NORMAL DAY IN ECUADOR

People often ask -- what is a your normal day like in Ecuador......Well, honestly I dont know that there is such a thing as a "Normal day," not yet anyway.  So, I will just tell you what TODAY was like. Some days you pour cement..... We have a church that is near us, and today we were driving by and we found out that they were doing some cement work. So, the three men in our family came home, changed their clothes, and went right back to help work.  The church members had been there all morning loading buckets of cement by hand and pouring them. In the 4 hours they were there they were only able to get about one-quarter of the floor poured and there was a storm that was coming. Our men quickly jumped in and helped. They talked with the men about trying a new way, an assembly line, and in just 3 hour, they were able to get the other three-quarters of the floor poured just in time before the rain came. Praise the Lord. It was a great blessing to the church to get that done and especially to have it done before the storm came.

Missionary Team—La Iglesia Bautista El Calvario

In 1984, Jeff and Deanne first went on mission trips as teenagers to Portugal which impacted their lives to serve the Lord both in our local church and around the world. In 1995 and 1998, we were able to take young people out of our youth group to the Spanish-speaking country of Mexico to help with a church plant outside of Mexico city. Here we are in 2010, praising God as we have hosted our first missions team from Pennsville Baptist Church in PA.

The team was such a blessing as they saw God provide many supplies for the vacation Bible school at El Calvario, where we have been working this year. They came together as a team long before they arrived in Quito to ask God to work. When you ask -- GOD provides in amazing ways. There were Beanie Babies and Hershey kisses. There were about 1800 pencils before we stopped counting. There were erasers and rulers and school zipper bags all as prizes for the over 175 children who came to VBS throughout the week. They brought medical supplies for Dr David Vasconez, the pastor and medical doctor who has clinics each week in the church building. God provided clothing and Spanish New Testaments and tracts. Our children were not so thrilled as they brought our school books and some needed supplies. They filled ALL of their suitcases using only their carry- on luggage for their personal luggage. What a blessing to the church and to our new ministry here in Ecuador.
 We saw God open doors during our week of Vacation Bible School. We praise the Lord for many hands to work. As a team, we spent two days cleaning, decorating, practicing and advertising in the neighborhood with the church family in preparation for the week. There was a lot of prayer paving the way for this week of ministry.

We saw over 175 children attend and they heard the Word of God. What a blessing to be Salt and Light in this neighborhood. VBS was followed up with a game day, which we were in put in charge of. More than 120 children attended. On Sunday, the morning included a mini VBS format and the parents were invited to attend for a full Gospel presentation. It was a packed house and we estimated there were more than 200 children and parents there for the services. We praise the Lord for this opportunity to share the Gospel message in the South of Quito.

Thank you Chris and Debbie Harbaugh for all your work and coordination. Thank you Pennsville Baptist Church for standing behind us on bended knee and for sending reinforcements for the battle! You are a blessing.