As I mentioned in my last blog I’m taking some time to feature a couple of responses from some of those who traveled to Ecuador this past week.  Today, we’ll hear from Paul Stansberry.  I hope if you know Paul you will take an opportunity to encourage him and thank him for representing our church in such a significant work.

Here’s Paul:

What a week! That’s about all I can say after having just completed a week in Guayaquil, Ecuador on a mission trip. To begin our trip, we arrived at Project EC-314 with a reception fit for a king. The children, who are served by the project, had assembled in two lines and then popped balloons as we passed between and into the church building. What a fanfare!

Of course, the conditions these people have to live in are so poor and so unfair. Compared to them, we have so much and they have almost nothing. With cinderblock walls, sheets of tin for roofs, no doors or windows, and crime so steep that any hole big enough to crawl through was barred up, these people still lived with pride and still did their best to stay as clean and healthy as they possibly could.

One of the afternoons while we working to poor a new sidewalk in front of the church, we broke away in order to visit a home of one of the kids at the project. In this home they have only two small rooms and an equally small courtyard that was full of rubble and garbage. The only bathroom is shared by 2 other parts of their extended family. Keep in mind, the bathroom had 3 walls, a curtain for a door, and no roof. Now, having no roof is a bit of a problem because there are only two seasons in Ecuador, the dry season and the wet season. I guess you can start to see the problem. While we were there we had the privilege to do some work for the families we met, but more importantly we took the opportunity to show them that there were people around the world that loved them and cared enough to come and visit and give them their love.

This was a work trip, so the work on site was hard. There were two masons, Jose and Patricio. Jose is an elder of the church that serves as a project site, but Patricio (Jose’s employee), does not go to church. I had a long conversation with him, and he told me about his past and how he had to grow up with an uncle that did not care for him, but rather only put him to work. Later someone in our group said that he had mentioned that he had a hard time understanding why we would use our own time and money to come there and work for free. He apparently had said I would not have done that. However I truly believe that God had him and us there for a reason and I think a big seed has been planted in Patricio’s heart.

My highlight, was meeting my sponsored child. Daniela is 4.5 years old and one of God’s most beautiful creations. She hugged me and played and laughed with me as if I were her own father. And when she fell asleep in my arms, I knew I was truly blessed. It was then I felt that maybe God’s blessings are a two way street.