Ecuador

Hi! I am Kelli, Kim’s younger sister. I live in Roswell, Georgia, and came on the Ecaudor trip with Rolling Hills. So far the trip has been awesome and all the people on the team are so welcoming. God is so great and he is working through everyone. Today during free time we had the wonderful idea to go hiking. Really it wasn’t hiking it was scaling a mountain. We saw some beautiful Ecuadorian scenery, so the hike was worth the exhaustion. Mom if you are reading this….. I didn’t cry on the hike like I did in Spain. It was worse than that hike and you should be very proud. Although I finished scaling the mountain I fell quite far behind with Stacie and Alex. We also met with the teams we are working with all week. We planned what we are doing on our work sites all week. We all have a part in VBS, and we will all be able to do some construction projects as well. We will be at several different sites around the community, and working with lots of children! The trip so far has been so great, and I can’t wait to see the wonderfully amazing ways God is going to work!

Well lets see here we woke up to a beautiful view of a volcano. After we all took our pictures of the volcano we headed down to breakfast and ate some wonderful food. Once we finished the wonderful breakfast we headed to an amazing worship service. In the service we got to experience two different cultures at work to praise God. We sang in both english and spanish. We got to listen to a wonderful sermon from Steve Thompson. In his sermon he challenged all of us to “Cross over to the other side”. We are all also challenged to go out and be missionaries and cross over to the other side and reach out to the people of the world. After an amazing sermon and worship we headed down to the mega relay and competed against all the other groups. Alex and Matt’s team won my team came in last I think but hey it was fun.

Hey its Will. Today we arrived at Camp Chaucaco or something like that. The weather is perfect here even though we are basically on the Equator. There a volcano right next to camp but we haven’t seen it yet cause of the clouds and we have felt and heard it rumble many times already. The ride to Patate was about 4 hours. We saw stray cows and dogs everywhere in the street. Where the traffic was thick there were people selling stuff like fruit and drinks. Oh yea cars here have carpet on the dashboard and theres no speed limits. Today was  cool and Ecuadorific as Matt Lempert would say. I’m excited to see what God’s got in store not just for the rolling hills team but for all the teams at Camp Chacauco.

After a stressful morning of a late wake up call from *cough* Nic Allen *cough* and a possibility of a lost passport, we finally packed all our bags and set off for the camp in Patate. The drive to Patate was a lot different than I had expected. What I believed to be poverty in Quito was nothing compared to what we would see outside the city. Broken landscape and graffiti littered streets become common place. Beautiful cloud-covered mountains was a forgiving sight and kept our minds off the small dangerous roads that we were driving on. Something that was small but neat was how cheap everything down here was! Matt and I bought some ice cream bars for $.050 a piece. Not that big of a deal, but it was an eye opener for how much products are worth in the U.S. After a few bus stops, we traveled through the mountains and finally found the camp in the valley next to a river. Everyone settled down in their cabins and Austin, Matt, Will, and I enjoyed a game of basketball before the worship later that night. I am so excited to meet the kids and am truly ready to see what God has in store for me this week. There is no doubt in my mind that I will leave this camp changed. I love and miss my family and friends very much. Love you Mom, Dad, Sam, Josh, Casey,

Ryan Martin

So this morning after breakfast, we’ll be loading buses and heading to camp.  It’s about a 3.5-4 hour drive from Quito.  We’re really excited to get there.  I can’t wait for our team to see God’s gorgeous landscape.  Chacauco is really beautiful.  We’re all looking forward to meeting the other churches (there will be approximately 150 others with us at camp) and the m-fuge staff.  We’re really excited about getting to work.  Sightseeing was so much fun, but we’re here with a purpose.  God has already begun to move in our team and we can’t wait to see how he moves us on mission this week.  We’re counting on being able to have wifi at camp.  If we don’t, that means this will be our last daily blog for at least a few days until we get to Banos and can hit a wireless cafe.  If this is our last update for a while, please pray for our students as they meet their team leaders and team mates.  Pray that God will assemble just the right mix of folks.  Pray for the sight contacts that they’ll continue being open and receptive to our coming to serve and share.  Pray for continued safety, harmony, and great attitudes as we empty ourselves.  Also pray that it will be hard.  There is something so valuable in our walks about attempting something really grand for Jesus, knowing that the potential for failure is so huge, and seeing Him come through and work things out in ways you can’t even imagine.  Pray for hard stuff and then pray for miracles!

Adios!

Today was our first full day in Ecuador, which we spent travelling from a beautful Cathedral to Independance Plaza to the Equator, (which I just found out is not really the equator, and shopping around in the little markets surrounding the Equator.  We went to a mall and ate dinner for under five dollars (pizza and burritos) and then started on our way back home to Hotel Quito.

After being repeatedly told to ‘not drink the water’ in Ecuador, we consistently avoided un-bottled water, and even asked for no ice in our drinks. After dinner, four of us decided to get some shaved ice for a snack, not thinking of anything except how wonderfus our frozen ice would taste. That’s right, the kind of ice that is made of water. Oops. Fortunately, only two of us ended up in the bathroom. So far….

All in all, today has been great. We braved a bunch of rickety ladders, earning ourself a great view and some wonderful pictures. We wandered around in the small shops finding unique little Ecuadorian trinkets.

We thank God that we have arrived safely and have had nothing but positive experiences. I know I’m looking forward to the camp ahead, and I hope everyone else is!!

Thanks for the support!

