...and chocolate, too!

This is the Lord’s day in the southern hemisphere also! The Bible study and worship hour in Machala is 10:00...or thereabouts. The people of Ecuador are a warm, hospitable people, and their human relationships generally come first over schedules or timetables. The expression, “la hora ecuatoriana” (Ecuadorian time) describes the extremely flexible timetable of the Ecuadorian culture . So, while those of you in the United States are juggling adjusting to the change to Daylight Savings Time, we are spending our day in a culture where “about 10:00” could have various meanings…all suggesting a time after (but not before) 10:00. Ines and Elias Davila . Elias preaches for the congregation that meets at their home.

Jane, Ines and April. Ines has on high heels. What she lacks in height she makes up in heart. What a special little lady!

Bert and April taught the "older" children in the Bible class.

Olen spoke on Sunday evening with Jaime Campas translating for him.

This is a photo of some of the people at the morning service. There were probaly 60-70 present, with several members not there.

The church in Machala, Ecuador meets at this location.
The 10:00 worship hour began about 10:25, with several people arriving later.
The worship service on Lord's Day morning in Machala. Several men taught lessons.

After a devotional period, the children were sent to classes. The classes meet in the Davila’s house, and Bert volunteered himself and April to teach the school-age children, and volunteered Jane to teach the younger children. He and April had brought teaching materials for the class.

"I love my Bible. I hold it carefully. I listen to Bible stories...."

Jane had only a felt book, but the usual teachers were present to translate and help keep the usual routine for the children. Somehow we managed to teach the classes and keep the children interested for an hour and a half while the adults had a Bible study and sermon(s). Then we all gathered again for the Lord’s Supper.

The four of us returned to the hotel, had a quick lunch and an afternoon meeting with Elias and Inez about the work in Machala and other places in Ecuador. After the meeting, Elias offered to take us for a drive around Machala that included a stop at a banana plantation, picking sugar cane, photographing mangoes, and cacao (chocolate!). Then Elias took us to the dock at Puerto Bolivar to see the sunset. We were back at the Davila house for the evening worship service at 7:30...or 7:45...or…

The service was delayed somewhat because Ines had collected cacao beans and was roasting them over an outdoor fire. The roasted beans were put in a bowl and several of the ladies were taking the husks off of each bean, like you take the brown part off of a roasted peanut. Then the beans were given to one of the boys who ground them, and the resulting material was taken into the kitchen, mixed with milk and sugar, and heated until our worship hour was over.

Olen spoke at this evening’s service, and Jaime Campas translated for him…a lesson on the good Samaritan. After the lesson, several of the men spoke briefly, mostly expressing appreciation for our visit. Then we adjourned to Ines’ kitchen and were served cups of simmering hot chocolate…made directly from local cocoa beams. Happiness!

What a wonderful way to end the day! It was very difficult to say our “good-byes” to the people we have visited with in the church in Machala. Our plane back to Quito leaves very early in the morning from the Santa Rosa airport. Elias has promised to pick us up at 5:30, which will come very quickly. It has been a wonderful visit to Machala. These people will be in our thoughts and prayers from now on.

But now, we need to get some sleep.

A very special day!

We slept very well at the Hotel Montecarlo in Machala. We had a “matrimonial room”, which we assume is a double room with one bed in it, as opposed to two single beds. We could have slept hanging on a hook, if needed. Our room overlooks a city street where individual vendors set up shop during the day, but are gone during the night hours. Obviously the hotel thought that a couple staying in a “matrimonial room” should share a towel, so they placed only one in the room. We got very strange looks when we went to the desk and asked for another towel so we would each have one.

The shower left a little to be desired as ours had only cold water and the Wilsons’ shower had only hot water. This caused us to take “Hokey Pokey” showers…put your right hand in…take your right hand out…etc.

Reports on the earthquake and tsunami fill the newspapers and TV. However, the reports are in Japanese translated into Spanish, which leaves three of us only the pictures to watch to gain information. Apparently it is total devastation. So sad.

Because our stomachs are unaccustomed to the water in Ecuador, while we are here we drink only bottled water and order beverages with no ice (which is made from local water). We use only bottled water when brushing our teeth. It is better to be cautious than take a chance on wasting a precious day feeling ill!

