An Ecuadorian Mission Experience

On Tuesday, we woke up at 5:15am and departed the hostel for Riobamba at 7am. Rob and Winston cooked us up an amazing breakfast using our leftover chicken from dinner the night before: huevos con pollo, or eggs with chicken. Oh so good!

The drive to Riobamba was a wild adventure of sorts, but many of the youth took time to sleep as well. Riding on a bus in Ecuador is an adventure. The traffic laws are really more like suggestions. We frequently found the bus passing other buses or trucks in all sorts of situations. The craziest thing we saw, though, was a triple pass. One uhaul type truck was passing a larger truck, and a little red car decided to pass both of them at the same time with oncoming traffic speeding around a turn! Oh my!

At one of our bathroom stops, many of us went into the gas station to purchase snacks and drinks. The best was the look on the lady working the store when Winston walked in! She looked as though she had seen an alien staring at Winston with her mouth wide open. At 6’2” with light skin and red hair, Winston is a sight to behold to the locals.

The drive wound through valleys and mountaintops, and the scenery was amazing. It was hard to get good pictures, but I think I got a couple so you can get an idea. The surprising thing for many of us was that there were cows and other livestock all over the place. Many times they were chained to one spot, but other times they were just wandering about with no fences to keep them penned in. A couple of times we saw a small group of 3-4 cows being herded down the side of the highway.

At one point, it started raining, and Cameron pointed out that the rain was milky looking on the windshield. The volcano that erupted a week or so ago is still spewing some ash, and it was collecting in the rain. That was pretty neat to witness.

Our hotel is in downtown Riobamba, and it is really old fashioned. It is more like something you would have stayed at in the US in the 1960s. Its name is Hotel Whymper. The drive to Columbe de Grande is about 45 minutes up winding roads. At one point, we got to a small town with cobblestone roads. The bus fit tight between the buildings, and at one point we had two other buses wanting to make turns at the same tight intersection. Luckily there was a little square at the intersection, and the buses used it to maneuver around each other. We crossed a really little bridge, and then we started picking up children!

At first three boys hopped on the bus. We were a little surprised, because we didn’t know we’d be picking up anyone. But then we kept stopping along the dirt road, picking up more and more children! The bus was getting overrun with little indigenous children! They were so cute and so funny. They were both shy and mesmerized by us. We quickly learned that they had just gotten out of school and we were giving them a ride up the mountain. The road was rough, bumpy, and it twisted and snaked up to Columbe Grande. After at least 10 minutes of driving, we finally arrived at Columbe Grande. We had the immediate realization that those kids walk down and back up the mountain every day for school!

Upon arriving at Columbe Grande, we were immediately transported into a world very different than we had ever seen. They are indigenous Quechua Indians, and they live off the land almost completely. They are a quiet and humble people, and they welcomed us with great joy. We walked into the church they are building, and gazed around in bewilderment. We were then called outside to meet and greet. Their priest, church president, village president, and other elders greeted us with thanksgiving and joy.

During this time we learned that they were having a community work day. They called these days minga. Minga is a day that the community comes together to do work to benefit the community as a whole. We quickly hopped into work mode and joined them in their labor. They have been building their church for 5 years. It is a working functional building now, and they are working on some of the details. It still has a ways to go, but it is a very impressive building considering they have done it all on their own.

We hauled sand and dirt, shoveled, cleared a section for a new entry walkway that will be stone, and we painted (white washed) a large wall inside the church. It was really cool because we worked alongside them. We stopped for lunch, and it was a totally new experience for us. They served us potatoes, yucca, a type of bean, fresh cheese, pea soup with pork, and a juice made from corn. We were so humbled and honored because we learned that they killed a pig for us and in honor of us coming to minister with them.

Afterwards, we worked a little bit more, played with some of the children, and then we prepared for church. The little children were mesmerized by the digital cameras, and they loved seeing their faces on the view screen. We took tons of photos and laughed and giggled at them.

In the evening we participated in a Eucharist with them. Eulogio is the priest of Columbe Grande. He is also the only priest for 40 indigenous churches/villages with a total of 14,000 members. He visits each one once a month, and presides over at least 7 church services every Sunday.

Church was an amazing experience, and my words just won’t do it justice. Remember, this is an Episcopal Church, and it is completely made up of indigenous people. They asked us to start the service of with music, so we sang a few songs (in spanish and english). After our songs, their choir sang a couple songs in Quechua for us. They used an accordian, a guitar, and a drum with 20 singers. The music was beautiful and rhythmic.

Overall, the service followed the same liturgical format that our’s does. We had a Gospel reading, and then Eulogio had asked me to preach, so I preached on forgiveness with Rachel, one of our missionary interns, translating into Spanish for me. After my sermon, Eulogio summarized my sermon in Quechua for the older church members who don’t speak spanish. We had the confessional and the passing of the peace. For the Eucharist, Eulogio followed Rite II, but he did it in a mix of Quechua and Spanish...way cool! Cameron and I administered the sacraments, and then we closed the service with more music and singing from our group and the Quechua choir. The service ended up being nearly 3 hours long!

We ate a late dinner at a local pizza joint. The youth said it was incredibly good! Pizza in Ecuador isn’t too different from pizza in the US, but they don’t have mozzarella here (they just have a basic white cheese that is used for everything) and pepperoni tastes a little different.

All in all, a great day!

blessings,
dorian