LIFT continues in Chaco

We had a very busy Saturday yesterday.

We got an early 8:00am start and headed one hour by bus, with a group from the El Chaco church to do an evangalistic event in a small town called San Luis.  The church wants to begin a ministry there, since there is no church and the town is growing quickly because of a huge hydroelectric project that has brought many people into the valley.

We walked the small town inviting people, played games with the kids, did a puppet show, a skit on Shadrech, Mishech and Abendigo, and shared some testimonies--- oh, we did a lot of singing as well.  It was great to be a part of the first outreach to this town for Christ.

We stopped at the Malo river falls for a quick swim and made it back to El Chaco just in time to participate in the churches Scouts program for boys and girls.

Then at 7:30 we were involved in many ways at the Saturday evening church service, including the preaching time.

Today (Sunday) we were split up between two churches. The main church in El Chaco and a church plant in Chonta Loma.  We did Sunday School for kids and youth and preached and did testimonies in both church services.

Now we are headed for lunch and then spliting in two groups. One will be white water rafting and the others will be going on a jungle hike.

Tonight we will have one more church service and then we will be traveling back to El Refugio Monday morning.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

LIFT in El Chaco

We all made it to Chaco yesterday at about 4:15 after a great travel day.  On our travels we visited the equator monument and did some souvenir shopping there.  We then traveled up the mountains and all got off the bus at 13,200 feet elevation and did a quick hike up a nearby hill to look out on all the surrounding cloud covered mountains.

From there we traveled down the eastern side of the mountains to the town of El Chaco at about 5,000 feet elevation.  We will be here until Monday assisting the church here in various ministries and projects.

                                        Our hotel in El Chaco

Today was a work project at the main Chaco church and at a nearby church plant.  We worked together with church members to paint, clean and lay paving stones.

We have had a wonderful time of fellowship with the church and are looking forward to serving with them for these few days.

Please remember our team in prayer, for health, saftey and guidance in the ministries that we will be , singing, preaching, sharing testimonies, doing puppets and dramas in.

LIFT day 2 work day

I'm sorry I have no pictures for today.

We did have a very good and productive day though.  All our work projects were related to our programming for our camp retreats.

We split up in five groups and worked on the following projects:

My group- went up to the overlook hill to build and  put up a new cross, where the old one had fallen.
Group 2- Cleared and dug stumps out where our climbing wall storage building will go.
Group 3- Is digging out our oldest fire pit area, to make it better for groups to sit around it.
Group 4- Put in a retaining wall for where we will be putting in a new "leap of faith" or "pamper pole"
Group 5- Is building a dismount platform for our zip line.

The work is progressing nicely and we will work on these projects again a week from Friday.

Tomorrow we head for the town of El Chaco to work alongside a church that we partner with in ministry.

Remember us all in prayer in our travels and testimony as we minister in El Chaco the next 4 days.

LIFT in Ecuador

Our LIFT team from Camp of the Woods in New York made it in safely late last night.  I was waiting at  the new Quito airport with a bus and we all made to El Refugio early this morning at about 3:00 am.

 Today we woke up in time for a great breakfast at 8:00 am and then had an orientation time with our director Paul Reichert.  

After orientation we spent the rest of our day getting to know El Refugio a little better.  We spent time on the climbing wall and in some hiking up to about 10200 feet on El Refugio property.

Tomorrow will will be working at El Refugio on various projects.

Please remember us in prayer as we  begin a very busy week, of work, travel and ministry.

Thank you and God Bless, Rick