Machala is located in southeast Ecuador, in the heart of the banana-producing area. We drove for several miles from Santa Rosa to Machala yesterday, and the roads were flanked with lush banana plantations. Even though Machala is the fourth largest city in Ecuador, there is very little English spoken here. Elias and Ines neither speak any English. Thankfully, Bert does a great job helping us communicate. April knows a few words, but because she stands beside Bert when he is speaking Spanish, and because of her beautiful olive complexion, the people here think she knows the language, also. She is very good at smiling and nodding.

The history of Ecuador includes the Incan Empire, followed by the conquest of the Spanish in 1534. Ecuador declared itself to be a republic in 1830, and has been a republic under democratic rule since 1979. Although the constitution guarantees religious freedom in Ecuador, more than 90% of the Ecuadorians are Catholic, reflecting the influence of the Spanish over the centuries.

We observed this influence when the four of us went for a morning walk before going to the Davila’s house. The city center is dominated by the Catholic Church on the square., dwarfing the municipal building. We also walked through the local markets where street vendors sell everything from meat to cosmetics. We decided against going into the open-air meat market area where they had raw meat for sale (with no refrigeration) in the 90-degree weather.
We went to the Davila’s house for one of Ines‘ delicious meals, followed by a wonderful afternoon that can best be described in photographs.

Bert had the opportunity to baptize two ladies in the early afternoon. We all went to a local river for the baptism.

A Saturday afternoon worship service with the congregation in Las Palmas...

Some of the women and girls at Las Palmas after the worship service in the afternoon.

Sharing teaching aids and Spanish Bibles with Ingrid and Jaime Campos and Ruth Davila...

A Saturday evening Bible study in Machala....

Olen and Jaime Campos discuss a religious question...

It was an exciting and exhausting day. The weather is very warm (90-degrees), but we are enjoying every minute of our trip. We are looking forward to sharing worship time tomorrow with the wonderful Christians in Machala. May each of you have a very special day of worship.

Friday: Finally in Ecuador!

Welcome to Friday! Two and a half hours after we went to bed, the alarm sounded and our day began. The alarm was set for 4:30, and by 4:45 we were dressed and headed for a taxi to take us to the airport. Good-bye casino! We had been told to be at the gate at 5:30 and we made it just in time…for the 5:30 deadline. For the third time we boarded the plane with a departure schedule for 6:30. However, we sat (once again, in the plane with seatbelts fastened) with no movement from Gate 33 until 8:00. The problem this time was that one of the passengers did not show up for the flight and they had to either wait for her to show up, or go through 450 pieces of luggage to locate her baggage since (for security reasons) the plane could not take off with a piece of luggage that did not match up with a passenger on board . We assume they located her luggage, because no one else joined our weary group. By 8:00 AM, flight 967 from Miami to Quito was finally airborne!

News of the devastating earthquake in Japan was on all of the TV sets at the airport…and even more reports of the tsunamis generated by the earthquake. A quick e-mail from Olen’s brother informed us that even people near the coast in Ecuador were being warned of the possibility of a tsunami. Fortunately, we knew enough about world geography to know that Japan is half-way around the world from Ecuador. We did not consider it much of a threat .

If you have ever listened to any of Gary Smalley’s tapes on marriage, he makes a point that people who share the experiences of disasters or hard times have a certain bonding that takes place as a result of sharing the difficult experience. That being true, we are definitely going to be bonded for life with Bert and April.

We arrived in Quito about noon. The skies were hazy and cloudy, but the temperature was extremely pleasant. Since our flight from Quito to Santa Rosa (near Machala) was not scheduled to leave until 4:30, we spent a couple of hours in the afternoon walking around Quito, visiting the local market where craftsmen have small shops to sell their items.

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We also located a SIM card for Ecuador, and much to our amazement, it worked like a charm. (Which is how we managed to get this blog posted!) After the walking-around exercise in Quito, we returned to the airport and boarded a local airline, Tame, (pronounced “Tammy”) to take us to Santa Rosa. Greeting the Davila family at the airport in Santa Rosa, Ecuador...

We arrived in Santa Rosa and were met by Elias Davila, his wife, Ines, their daughter, son, another son and his wife. They drove us to Machala and we all enjoyed a meal together at a local restaurant. They had planned for us to go to their house after our meal, but with the lack of sleep the previous night, we declined the invitation. Hopefully, by tomorrow we will be back to feeling human and plan to spend the day with the Davilas visiting brethren in Las Palmas and Machala.

So, tonight we are recovering and recuperating and are looking forward to the events scheduled for tomorrow.

