Mexico- Border Crossed!

Hello to all you wonderful loving people out there reading these wonderful blogs!  We have successfully crossed the border, although there was a minor hang up with mangoes and a near $300 fine we made it without a problem!  God answered our prayers and we crossed over without much problem.

 We headed over to Mike's New York Pizza, grabbed some real American pizza then headed to the beach.

 At the beach we played a fun game of beach volleyball with a random group of people and we almost won! We also swam in the Pacific Ocean which is much colder than the Atlantic and also filled with Kelp.  It was an adventure that we will remember for a long time!

  Tomorrow we are headed home but we don't hop on a plane until 12:05pm our time and we have a bit of a layover in Chicago but after that parents, spouses and friends we will be home!  God has continued to bless us along the way.

  Thank you for your prayers.  Keep praying for a safe and uneventful trip home.

Mexico- Crossing the Border in the Morn

  Buenos Dias Famalias! As you read this we are either in a car driving to the border, crossing the border or just in America again!

  This is a short note today because we're turning in early to get a good night sleep, especially the drivers (of which I am one) but tomorrow will be a good debrief of the trip in total and I will give you more videos, pictures and written words of your wonderful teenagers!

  Please pray for safe travels and a good crossing in the morning as we suspect due to a passport issue that we may be detained for an hour or so.

  Pray also that the lessons learned here will go to heart and change lives, not just a week in a life!  Well, good night everyone and know we will be home soon!

Mexico- Great Ministry Days!

Buenos Dias!

  Good morning friends and family!  The past two days have been pretty amazing as we continue to dig deeper with the Lord and each other.  Wednesday morning was a bit different, in that we headed to La Bufadora (The Blowhole) which is a natural blowhole from the earth...a pretty cool sight to behold!  It is also however a HUGE tourist attraction, which is the reason we headed there.  Many of us saw the shops and engaged in the local tradition of haggling over prices. 

  Once we were done there, we headed to lunch and then to our work sites of either VBS or the Boys home (which Aaron will discuss below).  The kids here in Mexico are so cute and have been loving our teens as they teach them the Bible, play with them and love on them.

  Wednesday night was a powerful evening for our students as the interns here shared their stories of why they came to Mexico.  Many of the interns stories hit the hearts of our teens as they seemed to strike cords with them and their stories.  We had a good two hours of worship and sharing then we went off into 30 minutes of quiet time with the Lord.  During this quiet time, it was super evident that God was deeply speaking to our teens and He was calling certain things out of them as well as instilling new things within them.  Personally, I LOVE seeing God move and work in the lives of our teens this way.  Getting them away from the noise of life and giving them opportunities to Hear His Voice is incredible!

  Today was a pretty busy day where most of us spent all day on a construction site, a few spent half day praying, then on construction and a few went to VBS halfway through the day.  It was our last day at Halil's church so for the kids and for our teens this was a sad parting.  We've been having so much fun with these kids, sharing Jesus through song, puppets and mimes has been amazing.  Many of the teens have stepped up and taken on leadership roles which has been a blessing to see as well!

  Tonight, we ate Taco's Pablano's and went to the beach for some R&R...it was a GREAT way to end the evening as we all watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean (pics to come on our Student Ministry Facebook page).

  Below are two stories so far from the trip. The first is from Jay Dever and the other Aaron Bliss (via video).  Enjoy and God Bless!  Tomorrow is our last day working in Mexico so pray for our energy to last and for us to Punch it hard tomorrow so we can end well! (P. Marv)

The week has gone fast, a little too fast for me. But there has been great and impacting things that have gone on here, the one thing that has impacted me the most was when and group and I went to a woman's house, while there we met her daughter and her grand daughter. The thing that made a huge impact happened close to the middle of when we were giving our Testimonies. The daughter told us that she wanted to give her life to Christ, we all then prayed over her. This was the most wonderful thing that I have ever seen in my life. Not too long after that the grand mother told us that her prayer request was for her leg because she was having pain, we prayed for her. Shortly after we prayed for her she was talking to the pastor that came with us, she said that she was able to stand up and walk without the pain that she had before. - Jay Dever (Esteban)

Mexico- Short Post

    Today is an irregularly short post, not because amazing things haven't been happening, but because we're trying something new.  We recorded about an hour of interviews with our youth today to be placed on our blog talk radio network.  Please take the time to listen in because God is doing AMAZING things here and we wanted to share it...you just can't write all of this good stuff down!


The show doesn't start until 4pm today, but you can listen to it then or anytime afterwards!  Below is the link.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/acacthreads/2012/08/08/missions-in-mexico

Mexico- Wonderful Day!

  WOW, what an amazing day! I love seeing God move and our students hearing and seeing Him move as well.  My (P. Marv's)  portion will be short because we have some great sharers who desired to give a full portion of their day...it's GREAT STUFF!  Below after the post is a video form Melissa Karl who also has an amazing testimony! Thanks for your prayers, keep em coming!!  Muchos Gracias!

Hola! Como estas?

And now that I've reached the extent of my knowledge of the Spanish language, I'll begin my actual blog post :P 

Today has been a very awesome day (actually, it's been an awesome 19th birthday, to be more specific). A lot of us started our days really early (6:00) and climbed up one of the hills near our mission site. I didn't make it to the top of the hill, but the view from about 3/4 up was magnificent. Even as dry and dusty as Ensenada is, I still find the scenery beautiful. It's great to be in an area that is completely in contrast to Pittsburgh but has just as much beauty...God didn't leave Ensenada out when he made beautiful places (although I would have minded if he had made the paths to his viewpoints a little less steep)!

