Hello, friends and family! I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated y’all on what’s going on. As usual, I’ve been very busy. I will use this blog entry to tell y'all about my last week in Ecuador and about what I'm hoping to do next! My last week in Manta, which was also my last week in Ecuador, was a great way to end outreach. We worked with a different church than we had the previous week, and the pastor and his family were generous enough to let us stay at his church while we worked with them. Out of all of the weeks, it was most certainly the calmest. My whole team definitely appreciated a low-key week since the previous six weeks of outreach in both Louisiana and Ecuador had really taken a lot out of us. Even though it was low-key we still were able to do a lot of really neat things. We did lots of children evangelism. We went to several schools and put on our program for them. Afterwards, we were able to play with them and had a great time. We also were able to go visit the Manta earthquake victims at a place called Ground Zero. The people there had lost everything and were living in shacks. We put on a program for the kids, talked and prayed with the adults and gave out different necessities such as food and mosquito nets. One of the men there was incredibly generous and wanted to cook for us the following night. He insisted that we come the next night over and over. We were absolutely overwhelmed by his generosity. Despite losing everything he wanted to be able to bless us back. The following night, we all went out to his place and ate a delicious meal of tuna, rice and plantains. It was so inspiring and, honestly, convicting to me. If someone with so little was willing to give so much, how much more should I be willing to give to others around me? It has definitely served as a personal challenge since. One of my favorite things that I had the opportunity to do that week was leading an English class. I had to laugh at the irony of it all because I’ve told so many people that I have no desire to teach English unless it was internationally or God told me to do so. When my leaders told me that I would be one of the two people who would be in charge of TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) I was not exactly overjoyed, but God proved to me that although I really have no idea what I am doing in certain situations He is able to guide me in my weaknesses. With His help the lessons went quite successfully. The first day was rather interesting, though, because we had to prepare a lesson for an unknown amount of people when we ALSO didn’t know their age ranges or their previous English knowledge. It was quite the swing in the dark, but after the first 30 minutes we figured out that it was best to split off into groups and teach each group separately. I worked with the children of the pastor whose church we were staying at. Their names were Tiffany (7) and Caleb (5), and I absolutely fell in LOVE with them! They were such well-behaved and smart kiddos. Caleb picked up EVERYTHING I taught him. It was incredible! We taught them for three days. With Tiffany and Caleb All in all, our last week was really incredible. My amazing host parents from the previous week, Francisco and Maria, came to visit us on the night that we were leaving to go back to the capital city (where the airport is located). Seeing them again was so amazing and such a blessing. It was also made for a very tear-filled goodbye, which was something I was getting used to as we relocated each week. Me and Tracy with Francisco and Maria Reflecting back on my time in Ecuador, it’s amazing to think about everything that has happened. My five weeks in Ecuador were five of the most challenging weeks of my entire life but also five of the most rewarding. During my time there, I witnessed God’s faithfulness in both my life and in the lives of the people we worked with. When I felt like I didn’t have the strength to go on, God always sustained and encouraged me. I was able to hear the incredible testimonies of so many amazing people there- of how God literally worked miracles in their lives and helped them build orphanages, nonprofit foundations and churches. Hearing their incredible stories helped build my own faith. I’m so grateful to God for the work He did in my life there and for Him allowing me to work with so many incredible people. I’m ALSO so grateful to all the people who helped me through my Discipleship Training School both financially and through prayers. My DTS was absolutely life changing. I have an entire new understanding of what having a relationship with God really looks like. Although I'm very sad about leaving Discipleship Training School behind and the amazing people I got to know during it, I am so excited to continue pursuing God's calling on my life. I know that as long as I follow where He is leading great things are ahead. DTS Graduation Day As for my next steps, if God wills it, I hope to continue my missions training in the next YWAM school, School of Evangelism. This will start on January 8th. My desire is to continue to allow God to be working in my life the way he has in the last 6 months. I have never experienced as much growth in my relationship with Him as well as in my ability to allow Him to work in my life, making me a kinder, more patient and more loving person. Growing closer to God is the most important thing to me, and I see the most growth available in continuing my missions training. Please join me in prayer as I continue on this journey and search for God’s will in my next steps. Until next time, Olivia
0 Comments
|
AuthorOlivia DeLaney is a recent college graduate that blogs about her transition into adulthood and the adventures along the way. Archives
January 2017
Categories |