Back in houston and atlanta

Gino and I both made it back safely to houston and atlanta. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts. We will post pix soon and send out information once finalized.

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Last flight to Guayacail

This should be our last message from Ecuador. We had a great last day in Quito.

After lunch on Sabbath, we spent the rest of the day with Magdial and his wife Susan going around Quito and having dinner with them. The old town part of Quito is very interesting and should make for a good tour for the group.

Gino in the San Francisco church

Basicalla church - been under construction for 100 years (obviously not a Maranatha project!)

Our guides - Susan and Magdiel

Magdiel, Greg and Gino in Old Quito

On sunday, we went back to one of the housing options to check on a few items and then visited two new options. The pastor and other church members and we should be able to finalize our decision this week.

After we did our visits in the morning, we had lunch and then did some more "excursion shopping" around Quito. We visited El Mitad del Mundo, which is literally the middle of the world, where the ecuator runs though the earth. It was extremely cool and a must see. If some has a handheld gps, they need to bring it!

Gino straddling the equator.

Gino practicing with a blowgun

Gino and me in our natural state - taking pictures (that is, until my battery ran out later in the day. I brought two, but one didn't work....bummer)

Dancing in the square on the equator

Then, we went on the Teleferico, which is a high-speed tram that takes you from the 9300 feet in Quito to 13448 feet on amountain overlooking Quito. The sights were fantastic, but due to poor planning by Gino and myself, we were FREEZING! Suffice to say, short sleeves are not the preferred attire at 13400 feet. Well, our pain is your gain.

Pictures on the way up in the tram

A view of Quito from the top of the mountain.

Warning sign on the top of the mounting telling us not to run....of course, we did because we were FREEZING!

Picture of Gino and me freezing on the mountain

After we descended to Quito, I had to get an ice cream cone. It is a goal of mine to eat ice cream in every country. I haven't failed yet and haven't gotten sick (unlike Ray). I usually wait till the last day in the country in case my streak is broken!

A word to the wise missionary: the weather is great in Quito, but in can get cool at night (and downright cold at higher altitudes), so pack a sweater, sweatshirt or jacket.

We then ate dinner and went to the airport and parted ways with the pastor and our intrepid guides and interpreters, Magdial and Susan. We are so looking forward to seeing them again and wish it wasn't 6 months till the trip'

The pastor and his congregation are really terrific and are going to make everyone feel so welcome.

We made the flight to Guayacail and are waiting on the plane to take off to Atlanta. We are ready to sleep on the plane and can't wait to take off.

We trust that it will be a smooth flight and will arrive in Atlanta tomorrow morning.

Pray for the trip and for God to make our housing option clear. A way will be made clear on Monday. Please keep in mind that the purpose of the trip is to serve God and the community and that the accomodations MAY not be luxurious, but rest assured that they will be adequate, safe, restful and foster a great team environment.

We plan to post pictures as soon as we get a chance. Keep checking back!

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Feliz Sabado

We are on our way back to Quito after a fantastic worship at the Tambillo church. As is always the case, the church is very loving and grateful for the work that God will do through us.

Current church they are renting (the top floor)

For the Tambillo church, Pastor Pillajo challenged the congregation to build the church with new members while we construct the walls. It hit me this morning as I was preparing to say a few words (through a translator) to the congrgation that the work we do in construction isn't building a church, per se. The local church members are the ones that build the church up and fill the new temple.

sign that greeted us this morning

Church officers (from left - head elder, his wife and treasurer, youth leader, personal ministries leader, Pastor Pillajo)

The church at worship

Eating lunch!

The pastor picked up on that and challenged them to visit with all the town and have bible studies to prepare for the medical team and evangelistic series with Frank so that they can baptize members to fill the church once it is complete.

I feel that they are up to the task and that they will sow the seeds for Frank to reap while we are here (no pressure, Frank!)

On that topic, we were able to see the meeting hall for the evangelistic meetings at the town hall today. It is perfect for the meetings!

room in the town hall we will use for the evangelism meetings.

We weren't able to see all of the rooms we will use for medical and dental, but the church members are confident that it will work. Pastor Pillajo will send me pictures on monday to confirm. Even if it doesn't work, we have a backup plan in place.

More to come later.
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To tambillo and back again

New and improved - now with pictures!

