It's barely been 24 hours....

and God has already done so much!  We started off our day by going to church.  Gustavo, our guide/translator, was preaching at his church today.  He told us that the service would be entirely in Spanish, but we would enjoy worshipping with his church family even though we wouldn't understand most of it. 

When we arrived, everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  The music was incredible!  Everything was in Spanish, but the presence of the Lord was so strong.  HE is universal!  At one point, I prayed and asked God if we could sing a song that I recognized.  Guess what song we sang next??!!!  THE REVELATION SONG - one of my all time favorites!  I just cried.  God is so good and so real!

Then, the lady leading worship called Gustavo's intern named Sarah (who is from North Carolina!) to come up and translate the worship/music time into English for us.  What a surprise!  What a blessing! 

We also took part in the Lord's Supper which was very moving.  And the prayers that were lifted up to God throughout the service were amazing!

Then, Gustavo got someone to translate his message into English so we could understand it too.  WOW!  His teaching was very deep from Matthew 6:22-23.  Quite profound.  I still can't put into words everything God taught me through Gustavo's message.  I've asked for his notes so I can translate them and study them some more.

After church, we headed downtown to sight see and do some street ministry.  Quito is 9,000 - 10,000 feet above sea level, and this high altitude can take some getting used to.  It can cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea.  So, today was set aside to help us get acculumated - thankfully.  My sister Nicole spent most of the day sick from the high altitude.  She did start feeling better after dinner - we praise You Lord for answering our prayers.

As we walked downtown, we shared Jesus with lots and lots of people along the way.  We handed out salvation bracelets and explained what each color meant in Spanish.  We handed out Spanish tacts and Spanish Bibles as well.  People were coming up to us wanting to hear about Jesus and to get a copy of the Bible.  The people were hungry for God's Word.  We gave out everything we had with us.

And then God showed His majesty and power in a way that completely blew our minds!!!  Just 2 days before we were to come to Quito, there was some political unrest and violence involving their president and the police force.  The military police had to step in to maintain order.  This had the potential to cancel or delay our trip.  Some folks were concerned that it was still too dangerous for us to come on Saturday. 

Well, today we walked to the palace and SHARED THE GOSPEL WITH THE MILITARY POLICE!!!!!  Check out the pictures below (there are some really good ones taken by other people, but everyone is asleep now except me so I can't get copies at the moment.  I'll post them tomorrow.)  Is that not just like our God??!!!  The very situation that could have prevented us from coming, God used it to allow us to witness to some of the military police!  HE IS INDESCRIBABLE!!!!!  I don't know what else to say!

We spent most of the evening "debriefing" with Gustavo about the past 24 hours and sorting/packing supplies to take to the government run orphanage in the morning.  Please pray for our team to be fluid (which is beyond flexible) and to be willing to give up our plans for God's will.  And please pray for us as our hearts will be broken for the orphans we will meet.



Sharing Jesus on the streets in Quito




One of God's beautiful children




God does indeed have the whole world in His hands




Houses on the side of the mountain




A family I shared Jesus with




Outside the palace




Military police hearing the Gospel




ONLY GOD!!!!!




Driving Sean crazy with our last minute shopping!





Getting ready for the orphanage on Monday




Sorting stuffed animals for the children




Getting Bibles ready for the children and more street ministry




Unpacking little "birthday cakes" for the children that were packaged with love by our dear friend Sheri

 ^"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  James 1:27