So the end of last week was just a bit weird, since the Ecuadorian folks have paired up a couple of holidays back to back, and then these holidays run up against a Friday so, you guessed it, they take that day off as well. All that means is that we finally had a couple of days out of the school routine to enjoy together. I have not seen so many closed storefronts since Christmas day in the states.
During this slack point in the schedule, our family got to make a trek with another family from our house church to the Old City part of Quito. We really only touched on some of it, so I look forward to more in the days ahead, but let it suffice to say that it is quite fascinating to look at the place, where at least 500 years of culture have blended in one spot.
Take a look at this wonderful spot for a relatively new church plant to meet together out in a small town about an hour away in the rural area East of Quito. We were so humbled to ride out on a Sunday morning with our friend Les, a very kind Ecuadorian pastor/church planter, to visit and help them clean and organize the tiny donated space. We stopped along the way in a village to pick up some paint to cover up the moldy ceiling. A pig was being slaughtered 25 feet away from our van as we awkwardly waited. I was so thankful to be able to pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ as a group as they begin meeting together there in the town.
If you don’t know it yet, the Lord graciously allowed us to host Secret Church here at Alliance Academy. Keep in mind, this was at the final day of a 3-day holiday and on a Friday night also, and we still had almost 30 people attend! It was an incredibly encouraging time to be worshipping through the word with other believers in Ecuador, and Birmingham, and around the world.
In addition, we had the chance to gaze at the glory of God through His creation as we rode a cable car up the side of Pichincha, and then hiked a breathless trail onward and upward to about 13,500 feet to catch a quick glimpse of Rucu Pichincha volcano’s peak (over 2000 feet higher than this photo point) before the clouds engulfed us all on the mountain.
We are thankful for God’s glory expressed in each of you and would ask for you to pray for us as we seek Christ more to use us to be the gospel to kids and parents and teachers placed here from 23+ countries. Pray for us to be wise about leading our own children, and especially for our children scattered on 3 continents. We face an interesting array of opportunities daily that can detract from our focus on gospel advance, so we seek you to pray early and often for how best to make disciples in our family and with our family.
Blessings!
Chris and Vickie and family
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