We miss you all. It has been such a wonderful trip growing together as a team, seeing God at work and being tourists. We all hate to have it end, but must admit we are ready to get home, see our families and friends, sleep in our own beds and eat some biscuits and gravy. Although, last night we all went out for a great dinner, including Cuy. For those that do not know what Cuy is, it is guinea pig slow roasted over an open fire. EVERYONE on our team tried it and I think they all actually liked it. Some even wanted more. It has been a great trip and again, we are thankful for the opportunity to be here. As John said, please keep both teams and the churches with whom we have served in your prayers. We love you and miss you all. See you sometime in the next day and a half. This will be our final posting as well.
In Christ,
Jeff and the whole Cuenca team.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Quito August 8th
Hello all you devoted blog readers,
We had a great day working at the church. We painted part of the outside of the church. Picked up trash in the neighborhood, put up supports for the roof on the church, painted the lines on the basketball court, cleaned the inside of the church, and watched a movie with Oswaldo and his family.
Thanks so much for praying for us. A few of the students have picked up a cold and Bill Hutchinson twisted his knee a bit while playing basketball. (Don't worry Robin he's ok) Just wanted to ask you guys to pray for these few things as we wrap up our time here.
Continue to pray for the kids that came to VBS both in Cuenca and Quito. God's Word has gone forth and is doing a great work in their lives. Also please pray for the two churches (Cuenca and Quito) we have had the privilege to work with this past week. Both are growing and have wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord. It's awesome to see God's church here in Ecuador honoring and living for Him!
This will be our final blog from Quito. We are signing off and will see you when we get back! Thanks for reading about our trip!
In Christ,
John
We had a great day working at the church. We painted part of the outside of the church. Picked up trash in the neighborhood, put up supports for the roof on the church, painted the lines on the basketball court, cleaned the inside of the church, and watched a movie with Oswaldo and his family.
Thanks so much for praying for us. A few of the students have picked up a cold and Bill Hutchinson twisted his knee a bit while playing basketball. (Don't worry Robin he's ok) Just wanted to ask you guys to pray for these few things as we wrap up our time here.
Continue to pray for the kids that came to VBS both in Cuenca and Quito. God's Word has gone forth and is doing a great work in their lives. Also please pray for the two churches (Cuenca and Quito) we have had the privilege to work with this past week. Both are growing and have wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord. It's awesome to see God's church here in Ecuador honoring and living for Him!
This will be our final blog from Quito. We are signing off and will see you when we get back! Thanks for reading about our trip!
In Christ,
John
Cuenca, Saturday August 7
Well, here we are finally in front of a computer again. So much to say, so little time. God is good! That is number one. I guess after that not much matters, but anyway... We finished VBS as I said before on Thursday and the our hosts want us to enjoy ourselves the rest of the time, so we are. we went to the museum yesterday along with ruins and then off to shopping. Many of our team are the ultimate deal makers and they bought lots of stuff. I hope we can get it all on the plane. We have been eating a wide variety of food and yesterday we had mexican for dinner in a place where they let us write on the walls. Rachel celebrated her 18th birthday in South America. So cool, considering her 15th was in Africa. Jill has been a great trip mom and we could not have done so much without her.
Today we went to El Cajas national park wich was very cool and got up to 13,000 + feet..not as high as Quito team, but oh well. Lack of oxygen made for some interesting conversation. We are meeting a double decker bus in an hour to take a tour of the city. Some of the group is shopping again! we have been told that it would be really great if we could get back here next year and I know Wilson will be plugging for that as well.
I cannot say again how much the kids at VBS made an impact on us and really seemed to get the Gospel as it was presented. Many tears were shed as we departed for them. Thanks again for all of your prayers. If you are wondering why I am the only one posting from Cuenca, I guess it is because the rest of the team keeps saying, ¨"No, you go ahead." That´s all for now. Hopefully more posts before we see you.
In Him, Jeff
Today we went to El Cajas national park wich was very cool and got up to 13,000 + feet..not as high as Quito team, but oh well. Lack of oxygen made for some interesting conversation. We are meeting a double decker bus in an hour to take a tour of the city. Some of the group is shopping again! we have been told that it would be really great if we could get back here next year and I know Wilson will be plugging for that as well.
I cannot say again how much the kids at VBS made an impact on us and really seemed to get the Gospel as it was presented. Many tears were shed as we departed for them. Thanks again for all of your prayers. If you are wondering why I am the only one posting from Cuenca, I guess it is because the rest of the team keeps saying, ¨"No, you go ahead." That´s all for now. Hopefully more posts before we see you.
In Him, Jeff
Quito August 8
I wanted to share something Oswaldo (the pastor of the church here) said about VBS this week. He told me yesterday that he thought it went really well. The most humbling thing he said was that many of these children heard the gospel for the first time. What a cool thing! He also said that he wants to do this every year. This was his first VBS. He said I'm always working with the adults and never have the opportunity to work with children like this. I praise the Lord for our team and the great job they did this week.
