Day 9 (June 28th) Waterfalls, Unicorns, and Pizza Crust

Today was a travel day. We drove from Puyo to Quito, with a few stops along the way. One stop we made was a trail called El Pailon, which was where we ate lunch. Along the way, we went to a waterfall more exhilarating than we had ever seen. This day was a day where we heard God’s voice. Literally. Revelation 1:14-15 says, “The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.” The sound was deafening, the sound of pure power. Thinking of this as Christ’s voice was a radical thought.

            When we ate lunch, we discussed how sweet it would be if Christ came back this week. This brought us to thoughts about creation and heaven. We wondered if the unicorns actually did exist, and were just eaten by lions or grizzly bears on the ark. We discussed different theories on what life was like before the flood. We walked back to the bus a bit more intelligent than the way we came in.

            The drive itself was incredible. The mountains were surreal to me. I remember one time when I realized the sheer mass of rock and tree that were standing almost straight up from the earth. I looked across the valley and saw a small road. It was only then I realized just how small the trucks were that drove across it. This gave me a small idea of how big the God I serve is. That He would mold mountains with His bare hands, shape valleys with a flick of His wrist…why He would care to listen to something as small as me is beyond my comprehension.

            We rounded a corner and I saw a snow capped mass emerging from the green of the surrounding jungle. I literally stopped what I was doing to stare at the immensity of it. It was then that Chris told everyone to look out the right window, and this time I watched the faces of our team light up when they saw this volcano. It was called Tunguragua. It had erupted two years ago causing the people of Banos to evacuate their homes as their city was covered in ash.

            Dinner was a delicious meal of Papa Johns pizza. I believe the record was 10 pieces eaten – the record currently held by Arthur Grant. (And yes, the crusts do count Shelly) After dinner, we washed the dishes and meandered downstairs for our second to last debrief. We had a time of encouragement. The question was how we’ve seen God work through others on the team. We got to use a beach ball as a prop, throwing it to who ever we wanted to recognize. I am pretty sure it lasted over 2 hours. There were many tears, and even more thank you’s. Prayer and worship came after. I can honestly say that with this team, I have not felt the Lord’s presence quite that strongly in one room. I was shaking with His presence. He is so good, and He has worked nothing short of miracles in lives of the youth on this team.

Rowan Opheim

DAY 8 (June 27): God is bigger than a hole in the road!

The pleasant morning came quickly after the awesome previous day. I looked out the window with an hour before breakfast so I woke up Joel and other team members with me whistling a sublime tune. Breakfast consisted of an amazing new blackberry juice that shocked the tongue pallets of most. All of us were asked “Leche o agua?” And this would determine what else we drank—coffee or hot chocolate. The ham and eggs gave us the energy to start our day off right.

We all boarded the bus ready for the hard work that we were prepared for. The bus ride started off with the sound of some gracious strumming by Aaron, but sooner then later we all broke out into song. Before we knew it we were at the bridge that we crossed the last time by foot. We crossed our fingers hoping the ancient looking bridge wouldn’t collapse.

We made it to the other side and boarded the second bus in which Kyle and I rode shotgun with the bus driver. Unexpectedly we reached a large gaping hole in the road over the river as a result of the other nights pouring rain. Three cars lined up and some local Ecuadorians were busy filling the hole precisely with wood planks. Thinking of this as a huge set back it was quite enjoyable to see all the efforts and teamwork of everyone collaboratively trying to fix the hole. Rocks and rocks and rocks the hole filled up and the guys got together to lift a truck out of the way. “Yes! Lift a truck out of the way” Anywho… we watched with hope and anticipation the bus crossing the new bridge we just created.

This predicament seemed to build up our great attitudes and we started singing Bohemian Rhapsody. To our surprise we managed to sing every verse and with great ease. After that song we kept singing until we arrived to the church at Tuniame.  The church was mostly completed and it looked very awesome, the aroma of the wood and burning sawdust gave off a nice calming vibe.

We took a moment with the Pastor and the other workers and prayed over the church and were thanked for our being there. I thought after we left the church they did a great job and finished all but one wall.  As we took a group photo, I remembered the great joy we had in being able to help build a church we got on the bus and headed for Chai to our next destination.

