The New Normal

Our team has been back in Southern California for almost a week now and we are still being blessed daily by each other, our church, our supporters, and above all, by God. This experience certainly changed each of our lives. Please continue to PRAY for us as we re-enter our "normal" lives. Each of us are likely to experience a range of emotions these next few weeks as we continue to process all that this trip to Quito taught/revealed/opened our eyes and hearts to. 

A simple prayer for us: Lord help us not to be overwhelmed as we synthesize the world that we came from with the world we are in today.

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:1-7 

It's Not Over Yet!

Our team with Russ, Gina, and Rheanna Cline. 

It’s hard to believe today was our last day in Quito! Time flies! The day started out wonderful...the bus didn’t come to pick us up until 8:00 am. :) We then headed through beautiful Ecuador for about 2 hours to Otavalo where we got to shop and hang out. It was a fun way to end the experience together and buy some great reminders of Ecuador. Aaron was key in bargaining for all of our goods, as Mandi and Megan had a hard time bargaining at all. Anyone surprised? :)

Awesome Ecuadorian lunch together on our excursion!

Afterwards, we had time to begin packing and preparing to go home. (Since we have to get up at 3:00am, it was nice to have this time in the afternoon to get ready, so we can potentially get a few hours of sleep tonight!)

The whole Extreme Response group then came together for a delicious homemade Ecuadorian meal back at EFC. Each person on the Extreme Response team has seen God move in significant ways this week. We had the opportunity to end our ministry time together with a time of worship, sharing, and watching the highlight video of our week. We each received a copy of the highlight video and can’t wait to share it with you. The dancing and singing of “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow” by our guys at the party yesterday is featured, so don’t worry, you will get to see it! We ended the day celebrating our very own Luis’ birthday, which is tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Luis!!!

50th Birthday party in Ecuador!!

(Sorry I didn't get more dressed up for you, Luis! All clean and ready for bed! -Meg)

Please continue to pray for us as we go travel home and return to our day-to-day lives. Our flight tomorrow leaves at 7:00am Quito time (4:00am California time) and with a layover in Miami that leaves at 2:00pm Miami time (11:00am California time). We would love your prayers as we travel and go through customs. Russ, Gina, and Rheanna Cline (Rose Drive Faith Promise Missionaries) are on both our flights tomorrow, too, which will be fun for all of us! 

 With Jeramy and Teresa Hing, our team hosts for the week! 

Team D! Best group ever (even though we placed 4th in the team competition).

As we head home we are all so aware of how God has been moving in our lives this week. We each have a deep desire to come home changed people. Please pray for us in the coming days and weeks as we process all that we have experienced and discern what it means for our lives in the future. 

Again, we are so grateful for the part you have played on our team this week. We know that this would not have been possible without your prayers, support, and giving. We are looking forward to sharing with you in person about this experience!

*Please continue to read our blog, even after we get back to the States! We will be posting follow-up thoughts, conversations, etc., and Extreme Response updates as often as possible! We want to keep you updated on ALL of our "Friends in Quito"!

For He's A Jolly Good Fellow!

The team at Remanso de Amor... being goofy, of course. 

“At the beginning of the week, the ER staff gave each of us a $1 coin. We could do anything we wanted with the coin - give it away, use it to buy something, keep it - so long as it was used to remember one person we met and committed to pray for while in Ecuador. It took me all week, but today I gave my coin away. I met a beautiful woman at Remanso De Amor named Gloria. The Lord totally blessed our conversation (my Spanish was miraculously much better than normal!), giving us an opportunity to talk about her, her family, and some of the health problems they were experiencing. I felt God tugging at my heart to give her the coin, and while I was handing it to her, we grasped hands, holding the coin together, and prayed for each other out loud right there in the middle of the party. I will never forget that moment. I will never forget the look on her face and in her eyes. This was my “Gloria a Dios” moment in Ecuador!”  -Megan

Megan and Gloria

Today we had our last party at Remanso de Amor. Remanso de Amor is a ministry that includes a church, Christian school, micro-businesses, sports ministry and more. This is where the high school team that Rose Drive sent to Quito 4 years ago (that Steve was a part of) primarily spent their time. It is estimated that there were about 2,000 people there! Mandi and Megan spent most of the party in the craft tent, helping little kids make nativity and “Papa Noel” ornaments. Luis facilitated the Papa Noel photo line, using his awesome communication skills to manage the crowds. And Steve, Noah, and Aaron reached “legend status” at the games, by dancing silly and singing “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow” (in Spanglish) for each victory. It was epic.

After the party we loaded back on the busses and stopped to eat lunch at an overlook of the city. It was beautiful! We then headed back to English Fellowship Church - our headquarters location this week. We all pitched in to clean up the facilities and put away all of the party supplies. We wanted to leave the church in better shape than when we found it! This week, a couple named Jordan and Jessa Anderson have been leading us in worship during our morning meetings. After dinner, Jordan and Jessa performed a public concert for the ER volunteer teams and EFC congregation. It was a wonderful time of worship together after our week of ministry! 

Tomorrow we get to spend the day sightseeing and shopping! We are looking forward to seeing more of Quito and the surrounding areas. In the evening, will spend time with the whole Extreme Response team debriefing and celebrating what God has done this week before heading home Tuesday morning! 