We had a GREAT day in Ecuador. We made it into the airport (late) last night. We took off one hour late from Atlanta (no surprise) and arrived one hour late and (finally) made it through Immigration.

We were met at the airport by Freddy Guerrero, the President of the North Mission in Ecuador; Marco Pillajo, the Tambillo pastor; and Magdiel Perez Schulz, the new Education Superintendent (and our translator). They took us to our hotel, which should please everyone (at least Carolina Hironymus) as it is named Hostel la Carolina!

After a good night’s rest and breakfast, we started our day at the Union office with morning worship. Pastor Guerrero led the entire office in a review of the Sabbath School lesson and had prayer. We then met with Pastor Guerrero, Pastor Pillajo, Magdiel and Christian, the Union Treasurer (my kind of guy!). We discussed how the Maranatha process works and what our trip would look like in March. That helped determine where we needed to do for the time we are spending in Quito this weekend.

All of the people at the office were VERY helpful. They all had great thoughts for hotels, transportation and medical / evangelism locations.

Once we had our plan set, we started by visiting three different hotel locations. We have a few options already and have some more to follow up on. We will make a final determination next week and let everyone know.

As you know, Gino went on the trip. As you can see by this picture, he did what he does best - lay down on the job.

After visiting the hotels, we had a GREAT lunch. At the place we ate lunch, they had a local “delicacy” called Cuyes. Essentially, they are deep-fried rats (we have pictures to post later on – they are a must see!). Fairly frightening. Regardless of the nasty cuyes, the food was great.

From there, we visited the location where we will construct the church. Of all the locations we have built, this has the potential to be the best location. It sits on a hill overlooking the city of Tambillo. From the job site, you can see where the church is currently meeting (in a rented location) and the rest of the town. The pastor talked about the location and that he wanted the church as close to the edge as possible so that the entire town could see the new church once it is built! We have some fantastic video to play of the pastor talking about how the new church will help this congregation grow.

Church site

view towards front of church

Walk to the church site (the car couldn't make it up the road)

Dirt the church members have dug out

Pastor Pillajo (left) and Magdial (right)

View from the building site

The land was donated by one of the church members and she lives right next to the church and her house is shown below.

The Tambillo congregation was started three years ago and has grown to 70 members. They have baptized 38 members in the past 6 months and have small groups that meet in each other’s houses at 4:00 AM in the morning (no, that is not a misprint). They are very dedicated and we can’t wait to meet them at church tomorrow.

After we left the church site, we visited two options for the medical / dental clinic and the evangelism meetings. We have to swing by after church tomorrow to take pictures so we can make our final determination.

This is going to be a great trip. The congregation is really on fire for the Lord and will be blessed by this church. The union and mission people have been extremely helpful. They are all looking forward to the church dedication once we have completed – they told us today that the ENTIRE district that Pastor Pillajo shepherds will be at the Tambillo church that day!

That just means that we need everyone down here with us to build this church and minister to the congregation.

We will have more tomorrow after we have worship with the church at their current location.
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Ready to go

As you know, Gino and I are making a site visit to Ecuador to plan the trip in March 2007. We are in the airport in Atlanta to fly to Quito.

We will arrive at 9:15 PM tonight and will be greeted by the Tambillo pastor Marco Pillajo, the union president and another pastor that is our translator.

We will post more tomorrow after we visit the site and view lodging options.

Keep us in your prayers!

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Trip follow-up

Just a quick follow up on the trip. In addition to all the members that went on the trip, I need to thank a few other folks that made this possible (in addition to God):

- Romina Rodriguez for helping with the translation duties during the trip planning. She was invaluable in helping with the lodging and food situation

- My parents, Melvin and Karen Hatch, for having gone with us on 5 other trips and without whom I would not have been equipped to lead the construction portion of the trip. They also instilled this spirit into me by taking me on my first trip when I was 11 years old.

Thanks again to our great team this year. We are already looking for where we go next year!

Home safely

We just landed in Houston and made it through customs. It was a great trip and everyone is looking forward to next year.

We had a great final evening worship and final night of games. We gave out "awards" to everyone as recognition. It was a great idea by Ray and we will continue that as a tradition each year.

Final worship and evening in the hotel

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a success and especially to God for making this possible.

