Rocks and Reflection

LIFT 37 Ecuador Mission Trip - Blog Post #6

Seth Brown

The climb to the summit of Sincholagua prompts comparison to our lives. There are many similarities- arduous sections of steep ascent, necessary teamwork to succeed, times of rest to recuperate and take in the gorgeous Ecuadorian landscape, and times of clouded vision and uncertainty as you search for the next cairn to guide your way. As we heard very early on in this semester- life is a marathon, not a sprint. This trip has taught each of us numerous lessons in trust, in love, and in endurance. We are told in Hebrews to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2). Ecuador has been an amazing segment of our race, but in many ways it has also been a spiritual pit stop to refuel and reenergize! Please remember us in your prayers as we prepare to depart, but more importantly pray for God’s blessing on the work He did through us here in Ecuador, and that we may absorb and put into practice all we have learned and seen.

Philippe Blais

Our tents are drying out on the grass underneath a beautiful Ecuadorian sun, here at El Refugio, because we just came back from climbing Mount Sincholagua (16,000 feet). This inactive but mean looking old volcano had us work hard. We hiked the first part in the dark through farm land (some of us started hiking at 4 a.m.) then through a rocky ridge. After the ridge the terrain became all rock and ash mixed together. Sometimes we had to climb some pretty steep rock faces.  A little bit past midway up the mountain the wind was quite strong and we had to layer up quite a bit. So we took out our goggles and our gloves and kept hiking. The view, before we got in the clouds, was absolutely breath taking. The lush green and hilly peaks all below with Cotopaxi, Ecuador’s most iconic volcano, standing out in the distance gave us all a feeling of awe mixed with an impression of being in a scene of Lord of the Rings in the land of Mordor. At the summit, Tim lead-climbed a 60-foot pitch and set up the anchors. We followed up the rope and reached the top:  a flat round space not bigger than 15 feet on the edge of a 1,000 foot drop! So we attached ourselves on another safety line and felt a little better. Rappelling over 100 feet from the pinnacle to where we had left our packs below was also quite a thrill. All 6 climbing teams made it safely to the summit and back to camp, averaging 10-11 hours.  Only a few students could not complete the climb due to illness, injury or fitness.

A Psalm that comes to my mind when I think back on this adventure is Psalm 148:

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens
Praise Him in the heights!

…

Praise the Lord from the earth,

Sea monsters and all deeps;

Lightning and hail, snow and fog;

Stormy wind, fulfilling His orders;

Mountains and all hills;

Fruitful trees and all cedars

…

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

For His name alone is exalted and supreme;

His glory and majesty are above earth and heaven.

Dante Immordino

After an incredible experience in Ecuador, we are leaving El Refugio for Camp-of-the-Woods tonight at 7 pm. We should be back in Speculator tomorrow around dinner time. We have had beautiful weather the past few days and this morning we will have a time of reflection and prayer as we debrief our entire trip. God has definitely taught us a lot about His faithfulness, goodness, and love through our time in El Refugio, El Chaco, Oyacachi, and on Sincholagua. We have seen Him move in our hearts and the hearts of the people here. It has truly been a blessing to serve here in Ecuador with such amazing people.

In a few weeks we will be having a forum on our time in Ecuador to share more details, videos and tastes of Ecuador.  It will be Wednesday, April 25^th at 7:00 pm in the Buirkle Center at CAMP-of-the-WOODS.   All are welcome to attend.