Ecuador 2012, Part 2

Last year when we went to Ecuador, we had three different projects we accomplished.  1- Build/work on a house (most of the guys did this).  2- Set up a medical clinic and help with basic medical care (the girls who were nurses, PT's, or had medical experience did this)  3- Worked in the local school (everyone else).

I worked in the school and loved it.  This year, many of us didn't really have set projects.  It was more of an evangelistic, building relationships type of trip.  The guys built a deck for the local pastor and worked on a wall for the soccer field.  The rest of us went back to the school during recess, went on prayer walks, and visitations to the church members.  While there were many times I felt like I should actually be doing SOMETHING, I know God still had a purpose and plan for us down there.

Here's a pretty neat story:

We stayed at the house of the missionaries while we were down there, which is in the town of Curia.  We worked, ate, and served the town of San Jose, about a mile down the road.  The school we worked in was in San Jose as well.  There is a school in Curia, but the principal was not open to outside visitors at all.

Because of that, San Jose is the school where English was being taught by Americans, it's the school that got a computer lab from another team, and it's the school where resources from our team and others were being donated.

While we were there, a parent of a child in school in Curia complained and wondered why his child's school wasn't getting the attention like the school San Jose.  Because of this parent complaint (and lots of prayer), the principal agreed to let six of our team members in for forty minutes a day to teach English for the week we were there.  I was fortunate enough to get to go in the school.  There were only two classrooms.  The one I was in were the older kids and the teacher had no problems whatsoever letting us in.  The other classroom was taught by the principal and she never gave up full control.  Either the three team members were turned away, only given a short amount of time to teach, or allowed to work with just a few students.

Those sweet Ecuadorian kids!

AK and M teaching the letters of the English alphabet

But still.  The door is open.  There was progress made.  This is HUGE for Carlos and Jeannette, the missionaries who live down there. 

We ended each lesson with a prayer

It is my prayer that the prinicipal continues to be open to missionaries and visitors.  I pray that the children at the school and in the town come to know Christ and love the Lord.  I pray that visitors, mission teams, and local Ecuadorians can see the light of Jesus in Curia and San Jose.