At this point on the ride the unexpected was the expected and the morning held many surprises. At Chai it was a steady flow of rain. Due to the hole in the road our work was canceled and we were all to do VBS with the kids. But unexpectedly to us, me and Dario and the pastor were outside in the rain looking at the bottom of a 20 foot deep pit which was suppose to be our project of the day. The thought of a bathroom being located there was hard to see but we started to put planks over and got ready for the rebar and soon enough concrete.  Surprisingly after some base work the sun appeared to us and the heat came. The view seen from the church was phenomenal. A look into the jungle was foreign to the look most of us see in Minnesota. It was breathtaking pretty much breathtaking.  

Back to the work however, lunch couldn’t come soon enough. PB&J, chips and Oreos was the delicacy of the day along with water, water, agua y mas agua. We soon all congregated in the school to sing some songs and do crafts, play games, do a skit and tell stories.  After that, we broke up our groups and we went to work on the bathroom again. Nathan Ledesma and I brought over the bags of concrete and the other tools necessary. The project was becoming more and more, concrete was being poured and rocks were being gathers to place over the pit. 

Throughout the day I can say that me and Kyle found the most interesting creature. We stumbled upon a creature with many many legs that was the size of Kyles hand. The other interesting creature was found by Rachel and it was a frog that was black and yellow with orange spots on the side.

Nonetheless the project was becoming more and more as the concrete was being poured and every one was taking turns mixing and drinking water and enjoying the view. By the time we were finished our work there I noticed a smile on everybody’s face as well as a bunch of sweat.

We all gathered in the church with the most magnificent view and met with the pastor of the church whom just arrived by bus. He hadn’t expected any of us to be there since earlier in the morning the bridge was washed out. He was very grateful that we persisted on going to the church anyway. He also thanked us for helping out because if we had not been there then it probably would have been washed out for a while.  (The pastor told us how throughout the day when people got to the road that was impassible they asked how the road got fixed and the news was spreading that the Americanos came to fix it and that they are the ones that love Jesus.  There are five different villages or more that use that road that will hear that witness) 

We prayed over the people of Chai and we were given a great thanks. Personally I would like to thank them for the great opportunity we had to experience all that could be experienced. I felt a great joy in my heart knowing that I could benefit society a little bit more than I could in Minnesota. I would also like to thank all the warm hearts that greeted us at Chai and all the happy children that were there to chill with us. All the support that we had was awesome.

After the goodbyes and the thanks and the prayers we set out on our journey to the other bus. Out of everything that has happened I realized with Diana on the bus that I’m learning my Spanish better than when it was taught at school. We took a group photo on the bridge and then to the bus for another journey to find dinner. We eventually had burgers and cola for supper with was muy delicioso. After supper and an interesting contemplative conversation with the guys at my table we walked for some ice cream the “Mora” was very tasty.   Then we walked home. 

          The contents of the day cannot truly be described by words unless I wrote a book. But the thoughts and feelings of everyone were blessed and today was a great day. Knowing that the only expectation in life is unexpectation, everyday turns to be an adventure. And no matter what your plans are for the day, God can change plans whenever he likes. God allows us to do things.
Working at Chai gave the greatest joy and feeling of accomplishment to me. It was truly a Nice day.


Lucas Arneson (Derek’s comments in brackets)

Day Seven: (June 26) Joy. Holy Spirit. Togetherness.

The joy of the Lord is all over this team. God’s fingerprints are everywhere, obvious on each person.

(We started the day celebrating Kristen’s birthday and when she came down to breakfast we were all wearing birthday hats and when she walked into the room we sang happy birthday to her)

We started off the day with church; a sermon that only a few of us could understand because of the language barrier. However, we learned that many things are universal and can be conveyed without words. For example, the pastor had an altar call and several members of the congregation went up to the front. As the pastor was praying for these people, emotions filled the whole room. Tears filled their eyes as God reached down and touched their hearts. Many of us took one glance at these people and it was almost as if we could read their minds. No words had to be said; we just knew that God was at work in them as he is at work in each of our lives.

(During the worship service they invited Kristen Jung onstage and sang Happy Birthday to her in Spanish.  The Pastor than came on stage and prayed over her.  It was a great moment for Kristen)

After church, we went out to lunch (blackberry juice, steak, fries, rice and a type of vegetable soup and a strawberry mouse type thing) and then had very little time to relax because we were off to play soccer with the locals. I think I can speak for all of us when I say this, but everyone was absolutely exhausted and lacking much needed energy. By the time we got on the soccer field though, the tiredness was overtaken by the excitement of the game. Competition, fun in the puddles on the field, and great encouragement was the backbone of our game. (Several of our team members were covered in mud by falling into the puddles.  It has rained everyday in Puyo creating some fun soccer obstacles.  By the time we finished, we were sweaty and caked in mud, a recipe for a fantastic day.

