Ministry Week in South Quito: "Los Treboles"

     Wed and Thurs of ministry week we were in a South Quito church called "Treboles del Sur." Like our first church, our plan was to help paint in the mornings and do kids outreach in the neighborhood in the afternoons. Unlike our first church, "Los Treboles" was nearly completely constructed, but no one had ever painted in the church before. We were amazed, though, when we arrived at the church Wed morning and saw the size of the sanctuary. It was enormous! Here are some before pictures:

The great arch and platform at the front of the sanctuary.

Underneath the balcony in the back of the sanctuary.

     Since the church had already sanded and primed all of the surfaces, we jumped right in with the painting! Pastor Miguel, pastor of the church, and Lucy, our NILI Director, coordinated the colors of the walls, columns, steps, and arch.  Brothers from the church also came to help with the painting those two days, since it was such a big job. Thankfully, they were able to find scaffolding to use. So while we painted the low places, they followed behind and painted the high places.

Giving the walls a second coat of "durazno" ("peach").

Our brothers from the church, painting the very high parts.

Me and Rut finishing up one of the columns.

      We also had two wonderful afternoons with the kids in that neighborhood. To draw them to us, we used our little speaker to play kids music from the church a few hours beforehand, announcing every 30 minutes or so that we'd be playing games in front of the church soon. We met on the sidewalk/curb caddy corner to the church, and though the number of kids we had was smaller than the first church, we were able to spend significant time with each child.
     At the end of Thurs afternoon, one little boy and his small brother grabbed Ian's hand and said (in Spanish) "Come with me, I want to take you to my house so you can meet my Mom!" So Ian and I walked down the street to these little guys' house and were able to share with his family briefly about Christ and the "Los Treboles" church just down the road.

Jumping rope before starting the program.

Meeting on the curb for our kids ministry.

Puppets!

     Thurs night we were able to be a part of a service with the "Los Treboles" church. Since this church was also largely indigenous, there was lots of praise and worship in Spanish and in Quechuan. Our NILI group sang a couple songs for the church in Spanish and English, and the women of the church sang several for us in Spanish and Quechuan.
     Pastor Miguel thanked us for our time and service in the church, and afterwards several members came forward and presented each of us with beautiful, wool scarves. The emphasis of the service was on the body of Christ being one -- regardless of race, ethnicity, or language. After the service, the church had a huge dinner of "paella" (rice with meat and veggies). They had invited us to stay, but we needed to take our food to go since it was late and we still had a long drive back to the seminary.

Praise & Worship with the church in their newly painted sanctuary. (Pastor Miguel is at the bottom right in the red poncho.)

Women of the church singing in Spanish or Quechuan.

Before going up to sing, one of the women handed Ian this little guy to hold for her. :) (The scarf he's wearing is one of the scarves presented to us by the church.)