After the hike, breakfast, and chores, we were all off to our worksites. I was on one of the construction crews, where we began to build a purple house. Literally, the house is going to be purple. How cool is that? We almost finished an entire wall today, so we were very productive. There were also a lot of kids at the construction site, so a lot of us took small breaks to play with the children. There was a 5 year old girl who showed me her collection of things that have Dora the Explorer on them, and then handed me an adorable little kitten. A bunch of the boys in our group kicked around a soccer ball with the neighborhood kids as well. Playing around was a great way to break up the work. I'm looking forward to seeing how much we can finish on this house before the week is over!

After that, we came back to the center, quickly changed into our VBS clothes, and headed over to Renario's church to lead about 50 kids in worship. We sang songs with them (Cristo Me Ama, Jesus Ama a los Ninos, and Yo Tengo Gozo), performed a short puppet show (today's was Jesus Loves the Little Children), and helped them make a craft (a paper plate decorated with hearts and the phrase "Jesus me ama"). After all of the organized activities were finished, we were able to play with the kids with soccer balls, bubbles, jump ropes, badminton rackets, and whatever else we could find. I think this was my favorite part of the day. The kids had the brightest smiles on their faces, and you could tell how happy they were that we were playing with them. There were several kids who stuck to our students like glue, and many others who were very open to having little conversations with us.

I think one of the most surprising/exciting/miraculous things I've seen is how well we are able to communicate with those who don't speak the same language as us. I, for one, am severely limited in my Spanish, but I'm very excited that these kids are so open to listening and having small conversations, even if I sound/look ridiculous when trying to communicate. I keep remembering the part from The Little Mermaid where Ursula says "Don't underestimate the importance of body language." The difference a small smile, wave, or hug can make for these kids is obvious. I also think God is blessing me (and I would guess others on this trip) with allowing me to remember more Spanish than I thought I knew, so that I can ask the kids things like "What character is on your shirt?" or "Is this your Dora the Explorer doll?". It's little things like that that the kids seem to enjoy talking about, and I'm glad that I have the ability to do so. 

I could probably go on for a lot longer about how amazing and inspiring everything else has been, but Marv is already making fun of me for writing a novel on this blog post, and dinner is in a few minutes, so I'll sign off for now. Love to all back home (thanks for the birthday wishes, family!) and hasta luego!

-Michayla

P.S. Mom and dad, if you're reading this, we're having mole for dinner. Bring back memories?

Mexico- Church Day!

Hola!  Today was a great day full of fun, worship, playtime, testimony sharing and much more!  We woke up, spent some time in the Word then dug right into breakfast.  Shortly after we ate our breakfast we were filled in on the chore list and who was in charge of what job...yes the students are doing chores and yes they've been doing them with smiles!  Hopefully this excitement will translate into home chores ;)

  After we did our chores we headed to church where we worshiped God in a whole new way!  Half of our group had a translator and the other half did not so the experiences were wide in their difference.  Also, one group was able to help with the Children's ministry whilst the other was in a service with kids involved.  Below are two wonderful stories of these varied worship experience.



-Luke
Well, today was wonderful. At church, I was shocked that people were actually dancing, yelling out loud and blowing the horn (shofar) at worship. I didn't think the Holy Spirit actually moved people like that. Even though I couldn't understand all of the songs, it didn't matter because everyone was so into worshipping God. Moreover, today some of us taught a few Mexican children how to play ultimate frisbee and they loved it. Right now I'm the happiest I've been for a long time. I can't wait to go pray with people and hang out with kids at a boys home tomorrow!


-Sema
As soon as we got to the church this morning, one of the interns asked us if anyone wanted to help out with Sunday school for all the kids after worship. A few of us volunteered and I was one of the first. When the kids ran downstairs for Sunday School they held our hands, toting us behind them. I sat next to a little guy who told me his name was Bebien. I later found out, he either had a bad case of ADHD or a few too many candies for breakfast. This kid was bouncing off the walls. While I was struggling to keep him interested in the lesson, learn his verse and color his coloring page, I was amazed at how the pastor was so patient with him. He didn't reprimand him when he danced on the table or ran out of the room. He laughed. The people here are so filled with God's Spirit. The love they have for each other spills out and I'm so incredibly thankful to be able to witness it. 


 Once we were finished with church, we headed to lunch at the missionaries home. We ate, relaxed and discussed a bit of our worship experiences together.  We headed back to our "Center" to change and get ready for some soccer!

  We played soccer for two hours with many Mexican people where we mixed up the teams so Americans were on the same team as some Mexicans.  Here we interacted also with little kids who were not playing soccer.  Andrew Reay was able to experience a Mexican outhouse while Aaron Bliss, Noah Walburn and others ran around the track!  Here we were able to speak the same language of sports and entertain many great conversations!

  Afterwards we headed to dinner, VBS practice, chores and Tacos Pablano's to cap the evening off.  I (P. Marv) was the designated orderer for everyone but I managed to eat a couple tacos myself as well!


  Here and now we are all going to bed to start another day.  Continue to pray for God ordained conversations and a desire to expect God to do amazing things in our midst!

Mexico- Safe and Sound

Dougie and Levi ready to conquer the flight

  Good Morning!  Yesterday was a pretty crazy day...up at 4am, traveling from 7:30am-9pm, with flight delays and all that but God is Good!  We are here safe and sound and our Spirits are high!

  We had a big lunch/dinner at In and Out Burger in San Diego, then drove from San Diego to Ensenada Mexico where we met another delicious meal waiting for us!


