Day 6

7/11/2023

TUESDAY, JUNE 11th

Hola again!

This morning, our team split up after breakfast, with April and I heading to the church with Elder Larry and Auntie Louise, and Auntie Eileen, Auntie Connie, and Derek going downtown to visit families and shops there.

At church, April and I brainstormed games and materials for our upcoming English camp on Saturday and Sunday while Elder Larry and Auntie Louise held a Bible study with local church members. The church has tons of games and English teaching materials, so April and I plan to utilize them fully!

After the other team returned from their outreach efforts, they returned to the church to debrief us, and we were all amazed by what they told us. 

Remember the couple we talked to at the supermarket a few days ago (day four) that was interested in hearing the gospel? We tried to contact them yesterday but were unsuccessful since they added us (and not the other way around), so we could only wait for them to reach out first. We knew they owned a storefront but didn't know which one since downtown is so huge. However, the team prayed this morning to find the couple, and immediately upon arriving downtown, Auntie Eileen spotted the couple about to enter their shop, which was right in front of them. Praise the Lord for answering our prayers!

The couple invited the team inside to chat, and Auntie Eileen, Auntie Connie, and Derek were able to invite them to church and introduce the gospel to them. They seemed genuinely open and curious, and we hope we'll get the chance to meet them again the next time we're in the area!

Lunch

For lunch, we went to a restaurant owned by a Christian couple, and they graciously cooked a feast for us. 

Praying together before eating.

They gave us a tour of the kitchen, which was huge and had tons of enormous pots and pans.


After we finished, we split up again, with Auntie Connie, Auntie Louise, Derek, and I walking to another restaurant owned by a couple with two kids to invite them to church and English camp. We waited for their kids to get home and chatted about their goals for the future. Karen, a 13-year-old, was super enthusiastic about learning English and really wanted to come to our camp, and I had fun helping her practice English and learning about her hobbies. Her older brother also agreed to the idea of going to English camp this upcoming weekend, and I'm excited to see both of them there!

April's group visited a different restaurant to invite the owners and their kids to church and English camp. However, since their kids were still relatively young, their parents said they would think about it but were still open to hearing about the gospel. April said their 5-year-old son was really cute and got to play with him for a while before saying goodbye.

We returned to our Airbnb and had dinner, finishing the leftovers we had from lunch (which were delicious), and moved on to our daily devotional led by Auntie Connie today.

The passage we read was Matthew 28:18-20

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Discussion Questions

We had a fruitful discussion and reflected upon our experiences in Ecuador so far, agreeing that spreading the gospel is expectedly challenging. Elder Larry shared how one of his first attempts at spreading God’s word ended with someone shouting at him. We know it can be easy to become discouraged in the face of rejection, but we need God’s help to persevere. We also talked about how we can participate in the Great Commission in our daily lives by sharing the gospel with those we are in close contact with, but that requires courage and strength from God.

That's it for today—thanks for tuning in! We'll be doing more visitations and outreach tomorrow, so please pray for our safety and check the prayer requests page for more!

God be with you!

Elaine