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

Ecuador 7/19/2012

Buenos Dias, Good morning folks, i'm jumping on quickly to let you know we arrived safely. The plane ride from Miami to Quito had a little extra travel- we're checking to see if we get the extra flyer miles. I will say the team was very patient and relaxed, more opportunities to connect with new friends and share our journey story. Personally, I worked on my Spanish with the family sitting behind me - thankfully the kids are in an English speaking school and helped huge. Today we will be in Quito working in the morning and touring and learning about Ecuador culture, history and more. With Internet here I will write later and include team pictures. Thanks for your prayers! Peace, P Scott

Greenville 7/18/12

Hey Everyone,

         We had an awesome Tuesday night seeing a beautiful sunset at the spillway. We also found out that Meryl Wiratmo has a beautiful singing voice (check out the video). We also split up into small groups to reflect on what God has been teaching us thus far. After a hard day we got some much needed sleep. 

         Today we had a very annoying wake up call from the fire alarm. I guess some vacuum released a bunch of dust and it set off the alarm. Let's just say many people woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Other than that we had a very eventful day. Most groups got the opportunity to serve in a different way. Groups 1 and 3 went to the park and sports complex to paint, while group 2 went to the nursing home to build in relationships with the residents there. It has been awesome to see God working through us as we serve this community. He has placed people in our paths that we can have a huge impact on. Everyone is very sad that they only have one more day to serve.

         After a hot day we ate dinner and celebrated Jamara White's birthday! The students loved the surprise of birthday cake. After dinner and the session we took the students to Pymatuning Lake (Pictures will be in the next blog). There we played frisbee, wrestled, and swam. Everyone had an awesome time and it was great to cool off in the water. Well one more day of serving then we pack up and leave. We are excited to see how God impacts our students the rest of the trip. Once again continue to pray for us!

Meryl got a huge crowd to stop and listen at the spillway.

We found out Meryl has a beautiful voice. She got up to sing during lunch at the nursing home!

We got spoiled!

She can play the piano too!

These middle schoolers thing they can take Joe.