As of yesterday at about 11:30am, we are back home safe and sound in St. Thomas. The trip was memorable and life-changing on so many levels and we are so excited to share about it! Don't miss service this coming Sunday (July 8th), when our team will be sharing in both the 8:30 and 10:30 services about all the great things that happened. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!
Today we started early and headed to the Centro Cristiano de Machala, where we stayed for most of the day. Pastor Josh was able to preach for all three services while his dad translated. It was such a joy for us to meet and interact with everyone at CCM. Even though we don't all speak the same language, it still felt just like family, which has reminded us all that the Spirit of God is the same regardless of language, age or distance.
This evening we traveled downtown for ice cream and then had dinner back at the Baldwin's house and enjoyed devotions and some card games. We've also started packing our things because tomorrow we will head to the city of Cuenca for some sightseeing and a relax day before boarding our plane home on Tuesday night. We are so thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of this team and we are all excited to return home and share all that the Lord has done! It's all coming to a close now, but EMT18 has been a huge success! We covet your prayers for safe travels and for a smooth entry back in the United States! Enjoy some final pictures from our last day here in Machala!
The past two days have been filled with many hours at the worksite. We unloaded 1,000 more cement blocks, and if you were curious it only took us 12 minutes. We made the locals proud with our teamwork over the past week. With an "all hands on deck" mentality, we were able put the church in Bella Maria months ahead of where they thought they'd be. Along with unloading blocks, we also mixed and poured more concrete beams and started the process of leveling out the foundation. The pastor and members of the church were so grateful for our help over this past week. We had a small church service today everyone expressed their gratitude and we said goodbye to our new-found friends. Although it was our team physically doing the work, we are trusting God that there are even greater things happening spiritually.
Tonight we also wrapped up a few projects at the Baldwin's church here in Machala. Along with getting the new network and security cameras set-up, we also finished putting fabric over new sound panels that will be used in the main auditorium. Today, we also had an unplanned adventure for some of our team members... as we all know accidents on the job site do happen, and we had a few rogue nails that found their way to the fingers of our team, but luckily they all got up to date on their Tetanus shots while we were in Ecuador. All is well now and aside from a few other sore muscles, our team is all staying strong and healthy. Don't worry though, Kristin can still out-lift everyone on the team! Our night concluded with donuts and devotions from two of the team members and we are all honestly in awe of what God has stirred in our hearts. Although our time here is growing short, we know that God will continue to move here in Ecuador.