At dinner, we sang “Happy Birthday” to Kristen for the fourth time.  We sang twice in English and twice in Spanish, we are that talented J. (For dinner we had chicken with gravy, rice, broccoli, fries, a vegetable type soup and a chocolate ice cream type of dessert) The restaurant gave her a small chocolate cake, which she shared with us. The rest of the night was followed by Colin giving his testimony during debrief and a powerful time of prayer. The Holy Spirit had definitely descended in the room as we laid hands on Colin. We finished up the day with some absolutely hysterical moments.  If I were to explain one of the outrageous times, you parents and friends at home probably wouldn’t understand. Half the stuff we laugh about probably isn’t even funny; it might have to do with our lack of sleep, but the joy of the Lord is our strength.

I’m so grateful for the team and the way God is at work in each of our lives. Can’t wait to see what other surprises he has in store. He is SO good.

Lindsay Ahlquist

Day Five: (June 25) Unity and Witness

Today was by far the best day of the experience so far.  When it started out I expected it to be much worse.  Today was preceded by a day of sickness not to mention Derek’s warning of how the exhaustion usually makes the 6^th day of the trip the hardest.

However the day quickly turned around.  Derek gave us the challenge to sit next to different people than usual and the team immediately took it on when we got on the bus.  On the bus ride out into the jungle, we sang worship songs mostly to practice for what we would be performing at the church service later that night.  The happiness and the fun totally set the tone for the rest of the day.

Our experience began with us having to get out of the bus and walk across this magnificent bridge that spanned the most beautiful river I’ve ever seen.  Then we got on another bus which navigated the most windy, muddy road I’ve ever seen and included a point were we literally had to drive through a large stream.

This whole driving experience brought us to a tiny little Shar village in the middle of the Ecuadorian jungle where a church was to be built.

(Derek Side note:  The shar people are an indigenous people that the pastor in Puyo has been ministering to for the last 7 years.  This was the first time he let anyone beside himself go to this village.  On the way out there Dario told me that this village hasn’t seen white people for over 50 years when the last biblical translators left that village.  We met one of the head guys in the village who was a believer that was a young boy 50 years ago when the last missionary left their village and he waited 43 years for God’s Word to come back to him.  It was a great honor for them to let our group go.)

For the first half of the day we all took part in some aspect of the construction putting up walls to the church. (sanding, painting, moving wood and nailing up boards on the wall)  Despite having bodies drained of energy everyone worked very hard and diligently.  Some of the ground even got to experience the true wildlife of the Ecuadorian jungle (Giant cockroaches the size of which none of us has seen). 

After lunch a small group of us went off to lead a VBS for the village kids.  Most of the kids were very shy (first time seeing white people) and nervous.  Despite our attempts at affection such as the gifts of friendship bracelets we had made on the plane ride to Ecuador they slowly began to open up to us.  We read and acted out the story of David and Goliath for them.  We played games like duck-duck-grey duck and little red riding hood and san worship songs with them.  All of this managed to break the language and culture barrier and by VBS we were walking back to the construction site with the kids literally clinging to us.

We had a small amount of time to play with the kids after VBS, and we managed to make small conversations with them but the true love was felt with the smiles and laughter.  The hardest part of the day by far was leaving the kids.

After we trekked back through the jungle we had a “traditional Ecuadorian meal” as Derek told us which turned out to be pizza (It was fun listening to the youth guess at what they were going to have to eat and several were relieved to see pizza’s).  We ate 14 pizza’s as a group and then went to youth group at the church.  It was there that we performed our two songs and it was great to see the people joining in with our Spanish singing, or lack there of.  (Kara Hayden also gave a great testimony of God’s healing of her dad)  We played more games, heard a moving sermon from one of the local pastors, and got time to attempt to converse with the youth group members of the church.

The bus ride back to the hostel and our de-brief were both filled with laughter and emotion, which was a perfect topping to a wonderful day.  And as if a sign from God during prayer on the sheltered roof of the hostel, rain began to poor down from the heavens: A sign of His wonderfulness.  Though this technically didn’t happen on my journal day, the group sang Happy Birthday” at midnight and was one of the most meaningful things anyone has ever done for me.  I’m so glad to be a part of this group.