We will post pictures later
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Volcano trip

We got to the hotel last night after a long bus trip. The road was very winding and a few folks got ill on the bus. Luckily, we had a working bathroom on the bus and they put it to good use! Gino played DJ for part of the trip to break up the monotony.

The majority of the group went on a tour to the Pacaya Volcano today. After a bus ride there, we had to hike over two hours to the base of the summit. The volcano is 8000 feet above sea level and 4000 feet vertical from where we started hiking. It was pretty strenuous and not everyone could make it all the way up.


View of the volcano from afar


You have to love these types of signs near the end of a hike!


David White and myself climbing the final peak (courtesy of Rachael Hatch)




Making the final climb


The payoff - a river of lava!

For those that did, we were rewarded with a great view of a river of lava! That made the ascent worth it! By the time the last group made it, the crater itself was too dangerous to climb all the way because it was shooting rocks out and the sulfur fumes were becoming overpowering. So we settled for looking at the magma.

Quite a trip and we are now heading back to the hotel for a much needed shower!
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First vacation day

We had a great evening in the hotel last night. It took about three and a half hours on the bus to get to the lake. Actually, we were on two buses-the first bus (a really nice tour bus) took us from Santiago Sacatepequez to Panajachel on the shore of Lake Atitilan. We then had to get on a smaller bus to go to Santa Catarina where the hotel was. The reason for the change is that when Hurricane Stan hit here in October, it hit the lake area hard. You can still see some devastation. The bridge that we need to cross to get to the hotel was wiped out by the mudslides and hasn't been rebuilt. So, we had to cross the river-literally.

Devastation from Hurricane Stan

The hotel was very peaceful and everyone enjoyed the softer beds and powerful, consistent showers! Everyone was tired from work and turned in early.

I woke up early to roosters and birds outside my window! After breakfast, most of the group went on a boat trip across the lake to two small towns. We were able to shop and do some sightseeing. The boat was nice, but terribly slow.

Lake Atitilan

Town on Lake Atitilan

Everyone got some good shopping done. Claudell was wearing his "man purse" that he had bought the other day. I have a picture of him wearing it to post later.

Claudell and his "man purse"

We are nearing the end of the boat trip and are going to eat lunch and board the bus to Guatemala City. Most of the group is going to hike up an active volcano tomorrow. Everyone is really looking forward to that!

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Sabbath at the completed church

We had a wonderful service this morning at the completed church. The Sabbath is always the highlight of the trip. The gratitiude of the members for the work that God has allowed us to perform is overwhelming.

Picture of our group at the church on Sabbath

We had a great song service in two languages-in spanish be one of the elders at Santiago (I can't spell his name!) and in english by Linval Henry.

Linval and the elder leading out song service

We then had Sabbath School in english and spanish. The evangelist then had the worship message. A big thanks to Gracie Ramia and Josue Guevara for translating the worship service for us. They along with Diego, Carolina and Joanna have done a great job of assisting with the translation duties during the week. For those of us that are not fluent spanish speakers, they provide an invaluable serice (and make me want to learn spanish).

church service

We then had lunch at the hotel with the church members and had a baptism. It was a great ending to our time in Santiago. The people were very warm and inviting. I hope to be able to visit again soon.

One of the baptisms

We are now on our way to Lake Atitlan for our vacation time. We are all looking forward to a little rest before returning to the US and getting back to our normal routine.

More to come later.
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Evangelism

We had a great afternoon in Antigua. It is a really great city and was very relaxed.

Everyone was able to do their shopping and sightseeing. They have a lot of Spanish language schools there that teach spanish to Americans. A lot of our team is interested in going there for classes for three weeks to learn spanish-now it is only a matter of when we find enough time.

We went to the final evangelistic series tonight. It was a great experience-nine people came forward and gave their hearts to the Lord! Quite a moving experience.

We are really looking forward to the church service tomorrow!

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Church completed

We laid the last block on the church at 11:04 AM central time today! The Lord has been good and blessed us with a great crew. No major injuries and only a few sicknesses. We finished cleaning the church so it is ready for Sabbath and left about noon. We are now on our way for an afternoon of sightseeing and shopping in Antigua.

last course

last block laid

completed wall

Our work crew on the last day. Note that it does not include the photographer (Rachael) and a few members that were not able to be there the last day (Cheryl, Cherrell, Gino, Diego and Carolina)

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