Thank you for your continued prayers! We can definitely feel them! 

“For the first couple days I struggled with our place here. We are throwing Christmas Parties for the poor in Quito. We are providing basic needs for today. We are bringing joy, planting seeds, and being Jesus’ hands and feet to these people. Those are important things for sure! But how do I/we fit into the longer term picture of what God is doing in Ecuador? Is picking up a frisbee 987 times for a game really going to change these peoples lives? As I wrestled through these questions and more I got to observe and hear about how Extreme Response and their partner ministries serve each and every day. They are building relationships. They are meeting needs every day. They are following where God is leading them in Quito. At each of the parties the Extreme Response team and the leadership of the partner ministries are talking to people, they are connecting with people, they are continuing to build on relationships. And it hit me, if we can pick up frisbees and paint some nails to free them up to build ongoing relationships, that is significant. Today, Noah and I were talking about this whole idea and he said, ‘When I meet someone here I think, when I leave, you will still be taken care of.’ I love that. Do we impact people individually in what we are doing? Absolutely! But short term missions is about partnership. And more importantly, it is about the Church as a whole coming together to impact God’s kingdom. So, if that means that Jose and Teresa and the Extreme Response staff throw a Christmas party for the workers in the dump to affirm the fact that Jesus loves them and provide for some tangible needs in their lives and they need support to make that happen, that is something that I want to be a part of, because that is what the Kingdom of God is all about.” - Mandi

Our incredible view of the city from Remanso de Amor.

Mandi manning the craft station!

Luis at the Papa Noel photo line!

 The guys rocking the games and our team in front of the Remanso de Amor building.

(The RDFC team 4 years ago helped paint the interior of the building when they were here!)

Noah and our new friend Katie vacuuming the EFC church building and Steve mopping the dining hall!

What? No rain?

On the bus after the Extreme Response’s Main Christmas Event at Zambiza Dump today Mandi and Megan got to sit across from Russ Cline and talk about the day, life, and Extreme Response. When we asked how he thought the day went, he said “smoothest we have ever had!” We agreed that it was an amazing day! (We even had perfect weather! Our first party pf the week with no rain!) Extreme Response does an exceptional job, not only in ministry and partnership with the people of Ecuador, but also in the organization and implementation of multiple large parties in less than a week. I (Mandi) am very impressed...and that is high praise from me! :) 

For Luis and Aaron, the day started extra early when they were picked up from our housing at 5:45am to serve on the early set up crew. The rest of us gathered at 7:00am with the rest of the Extreme Response team and about 400 additional volunteers from local churches and ministries within Quito for a brief orientation. After we were all prepped for the day, we loaded onto busses and headed to the Zambiza dump. The party included TONS of games, crafts, face painting, temporary tattoos, nail painting, a live band, and bags of gifts and food for each person that attended. Each person that works in the dump was given 10 tickets to come to the party and they could invite whoever they wanted. There were about 3,000 people that attended the party! Aaron, Steve, and Noah rocked the games today. Mandi gave temporary tattoos to more kids (and adults) then she can count. Megan painted beautiful Ecuadorian faces. And Luis was a busy man, serving food, giving out candy, painting faces, helping with games, and translating for whoever was around him in that moment (he’s a rockstar)! At the end of the day, as the last people were leaving, the live band sang “How Great Thou Art” in Spanish. It was a powerful moment as we acknowledged the greatness of God in multiple languages and the work that He had done both in and through us today.

“While I was serving in the face paint/tattoo/nail art tent today, a little boy, about 6 years old, came up to me and asked if I would put a temporary tattoo on his hand. While I was getting the tattoo ready to stick on, he reached into the cup, pulled out a handful of the tattoos, and stuck them in his pocket. Of course, I saw him, and confronted him about this. He was extremely hesitant to give back the stack, but he wasn’t running away from it - he was joking like he would - even though he had been caught. One of the ER staff members saw me trying (in my broken Spanish) to talk to him and came over to help. After a few minutes of back and forth, the little boy finally gave in to us and handed back the stack of stolen tattoos, with the exception of one more. I put on his “bargained” christmas tree tattoo, and immediately after it was revealed, he pulled me down to his level and gave me the strongest hug I have ever felt. He held me so tight for what seemed like at least 5 minutes, only releasing for enough time for him to look into my eyes and exclaim to me “Feliz Navidad!!”  He stayed with me a little longer, never letting go of my hand, until he went to go play some more games. As he walked away, I realized that this little “thief” only needed to be loved!! He was craving it! And I am so blessed that I got to be the one to love him, through showing mercy and simply holding him tight.”  - Megan

They say a picture says a 1,000 words and today we wanted to give you a glimpse into how we experienced God today...

Guests waiting for the party to start!

Megan and David, "the little thief" :-)

 Noah, Steve, and Aaron rocking the games!

Mandi applying temporary tattoos. 

 

It was such a blessing to serve so many people today at Zambiza!

Aaron's precious new friend. 

 Mandi and some lovable party guests.

 Luis and Meg at the face painting station!

 Noah and Steve loading up the truck after the party.

Luis putting his artistic skills to good use!