Ecuador Update

Hello Everyone!

I'm writing from Baños, Ecuador! We are having a fantastic time. It has been an incredible experience for the students in our team.

We arrived in Quito, Ecuador on Friday night. After a nights rest we headed for Sucua, Ecuador by bus on Saturday morning. The ride to Sucua is beautiful but long. It takes about 8 hours to travel by bus due to distance and some road conditions. There are parts of the road that is nothing but river rock and mud. At one point our bus crossed through a shallow part of the river because the bridge had collapsed.

Arriving in Sucua Saturday night we unpacked at our hotel, then headed to the church to decorate for vacation Bible school. Early Sunday morning we dressed for church and prepared for our first day of vbs. During the first service the guys and I put together tents and prepared some of the outside for the vbs. Then we all attended the second service.

vbs started at 2:00 and kids were already flooding the place. Kids were everywhere and we had a great time trying to communicate southern Spanish :)

Monday and Tuesday the team spent the day working at the Hope House, a home for teenage girls that have been taken out of villages. At teenage years these girls are given the option to get married, be sold, or prostituted; but the Hope House gives them a future. We hauled graveld and shoveled, painted, planted, fixed roof leaks, tiled a bathroom, cut grass, etc. It rained all day on Tuesday so we were wet and muddy all day. Then on both Monday and Tuesday afternoon we were back it at again with vbs.

Wednesday was basically the same routine again, however after vbs Wed. night I had the privilege of preaching my first service with a Spanish translator. Let's just say it was an experience. It felt like it was my first time to preach. I haven..t felt that way in over 10 years.

Today we left from Sucua and are currently in Baños. The trip took about 3 hours and is only a stop until tomorrow when we head back to Quito for the night. Then on Saturday we will fly back to Birmingham.

There are so many details that I will discuss later. I will also post pictures as well. Keep our group in your prayers as we travel about 5 more hours tomorrow by bus, and then fly back Saturday. Sunday morning we will hit the ground running back in the states and in church!

Can'.t wait to see you all!

It's Going to be Worth It!

Brandon