OK WOW

ok so i cant even begin to tell you the humorous adventure it has been trying to get on here to update the blog...but I'm finally here to give you the update!!
We obviously have arrived safely :) We arrived late saturday night and we didnt do much other than get settled into the dorms of Alliance Academy (the school we are staying at as well as where the Tuten's serve). However on Sunday we quickly learned that God had big plans in store for us. We began the morning by attending a service at Dios es Fiel church. They had a guest preacher that day that taught on God's plan for the family and we watched as God worked amazing things in the lives of the people there that morning. Many came to the front crying and begging for God to take over the control over the direction of thier family. Most of us either caught only bits or nothing of the sermon becasue it was all in spanish. It wasnt till later that we fully understood what had taken place. All we knew was God was working and we needed to pray. It was such a sight to see!
Later that afternoon we were able to visit the actual equator. There we got to learn a lot about the rich history of Ecuador (you might want to ask us about the "interesting" fish found in the jungle rivers as well as shrunken heads). We also were able to learn how creative our God is by experiencing some unique scientific properties found only directly on the equator! It was really interesting and fun. After returning from that we headed to Calical (dont think I'm spelling that right)and began doing some prep work for the Women's team that is coming down here in 2 weeks.
Monday began VBS at Dios es Fiel. Our theme is "a Tiny Adventure" which will be lasting till thursday. We are talking about how our big God can do great things with and for small people.We make a correlation between how many big things bugs can do even though they are really little. We had 61 kids show up!! this is great considering this is the first time they have ever had a VBS. The language barrier was somewhat an issue but we communicated with the kids by loving on them and playing with them and it worked. We also have a great group of translaters that really have helped to make our VBS succesful. They also taught us some new songs in spanish, including the yo-yo song which is easily a team favorite. After we finished there we headed off to re-do a nursery for a local school (the name currently escapes me). We had four rooms to clean and entirely repaint. Each room had a theme that had a mural painted on it that each tied into the overall jungle theme of the nursery. Believe it or not we were able to finish the project in just 2 days!! our team really learned how to gel together as a team.
Today we were able to share the gospel with all the kids at the VBS. It was neat to see how the student pulled together and how God worked through the team today! you could really feel God move in that place. Its also neat to see how God continues to break down the language barrier each day. Many of us have limited spanish vocabulary, but have begun picking up many new words and phrases. Even as I type i hear some of our team members speaking to each other in spanish as they prepare for tomorrow. Today we began our work project here at Alliance Academy. We are working on simple repairs, painting, gardening, and the like to help clean the place up. We will continue this project tomorrow.
Today after our work project many of us participated in operation brown bag. This is a project that God laid on the heart of the Tuten family when they walked the streets of Quito and seeing small children similar in age to thier own, living and working on the streets. Its a simple but great project. We made 36 lunches and passed them out to those living on the streets. We walked less than a mile and we had already given away every single lunch. This is a great project and I am excited that we were able to experience the needs of the people of Ecuador.
Operation brown bag also became a starting point for a great, yet challenging, converstation durning our nightly team time. We spent a long time encouraging and challenging one another to step out more bodly for the sake of Christ. I dont want to give too much away, becasue I want you to ask your students and hear about it from them first hand. Please ask them how God has challenged them and what they plan to do about when they get back in order to have sustainable life change from this experience.
Unfortunately we have just been reunited through the wonderful world of blogging, but tomorrow We will not be able to update nor the day after. But here is a glimpse of what we will be doing. Tomorrow we will finish up VBS and our work project here at Allaince Academy then we will head off to an overnight trip to the cloud forest in Mindo, Ecuador. In Mindo we will celebrate together all that God accomplished in our lives and the lives of the kids attending the VBS. We will hike up to a waterfall, swim in the waterfall, tube down the river, and then go across a zip-line! It will be a great adventure. If given the chance I will try and update that friday night when we get back, but our schedule will be really tight so i cant promise that it will be done. However if the chance arises...it will be done. Between now and then, be blessed in the Greatness of our God!.
in HIM,
Collide HSM Ecuador team