At Rita`s House...Giovanny praying for Rita

With the Pastors and Their Family in Ecuador

Mission: Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia

Hola!

We hope you all are awesome!

We are finally back in Colombia. It was a truly amazing mission trip. We want to thank you all again for your support and prayers. It is difficult to put into words the incredible experiences and favor of God, but we will try to share some of the highlights.

DAS- DAS is the Colombian version of the FBI. They regulate a lot of things in Colombia, including Visas. Joanna´s Visa had expired and she didn´t have time before leaving for Ecuador to renew it. When we got to the Colombia/Ecuador border, we realized that we had to clear DAS to continue. The agent told us that we could not cross the border and that we would have to stay overnight to pay a big fine in the morning. We were really discouraged and tired since we had already traveled 20 hours in bus to reach the border. We explained that we were missionaries and we did not have much money. The agent looked at us for a while and did not say anything.

Then he offered to let her cross under one condition. Bribery is fairly common in Latin America and we were afraid that was the condition. But he just looked at us and said ¨Por favor, oren por mi¨ (which means: Please, pray for me). THANK YOU LORD! What favor! We couldn´t believe it. We had the same agent on our way back and he was just as nice and asked us again for prayer.

¨Pan y chocolate¨- In Guayaquil, we went with the church to pass out bread and hot chocolate to people in the streets. We helped to prepare bread and butter, then headed out to the streets. We met various people and invited them to join us for a time of worship and prayer before passing out the bread and hot chocolate. Joanna met two little girls who did not appear to live in the streets, but she felt a strong reminder of how Jesus said let the little children come to me. So, she invited the girls to join them. As there were many people, she lost track of the girls. Later they came searching for her and said that there was a person trying to commit suicide in the street. Joanna immediately searched for Giovanny and we both went with the girls to find the person. When we arrived there, a bystander told us how the other woman had tried to throw herself into the street with a young boy to kill herself and the boy. Giovanny began speaking with the woman, she was crying and explaining how her husband had left her and she wanted to die. Joanna had taken the little boy (who turned out to be the woman´s grandson) and was trying to comfort him. The woman had a terribly desperate look in her eyes. We began to pray for her and the presence of God was all around us. After our prayer, her eyes had changed and she was much calmer. Giovanny offered to go with them in a taxi to their home. They came with us to have some bread and hot chocolate and then we made sure that they got home safely. God is good!
 

THE PASTORS AND THEIR FAMILY IN GUAYAQUIL

Sometimes we take for granted the great blessing of good health. Rita was a reminder to us what great faith we can have even in the face of great difficulty. When Pastora Susana told us that Rita had cancer of the uterus none of us thought to ask her about what stage she was in or how advanced her cancer was. We set out with the Pastora for the long journey to Rita´s house. We traveled for a while in car to a simple house with a river. All thirteen of us boarded one long, wooden canoe. We rode along a wide river for another 30 minutes. Finally we arrived at the home of Rita´s parents. It was a very simple home made of wooden planks built on stilts.
 

HOME OF RITA´S PARENTS   GIOVANNY PRAYING FOR RITA

We were welcomed into the house and the Pastora went into Rita´s room. Joanna was one of the first to enter and see her. Joanna never expected to see a woman in her condition, she was completely skin and bones. After a very short time, however, it was apparent to all that joy and peace still radiated from Rita. Despite the fact that Rita´s husband has abandoned her but with her four children, she wanted to live! Her daughter had a dream where she was healed and she had faith that God could heal her. We had the honor to pray for her and ask God in the name of Jesus for that healing! But what was really amazing was how she inspired us, how her sweet words touched our hearts! Thanks to your support we were able to sow a little offering for the family to buy a radio for Rita. Please continue to pray for Rita and her family. (Soon after we were with Rita, she went to be with the Lord, in Heaven, where there is no sickness and no pain.)

