Ecuador 2018 Now sit down, get comfortable this is gonna be a long blog. I have a lot of my heart to share. I am home from Ecuador. My heart is joyful to have had such an incredible opportunity but heavy to have left. It was such a hard goodbye. Let me give you a recap of the last two weeks!! Julia Kramer and I prepared for months, writing out letters to raise support and God provided every need. It was completely clear God wanted us to go on this mission. So the 30th of June arrives, I had no idea what to expect. We didn’t know anyone from our team expect my Aunt Stephanne. We arrive in Atlanta and meet the team, everyone we met was very nice. And we wait for our next flight. It was a 5 hour flight. It wasn’t as bad as the 9hour flight to Bulgaria thank goodness. We arrive at about 10pm, go through security and grab our bags in a rush, and head out to wait for our bus to arrive, it was dark but even then it was beautiful. We had a bus ride of about 45 minutes to the Kinde House ( the hotel we stayed at for the last two weeks) Julia fell asleep but I was wide awake, my eyes frozen staring out the window. As expected right when we arrived to the hotel and got our bags to the third floor, (way toooo many stairs haha) We fell asleep. We awoke to the most beautiful site, taxis driving up and down the steep hill, the sun painting the mountains, vibrant colored buildings, and my most favorite (I’m being sarcastic) the song of the propane truck driving by our window haha. Let me just tell you, the Kinde house spoiled us. The gave us the most delicious meals each morning. From fresh warm bread from the bakery to amazing fruits, eggs and so much more. We never went hungry. The first day we went to the church in Quito called Cemad. My most favorite place. The people at this church are truly precious. Pastor Juan Pablo, his sweet Wife Ms. Guisela and their two kids Josias and Daniella. They are the sweetest family, they love God so passionately and serve him with all their hearts. I wish I could worship with this church every Sunday. When you worship God is present in that room. The spirt of God is overwhelming, it brings you to tears. I felt at home in that church, they welcome you and embrace you as family. Writing about it makes my heart ache with so much love for those precious people. The room is filled with tears, and you hear them crying out to God and it’s so humbling. I feel that sometimes in North America we are reserved with our worship. Even I am guilty of this. But these people aren’t. They worship without boundaries, they cry and lift their hands to the heavens and dance around the room with joy from the their heads to the tips of their toes. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. After that incredible service we ate a meal with some people from the church. It was delicious (as always) after lunch we went and toured around Quito. We saw so many beautiful places, the buildings in Ecuador are beautiful, and so colorful. We saw two beautiful churches and walked through the town. That day we got to know the team a little bit better. That night we prepared for the week, getting the supplies for the medical clinics, eye clinics, pharmacy supplies & children’s ministry supplies put into suitcases. The second day approaches, once again we ate a delicious breakfast ( we were so spoiled!) and headed out early for the first day of work. It was hot, sunny & just simply beautiful. This is the day we met our wonderful translators, who we truly couldn’t have completed the hard work without. I had no idea what the first day and the rest of the week would have in store. We get there and everyone goes to the section they work in to set up for the day. Already people are eagerly waiting to see the doctors from America. I worked in children’s ministry, where we painted nails, or colored in the coloring books. We also played with the bubbles (which the kids LOVED) or parachutes and many more fun things. The first day we got out the goodies and waited for the kids to come over. At first the kids are quiet, shy and curious. But soon as they start coloring or pick the color of the nail polish they open right up. One of the women on the team was named Kara she is so great. Kara is majoring in Spanish so she could communicate with the kids really well. I on the other hand have limited Spanish, but though they don’t understand English they understand the language of love, laughter, giggles and hugs. Each child was precious, It was an honor being able to be the hands and feet of Christ and love on them. One of my favorite things to do was paint some of the mom’s nails. And just love on them that way. One of the highlights of the week for me was meeting the Cabera’s. Ms.Maria and Mr. Jamie. My cousin Julia and I ate lunch with them, I got to pray for them and just spend some time with them. My Grandpa Brad, worked with them while he was a missionary in Ecuador. It was an honor to meet them, come into there home and spend time with them. I’m going to pause for a second and give you some insight on the other work done on the trip- I didn’t work in the medical clinic, pharmacy or eye clinic but I will shed some light on what the week looked like for them. We saw exactly 2,401 people. A huge amount gave their lives to God some didn’t but each encountered the love of Christ. The doctors would see all types of people, some who had parasites, strep, stomach bug, joint aches and pains, diabetes etc. Those doctors and nurses worked so hard. The eye clinic, saw a multitude of people, many who’s eyesight was severely damaged. Some of the patients vision was so damaged they couldn’t provide a strong enough prescription of glasses, but each person who came through the clinic was loved on so well, some came to know Christ and each left with God’s handprint on their heart. The pharmacy people also worked so hard, they would organize the medicines and put the right stuff in each baggie personalized to each patient. They would hand out yarn dolls or stickers and would love the people as they walked out to door. Each person in pharmacy worked so hard, and loved each person so well. Each day was busy from 6am to about 5pm, but every day was rewarding. Every tight hug from one of the kids made it all worth it. Every day was pretty similar. We would arrive by bus to the towns, lines would already be forming with eager people. And the day would begin. Now I’m going to hop back into the children’s ministry. Sebastian was our incredible translator! we couldn’t have completed the week without him. Every day we wanted to share the gospel with the children, in hope they they may give their lives to Jesus and to those younger maybe just plant the seed of curiosity. Sebastian would read out the bible story and prayer multiple times a day when new kids showed up. Sometimes Kara one of the women on the team would read it and pray also. The first week was incredible, the people in children’s ministry ( Kate, Julia, Zach, Dalton, Ms.Lisa, Sebastian, Santiago ( he also translated