ONU Spends Their Spring Break Participating in a Film Production

We got to try something new in the way of ministry and I will try to explain it so you can understand. Brian and Lynne Utter are former missionaries to Argentina where Brian worked in the communications department specifically in the area of World Radio Broadcast. Brian and Leonardo Longo from our Communications department decided to have some of the communications film department from ONU Olivet Nazarene University come and partner with his team, Enclave to help with the filming of a video production of the fifth season of a women's ministries program called "Mujer Valiosa" The Valuable Woman. Brian and Lynne brought 17 college students to help with the filming and the Enclave team had 10 workers. By the team we had all the presenters and Doctors as guest speakers, we had as many as 50 on set sometimes. Some of the ONU students were not even communications majors but got to experience the field of film and production.                                                                                                         

The Work and Witness Center was totally transformed into three sets.  One set was a cooking show, another crafts and the other was a set where guest speakers came in to talk about different subjects such as fashion, child psychology, and health.  Things that concern women of today. 
The Students also went off site to different areas around Quito to spas and health centers.  One of the spas was owned by a christian lady and her husband that have a place where anyone can receive treatment but it was designed for children with physical needs that can come and get different muscle treatments. One is putting your feet in the water and the tiny fish come and nibble their feet or they can ride horses and participate in treatments that are available to to them free of charge.  

Two of the teams traveled to other cities to film ministries and testimonies of conversions to Christ. 

The students also attended other places of ministry such as a recycle ministry day care. The children's parents use to work in the dirty trash with the children on their backs but now there is a day care for these children so they are not exposed to dirt and insects while their parents work.  Another ministry was at the Rock Church which is a skateboard ministry to youth.  It is a place that is open in the afternoons for the youth to skate and then there is a short devotional presented.  

Since the kitchen was made into a set we prepared meals in our house and then ate outside.  The students were very helpful in setting up the meal, preparing the meals and carrying the food back and forth.  Filming is a tricky business and can be very long and grueling.  Sometimes we didn't get done filming until 9 or 10 at night and then we ate dinner but always finished out the night with a great time of affirming someone by something they did or said during the day and devotions. 

We are excited about this new ministry opportunity and it is already in the planning for next year.  

MNU Students Spend Their Spring Break With The Shuar Indians

During the second week of Spring Break, 4 short term missionaries from MNU Mid America Nazarene University came.  Krista, our daughter led the team and so that made it super special. We did a lot of traveling from place to place evangelizing and doing some construction.  

The first program was Chillanes, Ecuador which is two hours outside of Riobamba and took us pass the tallest volcano,Chimborazo, in Ecuador, on the way.  This little town does not have a Nazarene Church so we met with some other Nazarenes from Riobamba to evangelize children from a newly organized Compassionate International project.  There were over 250 parents and children that met in a school auditorium.

Harrison in Chillanes

Brittany with Child Sponsorship boy. 

 The students didn't have much time to prepare for a program but they did a great job acting out the story of the Prodigal Son and singing songs with them.  Thanks for the help of Harrison Guaman our construction worker that is also very good with children. We also witnessed the passing out of the Operation Christmas Child Boxes that are sponsored by the Samaritans Purse Project. The children and parents waited patiently while more than 150-200 names were called. If you have never seen a child or children open up their boxes be ready to be greatly impacted.  Operation Christmas Child passed out more than 100 million boxes globally this year and we just got to see a tiny part of what happens all over the world.   The future of this area is to build a Compassionate International After School Center and a Nazarene Church.

Amanda with Child Sponsorship girl

Checking out his big box

We then traveled to the jungle area of Macas but sometimes the road was pure mud, because they were still building the road.  Here we worked in a Shuar village called Cumbatza where we do have a Nazarene church but it is meeting in a small room.  We helped to start their new church building made out of bamboo, huge rocks from the river for the foundation and bricks. This area brings much history of the shrunken heads and the chicha drink.  The shrunken heads is not practiced anymore and the chichi drink is made with yucca, which is somewhat like a potato, that is chewed up by the ladies in the community and then spit it out into a gourd to ferment for several days and then water is added to it.  They were very gracious and offered their special drink to us.  We evangelized to more than 150 kids that afternoon in a neighboring school.  It was hard looking in to their big eyes and telling them good-bye.  We stayed in Sequa where there isn’t much but we found wifi in the plaza in the middle of town!