Today we will be painting the outside of the church building, picking up trash around the church, and painting the lines on the basketball court. The whole community uses the court. What we don't finish today we will finish tomorrow. Thanks so much for praying for us! We all are looking forward to seeing you early Tuesday morning. We will call parents after we get through customs so you will know what time to meet us at FBC early Tuesday morning.
In Christ,
John
Today we will be painting the outside of the church building, picking up trash around the church, and painting the lines on the basketball court. The whole community uses the court. What we don't finish today we will finish tomorrow. Thanks so much for praying for us! We all are looking forward to seeing you early Tuesday morning. We will call parents after we get through customs so you will know what time to meet us at FBC early Tuesday morning.
In Christ,
John
Friday, August 7, 2009
Quito August 7
Hello All!
Today, Friday, was our last day of VBS. We had a great week with the kids. Everything went smoothly. Our schedule consisted of (in this order): singing, story, games, snack, and craft. The kids really liked us. It was cool because when we were going out to the mall, we would see some of the kids from the VBS and they would give us a big smile and if they were close enough, they would give us a hug.
We were able to make one last stop to the market today-lots of people there :)
We met some fellow Americans at the market-one family was from Virginia and the other from North Carolina. John was talking to the man for a little while, then when they had finished, the man saw Patrick and asked him how Virginia was. (Patrick did not know the man and was not around when John was talking with him). Patrick took off his sunglasses, and looked straight at the man and asked, "How in the world did you know I was from Virginia?" I could see Patrick was very suspicious/nervous so I told him that John had talked to the man :) --then they laughed.
Ecuador, for me, is very different from the US. Don't get me started about the way they drive...crazy! hehe
Well, tomorrow we work-paint the church and paint lines on the basketball court-if all goes well.
Talk to you later!
Jordan Williamson
Today, Friday, was our last day of VBS. We had a great week with the kids. Everything went smoothly. Our schedule consisted of (in this order): singing, story, games, snack, and craft. The kids really liked us. It was cool because when we were going out to the mall, we would see some of the kids from the VBS and they would give us a big smile and if they were close enough, they would give us a hug.
We were able to make one last stop to the market today-lots of people there :)
We met some fellow Americans at the market-one family was from Virginia and the other from North Carolina. John was talking to the man for a little while, then when they had finished, the man saw Patrick and asked him how Virginia was. (Patrick did not know the man and was not around when John was talking with him). Patrick took off his sunglasses, and looked straight at the man and asked, "How in the world did you know I was from Virginia?" I could see Patrick was very suspicious/nervous so I told him that John had talked to the man :) --then they laughed.
Ecuador, for me, is very different from the US. Don't get me started about the way they drive...crazy! hehe
Well, tomorrow we work-paint the church and paint lines on the basketball court-if all goes well.
Talk to you later!
Jordan Williamson
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Quito August 6th
Hey everybody!
So... it's been an amazing Thursday here in Quito. (I think it's Thursday, right??) This morning, we did our 2nd-to-last VBS, which went really well. We started off with singing, like always, and Sarah and I have said a lot how thankful we are for Josue!! Wow, if we didn't have him, singing time would just be 2 minutes. He's been a blessing for us! He knows a lot of Spanish songs that the kids know and he plays the guitar by ear, and he accompanies us on a lot of our songs that he can pick up. (Which is most of them...:) Today was the story of the crucifixion, and Bill had us act out the scene where Mary Magdalene and the disciples see the empty tomb. Freddy explained everything out in espanol, and then he led the whole group in the sinner's prayer. The little girl named Linda on my lap said it-- how cool is that! :D We played "red light, green light" in games, and the kids liked that. After that, we made empty tombs that said inside "Jesus esta vivo!" The kids are so careful with their crafts. They do amazing work! :) Tomrrow will be sad because it's our last day, and we're going to have to say goodbye to those adorable kids!! It makes me sad just typing it. But anyways, the language difference hasn't been that bad for a lot of us, because we and the kids have been bonding so much. Awwwww:))) I think all of us have been learning a lot about ourselves and about how we relate to people. The team meetings have been really good because John has been encouraging us to stay in the word. Today our meeting was about unity, and that was a really good topic which encouraged me.
This afternoon we lazed around and played a few rounds of Uno so we could get ready for our night on the town. ha ha. just kidding. A bus picked us up around 6 and we went and got some McDonalds, and then we started our tour! We saw a really big church with star windows and then we walked around outside through some streets with restaurants, and then we went to a really big statue and I never figured out what the name of it was. But it was cool. :) Now we're all home and ready for bed.
