Tuesday, July 31, 2007
God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity
My name's Becki Schellinger. I'm from Girdwood, Alaska and that has been the recurrent scripture as I prepared for and throughout this psuedo-mission trip. I started feeling the call for Ecuador about September last year, plans went in and out and come the end of June every plan I had made or tried to make had been changed. My plane left July 15th and I only knew I was spending two days at a hospital in the Amazon and my friend Ross was picking me up from the airport to stay for an indefinite amount of time. Without going into details, God's plan was well laid out and revealed as everything just came together. Through a series of unfortunate events Ross and I got hooked up with the Hacienda de Esperanza. We came here about July 22nd. Ross left for the states the next day but I stayed for a week and a half. I've played with the kids, did a bunch of sewing, and if I accomplished my goal--shared God's love. It was great to see the language barriers break down...and amazing that they seemed to do so 3x as much whenever the conversation was revealing God's glory. Someone once said, "Spread the gospel at all times using words when necessary." This has been a great opportunity to try that out. And as a secondary benefit, I've learned to trust God as never before. The rest of my travels are at http://www.beckischellinger.blogspot.com/ Vaya con Dios.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Matt Brittain
Hello, fellow supporters of the Hacienda of Hope my name is Matt Brittain and I am 19 years old, and I have been working down here for about the past two months. I first found out about this place from my high school, Madison Academy. A school group comes down here every Spring Break on a mission trip. I have come twice before with the group from Madison Academy and have fallen in love with the work down here. I have done a lot of different chores from taking care of Christian, Jhon, and Jorge to doing construction work. God has blessed me so much with what I have, and He gave me the opportunity to come down here to do this work. I also have learned so much from just walking down the streets in Cayambe/Tabacundo to learning Spanish in Otavalo. I had the chance to do a little bit of traveling, and I have fallen in love with this country and with travel even more. I do not know what I want to do for a career, but I know I want to help people. I also want to travel all of South America and learn the different cultures. Even possibly find out a way to help others down in South America, such as teach English to the natives. I only have less than a week before I leave this place and return to the states. I do not know if I will be able to return to La Hacienda de Esperanza, but I will never forget this experience. Please keep on supporting this ministry if you are able to. God has done amazing things with this place and He will do so much more. Take care and God Bless.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
When the Cat's Away ...
The children will play! Many thanks go out to Larry and Charlene, Jerry's brother and sister, for spending a month with the kids while Jerry and Pat returned to the U.S. to visit both family and sponsoring congregations and attended the annual Operation Ecuador conference. The kids have had a fantastic summer with their temporary house parents, and Martin and Lorena have enjoyed a much needed vacation from their normal house parent duties.
Larry and Charlene took the kids to the big Quito Zoo, to a large group of Indian ruins very high in the mountains, and they spent the whole day at the Cayambe public park. The kids have had a great summer vacation doing things with Larry and Charlene, Katy Snyder and Tyler Grissom and also Matt Brittian. Many thanks to those who have served God by serving these precious children this summer!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Thoughts From Katie
My Uncle Jerry asked if I would post some of my pictures and thoughts from my 2 week stay here at the Hacienda of Hope. It has been a once and a lifetime trip for me, and I have been very blessed by the time I have spent here. Thank You So Much, for this amazing opportunity!!! Heres some pictures from my stay:
Larry Snyder, my Grandpa and I.
Jhon enjoyed posing for this picture!
The children really enjoyed their day at the zoo.
And a day at the Ancient Ruins....
It was great being here with my family and helping! Thanks Again and God Bless!!!