Working in Cumbatza

Next we did more driving and met District Superintendent, Mario Paredes at Chinimpi a different Shuar area outside of Puyo, Ecuador about an hour.  We looked over a new property for another Compassionate International Project and met the leaders of that area.

Then we got into our new what seems like "home on wheels" and drove to Riobabma about three hours, the shortest trip yet.  The next day we went to an area outside of Riobamba called San Pedro to help them put up a portable chapel.  We could see two different

learning how to mix

volcanoes while working.  The people of this area had cleared a small patch just big enough for the chapel where they had cauliflower and cabbage growing.  We evangelized to children in the neighborhood in the new portable chapel and to our surprise not many attending were from the church.

Chris playing a new game

Through all the many kilometers that we traveled we got to take in some beautiful scenery and eat some great food prepared by church people and some interesting foods in restaurants.  God bless you Amanda, Brittany Chis and Krista, thank you for giving of yourselves.

Brittany, Krista, Chris and Amanda standing on the bridge. 

No one wanted to ride in the van crossing the bridge. 

Amanda, Krista and Brittany showing love

The chapel in the cabbage field

going up

A chapel in a day, almost done. 

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.

San Martin Chapel

Sam Martin Church- we built the church around the
chapel

Joey Burn's team of home school kids and
parents and grandparents

Young at heart

Lake Havasu, AZ - Aposento Alto "The Upper Room"

We started 2013 out with a team from Lake Havasu, AZ which was led by Dwight Rich's, Field Strategies Coordinator for NAF, brother in law.  Aposento- The Upper Room church was meeting in a tiny "upper room" in the upper part of Quito. The meeting place was so full every Sunday people would have to wait until the children left for Sunday School to be able to find a  place to sit.  The two teams connected by prayer before they even met, by a card that was passed out with all the AZ team members names with their picture, so when they arrived they already felt like family in Christ. 
We always say that God puts the teams together in a special way and this team was no exception. First, team leader, Carlton Harvey's 80 year old mother was on the team. She was from another state and had been an NMI president for many years and had always wanted to go on a W & W team so this was her first experience to participate on a team.

 

Wilma, team leaders mother

Rick being served a dink of water

Second, Rick from MO, wanted to go on a W & W trip and his church was not going so he called GMC to find out the schedule for W & W trips. He wrote to several teams and asked if he could join their teams and Carlton was the first to respond . Rick came along with them and you would have not known he was not from their church. He added
much in the area of music during worship time and entertained us with other songs. Third, Keith Spicer, from Oregon, had shipped his motorcycle to Quito before his arrival with Mission Corp Volunteers, Wrights, and was waiting to get it out of customs before he started on his trip across South America, alone! It took longer for his bike to get out of customs than he anticipated so he                             helped out around the W & W shop and became part of the team for several days. God really knows how to make connections!! Not only were there connections on the American side but the two churches came together in special bond to build the building and the church. Thank you short term Lake Havasu Missionaries.

Keith Spicer from Oregon

First day of work

Last day of work

Just having fun on the jobsite!

Maine District and Torre de Fe- Tower of Faith

In Dec. '12 a District Team from the state of Maine came to work in Santo Domingo to help them put a second story on their church. The team was led by Pastor John Evans from Strong, Maine.  His family served as Mission Corp volunteers here in Ecuador while they were completing their sabbatical two years ago. 

Long before the team came the pastor of Torre de Fe church, Jefferson, started raising money by social media, visiting churches and what ever other way he could.  He asked each person to pledge $10.  Then the Maine district came along to partner with them to help them build the second story sanctuary to their church.  

Santo Domingo -Torre de Fe before

The Maine team was made up of people of all ages, all walks of life and different churches.  Each night someone on the team shared their personal testimonies of how God had changed their lives or delivered them from some addition.  God truly had blessed this team and made radical changes in their lives.  Their personal testimonies were a great witness to the Santo Domingo church.  Thank you short-term missionaries from Maine.

Santo Domingo_Torre de Fe after

An All-Knowing God Puts Together a Great Team!

The Aurora Colorado team had planned on coming last October, but due to a political situation they were forced to postpone.  Instead, God assembled a brand new team of 13 who arrived in March, ready to tackle the Gueseche project.

