It is that time of year to begin thinking about our Ecuador partnership and considering whether God might be leading you to participate with our 2012 Ecuador Mission team. Ecuador is our oldest and most established missions partnership. Steve and Carol Thompson have been in Ecuador over 20 years, and we have been sending teams down to work with them for over 5 years now. They are involved in various forms of ministry and outreach in Ecuador, all with a primary focus of evangelism, church planting and church development
This is a great place to experience your first overseas mission trip, because it is a more safe and stable environment than our other missions partners. Almost anyone can participate as our team has the opportunity to partner with Steve and Carol and their wonderful staff (Esteban, Roberto, Esther, and others) to work with local believers and pastors to spread the gospel through conferences, vacation Bible schools, and youth retreats.
This year our trip will be July 7th through 16th. We will not be going to the UNPES Jungle Camp, but will be helping the entire week at Camp Chacauco in Patate. Chacauco is a beautiful, hand-built retreat centered in the central mountain region of Ecuador, where the Theological Seminary we have helped fund is located, and where Steve and Carol live and host their Pastor Retreats and Youth Camps.
We will be helping with a Youth Camp at Chacauco from Sunday to Wednesday, where we will have the opportunity to minister to High School students from the mountain region of the country. From Thursday to Saturday, we will be leading a Vacation Bible School in a local church. During the evenings, from Thursday to Saturday, we will be leading our annual Pastor’s Conference in Ambato. We will also get to participate in worship with two Ecuadorian churches. This will be a good week for Ecuador missions.
As part of the mission adventure, we will get to visit the Equator, swim in the Vina del Rio, hike to Pailon del Diablo, and ride the Swinging Basket at Manto de la Novia. We will also learn a lot about the history of religion and Christian missions in Ecuador.
There will be an information meeting immediately following the worship service this Sunday (March 18) morning in the Big Room (Room 300). I would like to encourage anyone who has any interest in participating with the Ecuador Mission team this year to come to that meeting. This will give us an opportunity to give you some more general information about cost and other requirements, and some more details about what we will be doing while in country. It will also be an important meeting for us to gauge how many people are interested in going to Ecuador this year. The more team members we have, the lower the individual cost per person.
I hope this has stirred an interest in your heart for the work in Ecuador, and I will be praying that many of you will have enough interest to attend the meeting. I will look forward to seeing you there and talking with you more about the work that God is calling us to be a part of in Ecuador. Finally, I pray we will get to serve alongside one another this summer in Ecuador.