  On the plane from Pittsburgh to Chicago, one of our folks was talking to their neighbors and shared all about what we were doing in our blue shirts and where we were going for God's glory.  By the end of that quick flight God moved the people sitting next to our ACAC person and they gave $50 to the cause...just at random, no prompting.  They were Roman Catholic and were overjoyed at the prospect of helping God be glorified.

  That is one small story of God's goodness already.

  Once we got our tummies full, the leaders Brian and his wife Erin brought us up to speed on culture here, our tasks and the schedule for the week.  Let's just say this week is going to be busy but AMAZING.

  We wil be doing construction in the mornings, VBS in the afternoons and many other great things.  As we go on in the blog we will have students voice their thoughts via video and writing and we will continue to update via pictures as well.  It's exciting to have this opportunity to share this journey with you.  Please pray for our students to depend on the Lord for strength, courage and deep love for both the people here and one another as well as safety as we travel and work on houses.

  After all the scheduling and orientation here onsite, we headed over to Tacos Pablanos to get a little night cap of authentic tacos, before we headed to bed and yes they are very very delicious!

  If there are any questions, please feel free to comment on the blog here and we will answer them.  We have lights out soon here in Mexico but let me finish by saying: Dios Le Bendiga! (God Bless You!)

- P. Marv

Happy even AFTER delays!

View from our BEAUTIFUL Drive

Jarod sharing his WEALTH of knowledge

Mexico- Delayed flight

Hey everyone!  Just thought to give a quick update.  We are still in Chicago due to plane issues.  Our pilot noticed the caution light on, so we pulled back into a different gate.  After review of the plane it was thought we would be delayed for 2 hours until they could resolve the issue. Praise God we were offered another plane and are now boarding 2 hours later than scheduled. We are all still chipper and ready to go, so it hasn't dampened our spirits!  Pray for a safe flight to San Diego and check back tomorrow morning for your morning update on Ensenada!


P. Marv

SMO Toronto 2012

Thursday:

Wow!!! Who would have thought a week would go by so fast. In this week we have served, had fun, built and developed great relationships with other church and united in the wonderful name of Jesus. We were able to lean on one another through the loss of Adrian's father, to pray for their church and to send them off in a loving way. Pastor Joe is going to post more information on the trip once we arrive back at church. But we have a very early wake up in the morning (6am) to clean up the building before we leave. We will be arriving back to the church at 6pm. Please make arrangements to be there to pick up your wonderful students as we return from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has a been a blessing being here. God had made a definite impact on our students and futures. 

SMO Toronto 2012

Tuesday & Wednesday:

Who would have thought the days would pass by so fast. But in these pass two days, the heart of our children have been touch, changed and transformed. Audrey Luciana's group has started serving at a new soup kitchen called St. Francis Mission. It is run by two priests (brothers as they refer to themselves) John and Tim. Brother Tim was on location at a parish right in our area out by Allison Park a few years back. He is an avid Steelers fan!! On the otherhand, Brother John is a huge U2 fan and a old looking version of Marvin Nelson. (You can tell me your thought on this picture later.) I did not say that comment but a few student did mention he looked like Marvin..Sorry bro. But like the other soup kitchen we have come alongside them in serving food but in a very significant way. To preserve the dignity of some the less fortunate people who attend, each person pays a $1 for an amazing hand cooked meal and the waiting staff (ACAC volunteers) serve them restaurant style.

At Booth Industries, where Starr Tucker-Nibbs was leading a group, saw an immense change in the hearts of our students. The desire to go beyond themselves to serve in this capacity became emotionally overwhelming. Lauren Wiles, while serving there said, "How unfortunate it is to see so many people with a desire to work, but not being able to understand the disadvantages they experience. But the work, find joy in those they work with and love when they make even the smallest accomplishments."

Gary Gazica and team stayed at the YouthWorks facility to provide a day camp for some of the wonderful children in the near community. You hear some of the comment from students, "These kids have too much energy" -Josh Dever "I can't handle these kids. They are nuts!!" - Joey Luciana With all of the craziness of kids, they made the children smile, have fun and learn that they are and once were like these kids. They have seen many of these kids come each day earlier and earlier just to hang out with the students leaders of camp. They are so anxious to spend time with people sharing time and love for them.

For Jan Davis' group, being at the various women's and men's shelters has been an eye opener to the poverty in our world. To see how the homelessness is not just affecting men but a huge number of women seeking aid for not just themselves but for their children as well. A perspective for Vivian Jones:

        It is not easy to look at the situation each person is facing. But in looking at them, talking to them, and hearing their stories,  you experience their heart to want love, care and comfort. By being there, we have been the hands of Jesus Christ to comfort them through some rough patches.

Joe Luciana seen the heart of some people, ages older than him be filled with so much joy at the senior center Cummer Lodge. They have gone door-to-door to sing, prayer and just have fun with many of the patients. They have faced opposition with an older lady saying, "Stop all that racket!!!" But on Wednesday, she came around to be joyful playing bingo and a balloon toss game.  (For both Jan and Joe sites, picture have been minimal do to the nature of care.)

Tuesday night was a great night at huge park where we played ultimate frisbee, sat talked with the various church groups and relaxed for the night with songs. But with a solid day of work, fun and fellowship Tuesday night, word came in the morning to everyone that the father of a Toronto church student had passed away. The young man, Adrian, left the site and went home to be with his family during this time. His father had fought the numerous battles with brain tumors for over 10 years. But late last week, the admitted him to the hospital because they found him in bed unresponsive. It was heart breaking to hear, but the suffering was over to where he could rejoice with the Lord.  The Toronto group will be leaving early tomorrow to head North to their church to be with Adrian and his family for the viewing Thursday night and the Funeral on Friday. May you please be in prayer for Adrian and His family. Prayer for our students as this opens past wounds of losing a loved one. 

