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.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.
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