What a blessing to have over 22 people from a small Quechua community called Tres Lote (“Third Lot”) come out to work on the home for at-risk children. They came on Friday because they had plans on Saturday for the scheduled minga, however, they still wanted to help. Most were women with children they were carrying on their backs working hard, carrying dirt, shoveling, carrying rocks and blocks. Progress is for sure being made and we are so excited to be a part of it. THANK you to the church of Tres Lote for all of your help!
Una Minga de Tres Lote
La Minga de la Iglesia Emanuel
Good folks from our partner church in Cayambe, Iglesia Emanuel, came together yesterday for a minga, which is a Quechua word meaning that the greater community comes from all around to work on something together for the greater good. Over 30 volunteers from Iglesia Emanuel worked almost 6 hours on the construction of the home. Look at all that was accomplished!
Oh and we have another minga this coming Saturday as a whole conference of churches is coming together to help out… watch for pictures to come!!!
Una Minga
In Quechua, one of the indigenous languages of Ecuador, “minga” means “the coming together as a community for the betterment of all.” Community members can call a “minga” if they are in need of assistance and people will come from miles around to help. For example, if the building of a school is behind schedule, a “minga” might be called to summon community members to help finish building the school. They may or may not be able to take advantage of the school–the community ties are important regardless. (Taken from Answers.com)
Our ministry has the privilege of benefiting from the historical tradition of a minga starting tomorrow when the good folks from Iglesia Emanuel, our partner church (church building pictured below), will be coming out to work on the construction. Tomorrow’s minga will be followed by two more mingas in the coming weeks by the wider Ecuadorian Covenant Community. What a privilege it is to be a part of the Covenant!!!
Latest construction pictures
That girl can drive!
Congratulations to Kim on receiving her Ecuadorian Driver’s License. Now both of us can hit the Ecuadorian roads!!!!
Reaching Out
The past two Saturdays we’ve been helping out with a our good friends’ Henry and Olguita’s church Iglesia Santiago and their outreach to north Quito, quite near where we live now. We are hoping to start a new small group and eventually a new church there. It is exciting to see a new ministry like this come about and we are happy to be a part of it, especially when it is so close to home.
Construction continues…
Construction continues at the work site of the first home for at risk children. It is amazing to see what two Ecuadorian contractors can accomplish in just a few short weeks!!! They have poured the remaining column bases, back filled around the majority of the column bases and have dug, laid rock and poured pretty much all of the shallow footers. Now onto pouring the columns and floors!
International Leadership Summit
We had the opportunity to attend an International Leadership Summit hosted by IPEE at our very own Covenant Campgrounds in Santo Domingo. This was a wonderful event with international speakers and participants all centered around the idea of sharing God’s word in a fresh and a new way and developing leaders in your church to promote church growth, church plants and church revitalization. Participants and speakers came from all around Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala and the United States. The leadership of the Covenant has recently set a goal of planting 50 new churches in the next 5 years. We were very inspired by the event and are feeling like maybe we should be a part of planting a new Covenant church…
New Webpage
We wanted to share with you all a new webpage that the Santiago Partnership has developed for promoting our project, especially the construction of the first home for at risk children. On this page, you can view a new version of our video that was yet to be released.
You can check it out here: https://fundly.com/help-us-build-a-home-for-at-risk-children-in-ecuador
Off to Santo Domingo
We will be heading to the Camp in Santo Domingo on Wednesday and be there through Sunday for an International Leadership Summit. We are excited to be a part of this amazing event and hope to learn a lot. We will be out of the communication loop during this time as the camp does not internet nor cell phone service. The picture below shows the progress of the new pavilion that is being constructed at the camp to be finished by the beginning of this event. Please pray for the speakers of the Summit as they will be teaching us from this very spot.



































































The Santiago Partnership