SMO Toronto 2012

Day 1:

Kristin Exley assisting with the assembly line coordination

This was a truly action packed day from the moment we got into the vans to drive to our work sites.Our students have been divided into 5 groups in partnership with the other 3 church groups who are serving here. We have one group of students working at Booth Industries. Booth Industries is a facility where adults with various mental disabilities work on an assembly line to accomplish various tasks. Our students have come alongside these individuals to assist them in the assembly line work, provide great conversation, but as Lauren Wiles stated in her review of the day, "This really makes you value and cherish the amazing gifts and abilities God has blessed us with to not take them for granted". The other students with her being Alex Guy, Kristin Exley and Joshua Kovaly (group lead by Starr Tucker-Nibbs) agreed that it was tough work being there but there is power with God knowing the blessing He give us everything we have.

Group 2 was lead by Big Joe Luciana. They had a start to morning where they left for Booth Industries to assist Starr's group until lunch time. Right after lunch, they headed to the beach. I know you all just thought they went there to swim and have fun. They did have fun. They cleaned up the shore which was filled with garbage. In the United States we recycle, but here they have taken waste management to next level. The students and leaders working at the shore were able to recycle you normal plastic, glass, and paper product. Also, any food they found became part of the compost they would use to help the environment. This way there is minimal waste that goes out.

This is a small picture of the park they cleaned up

Group 3 is lead by Gary Gazica. Gary is part of a very creative and energetic groups working at the Kids Club here at the church. This kids club is run by one of the Youth Workers staff. There about 20 kids that range from ages 4-11. The group is responsible for teaching a lesson, creating a craft, and having a story time. At the end of the club, the group plays a game with the kids. Everyone in this group works extremely well with these children. The last day this group is serving, Thursday, this group is planning a family B-B-Q. They are planning a lot of games, food, and a lot of interactive activities. This job is not as easy as it would sound. The students working in this group are growing a good relationship with these kids and it's amazing to see God work through them. (Pictures soon to come)

Group 4 is lead by Audrey Luciana and Joseph Oliver. Our group is working with a Chinese Baptist church group from Toronto Canada to serve in soup kitchen. Scott Mission was the name of the place we are serving. The mission serves food to homeless men and women in the community throughout the week. They serve anywhere from 100 to 200 meals a day for lunch. They have a very unique staff is solely dedicated to prayer, ministry and the Word of God. They more unique for the amazing diversity in their staffing. Their staff consists of Christians from Peru, Egypt, Iran, Sri Lanka, India, Greece, the Philippines, and more. They worked so well with our students and made the environment so warm and loving. A place you would never see the ethnic background but true work our God in what was being done.

Group 5 was lead by Jan Davis. She has been working alongside a church group from 2 hours north of Toronto to assist people at a women's shelter. Major Judy (Salvation Army Administator) showed such passion for women in need. She gave Jan's group a true understanding of what it meant to serve. It was not about the needs being met but the heart of each individual seeking love, care and compassion for what they were going though. The day did not consist of much hard work, but the visions of what God was doing left and imprint of what God is going in the lives of women in need.

The night ended with a trip to a great big park for fun and fellowship with some of the other groups. Relationships are being built within our students with other church groups that normally take days to occur. Barriers have been taken down and connects are developing. Our students are hungry for what God has for them. It showed in our time of worship. But the topic for the night was worship. Worship of God is essential to our growth with God. In the eyes and heart of these students, they are willing to make that sacrifice to worship anywhere. But they are always willing to show what it means to worship.

SMO Toronto 2012

Good morning,

After the cruise up interstate 79, a short time on I-90 with a great 45 minute wait at the border crossing, we arrived here safely at 3:30pm. The YouthWorks staff had shown us amazing love, support and encouragement for our drive up and passion our team had to serve. After we unloaded our bags of luggage and bedding, we explored the neighborhood and the park close by to see what Toronto had to offer. It wasn't long before the boys were throwing a frisbee in the park and climbing...I don't know why boys always want to climb trees. The girls quietly in their circle talk about boys and maybe there will be a cute one here on the trip from another church. These two things with the students here never cease to amaze me and make me smile and laugh a bit. But that was soon resolved when the other churches arrive not long after we did and the boys stopped climbing trees to take a look at the new arrivals and the girls froze to stare. At the moment, I let them know, we are here for a week, not for a lifetime. DON'T get too comfortable!!!  From the moment forward in the night time orientation, the focus was put to the student by the YouthWorks staff of  what each student expected to gain from this trip and what they had already seen God doing. The responses of our students to want to see God move, be his hand and feet, to serve God and those less fortunate was a impressionable and heart-warming for what God was already speaking to our students. The verse for the week is Matthew 12:28-31 with each day having a focus on worship, prayer, sacrifice, purity, obedience and service. We ended the night with a church group time centered on who and what you are doing missions for. What has brought you to do the mission trip to Toronto? Why are you doing the work that you are doing? To who(m) are you doing the work? We gave each student time to truly reflect on on these types of questions. Some students journal, some prayed, some read scripture, and some thought it through to make sure is where they felt they needed to be for reassurance. OUR STUDENTS, YOUR STUDENTS/CHILDREN are hungry to do the work of the Lord. 

