Work & Witness Team Stories: Montrose, Co team and San Martin Church

You probably recognize the San Martin name but last time it was San Martin Chapel that was put up by the Elkhart, IN team. The church is now organized and has outgrown their chapel so Joey Burns put together a team. This team had a little different dynamics in that most of the team short term missionaries were home school kids and a few adults from six different churches. When families come it is nice to hear, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa being called through out the week. As was the case with this team. The age range was from 11 to 72 years of age. We stayed in Chunchi which is known for abandoned children because their parents go to another country to earn a living and send the money back to the family. The family could be children taking care of younger brothers and sisters.

San Martin is on a mountainside outside of Chunchi about 20 minutes. Most days we worked in the cold fog and rain with the people of the village and we built the church around the chapel. Everyone found something to do no matter what age they were. The San Martin brothers and sisters planted their crops a week early so they could help with the construction the week the team was there. At the dedication service the San Martin people fixed us a feast of pig and cuy, guinea pig, which we watched them kill and prepare the day before.

The night before the dedication Bryadon, Joey's son was talking to the lady in the ice cream store about where we were building the church and the lady was very interested and wanted to come to the service. Sure enough the next day she came to the service and brought another couple with her. She wanted to talk to Mario, the District Superintendent about planting a new church in Chunchi. She said her town needed to get back to the basic values of life and help the abandoned children. During the dedication service one of the ladies of the church gave a gift of a wall hanging that her husband, who is in prison, made for a gift. Each team member received a decorated small clay pot that contained eggs, seeds, and grain. That is all they had to offer us.

During devotions several of the team members rededicated their lives to Christ and one of the boys accepted Christ for the first time. One of the ladies, 70 yrs old, on the team observed the kids and the team members during the week and realized that on the last night she needed to have a closer walk with the Lord and she rededicated her life also.

We are looking forward to the day that Chunchi is ready to build a church and we can call Braydon and his family to help build the church. Thank you Joey's team.