The word for today is...

Although this is being posted on Friday, this is a record of our first day of the trip. It did not get posted yesterday for reasons that will become apparent if you continue to read.

The word for today is probably best described as “delay”. We picked up the Wilsons with only a five-minute delay, and we arrived at the Birmingham airport with plenty of spare time. Then the delays began. The cold front and accompanying storm system that roared through north Alabama on Wednesday had made its way to south Florida by mid-morning today. The plane we were scheduled to be on was coming from Miami, and for a period of time all of the planes in Miami were grounded while the system cleared the area.

While we ate lunch at the airport in Birmingham and waited for our plane, we visited with an interesting gentleman from Texas. He was an ex-Marine (although he said Marines were never “ex”!) He was on his way to the Dominican Republic to do mission work through the Evangelical Free Church. We had some interesting conversation with him while we waited, and gave him a card with the information about our blog and a link to BibleStudyGuide.org where the Bible lessons and teaching materials there can be translated into any language.

When we were finally airborne, the ride was very bumpy between Birmingham and Miami, and the visibility from our window was zero. The weather that greeted us in Miami definitely did not qualify as a “Chamber of Commerce weather” day. It was overcast, cloudy and gray. We got off the plane and learned that our plane From Miami to Quito had been delayed, so we had another setback in our schedule. Finally, we boarded the plane and were all buckled in, only to be told that there was something wrong with the on-board intercom system. So we sat on the plane for over an hour and waited for someone to bring a replacement piece of equipment to the plane and install it, before we could taxi, take off, and head for Quito.

The captain kept giving us periodic updates of the bad news…the piece of equipment was delayed…the piece arrived and did not work…etc. Finally, when we thought “delay” was the bad word of the day, the captain used an even more discouraging word… “disembark“. Apparently the plane could not fly with a non-functioning intercom system, so over 200 very tired people disembarked the plane at Gate 5 and hiked to Gate 33 and waited for yet another plane, and a repeat of the re-boarding process.

When we were finally herded on to Plane #2, the same captain again announced that he knew we were tired of hearing him announce bad news, so he had some “neutral” news for us. His news was that we were at this point waiting for them to transfer our luggage from Plane #1 to Plane #2. He apologized because the pillow and blanket packages from Plane #1 had not been transferred to the new plane. (At this point very few passengers cared.)

After spending an hour seated on Plane #2 and listening to “neutral” news, we finally got the “real” news. We first thought “delay” was the bad word of the day. They we upgraded the bad word list to include “disembark”. About midnight we got the third word… “terminated”. By this time the flight crew had put in their maximum hours for the day and by law had to go off duty. With no crew (especially with no pilot), we could go no further. We were sentenced to spend a night (or what was left of the night) in Miami, and return to take the same flight, which was re-scheduled for 6:30 AM. We were told to go to the Customer Service desk to get our assigned hotel room, vouchers for transportation and food.

To make an extremely long story much shorter, we waited in the line for vouchers almost two hours, finally hired a taxi to take us to the “hotel” only to arrive there to find that we had been assigned to a room in one of the local casinos! After another very long wait in line, we were checked in and eventually got in bed about 2 AM…but that is Friday morning, and the subject of another post!
Midnight: Over 200 passengers patiently (?) wait for their hotel assignments and vouchers.

Summary of the day…delayed planes, long lines, termination of flight, and spending the night in a hotel room in a casino!

But, we must remember that the apostle Paul walked (walked!) for weeks, months, and perhaps years to visit and encourage the Christians in other areas. That sort of puts the day’s events in perspective.

Leaving soon...

Leaving on Thursday for Ecuador: Bert Wilson, April Wilson, Jane Britnell, Olen Britnell

This is the week we have waited for! We are looking forward to traveling and spending time with our friends, Bert and April Wilson. We are excited about seeing new places, having new experiences, and meeting new friends; but above all, we are looking forward to spending time with some of our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in Ecuador.

It is not difficult to visit the Christians in Ecuador. The only thing U.S. citizens need in order to visit Ecuador is a passport (and of course a plane ticket and a few “tourist ” dollars!). The people in Ecuador use U.S. currency, and their electricity is 110 volts AC, thus eliminating the money-exchange problem and the adaptor-converter problem U.S. citizens face when visiting many countries. Also, the clocks in Ecuador are on ECT, which is the same as Eastern Standard Time in the U.S. (No “jet lag” excuses!)