Boys will be boys

Today was an early morning starting at 6:30am with breakfast prep leading into breakfast. Some students were still wanting to sleep but were great about getting up and preparing for the day. Wonderful breakfast of champions with cereal and fruit with a preparation of brown bag lunches full of sandwiches, fruit, cookies and string cheese!!! So yummy! For some, we did breakfast clean up then building clean up. Chores were not on the list when they woke up this morning but the finished each task with excellence. I am already so proud of what they have done so far in trip and how hungry they are not only for food but the ministry work God has for them here. We are about to head to our work sites. There will be pictures, videos, testimonies, and fun that will come later. Go to run for now!!! God bless and talk to you soon!!!!

Ecuador 2012 in Miami

Just a quick note to say "We are back in Miami, and all flights look to be on time."

Thanks for praying.

P Scott

Ecuador 2012 flight arrangements

Good afternoon friends,

We have had a great day in Quito. We attended an Alliance church, ate super food, play frisbee in the park, strolled in the park, rented bikes, played handball, checked out some Olympics and reconnected with the IncaLink Interns... the students and leaders are having good conversations.

Jim Tunbull did an excellent job jumping over to the airport and following up via phone to confirm all of our arrangements. Here are the details.

We will all travel together Quito to Miami LAN 12:05 am to 5 am

Everyone will travel from Miami to Charlotte 8:15am to 10:20am
     Paul, Chedel and Ryan will travel American Airlines AA3564
        while the rest travel US Air. USAir 1696

Charlotte to Pittsburgh
Paul, Chedel, Ryan and Rebecca will travel US Air 1168      1:15pm - 2:37pm
Everyone else will travel USAIR 1166          11:39am - 1:01pm

So we arrive in 2 groups in Pittsburgh.

Please pass this information on to other parents - thanks

Looking forward to seeing everyone.
Peace,
P Scott

Ecuador July 28, 2012

Hello from Quito, I know, this message should be written from Miami or Charlotte- but the truth of the matter is we did not get on the flight in Quito. we were packed and ready at the Casablanca scheduled to get to the airport at about 10 for the 11:55pm flight. We arrived about 10:14 and said our goodbyes to the great intern group and the bus driver that we had connected with. Well while waiting in the line to get our tickets we were told that the flight was over booked- buy like 48 people and they wanted to shift us by a day. The deal - 5 star hotel, 3 meals, transportation, and re booked together on the same set of flights one day later and either $600 coupon for LAN airline or $300 on a credit card. We discussed it as leaders and with the students and decided to take the deal. The delay in the airport was a little hard as we struggled to find a way to communicate back home - the calling cards given us didn't help us use the phone. We are all safely at a very nice hotel. If you read this please pass the information on to other parents and family of the team. I will post the new arrival time as soon as I have it. Likely early afternoon on Sunday.i pray that this does not mess people up. while we are all very eager to get home and see family this seemed the right decision. Each student will be given an opportunity to call tomorrow. Peace, P Scott

Ecuador 2012 Pictures

the Huaticocha Missions school and the boys dorm

the soccer field around the corner from the school - us playing

getting direction for a work project

clean up at the end of the day

The start of the big project - removing the water

Girl's bringing rocks down for the french drain

the team finishes the project - tons of earth moved.

it rained after we left - everything worked 

Mark's soon to be completed home

a piture of the back of the house where the girls lived

Ecuador 2012 Rachel

Monday, July 23  Rachel

                This morning each of the teams went hard with their work projects. I was on the Bucket Brigade, which means I spent a solid two hours using buckets to bail water out of a ditch. The water was much higher than when another group did the same thing a few days ago because of the massive amounts of rain we got yesterday. The work wasn’t difficult, the only trouble I had was finding solid footing. As we worked we began singing songs. These songs were mostly funny ones that Pastor Scott was making up in a call-and-response fashion. However, one of the interns named Adelle did teach us a new one that only Grant knew. It was called Fill Up My Cup and it was simple and fun to sing. There was both a boys part and a girls part, so everyone got involved. I loved the singing because it was a great way to encourage each other as we poured bucket after bucket of muddy, smelly water into the stream next to the ditch. After we’d cleared most of the water, we moved over to the group next to us who was digging and using the dirt to fill up the large ditch we’d just cleaned out. When we walked over to that group it was awesome to see the massive amounts of progress they’d made that morning. I had been working there two days ago and know personally how much effort it takes to do that job. We were all pouring with sweat not long after joining that group. But when we went in for lunch, it was really incredible to see how much progress we’d made together. Later today we’re going back to Guamani to have VBS and I’m so excited to see the kids again. Yesterday, one of the kids told me they wanted to pray to God and ask for Him to save her, so I really hope I see her again later!

Ecuador 2012 author unknown

Sunday, July 22

                Today we slept in until 7:30 because we were off work for the annual soccer tournament.  We had hardboiled eggs, sweet rice pudding (muy delicioso), and buns.  Scott fixed the table like a boss with 6 pieces of wood.  It had stormed the night before so the soccer field was very muddy.  We got there and found out that the girls had to play first.  They got very muddy because they were trying so hard.  They played a great game but unfortunately they lost. L. The boys played next and did well but also lost.  Out of 22 teams both boys and girls got second place in the tournament!!!  For the awards ceremony, Rebecca gave her testimony describing her journey through her knee surgeries and her walk with Christ.  After that, the first and second place girls and boys got their medals and trophies.  We stayed for about an hour and a half playing with the children, eating enpinatas and chicken, and played ecua-volleyball.  This is much like American volleyball but the net was about 10 feet high.  Also they play 3-on-3 using a soccer ball.  We drove home and bathed before going to where the girls are staying

author unknown

Ecuador 2012 Lindsay

Hola mi amigos!