Hey! It’s chloe! Ecuador so far has been amazing.  We woke up around 7 and went to breakfast at 8. The breakfast was really great. There was tons of stuff we had never heard of, like there was this one thing called a corn…something. It was good. We also had some papya and a bunch of Spanish stuff. Then we went on the bus with Esteban ( our lovely tour guide ) and drove to a Catherdral called La Basilica. It was amazing! In the midst of the crazy city the Catholic church was the biggest and tallest and by far the most beautiful building there. We got to see the inside of it, and the awesome stain glass windows. Then we walked up about 9,749,836,298,564,369 stairs and got to the top to look out the windows. Then there was a part where you could climb up a very unsafe ladder and go to the top to see the top of the tower. The crazy people made it all the way while Me, Alexis, Molly, Susan, and Stacy stayed halfway down. Regardless of how high we went up, the view was amazing.

Next we went to the Independence Park and ate lunch. We got to see where the President worked and also the strange British looking gaurds. The lunch was pretty good except for those of us who are lactose intolerant, but I had absolutely no problem eating off of other plates.

Then we went to the Equator which was awesome! Even though it wasn’t the real Equator. We got to go shopping and buy stuff for a bunch of people and walk up more stairs. Yay.

We went to the mall and got supper. There was an American rstaurant. Wierd. Then we went back to the hotel and here we are now.

Today was awesome! I’m so thankful that I got to go on this trip and I cant wait for what God has in store for us!

Dear Dad,

Sorry I didn’t get to call. I love you and miss you. Tell Jackson i miss him! Have a great day.  I am thinking of you!!

Well, we made it.  And so did our luggage.  Everyone is having such a great day.  Attitudes are awesome and team morale is really high.  We can’t wait to hit the historical parts of Quito tommorrow along with the equator, the museum, and the mall.

Being a Christ follower means answering scripture’s call to share Christ among the nations.  That’s why we go on mission.  It’s obedience to God and because God likes obedience, it’s also worship.  As a student pastor my role is really different here than any other mission trip I might take.  I am still here to meet needs, communicate Christ, and impact lives with the love of Jesus in the communities we serve.  I’m here to love kids families, to encourage believers, and make a difference.  Beyond all that, I have a call to the students who are with us.  I’m not here just be a missionary.  I’m not here just to fill a spot on a required ratio so that high school students will be safe and cared for.  I’m here to mimic Christ in my words and my actions in a way that translates to the team we brought.  I’m here to help them capture a heart for missions and pursue the passions of God.  This is their high school mission trip and I’m here for them.

My prayer this week is that conditions would be ripe for the harvest of our own students.  My prayer is that everything we do and say will further cause fruit to spring up in their lives and in their wal

So, we are finishing up hour 3 of a 6 hour layover in sunny Miami, FL.  The flight from Nashville here was rather uneventful with the inflight movie being Bolt and most of our RHCC team taking a snooze to make up for the sleepy time we lost last night due to the early AM airport arrival.

We’ve all had our fill of cuban sammies, pizza by the slice, chinese food, and cheese cake (our last stateside meal) and are hanging out.  Some are reading and chatting on their cell phones one last time.  Some are napping.  Those of us who love community are enjoying round after round of a card game called Presidents where Adrianno continues to win.  I think you have to be from Centennial HS to be good at this.  Nevertheless, time is passing and we are counting down the moments until we board.  Here’s a run down of what we’ll be doing for the rest of today and tomorrow.

We hope to arrive in Quito at approximately 6:25pm tonight.  We’ll check in to the Hotel Quito and get settled for the night.  Tomorrow is a tourist day for the RHCC team.  We built in time on the front in and the back end of the trip to enjoy Ecuador.  Tomorrow it’s historic downtown Quito, Independence Plaza, the Presidential Palace, La Basilica, the Mall El Jardin, and the monument at the equator.  It’s a full day.

Pray that we really gel as a team.  Pray that as we see Ecuador for the first time, God begins to grow in us a heart for the people here.  Pray that our opportunity to represent Christ and America to our translators will be authentic and pure. Pray for a good night’s rest tonight and a great day tomorrow.  Also pray for the other US teams who will travel in from all over the country tomorrow.  They will meet us tomorrow night at the hotel and we’ll all head to Patate together on Saturday morning!

It’s gonna be a big time.  Here we go!

Hey friends and family! Tomorrow is the big day – our team leaves for Ecuador! We are so excited about what God is going to do!

Thank you so much for making it possible for me to go and serve alongside Nicholas with our students. It is through you that God made a way for me to go and serve. Thank you! I believe that God is going to do some amazing things and I cannot wait to come back home and share it with you! We will return Sunday, June 21st with many stories and pictures to share!

I would ask that you be in prayer for several things while we are away…

1. Please pray for my sweet girls Lillie Cate and Nora Blake as they stay with my parents. This is the longest we have been away from them, so please pray for peace and comfort and that they will have a wonderful time with Poppie and Gigi. Also pray for my parents as the assume the parent role of 2 busy toddlers for 11 days.

2. Please pray for our team as we go and minister to the Ecuadorian people. Pray that life and heart change will happen in our students. Pray that they will step out of their comfort zone and let God use them in huge ways! Pray that salvation will spring up for those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

3. Please pray for the people in Patate, Ecuador. Pray that their hearts will be open to hearing and seeing Jesus. Pray also that salvation will rise within that group of people and that transformation will begin in their community.

4. Please pray for the missionaries we will be working with – Steve and Carol Thompson. Pray for their continued work in the village that they live and pray that we can be a huge assistance to them and their ministry.

5. Please pray for safety as we serve in another country. Pray for safety as we travel by air, bus, and foot.

All of you are so special to me and my family. You have supported and encouraged Nic and I for many years, and I am forever grateful. We love you all so much, and cannot wait to share with you all the amazing things God does when we return.

All for HIS Glory!

Susan