Sabbath with the church members

The majority of the team arrived late last night. Their flight didn't get in till around 11:00 on Friday night. Everyone got their luggage ok and made it safely (except Sosheel of course).


Team arriving to a welcome from the Tambillo church

We got to the hotel at around 2:00 this morning, so it was an early morning for breakfast at 7:30!! We went to the town hall for sabbath school starting at 9:15. We had a few of our team participating in the sabbath school and church service. We had a great sermon by pastor Frank Ottati.

Worshipping at the town hall

We had a GREAT lunch with the church today and then went back to the hotel for a much needed nap-after a short nights sleep!

Lunch with the church members

This is the cheese that got the team sick (aka, the great queso episode of 2007)

We had a sundown worship with the church led by young people from our group and their church. After a great meal, we had our construction team meeting and the medical team separated all of the donated supplies to bring tomorrow.

Construction Team meeting

Separating donated medical supplies

Everyone is pretty tired and will be headed off to sleep soon as we have an early morning tomorrow.
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First day challenges

We completed our first day of work. Per usual, we had our share of minor challenges.


Job site as we arrived on Friday

The main problem is that the block we are using to construct the church are slightly different than we are used to. Usually, with mortar, they are 8 inches by 16 inches. Well, the block this year, with mortar, are 8.25 by 16.25 inches. That may not seem like a lot, but when you are used to doing things a certain way and that the plans call for that type of block, it caused some challenges. We finally worked through it by the end of the day and will be set for the large group on sunday.

One other challenge was that the electricity went out in the afternoon, so we couldn't cut anymore block.

We got one and a half courses completed today. Not where I would have liked to have been, but the hardest part is over-laying the first course.


Work we were able to complete on Friday

The weather was great! A little cool in the morning and a light rain shower in the afternoon with sun in between.

It really was a great day all things considered. We are headed to the airport now to get the rest of the group. Well, all of the group except for Sosheel Saleem who was not able to make his flight. He is coming on on Monday night.

More to come later.

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Arrival in ecuador

We arrived safely in Quito. The flight was on time, albeit very warm!

We did have a little excitement on the flight. There were twpo other mission groups on the plane. One 13 year old girl who was sitting behind Rachel Wolff got sick after the movie and was puking the rest of the trip. They gave her oxygen and pils, but she was very sick.

When we landed, they made an announcement for everyone to stay in their seats so that the medical team could get her off the plane. Surprisingly enough, everyone stayed in their seat! We were shocked.

She was really sick and they had to carry her off the plane. What a way for her to start her trip-sick in a foreign country.

The other exciting part was that the petson sitting next to Arlene was a prisoner being escorted by Marshals!

We all made it safely and got all of our bags. Of course, the LAST person to make it out was.............Claudell. A great start for the trip and par for the course. The pastor and pathfinders met us and we are on our way to the hotel in Machachi.


Pastor Pillajo and church members greeting us

We are going to start our work tomorrow morning at the church after a good nights rest.



More to come tomorrow.

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Safely to Atlanta

The first step of our trip is complete! We made it to Atlanta and are waiting for our flight to Quito.

We will have 11 people going down early to work on the jobsite on Friday.

Getting ready to start playing Uno

Per usual, we are waiting on Gino and Claudell-starting a trend for the trip.
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Tambillo, Ecuador Mission trip information

From March 8-21, we will have 46 persons traveling to Tambillo, Ecuador to build a church and conduct a medical mission and conduct Evangelistic meetings. The building program is conducted with Maranatha Volunteers International (see their website at http://www.maranatha.org/ for more information).

The group is comprised of construction and medical volunteers. Most of the team is from the West Houston Seventh-day Adventist church in Houston Texas. However, we have a "extended" church family that is going as well from many other states. They are either family members or have gone on previous trips.

