Leading by Serving

    Ian and I (Hillary) have been blessed to be a part of several ministries here through NILI and the Nazarene Seminary. One of my favorite parts of serving with NILI so far, has been leading our NILI students in our weekly service projects.  Every Monday afternoon after lunch, the four NILI students and us staff members load into our Sprinter (our little van) and head to either the Extreme Response day care in Zambizo, the city's garbage dump, or to Betania, a local home for older adults.
   The day care in Zambizo was begun by a non-profit organization called Extreme Response. Extreme realized the great need when they saw the 300+ people living and working in the city's garbage every day, surviving on what they found in the trash. Now, Extreme not only offers day care services to the preschool aged children of Zambizo workers, they also provide family counseling, hygiene classes, education assistance, and more. Their story really is an incredible one (to read more about it, visit: Extreme Response & the Zambizo Dump Day Care).
    Usually during our visits to the Zambizo Dump Day Care, we lead the kids in singing, Bible stories, art projects, puppets, games, and English lessons. During our last visit, we used the Creation story to help teach the kids their numbers in English and Spanish.

Going through the days of Creation to teach numbers one through seven.

Playing "Memory" game with numbers.

Ready for the next activity!

    If we're not at Zambizo on Monday afternoons, then we're usually serving at Betania, the local home for older adults. Betania was founded in 1970 by a group of evangelical women who wanted to provide meals and shelter to seniors without family in the Quito area. It really is a wonderful ministry to these seniors who have no one else to care for them. Here is a little video glimpse of Betania, though the video is a bit dated and renovations to Betania have taken place since then: Betania Video
   When we go to Betania, our primary goal is to just visit with the residents there. Often we talk, read the Bible together, read stories, paint the women's finger nails, and do art projects. On our last visit, we did a Fruit of the Spirit art project and read the story of Lazarus. I sat with a group of older women who wanted me to read the story over and over again they were so moved by it.

Kayla helping one of the women with her art project.

Listening to the story while finishing their art projects.

Miranda reading a story to one of the women.

    It is always an exciting time when we're serving on Monday afternoons. From rounding up energetic little ones at Zambizo to catching pigeons that sometimes wander into the cafeteria at Betania, we're always kept on our toes! 

    One neat story we have from Betania is from our first visit there. Jen had told us about Gloria, one of the dear women residents there, who loves sharing her testimony with everyone she meets. Gloria tells everyone about how she is able to walk again after the Lord healed her legs a few years ago. She also tells them that what she is looking forward to most is seeing Jesus in Heaven. Once we arrived at Betania, Ian and one of the NILIs went back to Gloria's room to visit with her. As soon as Ian (with a full beard) walked into the room, Gloria exclaimed "¡Jesús! ¡Jesús!" ("Jesus! Jesus!"). Ian quickly introduced himself as "Ian," but then ministered to her as I think Jesus would have, listening and encouraging her throughout the afternoon.

    In addition to helping the NILIs with their service projects at Zambizo and Betania, Ian and I have also been helping with CENIC, a ministry here on the seminary campus that raises funds for the Church by facilitating events for local churches on campus. We hope to post more about our work with CENIC very soon.
    Also, this coming week, we'll be taking the NILI students to Southern Quito to work in two indigenous churches there: painting, doing kids ministry, and participating in worship services through song. We'll also be traveling to Latacunga, a small town south of Quito, on Saturday, in order to do a large kids outreach event there in a local park. Please pray for us as we travel and minister there! We'll look forward to seeing all God has in store for us; we're expecting great things.
    Thank you SO much for your continued prayer and support!  If we can be praying for you in any specific ways, please let us know.
    Many blessings!