We returned on Wednesday late at night from a couple day visit to the North District of Ecuador. This visit included trips to San Gabriel (close to the Colombian border), Ibarra, and 2 indigenous churches in Zuleta and Pungo Huayco. It was a great time of visiting with pastor’s and lay leaders who are passionate about children’s ministries. We had a meeting on Monday night with all but 2 churches in the district to talk about our future ministry with the center for at-risk children and medical clinic. Joel went to San Gabriel on Tuesday morning and then the whole family went to visit Zuleta. It has been wonderful getting to know these areas that are only 2-3 hours from Quito. There is a lot of excitement about the possibilities in the North District. One plus in thinking about this area is that there are many Compassion International Centers in these areas. It’s a fairly poor area of Ecuador, and although there are not obvious problems of abandonment of children, there are definitely a lot of at-risk children.
Please continue to pray for us as we gather information for the field study and wisdom for those who will be making decisions about where future ministries will be.
Members of the indigenous church of Pungo Huayco. There are ladies wearing the traditional dress of the community.
Another angle during the meeting
Joel with the Compassion International director and Swedish missionary Ulla
The Santiago Partnership