Well we made it through another week, and a few days of staying in Babahoyo without seeing any cockroaches in our hotel room. We had a good week with the team from Russellville, Arkansas. I even let some of them cut my hair into a mullet, and then we cut it off for the church service that evening.

We had the opportunity to do evangelism in various places throughout the cities; such as schools, on the street corners and at a few churches. I had the opportunity to do a couple of skits. As many of you know I'm not the fine arts man, but after a week I think I can do it. Haha.

One of the things that really struck me was the town of Montanita. We did our evangelism program there at the school. This town is extremely poor; the main source of income is fishing. We did our program for the school right in the middle of the town square, and I had to use the restroom. I walked through the school and out to the bathroom. They had to pour a bucket of water in the stool for it to work. As I continued walking, I noticed to my right a picture of Jesus in a stained glass window. I began to wonder here was a beautiful church and the presence of Jesus was right in the midst of this extreme poverty.

I began to get a bit angry as I continued to stare at the church and the picture of Jesus. The reason I became angry is because this church was not impacting these impoverished people. I believe Jesus will give them hope, a hope for a better future. As I began to talk to Phil about this, he said that in Ecuador the Catholic Church teaches that you should accept your lot in life. That you should just continue on in your life doing what you do. But at the end of the day, I believe that Jesus wants to give these people hope; not necessarily save them from poverty but somehow lessen the poverty that they live in and give them joy. I also believe he wants to give them eternal hope with salvation in him.

Please continue to pray for the upcoming teams that we have through the rest of June and July. Please continue to pray for the people of Ecuador. Pray that God would use us to touch them through our churches, outreach programs and construction teams.
Again, thank you for your prayers and your financial support.

The First Of Many.....

The first team has come and gone, they had opportunities to minister in schools through skits and puppets in the towns of Salinas, Libertad and Palmar.  One of the events that I really enjoyed was the opportunity to go a special needs facility. The team had the opportunity to do some skits and puppets for these kids, most of whom are ignored by society. We also had the opportunity on our day off to do some sightseeing. We were able to go swimming in the Pacific ocean which was nice because it was about 85 degrees. We also went to an old American World War 2 base, which contains the farthest Western point in South America.  Please continue to pray for us as we continue to travel the country, with the different ministry teams. Also please pray for safety and for good health, and that our teams would impact lives. Thanks again for your prayers and financial support.

Ministry to children at a local church in Palmar.

Ministry to children at the special needs facility.

A little guy at the special needs facility.

Standing on the farthest western point in South America.