Greetings friends and family! LIFT has had quite an
unforgettable past week. It has been one for the books to say the least. Before
I reflect a bit more on our trip to Oyacachi and update everyone on our hike to
Sincholagua, I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for praying
for us. God’s hand has been all over everything we have been doing. We have
seen him bring to fruition what we have been preparing for weeks prior to
coming here to Ecuador. Please continue praying that we finish strong and for
safety as we fly back home tomorrow.
I want to share a little bit about a special little
girl named Rosy. Rosy might just be the coolest, sweetest, most down to earth
nine-year-old I have ever met. She has made many friends over the years, as she
received multiple gifts from past LIFTers. Tim told me that she had captured
the hearts of many LIFTers that have come to Oyacachi, and it was clear to see
why. She was among the many kids we were playing with on Wednesday night, and
almost immediately I started talking to her. I told her in my broken Spanish
that, “mi Espanol es no Bueno!” and she began to laugh. I asked her to be my
Spanish teacher and so she started helping me, and I began teaching her
English. That was the start of a special friendship that I will cherish for a
lifetime. You see, when we accept a gift from someone, and we also have
something to offer, that is where relationship begins.
She began clinging on to me, along with James and
Alyssa. The love she has for people was evident and I loved getting to know her.
She introduced James and I to her little sister and what she said astounded me.
She said in Spanish, “This is Noah, the one who built the ark, and this is
James, the disciple of Jesus.” Wow! I had to have a heart check. This little
girl was pointing everything back to God and it was humbling. She then went
back to her home to give us roses that she picked from her garden and a small
little wooden bowl that she decorated and simply wrote “Dios” which means
“God.” The next day she was teaching me songs and was telling me about her
family and our friendship grew even more. Then came Friday – the day we had to
say goodbye. I almost thought I wasn’t going to see her again before we left,
but she came through right at the end. She had another gift that she gave us as
we hugged goodbye. I told her I was going to miss her, and she responded with
“Yo también” at which point I lost it. She just laughed and said, “Boys don’t
cry.”
This is just one story of our many interactions with
the kids in Oyacachi. They understand love and they love well. They get it. No
wonder why Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, “Unless you turn and become like
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Similarly, in Luke 18:17
he says, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not
enter it.” We really saw these two passages come to life while being there. God
reminded me of his love, generosity, joy, and care through those kids. All of
them are special to him and he knows them each by name. I hope to go back some
day when my Spanish is better; Oyacachi will always have a piece of my heart.
We got back to El Refugio Friday afternoon and stayed
at Rick Borman’s brother’s house Friday night as mentioned in previous blogs.
We got ready for Sincholagua and, after a brief tour of the historic downtown
area of Quito, hiked into base camp Saturday afternoon. We had an absolutely
beautiful campsite surrounded by a river, wild horses, ginormous mountains, and
a sky full of stars. We set up our tents, ate dinner, and went to bed early to
get ready for summit day on Sunday. God gave us beautiful weather the whole time we were there. We split into five groups with some of the
El Refugio staff joining each of them. Group one left at about 4 a.m. with
group five leaving around 6:15. Each one had their own spiritual emphasis led
by the LOD (LIFT student Leader of the Day). It was such an amazing day. The
views were absolutely stunning, the hike was challenging, and almost everyone
summited. Tim said that was the highest
percentage of LIFTers to have finished the whole thing. It was a full
13-hour day for my group, literally from before the sun came up until after the
sun set.
As my group was getting close to the bottom a song came to mind. The sun was setting and
Cotopaxi (Ecuador’s second highest mountain @ 19,600’) was directly in front of us fully unveiled from the clouds and radiant with the day's final golden light illuminating the glaciated peak. It’s an older worship song and the chorus says, “From the
rising of the sun ‘til the sun goes down let the name of the Lord be praised.
From the sky to the depths, from the east to the west, we give you praise.” We
were surrounded by God’s beautiful creation, we were up in the clouds heading
down, and we could see endlessly in every direction. I was totally in awe of
God. Three weeks ago, I sprained my ankle and could hardly walk on it. To go
from that to summiting a 16,000-foot peak in that little amount of time is a
miracle. All glory to him! He is SO good!
We hiked out from base camp yesterday morning and got
back to El Refugio around 12:30 in the afternoon. It was a very restful day.
The staff here had a celebration banquet for us, and our dance and drama teams
each performed. To end the night, we had a special performance from the man,
the myth, the legend – Tyler Nelson, performing his world-famous rap “La Historia
de la Biblia en Dos Minutos.” Today we will have our final work project day,
then time to pack as we leave early tomorrow morning. Thank you again so much
for all of your prayers. They are not in vain. Please know that God is doing an
amazing thing here, and you are all a part of it!
God Bless,
Noah Henkel
