Bringing People Home!

"Our mission is to bring people Home"

Brothers and sisters in Christ! 

As you are all a part of this team through supporting us in so many ways, we want you to have a feel for our trip even from the beginning! If you all had a chance to be here, I know that you would be able to feel the excitement growing as we get closer to 2AM (the hour we're leaving...)! So if any of you are wanting to REALLY feel a part of the group, you are welcome to set your alarms for 1:15 AM! :)

We've spent the past few weeks preparing sermons, choreographing dances, mimicking sheep noises for puppets, putting together English lessons, and gluing jewels on crowns for arts and crafts in preparation for the vast ministry opportunities we will have in Ecuador! 

LIFT is so unique in that we've been learning about effective missions, the universal Church, and poverty throughout the semester and now we are blessed to step into another culture and experience what we have been learning. We'll be based at el Refugio outside of Quito, Ecuador, a leadership training center, where we'll be doing an array of projects. From the base, we'll travel to the Quechua town of Oyacachi and El Chaco to work with the churches there, using our different ministry groups and building a house for a couple in need.

There is a very different feel running through the LIFT group as we are all eagerly anticipating what God is going to do in Ecuador. This past week, we had a unique opportunity to do a "rice and beans fast" in order to prepare for Ecuador, grow in our reliance on God, and just humble ourselves to further allow God to work in our hearts individually and collectively as we consecrate ourselves to be used as His instruments.

The compelling phrase, "God does not call the equipped, but equip the called!" has been coursing through my thoughts as I know we will find ourselves in situations in which our human abilities are incapable of handling. As we see throughout the history of Christianity, this is the opportunity in which God works most mightily through us, as "His power is made perfect in our weakness."

 "Moses said to the Lord, 'Oh Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.' The Lord said to him, 'Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.'"

Here is a brief schedule of our time in Ecuador:
M-Th (3/17-20): @ El Refugio taking classes, preparing for ministry, doing work projects
Th-M (3/20-24) @ El Chaco partnering with the local church in ministry to the surrounding communities
M&T (3/24&25) Back @ El Refugio for laundry, rest & repack
T-Th (3/25-27) @ Oyacachi (remote high-mountain town) - youth ministry & church service
Th-Sat (3/27-29) Back @ El Refugio to do work project & pack for mountaineering trip
Sat-M (3/29-31) Mountaineering on Illiniza Norte (16,800') - summit attempt on Sunday
M-W (3/31-4/2) Back @ El Refugio doing work project & debriefing the trip
W (4/2) morning in Quito then fly to NY and return to COTW by 6:30 am Thursday


Check back in every so often and we will keep you updated with our adventures! God has provided immensely for this trip, and you are the instruments He has used to further His Kingdom in Ecuador so THANK YOU!

I sincerely hope that each of you see yourselves as part of this trip, and even more importantly, as part of the mission of Christ, "to bring people Home," as our fearless student leader of the trip to Ecuador, Juan Lucero, reminded us tonight that we are all foreigners in this world and our home is in heaven. 

 

Hasta luego!

(written by Laura Alexandria Walters)