Playitas de Coaque earthquake relief trip

Thought I'd share some more photos from our trip to Playitas where we spent the week building some houses and ministering among the community. 

Home for the week

The cane house was built the previous trip by our team, the buildings behind that were provided for temporary housing after the earthquake.

In a break out group

At the children's workshop

Dedicating the house with Antonio and Sandra with their kids, a lovely family

Kelly hanging out with some kids while the ladies work on a craft project

Making the local news and another upcoming trip to earthquake affected areas

A while back when we went to help in earthquake affected areas on the coast we had the opportunity to share what we were doing with the local community.
Below is a picture of our pastor Leo Calva, explaining the project to the local newspaper (Article in the Cronica - click here).

Since then we have been another time and built 5 houses in four days (pre-fabricated houses makes things go a lot quicker). The next trip is planned for the first week in November, again to build housing and work within the community with kids ministry, activities with the women including some cooking and nutrition lessons and also we hope to run a healing group using the skills that Karine and some other team mates learnt at a trauma healing conference in September.

Pray for safety in the long drive, for receptivity to running a healing group, for growing trust in the community and deeper relationships to be formed and that people will come to know true healing and hope in the Lord Jesus.

Latinos reaching Latinos: God at work in rural Ecuador

Guest post by By John Stuart 

Martha was always full of questions. From the first time she attended the Bible study, her desire to know more was evident. Even after she moved to a new town, she still wanted to gather with us to study the Bible. But Tomas and his fellow SIM missionaries never would have anticipated the influence Martha would have on others in her community.

Martha represents a rare case in rural church planting, of God changing her in a dramatic way from the first encounter. In reality, the ministry is more often a slow, methodical venture.

Vast distances and precarious roads, compounded by unpredictable weather make ministering in the region a challenge. Syncretism, materialism and a works-based spiritual background pose other difficulties for ministers here. Despite people’s religious upbringing, the areas they minister in have virtually zero presence of the true gospel. Wherever possible, Tomas partners with local churches in the rural areas.

This is not the ministry Tomas thought he would be doing in Ecuador. But God was preparing him and his wife even before they arrived.

“Originally we did not come to Ecuador to work in rural areas,” Tomas said. “However before coming to Ecuador we were involved with rural ministry in Bolivia, so this is not something new to us.”

Even so, they are seeing why God wanted them to serve in rural areas.

“The Lord is working miraculously in the families we are visiting,” Tomas said. “We are presenting the Gospel to many in a systematic way and I believe that God is pushing us to rural areas to be able to meet this gospel need in partnership with local churches.”

In addition to his church planting work, Tomas takes part in SIM’s Equipping Servants program. Launched by SIM in the 1990s, Equipping Servants is a strategic, three-year program that trains and disciples South American pastors for ministry.

Tomas said this training is critical for pastors, as it meets a vital need of helping them continually grow in their knowledge and application of the Bible.

“ESI plays a role in showing the need to continue the study of the Bible and pastoral issues, such as leadership,” Tomas said. “It encourages pastors to continue to depend on God in their ministry and family.”

Often pastors feel they don’t have peers to help them grow spiritually or to share their lives and struggles with, Tomas said.

“In this sense, ESI creates an environment where a group of pastors and leaders can come together, to encourage, counsel and even confess their sins and then be able to ask for God’s help by praying together,” Tomas said.

Tomas and his wife Nancy are two of growing number of Bolivians sent out by SIM Bolivia to minister in other countries. They represent the first of what is to come, as more South Americans are responding to God’s call to overseas ministry.

“Being a missionary with SIM has significant advantages,” Tomas said. “In SIM you are part of a team who will care for you and pray for you.

“It is easier for us to get a visa to work here, especially since there is an agreement between the countries within Latin America,” Tomas said. “Being Latino is an advantage in that we can sometimes relate to people a little easier compared to people from different cultures. We can talk more fluently to each other, and it does help in our relationships in some cases.”

Not long after Martha came to faith she began inviting others to their Bible study. First it was her husband. Next she invited her boss, and then her boss’ husband. God was at work through her in a powerful way. The gospel is taking root in her community.

How you can pray 

• For more men and women who are passionate to preach and share the gospel in these rural areas with very little gospel presence. 
• For leaders in the rural churches to have a vision for reaching their own cultures and nation. 
• For more missionaries to come who are passionate to share the gospel in the rural areas of Ecuador.

Tomás in action teaching Equipping Servants (ESi)

This article first appeared here:
http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/latinos-reaching-latinos-god-at-work-in-rural-ecuador

Ecuador Earthquake Disaster Relief - One Month Later

Sami's house was nearly done by the time we met with the community president at the end of the week. Days earlier we had arrived in the small town of Coaque, Ecuador with the intent to help earthquake victims.

We ended up at a small plot of land and with 25 volunteers from three mission organizations and multiple local churches, Sami's new home went up quickly.

During the week we were there we held church meetings in the evenings. Nearly 60 adults and children attended every night to hear the preaching and a number came to faith. During the day volunteers led outreach ministries to women and children that were well attended.

