Time to come home

It's a bittersweet moment. We look forward to seeing all of you at home, but we are sad to leave Ecuador. God has blessed us with a great week. Many lives have been positively impacted, both on our team and in the communities we visited.

We are off to the airport. See you all soon.

Pictures

I know you all have been waiting to see some pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Friday

Friday started off with us visiting a local park in the morning where our students had the opportunity to play soccer and volleyball, sit in hammocks or on swings, and swim in the river. It was a fun time spent together, and the river was very refreshing!   That afternoon and evening, Ninawachi hosted a Good Friday service for the community. The church visited a local watering hole where 5 people got baptized, including 2 of our students! What a special moment to see our students make a public declaration of their faith and desire to serve the Lord. When we returned to Ninawachi, we all had dinner with the members of the church. After dinner, we participated in the candlelight service.  Our drama team presented the  story of the crucifixion and resurrection, Mason preached a sermon, and our worship team played a couple songs.   After the service, we concluded our time together in the jungle with a time of reflection, encouragement, affirmation, and sharing. This was definitely the highlight of the week. Many of our students shared about how this week had a significant impact on their life and how God was working on their heart. Multiple students expressed that they feel God is calling them to be missionaries too. It is hard to find the words to express the emotions from last night; it was a very special moment shared between our students and theirs. This was truly a week we will never forget!

Arrived in Quito

Back safely in Quito! More updates to come.

Returning to Quito

We will be leaving in about an hour to return to Quito. I'll let you know about our experiences on Friday when we arrive. I also hope to have a few students blog about their experiences too! Talk to you all again from Quito.

Wednesday and Thursday

The last couple of days have been great! Everyone has been working hard in the mornings. Mark, our host, says the ground we have been leveling looks great and is just a bout ready for the new prayer hut to be built!  Afternoon ministry has been going well too. It is very special to see the children in these villages raise their hands when asked if they want to follow Christ. It is also awesome to hear how our students have been impacted by their experiences. We are all anxious to tell you about it when we return!

In my last blog I mentioned that our third team was hoping to be able to make it into a remote village and on Wednesday, the Lord answered our prayers! First, we enjoyed a ride through God's beautiful creation. The rainforest here is a marvelous sight to see! When we reached the village, we spent some time playing soccer with the children and coloring with sidewalk chalk. We then shared the creation story with them. Their faces were full of joy as we shared God's love with them. Unfortunately we were not able to return today because our transport vehicle did not arrive. We are not fully sure why this is what God allowed to take place, but we trust that He will work it for good. We pray that the students here at Ninawachi will be able to bring the good news of Christ to these people.

Tomorrow will be a relaxing morning of swimming, soccer, and volleyball. In the afternoon we will be holding a baptism at a local river before our Good Friday service that evening.

Tuesday

The power went out last night so I didn't get to post on the blog. Here is yesterday's post:

We had another great day. I am continually impressed with our students and the way they interact with each other, the students here at Ninawachi, and the children in the communities.

This morning we continued preparing the ground for the building of a new prayer hut. We also had a team go with Mr. And Mrs. Hahn to the local school where they spent some time interacting with the students and also planting corn in a field there. Before they left, our students shared a friendly game of volleyball with theirs. A third group helped carry logs from a neighbor's house to Ninawachi to be used in the construction of the new prayer hut. After that, we helped another neighbor move a freezer to his property so he can use it in his family store. Finally, we spent some time moving soil from one location to another so it can be used for planting food. There is still lots of work to be done this week, and our team is ready to help! They truly have servsnt hearts!

This afternoon we returned to our villages to minister to the kids. It was great to hear that at the smaller village, the children opened up and enjoyed interacting with our team there! The other site had another fun day too.

We have a third team that is supposed to visit a more remote village, but we have not yet been able to make it to the village. When the river is high, the road is not passable but when it is low, vehicles can get through. The first day, the river was too high and so we split up the team and had them go to the other two villages. Today we attempted to go in but our transport vehicle did not arrive. We started walking down the road towards the village hoping to see the transport vehicle but it did not arrive, despite the road being very passable today. We ask that you pray that The rain holds off so that the road is passable and that Lord will allow us to reach this community.

I know some of you are desiring to see pictures of what we are doing. While we do have Internet access, it can be difficult to upload pictures to the blog. Additionally, we have been asked to not take pictures when we enter the villages and work with the kids because the people there may perceive it negatively and it could be a detriment to the ministry. We do have pictures, however, and I will compile them and share them as soon as I can.