Kristen Jung (Derek’s comments in brackets)

Day Four: (June 24) Roughing It???

Today we got up around 7:15am and got ready to go to Puyo.  We had several people willing to serve making lunches, moving luggage and packing our donated items.  After breakfast and some instructions we were on the road around 8:30am.

Kristen had a rough start to the morning as she wasn’t feeling so good.  The first hour was a tough drive for her but she did feel better toward later afternoon.  Becca and Kara also didn’t feel great during certain parts of the trip as well.  Lots of prayer was lifted up for them. 

We had a beautiful drive through the mountains and amazing views throughout our day including some beautiful waterfalls.  By the way we had to stop about 10 minutes into our trip this morning for Aaron Mertens and Lucas Arneson because they had to go to the bathroom.  I forgot to remind them J

We stopped in a city park for lunch and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  While we were waiting to go a game of ultimate Frisbee broke out and was going well until Kyle decided to dive into a metal basket.  Thankfully he didn’t hit it straight on and was OK. 

Our next stop was puyo and we arrived around 4pm.  We were more than a little surprised when we got to our hostel and it’s a very nice hostel.  We were expecting to rough it but our rooms are very nice and everyone has a nice bed and shower (2 or 3 per room).  Our hosts are treating us very well.

At 6pm we went to dinner with Dario (he is our host for the next 4 days in Puyo and is funny and a treat to be around) at one of his cousins restaurants.  It was a very nice restaurant and we were served carrot soup, papaya juice, rice, fish (some plates still had the head on which brought mixed reactions) and fried papaya’s.  We had fresh fruit for desert and was a great supper.

We than headed to the church in Puyo for a mission service they were having.  Our main church that we are partnering with is very mission focus and they started the goal of starting one new church a year but have upped it to two churches a year they want to start.  This evening was to help them raise some funds toward that.  It was suppose to start around 7:30 but was after 8pm before it started.  We found out this evening that services go a little longer here.  It was a three-hour service and included lots of different things. 

We started with giving a small greeting from our team and had lots of different elements within the service.  Aaron Mertens and Phil Stebbing gave a personal testimony and did a great job.  We also had 3 testimonies from their congregation, a guest preacher, several songs, slideshows, black light theater, drama group and I am sure there was something else that I forgot.  Our team did a great job staying away after a long day of travel and not being able to understand a lot of what was said.  It ended around 11pm and they served some empanadas with syrup and they were very good.  They also had some different things for us to try including some fruit drink, a spiced chicken cooked in leaves and some potato with an interesting texture. 

We loaded up and headed back to the hostel.  I can tell tonight that they were tired and we are at that half way point where its easy to start getting irritated with each other.  Please pray for good attitudes, a good night sleep, that our team would continue to mingle and get to know each other even better.  Tomorrow will be one of our longer days with a lot of construction work on our docket. 

God is good and is keeping us safe.

Day Three: Diversity in Ministry (Street kids, Skate kids, Minnesota kids)

We were excited to start our day with a full team and spirits today seem at a great level.  It takes a couple of days to adjust to the altitude and most of them feel good this morning.  Aaron M started today bringing me coffee and moving to the top of my list J 

At 8:15am we drove to Casa Gabriel, a ministry to boys who live on the street.  Our team was completely engaged as we listened to testimonies of the boys living on their own as early as age 8 on the street and the tough life that it is.  We were than entertained by their gifts and talents and they techno-danced, break danced and sang for us.  We had a lot of questions and were thrilled to hear about their heart to expand their ministry to street girls who are often involved in sex trafficking at the age of 10.  What a tough life so many of them have lived and lots of questions for our team. There was certainly a connect with our team to this ministry.

Next stop is back to La Roca for a day of painting and sanding.  We started with sanding down the basketball hoops and the playground equipment and thinner on the doors.  We spent most of the rest of the day painting the front gate and iron and repainting the basketball goals and playground equipment. 

We also saw our team practicing more of their Spanish and interacting with the local kids and trying their Spanish.  It was great to see that effort.  For lunch we went to a local restaurant and had a great meal of chicken, chicken and potato soup, French fries and rice.  It was a great lunch.  We than want for ice cream and was a great refreshing moment. 

