Cayambe - An Indian Community

The day started with an hour and a half smooth ride from Quito to the city of Cayambe. The ride from Cayambe into the indigenous community was another hour and a half ride but this time the smooth road had become very bumpy (And with four people squished in the back seat you can imagine how "comfortable" it must have been). Despite the bumpiness (and the occasional donkey, sheep, cow, or horse in the road) the view was amazingly beautiful and beyond words. And the more we stared at its beauty the more the bumpiness and squished hips seemed to be completely out of minds. It is moments like these that you really wonder how people can look at such a beautiful site and still wonder if there is a God. How can they still doubt He is the creator?

The night before we left for Cayambe we purchased 30 bibles to give to the church in the Indigenous community. We purchased enough food to give to 20 families in the area. We also brought a donation of girl toys, boy toys, and cloths given to us by a local orphanage. After giving the food to 20 families and giving the donations away we munched on some food and awaited the night ahead of us. None of us could even imagine what the night was going to hold. The only thing that we knew was that we were performing at a service where all the surrounding churches would be gathered. We knew there was possibly going to be about 300 people and that there was going to be music and a message. They asked us to be a part of the program so we prepared five songs to sing. The service was supposed to start at 7 (but since we are on Ecuadorian time) it started late at 8. There was singing, drama, dance, and 4 messages. Before we knew it, it was 12 in the morning and we still had not sung yet. We were a little worried that our voices would not allow us to sing because of how late it was but God definitely got us through. The people seemed to enjoy the singing! They were even asking us to sing more songs. The service went from 8pm to 1am…5 hours of worshiping God with a kind of music we had never heard before (some songs in their own language “Quichua”). It was such an amazing experience to see how simple the lives of these people were. They had nearly nothing (as far as material items) but it didn’t matter. In a way I sort of envied how naive they were to the outside world. There was nothing to distort or distract their thinking. They love God a great deal--that is one thing that did not go unnoticed and I don't think that anyone of us left that place unchanged

Friday - Food Pantry and Day Care

On Friday we went to South Quito with Byron to bring food to fill up a food pantry which is run by a church in that area. This is the same food pantry that we were able to go to last June trip. We were able to purchase food for 20 families. The women who run the food pantry expressed their thankfulness with many tears and many hugs. They were taking pictures of everything we brought and were to excited to see us again. The pastors wife said she thought that we would never be able to go back to the food pantry. After filling the pantry we went to the church to see what it looked like. We noticed that the beds they had for children to sleep on in the nursery were very old and dirty so we decided to give the church money for two mattresses so the kids would have a clean bed to sleep on.










Later on in the day we went to a daycare in which 75 kids are taken care of. We brought toys, cloths, strollers, and much more things that the daycare needed. These are kids that come from poor families where both parents have to work in order to provide enough food to feed their family.

On thursday night we went to La Libertad where we helped out with a youth group and VBS (Vacation Bible School). This is the same place that we visited last trip (in june) where we painted the outside of the church and the inside of two rooms. How cool it was to see how the rooms are used now. The bright green room is now used for the kids VBS and the white room is used for the adult and youth group. Bre and I were able to sing for the kids, youth, and adults. It made me so excited to see all the kids and how much they have grown. Most of them seemed to recognize me and Bre and it was just so nice to be able to hold the little ones in my arms again :) It was so awesome to see that the work that we started last June was still continuing to grow. God is definately at work in that little church and Becky and Byron are doing such an amazing job with the people in the area.






During VBS we taught the kids that God is the creator of everything. We gave the kids chalk and told them to draw on the wall things they knew God had created. Some of them drew mountains, clouds, the sun, water, people, dogs, cats, etc. One little boy decided to draw on his face :) (It made me laugh because...God did create him after all!) We also did a craft with the kids where we had them make little balls with pieces of paper and they glued them onto a picture of the world. The bottom of the paper says "God created the World".

By:Danielle

If It's God's Will Then It's God's Bill

I just want to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who gave financially and prayerfully towards the Food 4 Puyo Project.

When Danielle, Efra and I decided in January to do this trip we only had enough money to purchase our plane tickets. We didn't know how we were going to pay for our own expenses never mind buying food for others; but when it's God's will then it's God's bill! Through the generous giving by EABC and Danielle's church family in Madawaska and the sale of Bre's CDs we have been able to do even more that we could have imagined! Jesus took our small offering and multiplied it to feed many. Let me list for you all the things we purchased to bless God's people.

