Ecuador Team Update Day 3 (10/6/16)
Hola mis amigos! Hello my friends! We began our day a little differently from most days. Last night, in the excitement of the evening, we all forgot to eat supper. Between preparing for the evening and then the great time we had, and the fact it lasted til 10 pm, food simply did not pass through our minds. However, this morning we all woke up HUNGRY!! So... as soon as we were all up and dressed, we headed out the door to a restaurant just a few yards away and had breakfast. THEN we returned to the apartment for our morning devotion. Afterwards we split up into two teams. One group headed to La Esperanza, where we attempted to visit with some friends, who ended up not being at their home, so instead we met them at a local park and had a very good time of encouragement and sharing. The other group stayed in Tabacundo, with certain ideas of whom we would visit. Instead God took us to meet some new friends with whom we shared about God's love. Both teams joined back up for lunch in Tabacundo with one of the first families whom we meet back in 2012 when we first began our ministry down here. What a blessing! After lunch our team went many different ways seeing old friends, making new ones, inviting all to join us for the evening discipleship time. We had a short rest time, prepared for the evening, visited with some dear friends and then we began our meeting. One of our translators started us off with a quick recap of "one verse evangelism", followed by testimonies. What was so exciting was only one of our team and one translator shared their testimony; the rest of the sharing was by those who joined us. Did you all catch that? THEY shared their testimonies! AWESOME!!!!!!!!! We are now finishing up the night, with empty tummies again and full hearts. Our heavenly daily bread is all we need.
Wednesday has come and is going, going, almost gone. Today has been a great day. The team started with a great devotional and then headed out the door at 7 am to catch the bus to Cayambe, where we met our farmer friend and caught another bus and a then took a short walk to his tomato farm. We spent the morning helping him support the vines, something he does every two weeks, and it takes him about 2-3 days. We truly found joy in assisting him in his manual labor and even had one of our Christian sisters here in Tabacundo join us in the work. After our fingers turned green, then black and beyond, we headed back to Cayambe, leaving our brother in Christ to finish his work (and possibly to undo anything we might have messed up). In Cayambe we had a quick snack, said see you later to our Ecuadorian sister who had to return home, then headed to the market to visit with another dear friend who graciously made us empanadas, which we devoured for a late lunch. After our tummies were full and happy, we took care of getting some snacks for our evening discipleship meeting and headed back to Tabacundo to rest a little and prepare the apartment. At 6:30 our first guest arrived and from there our day just got better and better. Our focus this evening (and for the next few evening meetings) is discipleship. Tonight we laid the groundwork why we should share our faith with others. We shared verses regarding being witnesses and sharing the good news, and then turned the floor over to our translators, who explained "one verse evangelism" as a tool for witnessing (Romans 6:23). Everyone was very receptive, and many great conversations occurred, before, during and after the actual share time. We had 15 people join the team this evening (the apartment was full), one who heard the gospel for the first time, and was VERY excited about what he heard. When asked if he had ever accepted Jesus into his heart, his response was "I think I just did". We will be following up on that response for sure! Praise God! The last person left at 10 and we are now winding down and heading to bed. Pray for continued opportunities to share Christ and equip the saints. May you experience God's peace and grace this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment