Time in the Jungle, Teaching

As I posted recently, 2 weeks ago or so, we tried to make a trip to the jungle, specifically a village called Guagua Sumaco for me (Kim) to do teaching about disabilities to the youth of this area. On the way though, we were stopped because a bridge was out.
This previous Saturday (the 18th) we tried the trip again and MADE IT! My friend and fellow missionary, Mandy Hjelm went with us to help translate. I think for my first real teaching experience, it went pretty well. I tried to incorporate a lot of activities to break up the mound of information I gave which I think was good for the kids. You can see some of the above pictures. The activities were supposed to simulate different types of disabilities and how that would effect doing simple activities such as opening a piece of candy with a motor disability, trying to work together in a team with multiple disabilities such as being blind or not being able to use a hand or talk. Another activity was having the kids try to write their names with a piece of paper on their forehead. This would simulate how the brain may confuse letters. Overall, it was a great experience!
I asked a question during the lesson about disabilities and how it might effect the students. One in the class responded with "it's kind of like you and not being able to speak Spanish well". She didn't mean this is an insult, but it was very, very true. Not speaking the language fluently yet is a bit of a disability, but I KNOW that God can still use me, in SPITE of me and in SPITE of my limitations with the language. AMEN!

Only in Ecuador...

It's been quite an interesting weekend. We left Santo Domingo on Friday afternoon and traveled to a little town called Baeza-about a 5-6 hours in total. We stayed overnight in Baeza and met our friends Mandy (our fellow missionary and translator for the class) and Abby and got up very early because I (Kim) was going to be teaching my first class about disabilities in a small village in the jungle. We met our friend Rolando and in his family about an hour outside of Baeza and then started the 2 hourish trip to the village. About and hour or so into the trip-we ran into traffic that was very backed up. It's the rainy season here so we thought it was probably a landslide which is pretty common. We got down to the bridge and this is what we found! This road has at least 11 bridges alone getting to the village and they are not super sturdy so they don't allow big trucks. However, they said a large truck passed over it and this is what happened!
The bridge had a HUGE hole in it and we found out it was being held up underneath with very thin tree trunks.
Then we realized they were putting a tree trunk over the hole and then thin planks. Our friend Rolando that was with us said that a few people probably paid the engineers so they could pass over it. That's when we saw a truck and then a BUS pass over the broken bridge!!!!! It was incredible-don't worry, we decided not to pass over it-defintely not worth the risk. So, after a lot of travel, we headed the 3 and a half hour trek back to Quito. We will probably be doing the training in a couple of weeks-hopefully the bridge will be fixed! HA! Only in Ecuador...

Tragedy hits Ecuador

We just thought we would update you on what has been going on here in Ecuador the last couple of weeks. Here is a quick update...

On Thursday, August 4th, a tragedy struck the Ecuadorian Mission Field. A young man, by the name of Joshua Kim, of 21 years of age who was here visiting the Amazon region of Ecuador with his Presbyterian church from Orlando, FL, was swept away by a river that he and the team were swimming in to cool off from a hard day’s work. The place where they were swimming was a very popular among locals as there were people swimming there before and after they were.

Though I (Joel) wasn’t a part of the team in the Amazon, I knew I really wanted to help. So, I left early on the morning of August 5th to go over to the Amazon region of the country to be there with the team. The team ended up needing to return to Quito to fly out the next day though the pastor of the group stayed to continue the search for their lost friend. In addition to this, Joshua’s father and brother (who had been to Ecuador twice himself) and the senior pastor of the church flew in later that night. I took this group (the father, brother and both pastors) back to the Amazon region to continue the search for Joshua. Unfortunately, after five days of searching they left Ecuador without finding him. The good news is that on Friday, August 12th, Joshua’s body was found and is currently being delivered back to Quito so that he can be sent home to Florida.

Never in my life when I decided to be a missionary did I think that I would be involved in something like this. What I can attest is this: Jesus Christ is alive and at work here in Ecuador! I have never meet a group quite like the four I met from Orlando, FL. It is obvious to me that the Holy Spirit has been guiding them and has been with them every step of the way. Their response to this tragedy was inspiring! They were touched by those Ecuadorian officials, church members and missionaries that were helping them search for Joshua. His brother, Joseph, testified that when he first learned the news of what had happened that he was shocked, horrified and sad about it, but that as he has been here in Ecuador, he has only been encouraged to continue the ministry that his brother had started. He had a whole new respect for his older brother and wanted others to know about him and his life through the blessings of ministry. Joshua’s father, Mr. Kim, amazingly testified very similarly. He said that he felt that his son passed away so that he would come to see Ecuador and the ministry that both of his sons had started there. He felt that it was taking so long to find Joshua because God wanted him to see more of Ecuador and the ministry that his sons had been involved in. He thought God was encouraging him to continue on the ministry and do more ministry in Ecuador, not just their family but the whole church.

Joshua Tico Kim will be remember for his dedication to ministry in the church and his love for others. He was always giving of himself. In addition to this, he was a talented musician, singer and composer. He was soon going to be moving to Boston, MA to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music. From everything that I have learned about Joshua I wish I had had the opportunity to meet and to get to know him.

Though the story of the family and close friends is inspiring for us all, I know there will be difficult days ahead with the reality of no longer having Joshua present with them. Please pray for them that God can provide that comfort that is needed in their loss.

Visit from Mom and Dad Carter

Grandma and Grandpa Carter came to visit last week. We visited a lot of sites around Ecuador. Here are some of the sites around Ecuador that we visited.