I have listed all the members below:

Pedro Arguello – Houston Texas
Sylvia Arguello – Houston Texas
Andrea Arguello – Houston Texas
Michael Arguello – Houston Texas
Daniel Arguello – Houston Texas
Theresa Delco – Houston Texas
Bozena Hunek – Houston Texas
Jessica Hunek – Houston Texas
Ana Angeles – New York City
Kevin Bobbitt – North Carolina
Michelle Bobbitt – Phoenix, Arizona
Ed Dewar – Houston Texas
John Garofalo – Houston Texas
Eric Griffin – Houston Texas
Joanna Grimaldo – Houston Texas
Marco Grimaldo – Houston Texas
Greg Hatch – Houston Texas
Rachael Hatch – Houston Texas
Jean Henry – Houston Texas
Linval Henry – Houston Texas
Andrew Hinds – Atlanta, GA
Carolina Hironymus – Houston Texas
Andrea James – Houston Texas
Kimbrelly Monroe – North Carolina
Mariela Lajara – New York City
Guy Legan - Wisconsin
Geneva McCallum - Pennsylvania
Diego Montoya – Houston Texas
Arlene Nelson - Houston Texas
Ken Nelson – Houston Texas
Mellow Del Ombiga – Houston Texas
Brandy Prokop – Houston Texas
Gricelda Ramia – Houston Texas
Sosheel Saleem – Houston Texas
Dale Spencer – Houston Texas
Danae Spencer – Houston Texas
Claudell Wilson – Atlanta, GA
Danielle Wolff – Houston Texas
Gino Wolff – Atlanta, GA
Rachel Wolff – Charlotte, NC
Raymond Wolff – Houston Texas
Roxie Wolff – Charlotte, NC
Kelly Woodard – Atlanta, GA
Allyson Wu – New York City
Frank Ottati - Orlando FL
Kathy Ottati - Orlando FL

Our itinerary is as follows:

• Thursday, Mar 8 - Advance team arrives
• Friday, Mar 9 - Advance team gets site and other information set up and starts laying block
  Medical team sets up for mission and procures medicines
  Main team leaves Houston at 11:45 AM and arrives in Quito at 10:00 PM (no meal provided once you land – make sure to eat either before you leave Atlanta or on the plane)
  Arrive at hotel and get settled
• Saturday, Mar 10 - Attend church and get to know each other and the church members
  Orientation for job site the next day in the evening
• Sunday, Mar 11 - Team begins work at the job site constructing the church
  Medical team begins setup / work for medical mission
• Monday, Mar 12 through Friday, Mar 16 - Team continues work at the job site constructing the church
  Medical team continues work.
• Saturday, Mar 17 - Worship service conducted in newly finished church
  Lunch at church
  Bus takes group to Hotel Quito
  Potential tour of Old Quito by night
• Sunday, Mar 18 - Vacation for majority of group.
  Tour to Mitad del Mundo and Otavalo (Indian Market)
• Monday, Mar 19 - Excursions (tour of Quito and Teleferico)
  Flight to Guayaquil in the evening
  Bus to hotel in Guayaquil.
• Tuesday Mar 20 - Tour of Guayaquil
  Dinner at hotel
  Main group flight back to the US. Depart Guayaquil at 12:30 AM,
• Wednesday March 21 - arrive in Atlanta at 7:00 AM; Houston at 11:00 AM

Please continue to check in as we hope to post on a daily basis. Feel free to leave comments as we will receive those during the trip!

Above all, continue to pray for the group and that God will continue to bless our efforts and allow us to be His instruments in this work.

Additional Construction site pictures

I received these pictures from Magdiel Perez Schulz, our faithful translator (and the Ecuadorian Union Education Director for his day job). He was traveling back from one of the schools and took these photos.

The woman in the photo is his wife, Susan and the children are the daughters of the Adventist lady that donated the land for the church.

Enjoy!



Susan and the children - note the great view!



The snow-covered mountain is the Cotopaxi volcano. And no, we are not climbing it this year!




Closer view of Cotopaxi

Updated Construction Site Pictures

Greetings all! We received these pictures from the Pastor of the Tambillo church, Marco Pillajo. As you can see from the pictures, the slab has been poured and the baptistry completed!

I heard from my uncle Roger at Maranatha that the steel frame will be in place over the next week. However, they are behind on the windows and doors and we will not be able to install them while we are there. However, everything else is in place for the construction.

I will continue to post more information as we have it!


Church members helping with the footers



Church members digging the water line



Water supply for the site


Completed slab - side (note the narrow side)


Completed slab


Completed stage and baptistry (note that it is completed this year!!)


completed stage


Completed slab (notice the view from the construction site!!)


Maranatha crew

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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