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