Ecuador

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the Wonderful Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have just sent a team of six men on a wonderful 10-day short-term mission trip to Ecuador.  Assemblies of God missionary Tim Anderson hosted the team and was assisted by Pastor Luis Montana. The team was composed of Constantin Lupancu, William Ripple, George Ieremciuc, Viorel Gromzi, Edgar Garza and Adrian Greab.  They arrived in the city of Quito, Ecuador on Tuesday, November 27. The team distributed 240 full Spanish Bibles in the prison and also at the Teen Challenge Center.
Wednesday morning the team went to Quito Number 1 prison (maximum security) where they preached the Gospel on one of the wings in a courtyard. The prisoners have an active church of their own and when they got inside the inmates were already singing and speaking. Because many men exercise in the courtyard, many heard the Gospel who were not even a part of the church service. There were about 15 people who prayed to give their lives to Jesus Christ. The guards are very strict with the foreigners and other visitors alike. They weren’t allowed to have a belt or hat and no cameras were allowed. That afternoon they drove 5 hours from Quito to Puyo, which is the last city before you drive down to the jungle. Also on the way they saw a couple of small eruptions from one of the active volcanoes in Ecuador. This road is lined with volcanoes.
Thursday morning they drove to the city of Shell where there is a small airport from which all the planes leave for the Amazon jungle. This famous road has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. In the city of Shell just across from the airport is the house that Nate Saint built (Through Gates of Splendor). He was one of missionaries killed in 1956 by the Auca Indians in the Amazon. It takes 25 minutes to fly from Shell to the Shuar Indian village of Kuakash (this tribe was also once headhunters) where the team ministered. It would have taken a month to walk there. They preached the gospel to villagers and one teenager prayed to receive Jesus Christ. One purpose of the trip was to see possibility of sending future missions team to build schoolrooms and other projects. The people are very poor there and many of the children need medicine as well. The church floor was full of biting ants when they got there and they had to pour gasoline to kill them (some survived – ouch). Also they prayed for all the sick people who lined up in front of the church. Please keep all the people living in Kuakash in your prayers.
Friday morning they went to Teen Challenge, also run by Tim Anderson, in Quito. The team testified and preached to the many residents there. Friday night they went to a prayer meeting at Tim’s church “Jesus Never Fails” where there was a great move of God’s Spirit during the 5-hour service.
Saturday afternoon they went together with the teen challenge evangelism team to the Santo Domingo Plaza in downtown Quito. They passed out 750 Gospel Tracks and four people came forward to proclaim Christ as Savior. There are many drug addicts, alcoholics and prostitutes that frequent this plaza.
Sunday morning they went again to the jail to another wing where they conducted a church service in a very small room. It was so packed with people that some of the inmates were standing up. Everyone on the team had a chance to share about the Lord for 3 and a half hours. Four members of our team are Romanians and they even found two Romanian inmates in this jail. They prayed for them and all the inmates present there that God will work in their lives. Sunday night they went to Tim’s house for prayer and fellowship.
Monday and Tuesday morning the team presented the Chaplains for Christ International Training Seminar at the Teen Challenge center to 27 pastors, leaders and students. God worked in such a great way that several students were baptized with the Holy Spirit and most of them dedicated themselves to prison ministry. Monday afternoon they went to Rucu Pichincha Mountain on a trolley to 13,000 feet above sea level where they had a splendid view of Quito. They also made a prayer to God that he will bless all the work that was done on the mission trip.
Wednesday they went again to the maximum-security jail to yet a different wing where they had fellowship with the inmates in song and prayer. They preached the gospel to all the people present there including some families and visitors to the inmates. At the end of the service about 40 people came for the final prayer invitation to change their lives through Jesus Christ.
Thursday was their free day and together with Tim and his family they went to the centerline of the earth, the Equator. It was a very wonderful experience for all of them. Thursday night Tim’s family, Joe’s family and our team went to a restaurant for one last night of fellowship. We appreciate very much what Tim and Joe did for them and we pray to God that they will be blessed. And also let’s keep in prayer the whole country of Ecuador that God would work miracles in this country. We thank God for everything He has done for on this trip.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Staff Chaplain Rob Brown