Flying Home!

We are at the airport getting ready to board the plane!  We are really excited to see our families and live out the changes God has made in us. Make sure to ask us all about it!

Enjoying Quito...and excited about coming home!

We have a day in Quito before we fly out tomorrow, so we are enjoying our last day standing on the equator and visiting the market!  We leave tomorrow morning for the airport at 3am.   Looking forward to seeing all of you and living out the changes God has done in us!

Bus Ride Back to Quito

Last night was an amazing celebration to end our stay in Huaticocha.  We shared words of encouragement with the teachers, students, and interns. We also washed their feet as humble servants.

This morning was sad as we left our friends for the long bus ride to Quito.

We were blessed with sunshine and a soccer team parade in Puyo as we switched to the third and last bus line.

The beauty of God's creation is evident as we pass through the Amazon jungle.

There is much joy and laughter on the bus as we sleep, play cards and anticipate our return home.

Our days spent in Huaticocha!

Hola family and friends!

God has done some great things in Huaticocha! 

There has been a great turnout of kids at VBS. Yesterday, many of them accepted Christ. God is so good!

Some of us have been involved in painting a local Baptist church that holds services in a native language. We also had an opportunity to visit a day care center and talk to the director about needs in the community. 

The team has been participating in home visits every day to bless the people of Huaticocha. We have discovered first hand the great needs of people here, and are asking God to help us meet them.  

Some of the team has been working hard and laughing as the dig in the mud with the students and the construction crew who are here to build a new guest house. 

Today, we had a great time playing soccer and basketball with kids in a nearby town. 

We have enjoyed getting to know the students as well as the construction crew through affirmation time. Last night we affirmed each other around the fire and God moved deeply in the students, construction crew, and the students. 

Tomorrow is our last full day in Huaticocha. The team is feeling well. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we spend our last day serving in Huaticocha and then traveling on Friday.  We have heard that the road is still blocked by a landslide. So we may be spending lots of hours on the bus as we take the long way home.  Everyone is safe and well. 

Love and miss you all!

We made it!

Made it to Hautticocha!  Great day of vbs, home visits, and construction. Everyone is doing well. 

There are some people who have spread some mistruths locally that have caused mistrust and fear.  Today we visited them and did vbs. Please pray that Jesus will be powerfully understood and received. Please pray that the truth will set people free! 

Been busy and we may not have a update for a few days but we are well. 

Travel Continues...

Our team has been blessed by incredible vistas and stunning scenery as we traverse the mountains of Ecuador!! We were only temporarily inconvenienced by mud slides and our fearless leaders decided to take the long way around to Hauticocha, and hope to arrive sometime this evening. We have already been blessed by your prayers, strengthened and energized even with the headwinds of travel complexity. We would ask that you continue your prayers, focusing on the health and energy of our entire team. The extended time at higher altitudes has had an impact on some of our team. We are grateful for you all, and are so thankful for your love and support! 

Day 2: Are we there yet? 😃

We had a great breakfast with our hosts at Casablanca.  As we made our way from Quito to Hauticocha, a four hour trek through the mountains into the jungle, we encountered a bump in the road.  A quarter of a mile ahead, the road closed due to mud & debris slides. We waited on the bus, in a line of stopped vehicles, and passed the time eating our packed lunches, getting to know those who recently joined our team, & playing a card game called Pitch in which the rules continuously evolved. We have been waiting about four hours. We are all safe, healthy, & singing worship songs to pass the time until we can pass through.  We know God will get us to our final destination. As our team members have learned in our own lives, the journey may not go as we had planned or expected, but God is good and His way turns out to be better than we would have ever expected.

We've landed safely!

We are safe and sound on the ground in Quito Ecuador!  We are quite tired from travel but excited to see how God is working in and through us this coming week.  Our first night at a  CasaBlanca in Quito was short (3hrs sleep) but we welcomed soft beds and warm showers this morning. We will head out in this morning for Hauticocha to serve and share in church services this evening. 

Thank you for praying for us. Ask God to give us the strength we need to serve well and bless others. 

Stay tuned for more updates!

Ecuador or Bust!

Friday morning at 09:30 am, we will leave for Dulles Airport!  We will arrive in Quito, Ecuador in the early morning hours and stay overnight there.  Not long after, we'll head to our final destination of Huaticocha where we will serve for a week.  Please pray that God will give us hearts that are filled with joy to serve people, and that we will love others in a way that makes Jesus smile.  We will try to keep you updated as best we can while we are on the trip, but will have limited connectivity...which means limited updates!  You can be sure we will have many stories to tell upon our return. 
Thanks for your support Daybreak, family and friends!