So with Sami's house nearly completed, we were finally able to sit down with the community president and ask him how we could help long term. We were envisioning future building and water projects and more. The president's invitation was surprising.

"After seeing all that you've done in our community this week, what we really need is a church," he said. "I've seen you build this week, giving bricks and cement to many people who needed it. However each night as the community has gathered together to hear you preach and watch the movies I can see our community needs Jesus, that's what we really need."

God is at work, even through the aftermath of the destructive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck coastal Ecuador on April 16. More than 70,000 people are displaced countrywide and the situation is still critical for many. We are thankful we could do this work in partnership with a local church, and we hope to maintain these relationships with the Coaque community. SIM Ecuador is planning another work trip to this community in early August.


This article was first published on the SIM International website
http://sim.org/index.php/content/ecuador-earthquake-disaster-relief-one-month-later

Three legged race with Pastors of Loja

We had just had a downpour the night before and were on edge as to whether it was going to rain again, but in hope of clear weather, went on down to the park for a morning of some fun games and social time with church pastors and leaders we had invited.

We started with a human noughts and crosses game watching participants running across the park to secure their square, or not. We played volleyball, using water balloons and towels to catch them, and watching them burst to the ground when the towel wasn't in the right spot. The three legged race brought many to their knees. It was an opportunity to have some laughs and build on relationships with pastors.

Our team seeks to support the local evangelical church in lots of ways, whether through providing training opportunities or discipleship courses or christian resources or some prayerful encouragement along the way. One of the pastors said it was nice to be able to come and have fun participating, as they are usually the ones responsible for organising events.

Our team organising the morning even performed a drama item which we managed to pull off quite well, our audience including not only our group but also the people watching on from the block of flats across the road....

Perhaps this will help open a door in the future, or be something to laugh over in conversations or just be helpful in letting people know that we are here to be a support and help for the local church as they faithfully continue their task of bringing to gospel to many in this part of the world.

Happy International Women's Day!

Tuesday mornings I meet up with a friend to spend some time in God's word and talk about what is going on in life and we pray. I hesitate to say I disciple her, as normally we read the bible together and then she talks us through what she discovers, I feel like my presence kind of just opens a space for that to happen every week.

We are reading through the book of Romans together and yesterday read through the first eleven verses of chapter 5. It took a while to talk about all we saw in the passage, to let the big, amazing truths soak in - justified through faith, peace with God through Christ, access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, the hope of the glory of God, the effect of suffering leading to perseverance to character to hope which does not disappoint because we have love poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. God demonstrating his love for us in that Christ died for us while still sinners, the importance of Jesus' resurrection guaranteeing our hope of eternal life, reconciliation won for us through Christ.

Half-way through, my friend paused and looked up with a bit of a smile. She said, 'And I asked my husband what he was going to get me as a gift for women's day today, yet here it is, a feast in God's word, what could be better than that?'.

Indeed, what could be better than the Holy Spirit applying to our hearts the incredible truths of the gospel and the impact it has on our lives for now and eternity? And for me, the joy to be able to spend my Tuesday morning in this way was a perfect gift for International Women's Day.

Happy International Women's Day!

A river runs through it

Perhaps I was getting a little antsy, or desperate looking. In any case, John suggested he take the kids out for lunch on Saturday and that I go for a ride on the bike. That's love right there.

Off I set, along the river, heading north towards Sauces. The sun shining, the breeze blowing, rolling along down river, I started feeling less antsy and more alive.

I came to this part of the track and three things came to mind.
1. A hip hip hooray for the safety precaution!
2. A hope that no more of the mountain would decide to fall as I passed this section.
3. A gladness for rivers that run through this valley in the middle of the Andes making it possible for not every ride to be only a steep uphill.

A lovely way to spend my Saturday lunch time.

A visit to a nearby town

David is a local missionary on our team with a big heart for people to know Jesus. It's been great to see him working with a small church about an hour and a half out south of Loja.
Recently, however, it seemed that the best thing for this small church would be to connect itself with a local church and receive encouragement and support through them as well as through SIM.
What was amazing about this was the way that the connecting pastor presented themselves to this church. The pastor said, "The one thing that we make a priority in all our work is that we strive to keep the gospel in the centre of all that we do."
It is great to see that with the church at below 2% of the population that the gospel is making headway. At times it feels as though this is not the norm and that being an apostle, a prophet or having the gift of healing is the focus for a church. Please praise God with us, that as this pastor shared, it's got nothing to do with these things but rather the church is all about proclaiming the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for this small church, that they may be encouraged and further equipped as they live out the reality of following Christ.

Cycling adventures

Always good to get out on the bike, it usually means going up a mountain or along a river, both rather beautiful in these parts of the Andes...

Sauces Norte, the northern part of the valley of Loja

With Alejandra, I can go riding with her at 8:30am which I find so much easier than getting up at 5:30am!

Adventures to Zamora with Angeles

Incredibly beautiful as we head into what is the beginning of the Amazon!

Sometimes a ride ends up as a ride in an ambulance (nothing too, too major with my friend in the end, phew)

I can even fit in a ride with John, once the kids are in school

Out with my big girl, the non-stop talking cyclist