Then back to work at La Roca with more painting.  We then took some group photos with the group and locals and loaded the bus around 5:30pm.  Got showered up and headed to Brad and Sandy’s for dinner.

We had a great time at their house and got to experience a couple of great Ecuador foods.  It was a great dinner and was great to hear so much laughter and joy from our group during the meal.  They have come together very quickly.  We than had an amazing time of worship and praise and there is something about a group that sings with their heart and the beauty of the sound it creates in the heavens. 

We went into some sharing of our day and lots of great God moments being shared.  There was also a lot of guys hugging each other and being swept in the moment, girls sat in jealousy J  We ended in prayer and was a great ending to our day and looking at our team they are so much further in team chemistry and care for each other.  We than had to say goodbye to the Miller’s as we leave for the jungle tomorrow. 

We got home and started to pack for the jungle and get our donated supplies ready.  We wanted to finish this blog tonight because we are fairly certain that we won’t have Internet access or a way to communicate for the next 5 days.  We also have Dario who will be joining us tomorrow along with Austin and Deanna who serve as our host.  They are wonderful and have done a great job in preparing us for whatever we will face.  Our mentality as a team, tell us what to do and we will give it a try.  

-Derek Broton & Phil Stebbing

Day Two: June 22 RAISING THE ROOF!

Today was quite an interesting day.  With an earlier start to the day than yesterday, everyone was tired. First we headed to Youth World, where everyone sat through an interesting presentation by Brad Miller (our missionary from Woodbury Lutheran).  He told us about a place called La Roca or the rock which is a skate church we are heading to next.

At La Roca there were many different people.  There was music playin while everyone skated and a very competitive soccer competition with our team and teens from La Roca.  This skate park had many ramps and rails and between 30-40 teenagers throughout the day.  We had an orientation with Brock who is the pastor at the skate church and helped us understand that ministry.

We were asked 10 minutes before we got to La Roca to do a message and testimony and asked Lindsay Ahlquist  to share her testimony and she did so without hesitation.  I started with a 5 minute talk on Jeremiah 1:4-5 and Lindsay followed with a beautiful testimony of how God was working in her life.  She did a fabulous job.

We spent much of the afternoon in relationship building with the group including some of us trying skateboarding (with several smiles from the teens when we fell)  Lucas, Ashley A and Rochelle jumped right in.  We had a three team soccer competition as well that brought groups together.  Brock and the staff cooked us a hotdog meal with chips and soda.  Some decided it would be a good thing to put ketchup, mustard, mayo, crumbled potato chips and hot sauce on their dog (that was interesting)

The team than did some prep work for tomorrow including sandpapering the gate area for painting tomorrow.  The other half of the team had to move building materials from one side of the property to the other.  Un fortunately, Chris was on top of the roof of the church and he decided it needed some natural sunlight as he fell through it.  It was an 8 ft fall and fortunately landed between two tables and was not hurt with the exception of his ego J  He had a few scrapes but is doing great.  Our team has been having a little fun with him. 

We went back to our hostel and had a great dinner at a local place of steak or chicken shish-kebab with potato’s with cheese sauce, plantain and salad.  Several ventured into trying a strawberry soda and it was a great meal.

We ended our day with more orientation on culture including the 5 F’s that people have when they come back from a mission experience: fun, flee, fight, fit (in), freedom.  We ended with a daily debriefing sharing our high’s and low’s of the day. Impressed that our team is sharing willingly and often with each other and sharing their heart with each other. The last member of our team, Rowan, arrived safely today and we thank God for that.

God Bless,

Erin Schaefer (with some side comments from Derek)

Day 1

Greetings from Quito!

            Our first day in Quito brought half of our team tremendous adventures and tourism activities. A visit to La Basilica was a great was to start the day that included climbing to the top of the building and hundreds of photos. We also took a brief stop to La Plaza Grande and visited the Ecuador equivalent of the White House. Our wonderful hosts Austin and Diana have delivered insightful information and guidance at each stop.

            Lunch was at Fruteria and we enjoyed various empanadas, massive bowls of fresh cut fruit (whip cream included), and an assortment of delicate yet flavorful blended fruit juices. An afternoon at a monument provided us with some shopping and a scattering of rain. The evening closed with reflection, journaling, and stories.

            The remainder of the group joined us late and we gathered sleep for a long day in the mission field.

            All is well, everyone is healthy, your kids are safe, and we’re having a blast!

-Aaron Mertens