An Ecuadorian Mission Experience

Good morning folks,

It has been about a month since we returned from our mission experience. It still feels pretty fresh in my mind, and I think daily about our experiences and the people we encountered. It is a hard transition back to "normal" life. It becomes difficult to reconcile things that were/are normative for our lives back home with some of the things that we experienced in Ecuador. One missioner after purchasing a small laptop computer for college, felt horrible knowing that the amount of money spent could feed a family in Ecuador for a year. The level of poverty in Columbe Grande was stunning and hard to comprehend, and even after experiencing the poverty in Quito for a second year, we still found it heart breaking and disconcerting. It is a level of poverty rarely, if ever, seen in the States.

But in the midst of abject poverty, the love of Christ burns bright. We were witnesses to a faith that was strong and pure. When you have nothing, you cling to all that you have, and for the communities that we served, Christ Jesus is what they have. In Columbe Grande, the indigenous people make church and faith the absolute center of their lives. The community has been working together for 5 years to construction their church, and the level of detail that they have been putting into it far exceeds anything they would even consider for their own personal lives and possessions. They also commit whole afternoon and evenings to church events. A church service easily goes 3-4 hours, and weddings are a 4 day event!

In Emaus, they are intent on being a mission focused community. Some of the members do own businesses, work, or go to school, but most, if not all, live very modestly. But they pool their resources to provide ministries to answer the needs of the surrounding community. They preach the Gospel of Christ Jesus and show his love to all without abandon. Their lives are faith focused, completely. It doesn't mean that they are perfect, none of us are, but they have a strong love of the Lord and they want to share it. They are an inspiration.

I will continue to ponder and think about our experiences, and this probably won't be my last post. Our group is gathering this Friday over dinner to talk more about bearing fruit from our experiences and how we are feeling post-mission. Please continue to pray for us and the communities we served and ministered with. Thank you for all your support and prayers.

blessings,
dorian

DISCLAIMER:
For most of you, this part won't make any sense, and that's okay. But there are people who need to read this. So if it doesn't make sense to you, don't worry about it. Our relationship with Youth World goes back a couple years now. We knew going into this mission who we would be working with and what their situations and statuses were. We knew that we were not working through or with the Diocese of Central Ecuador. Also, we did not intend to work through the Diocese of Central Ecuador, but to further clarify, we did not intend to avoid the Diocese either. Our main intent was to continue to build relationships with and through Youth World, and we have previous and established relationship with and through Youth World. If anything written in our blog conveyed something otherwise, it was completely unintentional.