Keep Going, Keep Growing.

Beloved friends, it’s been a great and busy summer. I had the opportunity to work and hang out with teams from the U.S. Go to trainings and conferences. Visit new ministry sites and teach at my local church.

It is always fun and exciting to welcome old and new friends in Ecuador. I helped with 4 Episcopal Churches this summer: - St. Paul’s - Georgia. - Holy Cross - South Carolina. - Chapel of the Cross - North Carolina. - St. James - North Carolina. Some of my dear friends and sponsors for many years were part of these teams. I was over the moon happy to have the opportunity to hang out, work, laugh, learn and more with them.

With some teams we worked at my Church Cristo Liberador. The teams and the community did a lot of construction work in the building, where the new Sanctuary will be at. As you can imagine a lot of cement, rocks, sand, and heavy materials played an important role in the daily work. The teams held bible studies and gave lessons about important matters in our lives. The teams also did home visits to the houses of our kids who are part of the scholarship program (e=h). We had the opportunity to visit, cook, clean, laugh, learn, and most importantly pray with these families. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve done home visits its always an eye-opening experience and an opportunity to learn, create consciousness, and grow as brothers and sisters in Christ.

With St. James Church we had the privilege to be the first team ever going to an Episcopal Church in the rainforest. The Ascension Episcopal Church had been through a rough time after Covid, they lost a lot of members and had to start from zero. They have done an amazing job at bringing new members to the church, host different youth and children’s events and do a lot of community outreach, especially with indigenous communities close by.

We worked in different projects. We painted the outside of the church. Change the tiles of the altar, cleaned the pews, helped the youth leaders start the beginning of VBS, and other activities. I also got to do checkups and nursing assessments to the group of grandmas of the church. They said it was the first time someone has come to the church to check on them and hope we could come back with a medical team in the future! We all had a great time getting to know each other, work together and have fun.

I had the opportunity to go visit Fundación Rescate, a non- profit in the highlands of Ecuador, serving indigenous communities, working in development and education. This non-profit is a partner ministry site of Youth World (Where I am currently working) I went to visit their Ministry site and learn about what they are doing and how we can hopefully partner to work on holistic health and development.

I met Pastor Luis and his family. They are loving and hardworking people. They started working on missions years ago. Before they begun their ministry they moved to the city to find a job and better opportunities but instead they experience racism because of the color of their skin, their culture, traditions, the way they dressed and talked. That’s when Pastor Luis became a Christian and decided he was going to go back to his community and work for and with his people, so they don’t have to experience the same discrimination he and his family felt in the future.

He and his family have tried hard to empower indigenous communities. They teach people different jobs: Haircut, weaving, computer, cooking, etc. They hope people in the community would learn and develop new skills that will allow them to find a job to provide for their families and have better opportunities. So, they don’t have to migrate and feel less of a person because of their culture. I am excited about what the future holds, and I hope I can continue building a relationship with the ministry of Pastor Luis in the Highlands. I will continue visiting them and helping in anything I can. My hope is that I can teach them about holistic health and how they can implement it in what they are already doing. I am pretty confident it will have a good outcome and together we will get to impact more people and continue spreading the gospel in other places.

At the end of August, I hosted a vision seminar about Community Health Evangelism at Cristo Liberador. This church will be our pilot project. We hope to include more churches and neighborhoods in the future but right now Cristo liberador Church will be the place I will be working most of the time.

I love having the opportunity to serve and give back in the Christian community that watch me grow and poured into my life and also the neighborhood I grew up in. I gave some teachings about the following topics: Health, Community, the great commission, evangelism, relief vs development, multiplication, and more. It was an amazing opportunity to teach and reflect with the church leaders and other church members. I deeply believe in the importance of helping churches empower their communities for development. There are times even churches get too comfortable and stay in their comfort zone, they forget about outreach and about the importance of going out into the world and making disciples.

Sometimes churches are so used to only receiving that we forget about giving. Working on holistic health and community development will allow me to educate not only church members but also the neighborhood where the church is located. I will be able to empower communities to first recognize and accept they are loved, seen, value and have so much potential. Help them identify what assets, skills, and resources they have inside their own neighborhood and how we can use it for good.

I had the opportunity to go to the Dominican Republic for a work conference about health and development. At the current moment we are working alongside “Medical Ambassadors International (MAI)”. For 40 years, Medical Ambassadors International has been working to heal communities and transform lives. They follow the example Jesus set for holistic healing. Jesus’ ministry on earth revealed that he cares for the whole person. They implemented Community Health Evangelism, that addresses the needs of the whole person – physical, spiritual, emotional, and social.

I went to the conference to learn more about community development and about what is happening in other countries that work with MAI. I had an amazing time meeting new people who share the same values when it comes to holistic health. Some of the topics we talked about were: abuse, sex trafficking, healing the heart, horticulture, Christian microenterprises, and more.

In the following months I will continue working with Cristo liberador and the neighborhood, teaching health lessons, coming up with a committee of health, planning a health project and more. Development and holistic health are slow processes. It will take time before we see anything changing. I wish it could be faster, but I have to wait. I know! Waiting isn’t something we like to do most of the time. I only know a few people who are comfortable with sitting and waiting. It sounds so easy but it’s not. I am not going to lie, these past few months have been hard and challenging, I am “building the plane while flying it” The role I oversee requires me to study and learn more about development. Can you believe they don’t teach you that in nursing school? Ha-ha. There is no manual written that tells me what to do. I am adjusting to a new work environment and responsibilities.

Sometimes I forget I need to be patient and trust the process. Wait in the Lord and trust He is under control of everything I can think of even when I feel uncertain and helpless at times. A good friend of mine told me I need to understand that as a Missionary I am not in charge of the fruit my job will bear and it’s something I can’t control. I can’t control if the communities I will be working with don’t want anything to do with holistic health and development or if it takes years or even other people to see anything changing. At the end of the day God cares about me being obedient and going where he sends me.

Often God sends us where it feels uncomfortable, where we don’t know what we are doing because is so new, where we feel impotent and uncertain but most importantly God sends us where he needs us to be. I like to believe he has placed me where I am needed and even though is a slow process and it will take time, He will show me that what I’m doing is already making an impact and will continue making an impact in the lives of others. Maybe the Lord has called me to be the one who plants and other will be the one who harvest, or maybe I will be both. Only God knows where he is leading me and the ones I am serving. I just know I need to continue being obedient and learning to be still. Wait and trust the process and trust God above all. I encourage you today to be obedient. Get out of your comfort zone and go where God has been calling you. Even if it feels uncomfortable, go and be a testimony for others.

SOMETHING YOU CAN PRAY FOR • Please pray for my ministry and all the people I am working with. • Please pray for my relationship with God, that it will continue growing and I would become a better person. • Please pray for my integral health (spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional) • Please pray for my family, church family and family by choice. • Please pray for all my supporters and friends who have made it possible for me to work in this amazing Ministry and for future supporters.