Awesome worship service! (Day 8)

Good morning from Ecuador! We had an awesome worship in our hostel this morning. We sang songs and hymns, read the same scriptures that you read in church today and had a Bible study on "strength". For those of us still here, please pray for physical, emotional and spiritual strength as we continue to do Gods work here in Quito.
Yesterday was a more relaxing day after a hard week of work. We helped with a yardsale at Pan de Vida then went to Mitad de Mundo (center of the world, the equator), or so we thought. Dave brought his GPS to see if it was real, and unfortunately, it was off by about 300 yards. We still took a picture in front of the monument.
We had a reflection time with Oscar yesterday, where we shared what this week has meant to us. We all have changed from when we first arrived and cannot wait to share that with you. It was an emotional time for all.
We said good bye to 7 team members last night, and last we heard, they made it safely to Atlanta. Our prayers were with them as they travelled back home. We will miss them and are excited to see them again next week for our worship service. Dave is leaving this afternoon for his additional adventures in Brazil, so pray for safe travel for him, as well.
Today is another relaxing day, more team bonding and a chance to get some souvenirs for our loved ones back home. We are helping with lunch and the service at Pan de Vida (Mark will hopefully get a chance to play the drums or bongo for the music at the service, too) then off for our day.
One of the scriptures for today in the Gospel of Matthew is about Jesus feeding the 5000. Without knowing that, we had actually chosen that lesson for our VBS theme tomorrow. God is sure in control of what we are doing at Pan de Vida.
Blessings to you from Quito, and please pray for our renewed strength! Still trying to get pictures... (but we will definitely have them next week during the worship services and Sunday school hour).

Day of rest- helped with the yard sale then went to Mitad del Mundo(equator). We needed some rest after our busy week. Safe travels to those leaving.

What an awesome day!

We had another very busy day on Thursday! We had 54 kids in VBS learning about Jonah and the big fish. The craft was a winner! We got the outside of the wall painted and all of the trimming finished. We started to paint the inside of Pan de Vida and will finish that today and next week. The building crew has the columns started and all of the holes filled with concrete. They are learning how to mix concrete the Ecuadorian way!
We ate dinner at the food court in the mall, and the ice cream is wonderful! From there we rode to Zambiza dump to feed the workers, but hit a snag. The gatekeepers would not let us past the gate. They would not call the supervisor who knew we were coming. We knew it was Satan was getting in our way and blocking us from serving the workers. We said a prayer on the bus and within minutes the gatekeepers opened the gate! Praise God!
We made 100 sandwiches, fruit and hot chocolate to feed to the miners (that is what they call themselves) and set up the feeding area. We heard from Pastor Josea and his wife about their ministry there and all they are doing to provide for the miners. Once the miner started coming, we greeted them and handed out the food. We also gave them gift bags that contained a t-shirt, socks, soap, toothbrush, tooth paste and soap. They were very appreciative and wanted to personally thank us. We got a chance to talk with them and take a few pictures, and we were blessed by being able to get to spend some time with them. What a moving and God-filled time we all experienced.
Today we go to the Volcano Amusement Park with the kids, then back for painting and cleaning. We will try to call home tonight after 8:30pm your time since we cannot skype.
Please keep us in your prayers!
Oh- people are wondering about the weather: wonderful sums it up! It is about 65 during the day with sun, then some clouds. We have had a little rain but nothing that is stopping us from working outside. God is blessing us with a wonderful trip!
Still having trouble with pictures, but we will keep trying.

2nd Work Day!

Wow, did today go better! We have no internet access on our only computer at the hostel, so we will not be able to skype as we thought. We will use the Pan de Vida computer from now on! Yeah!
Our second day of VBS was much better. Rebekah led us in a devotion about putting on the full armor of God, and that gave us strength for the day. Praise God! We had 54 kids today, and all activities went much smoother. We taught about the Gifts of the Magi and the kids loved it, especially the Ring Pops (jewels of the kings).
The bathroom project is progressing, too. They are building a 2 story room now, with the bathrooms on the bottom floor and more offices on the 2nd floor. The offices will be added later, but the structure will all be built at the same time. They have the 4 holes for the columns dug and are starting to fill the holes with cement and gravel.
The rest of the work today was trim painting and spackeling the outer wall, inside and out. Tomorrow we roll paint, then the wall will be done! We finish our day today helping with the service and dinner at Pan de Vida, then dinner ourselves. Tomorrow we have a full day then serve the workers at the Zambiza dump.
We are all well with lots of team bonding. Hopefully we will be able to send pictures soon. Please keep us in your prayers, and THANKS for all of the comments - keep them coming! WE are praying for all of you back home, too. Blessings from our team!

FIRST WORK DAY!

We are still having computer issues, but all is well. We taught VBS to 55 kids and started the bathroom project. It was a hectic day, but we had a debrief session to figure out better ways to manage the kids. We also did some painting prep (yes, the same wall as last year) and window washing. Thanks for the prayers!

We are here!!! Hard to get wifi so we will write more from pan de Vidal.

Pastor sending us as missionaries!

This morning at the 8:30 worship service, Pastor Speaks sent us as missionaries representing Fountain of Life Lutheran Church in Kernersville, NC. Love those brown ER shirts, and I promise we will not all match again! May God go with us!

Packing!

We had an awesome time packing our suitcases last night. We packed all of the VBS supplies for 8 days of VBS, as well as cases of clothes for the Pan de Vida clothing closet in 19 suitcases. I think each of us reached our 50 lb limit! That was our last meeting before we leave on Sunday and I think we are all very excited. Please keep us in your prayers! I know God has huge plans for us in Quito, Ecuador!

Less than 1 week!

We are in the final stages of planning for our trip. We are also putting together a prayer team, so we know that people are praying for us back home. Comment below if you want to be on the prayer team!

Photo of the Team

Since we have not taken an official team photo, this is the best one we have. Hopefully we can take a better one when we are actually on the mission trip. Please keep us all in your prayer!

Less Than Two Weeks

I am happy to say we are fully funded and still the money keeps rolling in!! Praise God.  He has provided more than enough funds for our initial projects! Now we are able to build a bathroom as well!!!  It's great we have plumbers coming down with us, and many people who have a construction background.  God is using all of our gifts to help Pan De Vida, and the people of Quito. 

Please keep the team in your prayers as we prepare our hearts, mind, and body for the mission God is sending us on. The names of all who are going are the following: Debbie, Mark, Chris, Stephanie, Megan, Sarah, Pat, Matt, Bekka, Larry, Gwen, Lourdes, Steve, Kathy, Dave, Erica, Debbie, Dinene, and Rebekah. 

Thank you for the prayers and support.