Como estas? That’s about the extent of my Spanish knowledge, but I felt like I should go for it anyways, just to get you into the mood of this thing. But anyways. I would like to start out by telling my mommy and Jorge that so far, I’ve eaten broccoli, coleslaw, blended potatoes, baked beans (an entire plate, I might add) veggie soup, pea soup, plantains, yucaroot, and lots of other yummy new things J but on a more serious note, we’re on the bus ride home from Huaticocha now, and saying goodbye to the people and community there was one of hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I’ve fallen completely in love with the children, the culture, the people, and the Ecuadorians working alongside me who taught me so much about truly serving the Lord with all of your heart. They are the servants of God who I strive to be, and I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing group of people to help me realize that. My absolute favorite part of this trip was interacting with the children in a community called Guamani. Out of the 500 people living there, we only know of 2 Christians. They held the soccer tournament (don’t worry mom, I didn’t play) and as soon as we pulled up, children started running towards us from all different directions and within seconds, we had a lively game of ring around the rosy going. I really connected with a girl named Adia, and looking into her smiling face gave me an incredible amount of joy. I never got bored of playing pattycake with the kids, braiding their beautiful hair, giving them piggy back rides and playing game after game of duck duck goose with them. I knew how desperate each and every child was to be loved, and giving it to them gave me more satisfaction than winning any gymnastics meet, learning any new piano piece and acing any test in school. God has taught me so much this week, but if I typed it all out it might take up another three pages. So, I guess the gist of this was, this trip has been an incredible experience for me, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, because God has truly been doing an amazing work in and through each and every one of us this week.

Love you all!

-Lindsay

Ecuador 2012 Chloe

Chloe 7/22/12

This past week has been an amazing experience for me through everything, through the work, people, devotion time and the culture.

                To start describing my time I’ll tell you about the work that our team has been doing… On our first day in Quito we had the opportunity to help put together what used to be a mansion but is now rented by IncaLink in order for it to be a home for children ages 2-15 to live and learn about the love that Christ has for them.  After seeing this beautiful home I could feel God’s blessings for them.  On the second day we arrived in Huaticocha travelling through the jungle was also a reminder of God’s gifts, witnessing the large mountains and foreign plants reminded me that God gives us many gifts each different but all are important.  On the third day we began our day breaking off into teams, the team that I was on needed to take remove all of the water from a ditch and transport it to a nearby stream, this job was difficult do to the fact that I (of course) was the one to get both feet stuck shin deep into the mud (thank goodness for the interns not being afraid to get their hands dirty).  All of these jobs were difficult but the exhaustion went unnoticed do to the joy given to me by God.

                This past weekend was an amazing opportunity to embrace the culture of Huaticocha.  Our team had the opportunity to travel into the community for a time of games and fellowship.  At first I was afraid that the community wouldn’t be open to ministering of a bunch of teenagers.  But through devotion time we’ve discussed things such as the definition of courage and to my best capability of defining it is that courage is when you stand up for what you believe in what is right and just.  Through this teaching and a prayer for God to open the hearts of the people my fears were nonexistent.  Upon arriving into the community we were greeted with a flock of eager children who just filled me with joy through there kindness and smiles.  Being able to embrace them and play with them was simply an awesome experience. 

                My time in Quito these few days have been truly memorable and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me for the rest of the week.    

Ecuador 2012 Nate and Aaron

Nate

I woke up at 6:50 this morning to the sound of “Big Red” the rooster crowing outside of the boys’ dormitory. Breakfast consisted of bread rolls, hardboiled eggs, yogurt, and fruit. After morning devotions and our prayer for the following day, we headed out to our respective work areas. Mine was the same one for the past 3 days of work, and that involved filling in a nasty bog that attracted breeding mosquitoes, and it was an eyesore that could be converted into fertile planting ground. It was really cool getting to see the project coming together and the teamwork from the people involved in it. We formed two long terraces today along one of the edges of it today, and started digging a hole for where the septic system will one day be.

I’m typing this on the bus ride to Guamani, where we had VBS yesterday and where we are having it again today. It is very close to where the soccer tournament was, so I am seeing many of the same kids at VBS. It was a lot of fun yesterday playing with the kids, and watching them as they colored pictures and tried to brush the model of a person’s teeth that Jenny Turnbull had brought. I’m praying that the kids will see Christ in us and want to have Him for themselves as well.

Aaron Reay

7/26/12  16:51  Return trip to Quito.

 Hey it's Nate...          

            God is alive; and He is living in Ecuador.  This past week I have seen His hands working in so many different ways and in so many different people.  Over the past week we interacted with three very different communities, and God’s presence, power, and love permeated all of them.  The first was in the capital city of Quito.  Just a week before we arrived, IncaLink received permission from the state to open a home for children whose parents are in prison.  The government program was closing down due to lack of support, and the children, aged 2 years to 15 years, would have had nowhere to go.  They call it Tesoros, which means treasures.

