This year in Ecuador we were at Camp Chacauco again. We partnered with FBC Grandview. Here is the re-cap video.

 

As I was hard at work today in my office trying to catch up on many things that I missed while on a short-term mission trip last week, God kindly ran me into some important “buts.”

I am in the process right now of preparing several upcoming sermons. As I was trekking through my Bible today, I noticed all these “buts” sticking out at me.

The word “but” is a conjunction. Which means it connects two different phrases, thoughts or sentences. For instance, you say one thing and then you want to say another. You can connect, or conjunct, the two statements with the word “but.”

The actual meaning of the word “but” is = on the contrary. I like that definition, especially seeing how God uses the word “but” so precisely.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Corinthians 15:20  But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead

Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us

Titus 3:4 But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us

Praise God for the work He does in overcoming the way things are. It may have been one way, but on the contrary God has made it another way. That is certainly the case with me and my life. And I am humbled by that.

These are just four of the “buts” that stick out to me.

If you know of any other, or if you run across any other in the word of God, I would love to have you share them with me.

This year’s trip has been a blast. We have been working a lot. We have been on the road a lot.

We spent our first few days touring the country. We were in awe of the beautiful snow-covered Mount Cotopaxi. We spent 3 hours on the side of the road due to our bus breaking down. We spent some time in the capitol city Quito.

Then we spent Sunday worshiping with La Victoria Baptist Church in Ambato, Ecuador. I had the blessed opportunity to preach there. We spent some time bonding with the other group who is here from Grandview Baptist Church in Texas.

We woke up Sunday morning to the loudest thing that I have ever experienced. Mount Tunghurua which is an active volcano erupted. It was wild. We saw smoke bellowing. We saw hot burning lava on the mountain. It is one of the neatest things I have ever experienced.

 

Then Monday came and we have been busy working all day ever since. We worked each morning in the Quechua Indigenous community of Apatug. This was a special time serving the church there because this is where we were last year too. It is so high and so cold there, but we were so happy to serve the believers there. We spent 3 days cleaning up their property and doing some minor construction work. It was foggy, rainy, and cold, but we enjoyed working hard together.

We did that each morning until lunch time. Then we traveled each day back into Ambato to work with La Victoria. We did VBS there. It was the first time ever that this church has had a VBS done at their church. WOW! What a blessing it was to do this. Both of our groups worked so well together. We had about 150 kids today, the final day. It was awesome!

April and Ashley worked with kids in the craft station. Imagine trying to lead a craft with about 50 kids in the group and they do not speak English. We are proud of April and Ashley for the great work they did. Drew and Luke H. worked with the games. They had so much fun running around with all those kids. They were perfect for it. Jon and Luke and myself worked with the Bible story. I taught with a translator while Jon and Luke and others acted out the story. God really used our entire group this week.

We ended the VBS today by inviting all of the parents inside the church, and then I shared the gospel to them and explained to the adults what we have been teaching the children all week. That being, that Jesus died to bring us to God.

Now we are all finished. We are exhausted. It has been incredible! I am already looking forward to next year. I hope that many of you will consider to go with us.

Tomorrow we will sight-see a little bit, and then worship in the evening with the church in Apatug. Then we are coming home Friday night.

I thank God for a church who is committed to the Great Commission. And I thank God that I have had this great opportunity to go again.