Due to the fact that the project had been delayed for so long, both the Gueseche church people and the team were anxious to get started on the building.  One by one the blocks were laid, and within four short days, the mountaintop building was complete with roof and floor.  It was a blessing to see the snow-capped Chimborazo volcano in the distance and to be surrounded by the green, patch-work mountains everyday as they worked.

Evangelism for the children was held during lunch because the children were working alongside the adults.  During this time the team introduced stacking cups and the Evange-cube. When a different team visited in October, they introduced the Evange-ball, and they had no idea of how big an impact it would make on the children.  One of the fathers shared that his three-year-old son explained to him the symbolism of the ball.  He remembered each of the colors and what they represented.  God speaks to and through the youngest children!  The team brought evangelism tools and used them in two other services that we attended on Sunday.

 The team all visited the orphanage in Riobamba again.  When they were here three years ago they started saving clothes and toys to bring back to the orphanage, so they had a large amount of items to donate.  They presented a program and were pleased with the family feeling of the orphanage.  They were delighted to know that some of the children they had visited before had been adopted, but it was still just as difficult for them to leave them behind.

On the last afternoon the team had a small time of prayer and fellowship with their new friends, and presented a few Bibles and items to help in their evangelism.  At the close, prayer was said in Spanish, Quechua, and English.  Although they prayed in three different languages, and no one understood all three languages, God heard and understood all three prayers.  Praise the Lord that we have an all-knowing God!

The Nyssa, Oregon, team gave of themselves unto the Lord

Recently, a team from Nyssa, Oregon, came to Ecuador and built the Emaus church.  Previously, the church met in a very small rented building and had been waiting for its own building for a very long time.  The team worked very hard and was able to get the columns and walls up with the help of the church people.

A highlight of the trip was holding service at the project site even though it didn’t have a roof.  It was great to get to know the church people better.  At the end of the service, the team made balloon animals for the children and passed out candy to all.  That same evening, District Superintendent Mario Paredes, took the team up to a church in the mountains.  There, they worshiped together with more than 100 indigenous men, women and children.  They treated the team to beans and cuy (guinea pig) afterwards.

Thank you to the Nyssa church for giving of yourselves to the work of the Lord.

God Picks HIS Team for HIS Glory

Arizona Team

When a recent team from Arizona came to work in Ecuador, there were several special things about the team.  First, Bruce and Cinda McKellips, former W&W Coordinators were on this team.  On top of that, Kyle, the Mission Corps volunteer that works with teams, found out his mother, Jaynee, had booked a flight to visit him and it turned out she arrived the same night as the team.

Kyle and Janee

The team of 14 from Arizona, Jaynee, and a staff of five headed for Riobamba to stay and work at our District Center.  We would be working in the Sierra Centro District with District Superintendent Mario Paredes.

This project was different.  Instead of shovels and trowels, the team used a ramset, which drives nails into concrete, hammers and electric drills.  They put up drywall to make dividers for offices at the District Center.  Not too many knew much about hanging drywall but that is where Jaynee came in.  She knew how to tape together and plaster the drywall and had many good suggestions for us all.

Each person found a place to fit in, with all the measuring, hanging the drywall, taping, and plastering.  They added a texture to the drywall and then started painting.  By the end of the week there were eight or nine rooms with bathrooms and closets to the side of some of the rooms.  The team finished and painted one room in a cream and terracotta color.  It looked like a real office!

While most of the team was busy with the construction there were some in the kitchen purchasing the food, preparing the meals and doing laundry for the rest of the team.  Thank you to the Arizona team, Jaynee from MN and everyone that supported the team.  God bless you for giving of yourselves.  God put together this team in HIS way, and we give Him all the glory.

From Calgary Canada to Guayaquil Ecuador

Recently a group of ten from Calgary First of Canada served in Guayaquil, Ecuador.  At the Milagro (Miracle) church, they put on a roof structure and poured a cement floor for classrooms.  In addition, they ministered to the children and showed the Jesus Film, and about 50 people came forward to accept Christ.  At the Rosa de Oro (Rose of Gold) church, they poured cement for a second floor.  They also worked on columns and walls.   The team also held a kids ministry event with over 100 in attendance.

At the Costa District Center they put on a new roof, installed new doors, and painted the entire upper floor.  There they held a second Jesus Film showing in a poor neighborhood of Guayaquil where about 35 people accepted Christ.  The goal is to start a new mission work from this group of people.  We praise God for all the work that the Calgary First team did, and pray that God will continue to use their experiences to further their walks with Him.