything we need to get to the finish line. Help us Lord to seek you and teach us to pray! For your glory only, and for your Holy name sake Jesus,
Amen. 

• Titus 2:11-15 NKJV
• Revelation 12:10-12

(It is necessary that I share this with you. For our safety and the safety of those we are around each day, we are always practicing covid guidelines and safety procedures to make sure our squad, the staff we serve with, and others are healthy. Any pictures you see without masks are ones where our squad is only working with each other in our spaces.)