Glory to God

Every day we have seen the Lord at work and we just want to give him all the Glory!! On Wednesday for instance, our bus was running 45 minutes late and “we” thought we would not make it in time to get breakfast fixed and served to the children. However, with it out of our control we were able to get there and get breakfast prepared and serve the kids right on time. We also prepared lunch and dinner for that day and ended up having just enough food for the dinner feeding. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, Pan De Vida has a church service with praise and worship and a feeding program for the adults and children. Wednesday night we fed about 160 people and ended the last meal with the last person standing in line. I am so amazed at how many times this continues to happen to me and Mike on the mission field. This has been unique team in that only a few of them have ever been on a mission trip much less out of the country. We love to see God at work changing the lives of the people on the team in such a short period of time. We have had to pray on a number of occasions for the rain to go away, for the gatekeeper at the dump to let us come in and serve the night workers, and for someone living on the street to be available when we are driving home to give them the extra food we have had left over from our dinner. God has certainly shown up in so many ways and we still have another week to go.

Fountain of Life Team in Ecuador

We have had our first week of VBS at Pan De Vida ministry and it has been a wonderful time with an average of 57 kids each day. Most of the children that come each week really get there stability from the Pan De Vida staff because they have so many issues at home. They see this place as a safe haven and get lots of TLC from them. The FOL team has brought a lot of love and support for the staff and kids for this 2 week period and Extreme Response is so grateful for this partnership between Fountain of Life and Pan De Vida and we are thankful to be a part of it.They have had a drama each day, played games outside, made crafts, and memorized Bible verses. They have also been fed breakfast, a snack, and lunch. For most of these kids if they get one meal a day they are very fortunate. There are 19 on the team and they have been a really big help in coming alongside the ministry to help further the Kingdom through VBS, and a construction team. The construction team is working alongsidethe maestro (foreman) and 3 co-workers to build a bathroom onto the side of the building. Fountain of Life has 3 guys that are helping with the project but it is sometimes difficult for a construction team from the states to come and work in a foreign country because so many techniques are done so differently. However, it almost always has its rewards even if you don’t see them right away. God always has a plan in place and the team usually ends up gaining more from the experience than the project itself.Thursday evening we fed the night workers at the dump and this was an opportunity for the team to meet some of the poorest of the poor in Quito. On Friday, we took the kids on a field trip to a small amusement park and had so much fun with them. For most of them it was their first time to go and it was great to see so many smiling faces when we know they have very challenging situations at home.I was lucky enough to have the oldest kids so they wanted to ride all the “big” rides and play some of the games. Two out of the 7 won stuffed animals and they were very happy to be taking a memory home with them. Through the Lord’s provision, the FOL team really blessed these kids and gave them a wonderful week.

USC nursing team at Zambiza Dump, Tosagua and Mindo

On Wednesday last week, we took the team out to the Zambiza Dump where we did medical screenings for about 40 children in the morning, then fed them a meal. These children are cared for and go to school at the dump daycare while their parents are working sorting out the recyclable materials. In the afternoon, the children have a little play area built by another team and we entertained the kids with face painting and loving on them. We left for a while to go have dinner and then came back to the dump to do medical screenings for about 70 of the night workers. The USC team wanted to do something special for them so they bought two huge pots of Chinese food and we distributed that about 8:30 that evening. There were a few out of the box thinkers that wanted more, so they took 2 liter coke bottles and cut off the top and filled them up with left overs and took food back to their families that stayed back to continue to shuffle through the trash. Jose and Theresa, the Pastor and his wife, who have been working with the people at the dump for about 4 years, always use this opportunity to share the Gospel with the workers and to build relationships with them. Extreme Responses ultimate goal is supply the need and be able to come along side and support the local pastor and his ministry.
The next day we left early for a 9 hour journey to Tosagua with a short stopover in Santo Domingo to teach CPR to a local church group. Dr. Moss and a few other team members instructed them with a Red Cross video and mannequins. They were very eager to learn and were very appreciative. From there we drove through the rainforest to Tosagua. The first day we did medical screenings for about 92 people in the village where they didn’t have any electricity or running water. One lady accepted Christ and that was the biggest highlight of the day. We are always so amazed at how the local people bless us when we want to come to be a blessing to them. They managed to serve us a home cooked meal, Ecuadorian style of course, and provided all kinds of fruits throughout the day. They were very thankful for the team coming out and it was a great opportunity for the team to see how people live on very little means. The next morning we had a screening from 8:30 to 11:00 at the church and saw 80 people. We left for Manta, on the coast, and then caught a plane back to Quito. This was a wonderful experience for all of us and a wonderful opportunity to see more of Ecuador.
The last day we drove to Mindo where the team had a little R&R before flying back to the states. They got to go on 11 zip lines over another rainforest and then stop over for shopping at Mitad Del Mundo, middle of the world. The team came back to the team house for a wonderful dinner and debrief and then we took them to the airport for the red eye flight.