None of the four of us are what you might refer to as “fluent” in Spanish. Bert is fairly conversational in the language, and is self-taught through his experiences working with Hispanic bricklayers who work for him. He claims he speaks “bricklayer-Spanish”. He with his bricklayer-Spanish will be our go-to man for translating during the next week. Jane took Spanish in high school, but most of her knowledge has slipped away over the 50 years since Lakeland High School.

Ecuador is the small country shown in blue on the west coast of South America.

Ecuador is located at the equator (latitude 0!) on the western coast of South America, and is about the same size as our state of Colorado. There are four major geographic regions: the coastal lowlands, which is an agricultural area; the highlands of the Andes Mountains with snowcapped peaks; the eastern lowlands that is made up of mostly tropical fain forests; and the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles off the coastline.

Ecuador has the greatest density of volcanoes in the world, many of which are near Quito, the capitol city. Because Ecuador is on the equator, the temperature averages 71-degrees year-round. The guidebook tells us that the “rainy” season is January through June, where the weather includes “heavy” tropical showers occurring “occasionally”. (We are packing umbrellas!)

So we have an exciting (and busy!) few days ahead of us. We are currently in the process of collecting teaching materials in Spanish, and even making some teaching aids ourselves. We are very grateful for several who have helped us such as Becky Munoz, Gary and Vicki Copeland, and others. We ask that you pray for us to have a safe and successful journey, and encourage you to check back with this blog to see photos and get more information about our visit with Christians in Ecuador.

Note: For those of you who in the past have followed our other travel blog, www.journeyswithjane.blogspot.com, we still use that blog when traveling for fun or educational reasons. However, we decided that his trip had a different mission and should be kept separate from the other travel blog we usually do. Hopefully, this is not too confusing.

Readers can be notified of new posts to the blog.

Our trip begins in two weeks! We are busy making packing lists, locating teaching materials in Spanish, and today we added a feature to the blog that we hope will make it easier for followers to keep up with our trip.

The subscription feature is provided by the Feedburner service. Under the blog title, on the left hand side, is a note that reads, “Subscribe via email”. If you enter your e-mail address in the block provided and click on “Subscribe”, you will be directed to another page where you will need to type in a word that Feedburner will provide. A few moments later you will be notified via your email and will be asked to confirm your subscription. After your confirmation, you should be sent updates automatically when there is a new post on the blog.

Destination: Ecuador

A note from Olen and Jane Britnell to readers of this blog:

On March 10, we plan to leave on a brief trip dedicated to spending time with the Christians in at least two locations in Ecuador. This blog has been set up so everyone who is interested will be able to follow along with us while we are gone. We plan to send back daily reports of what we see and do, along with photos of the Christians we visit, their places of worship, and some of the sights in the area.

We have been assisting with the work in Machala, Ecuador to some degree since 2003, and Olen has made five trips to the area during that time. Others who have accompanied him on various trips have been Bert Wilson, Bob Watson, and Joshuah Ellis and Frank Richey. The trip this spring will be different as April Wilson and Jane Britnell will be accompanying their husbands.

We invite you to join us through this blog as we journey to Ecuador. Please pray for our health and safety, and especially for the Christians we will be visiting, and their success in the work of the Lord in that area.

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Perhaps a little background on the work in Ecuador is appropriate before we begin our journey. Several men have been involved in the work in Ecuador through the years. Some of those are Anthony Genton, Ron Chafin, Mitch Davis, Danny McKibben, Keith Burnett, Ron Roark, Reid Braswell, and Dick Adams, plus Olen, Bert, and others.

Reid Braswell, a preacher who worked in Bogota, Columbia until his death in 2010, began working with the churches in Ecuador, and encouraged others to help with this effort.

The country of Ecuador is 95% Roman Catholic and most family incomes are substantially lower than those in the U.S. Their houses and meeting places are modest. As in most cases where congregations exist like this, they are in need of help from those who live in more prosperous economies.

Help is needed in the form of monetary gifts, Bibles and teaching literature (in Spanish), visits from Christians in the US which encourage them, and of course, prayers for their success.

For more information and photos from previous trips to the area, please visit the website at www.churchofChrist-Ecuador.info. For questions or comments, e-mail can be sent to ecuador1830@gmail.com.

Please be looking for updates to this blog beginning in early March. If you wish, you may sign up for automatic notices when there is a new post made online.