We came..We saw...We brought some smiles to God's face

I was one of four leaders on our high school ministry's trip to Quito, Ecuador. It was an amazing trip! I have previously been a part of five foreign mission trips, but this was very different. I had been to Panama (the country, not the city in Florida) twice and Peru three times. This was a new country for me. Also, while I had started going on foreign mission trips at the age of 16 and there was always a few youth on each trip I had been on, this is the first primarily student trip I had been a part of.

There is no way that I could adequately sum up all the great things that happened on the trip. While are group is imperfect (as are all people) and had some conflict and challenges,overall our group showed great flexibility, zeal, compassion, boldness, and faith in God.

We had a lot of fun! We also did some work on a church building, Held a ministry program for children for five days, and did some street evangelism. We made a floor in the church building, which requires significantly more work than it would in the United States. That was all we planned to do for the church building. We worked diligently as a team and were able to paint both the inside and outside of the building as well.

Our ministry program for the children went very well. We started the week ministering to about 140 kids. We ended the week ministering to about 250 kids and giving away clothes and toys to over 300 children. It was amazing to see the excitement of the children and the love of our high school students towards them. Duing the last day we gave away the clothes and toys while one of the interpreters preached to some of the parents of the children that we are ministering to. 28 of the parents gave their life to Jesus Christ.

Our street evangelism was a great experience. We started out just inviting people to the program for the children. We shortly began doing much more. We told people of their need for a relationship with Jesus Christ. In the area where we were the people tended to hold very tightly to their Catholic traditions of a work-based salvation. In my trips to Peru and Panama most people gave their life to Jesus Christ after being asked questions and shown scripture. The vast majority of people in the part of Ecuador that we were witnessing to were not that receptive because of how tightly they held onto the traditions that they believe. Most of those that did not make decisions still asked for us to pray for them for specific needs. That was awesome! In my past experiences on foreign mission trips when the person we shared the gospel with did not give their life to Christ we just kind of said, "good bye." This time we practically showed them the love of Jesus by praying for them!

It was a great experience! We ministered along side the Ecuador people We worked as a large cohesive team. The people of Ecuador touched our lives and we made a lasting impact! What a blessing! We will be sharing about the trip on August 9th at a missionary dessert night. Please pray that the people of Quito become much more receptive to the Gospel and that many will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.