We also spoke in two local schools about sexual purity. As well, a prophet spoke over each one of us. She said that Giovanny and I will travel to many nations, teach many people, and plant many churches. She also said we will have a son named Samuel. Also, there were two young guys who coordinated all of our activities in Ecuador. One of them had asked his brother to help us. By the end of our weekend in Babahoyo (a town outside of Guayaquil), his brother was ready to accept Christ into his life! Praise God!

 

FREDDY (WHO ACCEPTED CHRIST) AND HIS FAMILY

In Peru, we met Juan, who was Bolivian but living in Peru searching for a new life. He spoke five languages, including fluent English. He had been a teacher in Bolivia, but unfortunately he did not make much more than the minimum wage, which in Bolivia is approximately $100 per month. He also experienced some discrimination in Bolivia from the indigenous government because he was not indigenous himself. He had a heart condition as well.

 

OUR FRIEND JUAN- GOD BLESS YOU!

Thanks to your support we were able to give him an offering to purchase a dictionary in multiple languages so that he can continue to teach and study in Peru. Please keep Juan in your prayers.

We also had the opportunity to meet an amazing Christian Quechua woman. The Quechua people are indigenous to Peru and in other areas of the South American Andes region. 
She took us to a small village outside of Cusco where the community would like to have a church but currently does not have funds. Please pray that God provides all that is necessary for them.

OUR CHRISTIAN QUECHUA FRIEND IN CUSCO

God allowed us to visit the majestic Macchu Pichu, to pray there, and share about Christ there. Many people who believe in the New Age movement go there to get in contact with the ´spiritual atmosphere´ there. Many people in this movement are seeking the truth, which we know is Jesus Christ, but many have been wounded by religion in some way. They need our prayers and love to heal those wounds in order to return to the path of the Jesus. 

GIOVANNY AND JOANNA AT MACCHU PICHU

God had given Joanna a vision of the statue of Christ the Redeemer while praying about the YWAM mission trip. There was another group that went to Brazil and initially we thought the vision meant that we were supposed to go with them to Rio de Janeiro, but our director told us that the group was full. He preferred that we would be in the group going to Bolivia. We felt a little confused a discouraged. However, when Joanna began to search on-line about Bolivia, she learned that in Cochabamba, Bolivia there is also a gigantic statue of Christ the Redeemer. We felt this was a sign from God that we were meant to go to Bolivia. What surprised us was that there were similar statues all along the way and we ended our mission trip in Cochabamba at the statue of the Christ the Redeemer.

1. CHRIST THE REDEEMER IN A TOWN OUTSIDE OF GUAYAQUIL  2. THE CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE IN COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA 3. OUR TEAM WITH THE CHRIST THE REDEERMER STATUE IN COCHABAMA 

Bolivia- In Bolivia, we felt like special guests. We stayed in the John Wesley Hotel, owned by the Evangelical Methodist Church of Bolivia. We had the privilege to speak in the Methodist schools in La Paz, the American Institutes, as they are called there. We spoke about Sexual Purity, Dreams, The Ten Commandments and Our Lives, Relationship with God. We spoke to approximately 400 students in total. We also had the privilege and honor to meet with the Bishop of the Evangelical Methodist Church of Bolivia.

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OUR TEAM AT A METHODIST CHURCH IN LA PAZ

We then traveled to Cochabamaba, where we spoke at the National Workshop for the Young Leaders of the Methodist Church of Bolivia. We addressed the topic of the 7 areas of society that we need to impact as Christians.

YOUNG LEADERS AT THE NATIONAL WORKSHOP

Chile- Chile was not part of our plan, but God always has his plan! We could not leave Bolivia directly to Peru because we there was a protest at the border. We chose to try to leave through Chile. There was initially another protest at the border of Chile and Bolivia, but it cleared out quickly. We were blessed by the beauty of the Bolivian and Chilean countryside, though we would like to return to do more mission work in Chile.

Thank you for allowing us to share this amazing experience with you! And thank you again and again for your prayers and support! You are a blessing and we appreciate you! We pray that God continue to bless you and your family!

Love,

Giovanny and Joanna