-Mr. Petiti

Hard work and sharing God's love

We have a team of quality individuals on our team. I was impressed by their efforts in the morning. We spent a few ours leveling the ground so that a new prayer hut can be built. Everyone was anxious to help and we made good progress. We also had a group transporting heavy logs to the construction site that will be used as supports for the roof.

In the afternoon we went out in to the villages to share our program with the kids. One site had 80+ kids and they were fully of energy! Our students had a great time playing with them and teaching them the creation story.

The other site was smaller and a little more remote. This village had fewer children and they were more shy. Despite their timidity, they enjoyed the crafts, songs, puppets and other activities we prepared for them.

After dinner we spent about an hour in fellowship and worship. Edwin shared his testimony and then many students from both TKA and Ninawachi shared their highlights from the day and encouraged one another. It is something special to see followers of Christ singing praises in multiple languages! It is an honor to take part in it.

Keep us in your prayers as we continue to serve the Lord here in the Amazon Rainforest!

Day 2

We had a great day today! The day started with a soccer tournament at the local school. We had some fancy footwork and exciting goals by multiple team members. The guys played agame out in the mud and rain, and despite much slipping and sliding, we played a great game. After lunch we drove to a village about an hour away for a talent show. We have many talented team members. We sang songs, performed a puppet show, did some square dancing, and acted out the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. Possibly the highlight of the night was when some young ladies from the village performed a dance native to their culture. Halfway through, they invited our team members to come dance with them! It was fun to watch. I really loved the way our students eagerly sought out the children in the community to play with them and show them the love of God. Parents, you should all feel proud of your sons and daughters! Tomorrow morning we will begin construction on a new prayer hut here at Ninawachi. In the afternoon we will separate into three teams to visit local villages and share with them the VBS program we have been preparing. Talk to you all tomorrow. -Mr. Petiti

Day 1

Our first day in Ecuador was a great one! We made it safely to the jungle and in good time too! We got to stop and snack on empanadas on our way; they are always a delicious treat. When we arrived At Ninawachi we took some time to greet old and new friends and get acclimated to our new surroundings. After a delicious dinner provided by our hosts, it was time for a church service here at the missions school. We had the honor of hearing one of our own students, Ben, preach the word of God. Our worship team led everyone in a few worship songs. A few of us went to help with the children's program where we taught them about one of Jesus' miracles and colored pictures that corresponded with the story. To conclude the evening, we all met together in the prayer hut and gave everyone the chance to introduce themselves. We look forward to serving with the students here at Ninawachi this week!  Tomorrow we will walk down to the local school and participate in a co-ed soccer tournament. We will be competing against a team of Ninawachi students and teams from 4 local high schools. It will be a fund time of fellowship and futbol! In the afternoon we will be driving to a village about an hour away, one of the villages we visited last year. When they heard our team was returning to Ecuador, they anxiously invited us to join them for a meal and talent show!  

We are here at Ninawachi!

Made it safely to Ninawachi! More updates to come soon.

On our way to the jungle

Time to make our way into the Amazon Rainforest!   Some team members played Quiddler (kinda similar to scrabble) before breakfast while waiting for their teammates to wake up

Sorry Mr. Stricker, your students forgot how to spell

 

The worship team led us in a couple songs before breakfast

 

Delicious breakfast made by our Casa Blanca hosts Fabi and Mabe.

 

We are on the bus and on our way! Pray for safe travels.

 

Talk to you again from the Amazon.

 

We have arrived safely in Quito!

We have made it safely to Quito! We are glad to be here and excited for what lies before us. It is currently 12:50 Quito time and we are off to bed. We leave for the jungle at 9:00 am. I will write another blog post before we depart in the morning.  Internet connection in the jungle is not the greatest and I may not be able to update the blog as often as I would like, but I will do my best!   Good night from Quito. -Mr. Petiti

Layover in ATL

Fun times on our layover in Atlanta  

 

 

Time for takeoff!

We have all made it on the plane and are just about ready for departure. Talk to you again soon from our layover in Atlanta.

The adventure begins

Good Afternoon!

We are less than 24 hours away from our departure! Team Ecuador 2016 is excited for our opportunity to serve in Ecuador.

Please be praying for us as we take part in this adventure. Here are some requests:

Pray for travel safety
Pray for the health of our students
Pray that we all maintain a servant's heart
Pray that the Lord use us in ways beyond our imagination
Pray that the Lord will open doors in the communities we visit that enables the missionaries to have a lasting impact there.

More updates to come!

-Mr. Petiti