Switching Fields

August 1^st

Quito, Ecuador

There wasn’t a lot of sleep to go around, especially when you’re trying to fit everything into two suitcases and a bookbag that you’ve needed for the past two months. Our group ate our last meal at camp around 7am before pulling out around 8am. It all seemed to rush by so quickly. Plenty of hugs and email addresses were exchanged. Last goodbyes were said. But to tell the truth, I wasn’t all that sad. Maybe it’s because I know I’ll see each person again, whether it be in the United Stated, Ecuador, or heaven.

While I wasn’t sad, there were other emotions in the mix. I had invested two months of myself in this tiny South American country, meeting as many people as I could, soaking up Spanish, and sharing with as many people possible the good news that I had found in Jesus Christ. It was more a feeling relief, relaxing in the many new memories I had to take back home with me and thinking about all the work still yet to be done.

The rest of the day flew by quickly on the bus with stops at the Pallacta hot springs and the Quito artesian market before our group ate dinner in the mall. I gulped down some Ecuadorian KFC before taking a taxi to the airport for my red-eye flight. The flight itself wasn’t terrible, with a layover in Guayaquil before proceeding to Atlanta, but I couldn’t get one bit of sleep in the upright, uncomfortable seats.

I guess my brain was still in Ecuador. Part of it will probably always be there in fact. It will always be a special place to me, a place where God called me away from the states to get me to concentrate on his work. One verse that keeps coming to mind to describe this summer is one that Brother Steve used often in his devotionals this summer. “The harvest is great, but the workers are few (Luke 10:2),” has affected me in way unknown to me when the summer started. It’s a verse of depression and one of relaxation. “The harvest is great,” is such a true statement. It will always be that way. For that reason, God calls us out of our comfort zones to glorify His name and spread the Good News all over the world. I also feel lucky and blessed that I’m one of the few workers he chose to call to Ecuador.

When you think about it, I’m only switching fields. My Master wants me to work in the blackberry thicket instead of the cornfields. Not a problem….just a change in crops and scenery.

This will be my last blog post of this summer. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about God’s work in Ecuador and I urge you to get involved in the foreign mission field, whether it be through the Thompsons in Ecuador or some other country. After all, WE are the hands and feet of Christ.