Monday morning we set off on our first real day of real ministry. The general mood on the bus that morning was one of anticipation mixed with the grogginess of an early morning after a late night. Rogelio took us that morning from the hacienda to a small town called Montalvo. Montalvo is a town of very little economy and even less awareness of the Lord. It is this town that Hernan, Jenni and their church, the Jesus Loves You Church, call home. Many of the families of the church have children that attend the local school, La Luz de America, and Hernan had arranged for our group to participate in a children’s club that would be taught by women from Jonhattan’s church. As we rode through Montalvo for the first time that morning, even though I had visited the poor parts of Peru and Brazil, I was struck by how very little the people of the town had. A lot of the homes were not completed in their construction. Unreal.
We pulled into the school and as we exited the bus, the students—there weren’t very many of them--lined up outside the school to welcome us. Under the direction of the school administrator, the students sang a couple songs for us while the group from Jonhattan’s church set up a makeshift stage. We sat the kids on mats around the stage and the Ambato group did a puppet show for the kids to introduce them to the plan for the week and who we were.
After the puppet show, the kids divided into their classrooms and we split into three groups to hang out with them. I went into the room where Maribel was teaching about the wise man building his house on the rock. She taught the lesson and we sang some songs and did a craft with the kids. Dan came in after the lesson and began teaching the kids some words in English. They loved learning how to say, “Hey…what’s up?” We taught them a few more phrases in English and then took them outside to play. Most of the kids, particularly the older boys, began playing soccer and a game developed between the students and the gringos. The competition extended throughout the week.
We went from the school to another church in Muchigrande for lunch. The church had never served a meal to a group as big as ours so we barely fit in the room they had set up to feed us. They had hung balloons and streamers to make the room festive for their new friends. The decorations were left over from a baby shower. It was so touching that they would use whatever they had in an effort to make us feel welcomed.
After lunch, half of our team went to another church, Covenant Church El Shaddai, where Ivonne’s father is the pastor. Each team of gringos was joined by a group of high school boys who attend class at the school that meets in Jonhattan’s church. At Muchigrande, we painted the big central area and a couple of the smaller classrooms a bright green and white while the other group painted the El Shaddai sanctuary the same color. Lunch, for me, was not an altogether enjoyable affair and I was not feeling very well afterwards so on that particular day I spent most of the afternoon with the pastor’s wife, Angelica and her kids whom she was home-schooling upstairs in the kitchen.
Diego and Maria, Angelica’s children, are about six and eight years old and already can tell time in English better than my seven year old brother who grew up in the States. I was so impressed with the amount of English those kids possessed. While Angelica worked with Maria, I helped Diego with his telling of time, his English and his handwriting. It surprised me how much I enjoyed teaching him.
Eventually, the bus picked us up at Muchigrande and took us to meet the others at the El Shaddai church where we all gathered with the youths for a time where we could share who we were, why we were there and, ultimately, who Jesus was. We had two main topics we wanted to cover with the youth: sexual purity and drug and alcohol use. Because God is in the business of showing how great His plans are, we had people on our team who had made mistakes in each area and they each had an amazing story of how God had not only forgiven them but also used their stories to bring glory to Himself. On this particular afternoon, Lance and Kenny both shared their stories of mistakes and forgiveness, of falling and redemption.
After Lance and Kenny spoke, Dan shared the gospel with the youth and while he did not extend an invitation for them to come forward, it did appear that many of them heard his words and went home that afternoon to consider them. We parted ways with the youth after the meeting and returned to the hacienda for dinner where we were to be joined by the pastors of each church we would be working at during the week and their families.
That night at dinner I made a point to sit with Jonhattan, Ivonne and Humberto, another pastor, with the intention of working on my Spanish and just to get to know some of the nationals. Danny sat with us also and it was so encouraging to see the patience with which Jonhattan approaches people. For most of the meal, Danny and Humberto were talking about discipleship and implementing such programs into the local church while I got to know Jonhattan and Ivonne. Throughout the entire encounter, Jonhattan was aware of both conversations and was constantly and easily correcting both Humberto’s English and my Spanish so that we could both communicate more effectively. And, of course, we all tried to teach Danny some Spanish. Jonhattan is a patient man.
After dinner, each pastor had an opportunity to share their ministry with us along with prayer requests for their ministries and their families. For me, this time of learning of the ministries was a blessing and encouragement for the rest of the week. I was so much more excited, on a personal level, to be working in and with these churches and pastors when I knew something of their ministries and communities. I, of course, ran into our room and grabbed my journal so I could record what each pastor asked us to pray for. I laugh now when I look at that page in my journal. Because I was writing the prayer requests as they were being spoken initially rather than waiting for the translation, half of the words on the paper are in Spanish and half in English.
When it came his time to speak, Jonhattan shared the story of the struggle he and Ivonne faced in the adoption of their daughter, Sarita, and how they were finally able to visit her after a group from Grace had circled around and prayed with them. He shared this, I think, for a number of reasons. One reason was for our benefit. There were a number of people on our team who did not know the story and he wanted to convey his gratitude for the prayers. Another reason, the benefit of the other pastors. Many of them, I think, knew the story without knowing that our group was from that same church that had prayed with him. What followed the story was a request for more prayer. Jonhattan and Ivonne are again pursuing adoption, this time for a son.
As Jonhattan shared their desire for another child, for a brother for Sarita, I began to cry. I have, at home, a brother and sister who are both adopted and they bring so much joy and life to our family. They both came from orphanages that are probably not much different from where Sarita was or where their son will come from. I committed then to pray for this family and their new son.
Jonhattan was the last pastor to speak and when he was done, Danny had us split up with groups around each pastor and pray for them. I, thankfully, was still sitting by the table with Jonhattan and Ivonne so I moved around to pray with them. It was amazing! I got to pray with them for the adoption of their son, that their kids would come to know the Lord early, that they would be discipled and that they would be a powerful force for the Lord in Ecuador and wherever else He called them. Scotty prayed after me and I think, no, I know, it was the most beautiful prayer I’ve ever heard. I wept. Scotty’s prayer was such a clear expression of his heart to see marriages thrive for the glory of the Lord. I walked away from that experience with a whole new respect for Scotty, who has taken his passion and turned it into a ministry and a career and has done it all with great humility. I also came away encouraged and excited; encouraged that maybe I could do the same and excited to find new ways to use my words to bring glory to Jesus.
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