Tomorrow we'll be having our last day of VBS, so please pray that it will go well and all the goodbyes won't be too painful. Patrick and I are saying our testimonies tomorrow, so please pray for that too. :)
~Elizabeth~
So... it's been an amazing Thursday here in Quito. (I think it's Thursday, right??) This morning, we did our 2nd-to-last VBS, which went really well. We started off with singing, like always, and Sarah and I have said a lot how thankful we are for Josue!! Wow, if we didn't have him, singing time would just be 2 minutes. He's been a blessing for us! He knows a lot of Spanish songs that the kids know and he plays the guitar by ear, and he accompanies us on a lot of our songs that he can pick up. (Which is most of them...:) Today was the story of the crucifixion, and Bill had us act out the scene where Mary Magdalene and the disciples see the empty tomb. Freddy explained everything out in espanol, and then he led the whole group in the sinner's prayer. The little girl named Linda on my lap said it-- how cool is that! :D We played "red light, green light" in games, and the kids liked that. After that, we made empty tombs that said inside "Jesus esta vivo!" The kids are so careful with their crafts. They do amazing work! :) Tomrrow will be sad because it's our last day, and we're going to have to say goodbye to those adorable kids!! It makes me sad just typing it. But anyways, the language difference hasn't been that bad for a lot of us, because we and the kids have been bonding so much. Awwwww:))) I think all of us have been learning a lot about ourselves and about how we relate to people. The team meetings have been really good because John has been encouraging us to stay in the word. Today our meeting was about unity, and that was a really good topic which encouraged me.
This afternoon we lazed around and played a few rounds of Uno so we could get ready for our night on the town. ha ha. just kidding. A bus picked us up around 6 and we went and got some McDonalds, and then we started our tour! We saw a really big church with star windows and then we walked around outside through some streets with restaurants, and then we went to a really big statue and I never figured out what the name of it was. But it was cool. :) Now we're all home and ready for bed.
Tomorrow we'll be having our last day of VBS, so please pray that it will go well and all the goodbyes won't be too painful. Patrick and I are saying our testimonies tomorrow, so please pray for that too. :)
~Elizabeth~
Cuenca August 6
Hola Amigos!
God is good! We finished up our VBS today with 25 children. They really seemed to understand what was presented and also had a great time. Our children really loved all aspects of the VBS. They played great games, had a fun time with crafts and loved the snacks. Teaching went well with some of our students sharing their testimonies and participating in the teaching as well. We shot some good video that will be shared with you at church or on the blog if we can figure out the editing. (Need Mike Lukens) We have all enjoyed a nightly praise and study time with the local church, having sung songs in Spanish and English and then breaking off for our own study and prayer. Wilson has been great at bringing us to many local restaurants and we are all feeling like we eat forever, yet are not getting fat(er)!!!.
Tomorrow we will go to the museum of Ecuadorian History and the shopping in downtown Cuenca. Saturday holds more tourist opportunities for us as does Sunday, finishing up with a church service in the evening. We have been waiting to do the tourist thing as we have been busy all week with VBS and church stuff. We are very aware of how God has been working through us and among us. We are also aware that now is the time that satan will attempt to gain his footholds. We appreciate your continued prayers in this area.
Quito team: We are continually praying for you and we are very glad to hear how well things are going for you. Stay strong in the Lord!!!
Juan just walked in the room with some notes for our team from the VBS kids (That was fast) so there will be a need for many tissues. We thank you all for your support and this opportunity to serve a glorious and faithful God!
In Him, Jeff
God is good! We finished up our VBS today with 25 children. They really seemed to understand what was presented and also had a great time. Our children really loved all aspects of the VBS. They played great games, had a fun time with crafts and loved the snacks. Teaching went well with some of our students sharing their testimonies and participating in the teaching as well. We shot some good video that will be shared with you at church or on the blog if we can figure out the editing. (Need Mike Lukens) We have all enjoyed a nightly praise and study time with the local church, having sung songs in Spanish and English and then breaking off for our own study and prayer. Wilson has been great at bringing us to many local restaurants and we are all feeling like we eat forever, yet are not getting fat(er)!!!.
Tomorrow we will go to the museum of Ecuadorian History and the shopping in downtown Cuenca. Saturday holds more tourist opportunities for us as does Sunday, finishing up with a church service in the evening. We have been waiting to do the tourist thing as we have been busy all week with VBS and church stuff. We are very aware of how God has been working through us and among us. We are also aware that now is the time that satan will attempt to gain his footholds. We appreciate your continued prayers in this area.
Quito team: We are continually praying for you and we are very glad to hear how well things are going for you. Stay strong in the Lord!!!
Juan just walked in the room with some notes for our team from the VBS kids (That was fast) so there will be a need for many tissues. We thank you all for your support and this opportunity to serve a glorious and faithful God!
In Him, Jeff
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