Day 5
7/10
shup y 'all
Today was relatively short so I will keep this post relatively short.
After breakfast at 8AM was devotion (led by yours truly today)--John 4:31-38:
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.
Discussion questions:
What food is Jesus referring to?
What does it mean to sow? To reap?
What does crop imply? How can one harvest a crop for eternal life?
What is your food? Does it fulfill you?
This passage holds especially true to us as a short term mission trip team, and we reflected on our roles as both the sower and the reaper: sometimes we are the sower, passing out pamphlets and preaching the gospel to those who may or may not be receptive to it. At other times we are the reaper, helping those who have heard the gospel elsewhere come to Christ.
At around 9AM, we left for a cafe in central Guayaquil! This is where we saw more of the "city" area with skyscrapers and the like. We couldn't take out our phone much for pictures because safety reasons.
We actually ate so much today; my mouth is kinda tired. At the cafe, we met up with a local Chinese storeowner and had a dish called bolón (fried plantain balls?) with guacamole on the side along with a few drinks. Elaine and I both rate the bolón an 8/10.
Uncle Larry and Auntie Louise stayed in the cafe for a bit to talk with the storeowner and do some Bible study while the rest of us stopped by a few places to invite some people to church and the English camp. The first place we went to sold lamps/lights and the storeowner's children had gone to a previous English camp hosted by another team. They were pretty receptive to our invitation and we hope we see them again next week! Auntie Eileen and Derek (missionary) stopped by a place nearby to talk to someone else while we stayed in the lamp store.
We then stopped for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Lunch portions were pretty big and considering that we basically just got food at the cafe, I was quickly falling into a food coma. We met a college student named Celia, got to know each other, and talked about life in Ecuador, learning about the more recently heightened crime rate as well as gaining some insight into what it's like to move from China to Ecuador. Definitely an exercise for our Chinese skills. We will likely be keeping in touch with her for future English lessons!
Another thing, we bumped into a group of Chinese people at the same restaurant and invited them to church. They accepted the things we gave them and were willing to listen, but didn't seem too interested.
That's all for central Guayaquil! Uncle Larry and Auntie Louise stopped by a restaurant to talk to and (I believe do some Bible study with?) someone and the rest of us went back to the Airbnb to rest. I'm not really sure what happened, if anything, while I was asleep but look! exotic fruit! It's called mamey and it tastes... interesting. I have very mixed feelings about it.
Anywho it's 11:28pm so I will be getting to bed. We will be spending some time at the church tomorrow, I think for Bible study, so looking forward to that! A part of our team will also continue with visitations and church invitations. Thank you to everyone keeping up with our blog and prayer requests.
Buenas noches!
April
