Tag: ecuador

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Thankfulness: A Year In Review

Camp Bellevue

This year our congregation was able to send a group of ten to Ecuador. We have a heart for missions and have been able to keep up with some pretty tremendous works, including supporting missionaries in both Haiti and Ecuador.

It’s always good to go back and reflect on our work throughout the year so that we can remember how far we’ve come. Though we’ve experienced some losses, we have much to be grateful for! God is always doing great things and we owe him all the honor and praise!

This Sunday Dan Pyle will share pictures and stories from our trip to Ecuador. Short term trips are great for our kids to go on because they get to serve beside their parents. We had five (half of our group!) who were young kids. Our youngest was 4 years old-the youngest to visit Camp Bellevue in Ecuador! From old to young, everyone worked hard and a lot of lives were impacted.

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The Campbells Are Coming!

Camp Bellevue

This summer we took a group of ten to Ecuador to help work at Camp Bellevue, where the Campbells live. It was encouraging to see how much they do for their community. Our congregation has been supporting them since before they moved to Ecuador. When Jesus commissioned his disciples, he told them to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that he commanded (Matthew 28:19-20).

Going requires more than just packing up and moving to some fantasy destination. Missionaries sacrifice a lot. In the case of the Campbells, they learned two new languages and are raising their children in a different country. They adopt the culture of the country they live in and that becomes home. It’s easy for people who visit for a week or two to forget just how big a transition it is for missionaries to move to another country permanently.

Serving abroad requires a great deal of flexibility, commitment, adaptability, ability to work with a vast number of personalities, and fundraising. We’re excited to hear how the Lord is using the Campbells in Ecuador and we need to make it a point to encourage them in the work they do!

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Why Missions Are Important

missions

Our team of ten, Lord willing, will be leaving Thursday to travel to Ecuador. There is a lot of planning that goes into these trips. It’s so important to visit the missionaries our church supports. It’s a tremendous source of encouragement for the mission workers who live abroad and it allows us to connect with Christians from around the world.

It is well known that churches who are involved in missions grow. Without mission support, we would greatly hinder the kingdom. Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world. Not everyone will become a missionary. And that’s OK. But people who do not (or cannot) go on long trips can still support missions in a big way.

When Paul was on his first missionary journey, he could have gone straight home. In fact, it would have been much quicker and more of a direct route to do so. Instead, Luke records that Paul “returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21-22 ESV).

We need to remember that it’s vital to encourage other Christians–both from afar and in person. They are working hard for the Lord. They labor day and night. It is not easy work, and they face so many discouragements along the way. We are excited to visit our friends in Ecuador and to meet other brothers and sisters who live in that beautiful country! Please pray for the Campbells and the work that is being done there.

Photo by Aneta Ivanova on Unsplash