The blessing of Carmen Bajo

Hi All!
It's late, but I have to give you a feel for the blessing we are experiencing here.  We spent today at Carmen Bajo.  We started with a time of sharing and singing and praising and then sharing testimonies.  We heard from a girl native to this area from a very poor family who got saved as a high school student and greatly desired to go to seminary.  Her parents did not like that idea because they are not Christians, but she managed to make it there and completed the three year course.  She said that often she did not have money for food and that friends and strangers many times gave her food.  She was full of praise about how God has provided for.   She felt like that God really took care of her when she stepped out in faith.  Her passion is to work with youth, and I believe that she will be used mightily in that work.

We then were able to hear from Sunny, one of our precious youth, share with them about how through her own fight with cancer, her family received the love of Christ.  She shared how only yesterday, she was able to share Christ with a woman who has terminal cancer.  This opportunity came because of the missed connection that some of the kids were very sad about.  But after that clear God appointment, it was ordained for Sunny's group to miss their original flight.  She put this into words so beautifully that many people were in tears.

After sharing, we divided into teams.  One went to the church to demolish an existing tumble down structure to make way for a medical clinic to come.  So many of the guys got their demolition fix today.

Another group was cleaning up a big dump pile that contained sand, rocks, broken block, broken glass, and a lot of trash.  They sorted out what was usable as building material, and what had to be hauled off to a real trash dump (another large trash pile up the road.)  It was pretty backbreaking work.  They will sleep well.

A third group went down the very steep hill in front of the Compassion project to help begin adding a room on to a grandmother's house whose daughter has had a complete mental breakdown.  This grandma is now caring for her daughter and her three children by herself in a two room house (both rooms very small.)  They were blessed by meeting this precious woman and who exudes joy even in the midst of crisis.

The next group helped prepare the lunch for the afternoon group of Compassion kids.  Lots of hugs from all the children.  Our students helped serve and clean up after about 250 kids who eat here after their school day from 7am to noon.

Lastly about 20 of our kids put on a VBS for a group of about 90 kids with singing, dancing, acting, laughing and hugging until we could go no more.  After this, we followed the kids to their classroom to do a craft with them.  It was a treasure to these kids to simply have a paper plate with some crayons to share what reminds them of Jesus.  There are some artists among them I can tell you that.  The kids in the room where Steven Moyer was helping were enthralled by his paper plate.  I see a future in graphic design for Steven!

After we had pretty much finished working for the day, we just played and played with the kids outside the project.  They are so funny and so filled with love.  The do not know strangers, we were all fast friends.

In the evening, we were treated to a beautiful meal prepared by the women of Carmen Bajo.  It was a fundraiser for their mission work to Cuba.

Julia Wofford-- Good night!
 

It is hard to share how much the love of Christ impacts a culture.  The believers in the church at Carmen Bajo are passionate about reaching out to help others.   Pastor Fabian and the congregation put on a beautiful white linen, red rose dinner for us and we took up an offering.  The church is raising funds to send 6 people on a mission trip to Cuba.   Pastor Fabian went to Cuba and worked with the underground church and pastors there about a year and a half ago.   He shared how deeply moved he was at, get this, their extreme poverty and oppression.   Many of us were moved to tears as we looked around at a group of extremely poor people who are overflowing with the love of Christ and want to share it with those who have less.   It was a lovely way to end a wonderful day.   Thanks for your prayers and your participation in changing Ecuador one child's life at a time.

Many Blessings,
Zoe Schlenker