The Perfect Ending

I was not able to be seated with the other team members on the flight from Panama City to Miami on our return trip. There was an empty seat next to me and I secretly hoped that no one would sit there so I could have more room for the flight. God had other plans. Just as the door to the plane was closed a beautiful young girl slipped into the seat beside me. She spoke English very clearly and I commented on how well she spoke English. We struck up a conversation. Her name is Maria and she is from Columbia. She asked me why I was in Ecuador and I told her I was on a mission trip. She said “what is that?”. I told Maria that we had come from the United States to share the love of God with the people of Ecuador. Although I did not have an Evangicube or even a Bible I could get to I shared with her about my relationship with Jesus. After we talked for a few moments I asked her if she would like to pray and receive Jesus and she said she would. After she prayed I asked her how she felt inside and she replied “I feel good inside”. When we were leaving the plane I gave her my bilingual Bible and she promised to read it. Please pray with me that Maria will read and study that Bible and that she will grow up to be a strong sister in Christ. Pray with me that she will share her newfound relationship with our Savior with her family and friends in Columbia and they will be saved too. Alex met her later and got her email address. I am going to get the discipleship material in Spanish and try to disciple her thorough email. Pray that God will make her receptive to learning more about Him.
God is soooo good!

by:Bart Kingsley

My Little Buddy

The second day of the week I had a privilage to lead these three older children (13, 8, and 11) to Christ. Later in the week I had a chance to talk to their mother, aunt, and grandmother who also prayed to receive Christ. It was so awesome to see a whole family get saved and to see them grow as Christians. I spent a lot of time with Diego (far right) and he became my little buddy. We played futbol with him and his friend Cristian everyday and it was a special bond between me and Diego. We let Diego keep the evangiball and he was so excited.

Throughout the week I was able to disciple Diego's whole family. They finished all three lessons and on the last day they learned to share their testimony. I was amazing how quickly they started to grow in Christ.

The last day was very tough because I had to say goodbye to Diego. I was not prepared to give him a gift but I felt like I needed to leave him something to remember me by so I gave him my watch. His face lit up with excitement and he told me that he hoped God blesses me all my life and he would always remember me. It warmed my heart to hear that and I gave him a huge hug and told him I loved him and wanted him to continue to grow as a Christian and we parted. I will never forget that family and how much they changed me!

By Lauren Lewis

The Loving People of Quito

It was very wonderful to experience the culture of Quito. When we first came to our church sites, the people greeted us, but in a very different way than I was used to. The nationals gave me a full body hug, and then put their cheek against mine, and then made the kissing sound. A few days later my translator explained that a short, quick kissing sound was appropriate for a regular greeting, and the longer kissing sound that I made was only for well established relationships. oops.

The people here are very loving and approachable. It was very easy to start conversations. Whether the people were working in the store, or sleeping at home, they would always come out and talk, and actually listen intently. I believe that God really prepared the hearts of the people before we came. The nationals here have showed me how loving families and friends can be. Praise the Lord!

by Alex Zhushma

PRAISE GOD FOR THE GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE

We praise Almighty God for the tremendous week we had in Quito, Ecuador. 135 North Americans with 126 translators and hundreds of nationals evangelized and discipled THOUSANDS of people this week. All of the numbers are not in but here are the most up to date statistics:
4371 Professions of Faith
39 new churches planted plus many churches strengthened
936 people were discipled in their homes
Please continue to pray for the pastors and nationals as they take up the responsibility of continuing the work.
More pictures and stories to follow.......

Discipleship visits are uplifting.

Discipleship visits were often the most encouraging and uplifting visits for me and those we met this week. We always enjoyed a great celebration when someone received Christ’s salvation, but there was something special about opening the Word of God with a new believer and see the Spirit open up the treasures of Truth captured in each phrase.

Here, my translator, Dayana, and a young national, Carolina, are leading a new believer, Adriana, and her mother-in-law, Estela, in their second Bible study. We were all excited when Adriana showed us that she had completed the first Bible study on her own the night before.

Please pray for Adriana and Estela; pray that they would be the Salt and the Light in their families; pray that through their daily witness their families would also come to know Christ as their Savior.

by: Chris Neugent

Translators accept Christ and become disciplers.

Jorge is in the middle of the picture. He is one of two replacement translators we had this week because others could not be there. Byron was the first replacement and he arrived on Monday. While we prepared to go out, we shared Christ with Byron and he was saved. Jose’, the pastor, and I were able to disciple Byron all day Monday. On the bus Tuesday morning we found out that Byron would not be with us that day. I told our team, Ben and Stacy from New Jersey, that we would just have to get him saved too! Well, you guessed it! Jorge, our replacement, was saved gloriously during our prayer time that morning! Again, the pastor and I discipled Jorge and he was eager to learn about how he could live for Jesus. Jorge was ready to share the cube by the end of the day Thursday. He is going to become and active member of our host church Iglesea Bautista Gethseminae in Ecuador. God not only used us to make disciples but to make disciplers.
Glory to Jesus!

by: Bart Kingsley

Refugees find Christ!

Gloria and her son Brian and daughter Joanna are refugees to Ecuador from an earthquake in their home in Columbia. She has applied for a Visa so she can stay in Ecuador with her children where she says the opportunities are better. Pray for her that she will find work to support her children. I met Gloria and shared “The Cube” with her while my translator and national were discipling a young girl. She looked at me intently while I shared and did not say anything. After she prayed and was saved, she told me that no one had ever told her about Jesus before. She invited me to her apartment with her daughter to go through lesson one. A little while later while we were preparing to go to a gathering at the local volley ball court she looked at me and said “I have always dreamed that someone from far away would come and tell me about Jesus”. I looked at her through tears (I don’t cry much) and told her that it had always been my dream to go to a far away place and tell people about Jesus.
God is so good!
P.S. Brian and Joanna were also saved.

by: Bart Kingsley