$630---Food for 21 families
$300---Food for 10 more families for the Pastor to visit later this month
$100---ESL Materials & Gifts for 30 students
$250---A metal door for the Church building EABC helped built in June
$150---A special gift for the Pastor's Family
$80----One large bed for the family we met Monday morning

And that's not all......
we still have about $700 left to give away in Quito this weekend! By this coming Tuesday, the Food 4 Puyo project will have given away over $2,200 dollars!

Thank-you so much for your support; for it is better to give then to recieve. May your recieve a double blessing for the portion that you gave and may God recieve all the glory and praise.

by Alyssa

This Weeked--Elevation 18,500 Feet

by Efra

This coming Friday Danielle, Bre and I will be purchasing food for the same food pantry EABC’s team helped stock this past July. In the afternoon we will purchase Spanish Bibles for the indigenous people group we will be working with the following day.  Saturday morning the four of us, along with Byron Gudino from Isaiah 61 ministries will make the rough journey up into the mountains to visit a Quichua Indian community in Cayambe. This particular community lives off the land and they are very poor. Our team will bring them rice, sugar, and other items they usually can not afford to eat but are important for their health. In the evening Bre, Danielle, and I will perform a concert and then Byron will share the Gospel along with giving out the Bibles. The team will spend the night in whatever accommodations the community can provide. The following morning we will attend a church service and then head back to Quito for the remainder of our trip. Please pray for safety and health while we travel and spend time in the mountains. It is much colder in Cayambe because of elevation and it might be harder for us to breath. We are looking forward to helping out this community and sharing the love of God to them.  

Saturday--More Than We Expected

Saturday was the highlight of the trip for me. Everything happened so quickly but the gravity of the day will last for years. On top of bringing food to 5 families during the week, we also took time to personally invite 11 additional families to an outreach service on Saturday. That afternoon our team was running late getting to the service because picking up the fresh foods took longer then expected and we had to pick up a huge cake for our guests.

As we pulled into the drive way of the church we noticed all the children playing in the dirt and the parents waiting inside the church with anticipation. We unloaded the food into the building next door and hurried over to the church. Pastor Carlos introduced us to the families that we had not met previously and shared with them why we were in Ecuador. Bre, Danielle and Efra sang three songs that the people really seemed to like. One boy was dancing a little and a few ladies were singing along.

After the songs, a few of the parents stood up and thanked us, our church, and most importantly God for providing the food. Many seemed to understand that God had provided the food and not us (to Him be the glory!). Afterwards, Pastor Carlos shared the Gospel with the families as they ate cake; this gave us time to sort the food for distribution. Once everything was sorted we asked one family at a time to come receive their food. Everyone seemed surprised when they saw the amount of food we were giving them and they were very grateful. One woman could only get the word, “gracias” out cause she was crying so much. I was blown away by the joy that filled the air and all the smiling faces. I realized that the food we were giving was going to feed a lot more people then I had thought of before!

After the food was given out, our team realized that the some of the families could not carry the food home by themselves….SO…..we loaded as many people (and food) as we could into the back of our rental truck and took them to their neighborhoods. There was much laughter as we waved good-bye to each other. I pray that every time these families eat from the food God provided for them they will remember Him and give Him the glory. I pray that they will be filled with hope and will surrender their lives to Jesus. I think especially about the young boys and men who received food. They can be the leaders in their home and neighborhood and bring change for the better. I pray that the food we brought (that God provided) not only fed these families stomachs but also their hearts. We as a church planted the seeds now may God bring the increase!

by Alyssa

End of the Week English Party!!

On Friday, after 5 days of teaching, we had a party for our English class. This was soooo much fun! The kids were so excited! We served food (meat, cheese, crackers, cookies, cake, and soda) and played review games to see how much the kids had learnt. They learnt so much English! We were so proud of them. We also had Pastor Carlos Moyas come and share the gospel. What a cool thing it was to see how many kids wanted to know God more and how many wanted God to be a part of their life. (Soon we will upload a video of the kids praying.) At the end of class each student was given a certificate of completion, a dictionary, track, book mark, and a photo of the entire class. What was ever more awesome was when we met the director of the school in which we had been teaching. He was so excited about everything that we had taught the kids that he told Carlos that anyone from his church is welcome to go anytime to do programs with the kids. What an awesome opportunity and what an amazing open door!!