Those of Poatug

July 30th

Poatug, Ecuador

Another day brought about more opportunities. Another day of opportunities to accomplish tasks at our worksites and opportunities to share Christ with others, especially in San Jorge at the Bible School and at Poatug for the Wednesday night service. My role changed today at the worksite with all of the electrical work done (or at least done for what was built). Today, I assisted with the exterior walls around the cabins, helping out our church leader, John, cut the boards and figure out measurements. Everything flowed pretty well…with the exception of a few misinterpretations of measurements on my part.

The last day of Bible school was a blessing. Over a 110 kids participated, nearly double the amount of kids we had for the first day. It was another great opportunity to share with them, especially during story time when we talked about Peter walking on water before presenting the gospel to them. With quite a few more kids today than the previous two days, juice time and organizing the kids became a bit more of an issue. However, I’m so glad that I had a chance to share with these kids and those of the community of Silvecha through my story time. I know I got through…to at least some of them…because some willing volunteers rattled off the memory verses and stories of the previous two days with no problem.

Following dinner, our church group had the pleasure of attending a Wednesday night service in Poatug, a village that we worked in for two years building a church. It’s a place very near to my heart as it was one of the first villages I ever got to visit here in Ecuador during my first trip nearly six years ago. It’s a village that’s been through a lot of change through the past few years. My first trip, we had a Bible study in someone’s basement because there was no church building. Six years later, God’s work stands for itself for others to view. Those who call themselves Christians still experience persecution in various ways, from being cut off from their family to not having as much business because of their religious beliefs, but still they come back to the tiny church on the hill to worship time and time again. Near the end of the service, lead by Angel, I got to share with the villagers in attendance for about five minutes. Something I’ll always remember is getting to say 95% of it in Spanish. What a thrill to be able to communicate your thoughts and feelings with others in another language.

With that said, I thank God that he gave me the ability to pick up the language so quickly. This summer has especially reinforced the importance of words (with actions as well). To communicate with someone is everything if you desire to strike up a conversation and have the ability to share the gospel with them. And this is my desire, to share the gospel with those of Ecuador. We are the hands and feet of the body of Christ and it’s our duty to share with others the good news of Christ, whether in English or Spanish or any other language.