Nate Turnbull

Ecuador 2012 Caleb

Sunday July 22,  

I woke up at 6:30 and started a 6 and a half mile run in Huaticocha. I nearly got bit by a dog while I was running through the city (that really made me run fastJ). It rained in the morning and afternoon for the first time. The girls arrived at the Mission School and we had breakfast at 8. After breakfast Jess, Joy, and Jenny cleaned the dishes. Then we had our morning devotions. Joy led the singing, and Uncle Jim delivered the message to us. At 9:15 we loaded onto the bus collecting more passengers as we drove for about 45 minutes to Guamani. Ryan, Jeremy, and I joked around with Fernando, our cook, poking him and calling Tyler “Chinito”. We packed lunch onto the bus so we could eat in Guamani. The girls played soccer first in the mud pit, which was a ‘soccer field’ on Saturday.  The rain made mud which caused a new strategy to play by. You would be running with the ball and then the ball would stop and get glued to the ground but you would keep going, leaving the ball behind. The guys played after the girls against the team that won last year. The first half ended zero to zero, but there were more shots on our side. The next half the scoring began. The other team put five goals in before we even shot on them. Then a miracle happened and I found myself on a breakaway. I somehow got by the other team’s last defender who was a huge, but very fast man, slightly intimidating. I scored which got us onto the scoreboard then soon after we scored again. We held them and finished the game two to five. Daniel had a great game as goalie making incredible saves. Then we played with the kids and I learned a new game. It was called Ecua-volleyball. The game was volleyball, but on a higher net and with a soccer ball. We played three on three against some other soccer players that drove eight hours to get there. They kept on nagging Derek to spike the ball but he could not. Derek kept trying but knew he could not. You could actually grab/hold the soccer ball because it was so much heavier than a volley ball. Nate enjoyed being flocked by the children. Grant got clothes lined by an actual clothes line when he ran to get an out-of-bounds ball. He got a small battle wound across his nose. I really disliked when we ate our lunch in front of the kids. We shared our food, but I did not feel comfortable eating in front of them. For some unknown reason we got second in the tournament even though there were only two teams. We were told twenty two teams played on the field that we were at, but we never played them. They were playing into the evening when we left around 2pm with more teams still coming. The awards ceremony went smoothly. The men and women’s teams lined up and received our medals. Rebecca shared her testimony and Jim translated for her. Mark said the community welcomed us well, which was our goal and an encouragement. There was a food shop next to the soccer field that sold empanadas for twenty five cents apiece. Crazy cheap! The empanadas were cheese filled croissants with sugar on the shell. We had a wonderful day besides the rain.

God Bless

Caleb Wakeley

Ecuador 2012 Sarah T

Hey everyone! I’m extremely grateful to all the people who made this trip possible. So far I’ve jumped off a thirty foot high bridge into the river, found a rooster under my bed in the middle of the night, eaten beef at multiple meals (my family would be proud), and gotten a wonderful freckle tan line.

One of my favorite parts of the trip has been doing VBS. VBS has been amazing. The kids there are adorable, and they love to be played with and held. I’m so glad that we’ve been able to share God’s love with these precious children.

I’ve also loved being with our team. This group has been the smallest group I’ve ever gone with on a mission trip, and I really like how close we’ve gotten to each other. The people we’ve worked with here in Ecuador have been amazing too. There are about five guys that help Mark and Cheryl work on the mission school every day, and they are awesome. They love God so much, and we were able to build friendships with them, even though some of us don’t know much Spanish. We’re on the bus right now, heading back to Quito, and I’m going to miss Huaticocha so much.

I love my family, you too Rizzo, and I’ll see you guys soon!
-Sarah T.

Ecuador 07/26/2012

Hello everyone! We are all safely back in Casablance- Quito. The end of the trip was tremendous, actually the whole trip was. Several students have some entries and I will post them next. You should be very proud of the everyone. The students far exceeded the expectations of the missions team in Huaticocha. We cleared land, cleaned up, moved tons of dirt and mud, built fires and eliminated areas of standing water. Rumor has it that the area we created will become the Joy Ike Amphitheater. The afternoons were equally excellent. Sherese led the students though the VBS's each day. We played, did puppets, sang, played, taught oral hygine (Jenny Turnbull did great), colored, played and presented the Gospel and had young kids respond at both locations. We gave away tooth paste and tooth brushes- and lolli pops. (does that seem odd?) We celebrated yesterday at the river. It was fun to jump off the bridge and swim around the very chilly but refreshing river. Since this was the largest water source, many took the opportunity to wash. Our cook, Fernando, and my daughter, Rebecca took the opportunity to get baptized - what a wonderful bi-lingual service. We have eaten well all week, really. One student believes that during this past week she has eaten her body weight in rice. Today's trip back to Quito was another amazing spectrum of God's handiwork. So many cameras - look for pictures to arrive soon. Tomorrow we jump off to the center of the earth and to Otavalo to worship with another Alliance Church and to do some shopping. Please continue to pray for us. We leave Quito very late Saturday night. Peace, P Scott

07/23/2012 Ecuador

Hello my wonderful friends,
Thanks for praying and following.

Mark found some internet and a little time during the work morning to jump on to connect. So I wanted to give a brief summary and update.

GOD HAS BEEN VERY GOOD. The IncaLink team here are all incredible, they lead, encourage prepare... we are in good hands.

The trip to Huaticocha was breath taking, everything from the small towns to the mountains to the waterfalls. so much to take it. many gazed and rested. On Saturday we jumped into work arond the soon to be missions school. we cleared a place for a prayer center, cleaned and shaped the grounds and are filling in the diverted creek. The filling is a little more complicated but future posts will likely explain that. Saturday afternoon and Sunday was reach into a new community. We hosted a soccer tournement. many children and adults came to watch and play. The team did an outstanding job of connecting with the community - loving, caring, singing, playing hop scotch and a new form of volleyball. They gathered aronud the consession stand and interacted with the community. I would say that that the environment at the field was very similar to the softball fields or deck hockey rinks aronud Pittsburgh on any given summer Saturday and Sunday. At the end of the competition, Rebecca gave her testimoney of God working in her life through the several knee surgeries.