for us some days! he was awesome!, & zoey are such incredible people. They were the hands and feet of Christ. Whether they were making balloon animals, playing soccer with kids, painting nails, or coloring,or handing out dolls and stickers. In all they did they showed love, I’m honored to have served with them. After each long rewarding day we would go back, and in those moments we would talk to people on our team, some of us would sing and play ukulele together, listen to music, laugh and enjoy each other’s company. Each person on the medical trip was a blessing to me in different ways. Every person was unique, kind, and lovers of Christ. The first week came to a close, we had a fun day. Went to the Equator, and to markets and that was an incredible day. Ecuador is beautiful from the brick roads, to each mountains that overlaps the next, to every colorful home & the gorgeous architecture. But nothing can compare to the beauty of the people, they are clothed in authenticity, kindness & joy. Each women, man & child have a story. They come from different walks of life, they have different smiles, eyes and hair but each a child God came to save. I have so much love in my heart for the people of Ecuador. God has given me a love that runs so far, deep and wide for this country. And Lord willing I plan to return for years to come. On the last night, we said our goodbyes, many many tears were shed saying goodbye to the medical team. God did amazing things the first week, he topped every expectation I had. I’m so thankful for this opportunity. The construction trip. We wake up the next morning to the beautiful song of the propane truck (sarcasm again) we get ready for breakfast, head out and meet two wonderful people from the trip, who were on the third floor with us, their names were Mr.Ken and Caleb. We started talking and getting to know each other before breakfast. As always (we are spoiled at the Kinde house) we had a delicious breakfast and headed for my most favorite place Cemad church. Like I said earlier in the post, the people are precious, it’s a spirit filled church. I feel at home there. My Aunt Stephanne spoke and it was a beautiful service. That day we were all exhausted, especially the new team who flew in late the night before. We we all went back to the hotel and crashed. Later that night Mr.Ken, Caleb, Julia Kramer & I went to Sebastian’s ( the translator from the medical trip, our good friend.) home, we met his precious family, ate and played the ukulele, Sebastian played the gutair and it was one of the highlights of the second week for me. This week was packed full, we woke up, ate breakfast and walked to the church each day, half of the team was working in the bathroom in the main building, while the other half of us were working in another building laying down laminate flooring. Now I wasn’t much help laying down laminate flooring, but I wasn’t to bad at being a coffee runner, or I filled up waters, broke cardboard boxes, handed tools or flooring. It was an honor to help serve in anyway I could. The moments where Julia Kramer and I couldn’t help out much we would run off and play with two of the most precious kids from the church. Named Jesus and Sofia. We would run around and play, chase them, and just have fun with them. Many hugs were involved. It was a blast each day. The people at Cemad are a delight so it was an honor to serve them. Each night we went out for dinner, spent some time with pastor Juan Pablo’s family and enjoyed each others company. Each day looked about the same, but as the first week each day was rewarding. On Friday after finishing up work, we got together with some people from the church. Pastor Juan Pablo and his wife shared some words and prayed for us so passionately. I cried very hard! we ate a delicious empanada’s, amazing cake and drank coffee. They gave each of us a beautiful gift, for the women it was a beautiful purse & the men received a hat! The night came to a close & we had to say our goodbyes to some of the people from the church. It was so hard to say goodbye to our new friends who truly became family from the church. It was especially hard to say goodbye to sweet little Sofia. She is precious to Julia and I. The week came to a close and we had a fun day, we went to an Indian market, to a lake, and to a waterfall. All were beautiful. It was a wonderful day enjoying the beauty of Ecuador and the company of each other. That night we headed to the airport, had a long flight and arrived in Atlanta. Julia Kramer and I only got to say goodbye to some of the people from the team, which was sad. Each person on construction were also a delight and it was an honor serving with them! I will miss every person from each team. We arrive in Michigan after a short flight from Atlanta, fall in our beds and sleep Sunday away. It is now Monday, I’ve unpacked. I dreaded every minute of unpacking. I even miss the song from the propane truck ahaha. I miss all of Ecuador. I truly wish I was there right now. But this trip was incredible, God taught me so much every day I was there. He loved on me through people on both teams, people from the church & my beautiful Aunt Stephanne. He revealed to me ways I need to grow and increased my love for him and my love for Ecuador each day. I can’t wait for my next hello to Ecuador. If you took the time to read this, my goodness bless your heart it was a long post!! Thank you for reading, and to those who prayed for Julia Kramer and I, who supported us finically & prayerfully thank you for your willingness for God to use you to help us fulfill what he called us to do. Your support means the world. Don’t forget to check out the slideshow at the bottom, we got some great pictures. Ecuador I love you. Mikayla Kent
3 Comments
chris miller
7/16/2018 01:35:54 pm
Sweet Mikayla- Mr. Dave and I read your post all the way through. What an amazing experience for yourself and Julia. So thankful for your safe trip and return. You're words so touched my heart that I found myself tearing up but also smiling. We loved the slideshow of pictures what a beautiful place. Thank you also for taking the love of Jesus to these folks and stepping out in faith to take this journey. We are honored to have been a part of ecuador with you! Love you and Hugs- Ms. Chris & Mr. Dave
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Pam McElrath
7/16/2018 01:54:03 pm
I told your Grandma Kay (while you were still in Ecuador) I could hardly wait to read your next blog. It was worth waiting for - so glad you had such a wonderful time ministering to others! God bless you abundantly!!!!
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Grandpa Brad Morris
7/16/2018 03:11:55 pm
Precious Mikayla,
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AuthorI'm just a 17 year old girl, who has a passion for Jesus and longs to encourage and connect with other people through the shifting seasons of life, and the lessons learned through them. Archives
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