The team built a significant bridge for the Inca Link team, please pray for the bridge to continue.

Saturday evening we attended the Alliance church in Huaticocha. Such warm and loving people. The service was filled with lots of singing - both in our language and theirs. We all sensed a wonderful spirit of praise. Joy sang a special number and all the students sang for the church.

Sunday evening we hung out at the church / pastor's house for a hoome cooked meal, soup, rice, mashed potatoes and chicken. Excellent! We actually have eaten very well all the time the IncaLink crew, Fernado and Cheryl have prepared great tasting food every day.

Today the team is back working, building community, connecting and praying for all that God will be doing through the people and the missions school.

We have had some bumps and cuts here and there, but God has always been bigger. And this hapens because you are praying. please continue to pray for each of us and all that is going on .

This afternoon we venture out into the same community for VBS.

Some of the students and leaders have been writing there thoughts on a seperate compuuter and I will post them as time and access allow.

My time is up. Pictures next time.

For all the team, 'Hello, we Love you, thanks for praying'

Peace,
P Scott

Ecuador 7/19 (Rebecca)

Hola from the fantastic city of Quito, Ecuador! Although we have only been here for just over a day, I am so incredibly encouraged that the Lord will do fantastic things in and through the group this week. I know that Tyler talked about some of the adventures that we have experienced this far, so without going into the same details I want to share some of the things that have really stuck out to me so far about our group. #1 The team has done really well adapting to the very different altitude, sun schedule (the sun rises just after six and sets after six), and culture. For some of them it is their first time in another continent doing missions work and they are learning and growing extremely fast- I have to keep pinching myself to make sure it's real. #2 They have done a great job adapting to the schedule and not complaining about unknown situations. When we had to sit on the plane for an extra three (or more) hours I did not hear one person complain about being tired or hungry. And on the worksite everyone worked really well together and was constantly encouraging each other- it was really cool to observe the entire group working together as a TEAM. #3 The team devotions, prayer times, and debriefs have been really great. It's so awesome to see the strengths of everyone come out in the various situation. Whether it was Joy Ike leading us in worship, Pastor Scott teaching the students how to use an axe, or Clair McCarthy helping other students to understand Spanish. Each and every person has unique talents and abilities and it is going to be great to see everything unfold this week. Those are just three of the many observations that I have made so far on this trip about the team. Thank you so much for your prayer and support on this trip! We will be venturing into the jungle tomorrow so please pray for safety on the road and then on the worksite in the afternoon. Have a fantastic day! ~Rebecca Wakeley

Ecuador 7/20/2012 ...

Just a quick reminder of a couple things.

Your prayer and encouragement are critical to us and the work here.
    Thank you for praying

We are headed to our primary ministry tomorrow morning. This will be a 5 hour bus ride into the interior of Ecuador - the jungle. We begin reaching out to the people through hosting a soccer tournament, VBS and dental hygiene. We will be supporting the missionary couple through building.

We will not have any internet access while in Huaticocha. I will have folks blog and we will post once we return to Quito next Thursday.

Peace, P Scott

Ecuador 7/19/2012 evening (Tyler)

Hey, Tyler Jew here, these past 2 days have been so awesome, weird, and wonderful! First, Our plane ride from Miami to Quito was so long! The free movies on the plane ride helped with the time and the free hot meal helped with the hunger. As we were landing all of a sudden we shoot straight back up in the air and find ourselves on the way to Guayaquil, another city on the route. All in all, we got to Guayaquil, waited for an hour in the plane, and finally got to Quito 4 hours late, that's ok though. Late pizza and potato soup shriveled our hunger from the hot meal on the planeride 5 hours before. We met our interns, Ana and Derrick, nice folks. Our second day was so much better, it started out with a long needed shower and a sunrise devotional. After a breakfast of fresh pastries, fruit, and chocolate flakes we were ready to seize the day. We went on a 5 min walk to a house. Scratch that, mansion, to help out with some stuff. Beauty is all I can say about the mansion. About 30 - 35 kids aged 2 - 16 who's pareNts were in jail would be staying there. Using my Spanish skills we helped separate And build a couple of bunk beds for the rooms wherE they will be staying. We also cleared the yard of debris, and some trees, with a giant fire, the ACAC way of course. After lunch we headed for a tour of Quito, Wonderful city. Our first stop was the Basilica, a massive church famous for its elegant sanctuary and stained glass windows. Long treks up stair, ladders, and across bridges let us discover all the Basilica had to offer. Sure the air was thin, we were dizzy, and the stairs were endless, but it was Completely worth it. The view was amazing, and the church was breathtaking. I actually got to sign my name somewhere where it will live forever, on the bell. Our Next stop was the giant Virgin Mary, she was special. She was about 75 feet and had wings. She was constructed of about 7000 individual pieces. We got home after a day of wonder and discovery. Let's hope the other daybs will be as great as these last two were. Keep us in your prayers for we will definitely need it. Thanks ~Tyler Jew

Ecuador 7/19/2012 pictures

La Tasores (The Treasures)

The soon to be home for orphan children

Prayer circle in the backyard

The walk back to Casablanca

(the place we are staying in Quito)

Doing yardwork...Jess learns how to use an ax!

Casablanca

The Bascilica

group pic outside of the Bascilica...before our

trek up 200+stairs to the top

The Enormously Beautiful stained glass window

Inside the clock tower

Jeremy checkin out the sites

an 80 foot statue of Mary that overlooks the city of Quito