Work & Witness Projects

Work & Witness is the great short-term missions branch of the Church of the Nazarene.  The Work & Witness program brings teams to places of need all across the world to participate in construction projects for churches and communities, to minister to kids and the poor of those areas, and to give members of the church an opportunity to see how the church functions outside of their own culture.

Ecuador regularly brings in Work & Witness teams, usually from North America, to work on such projects in this country.  Lately, Ian has been blessed with the opportunity to do quite a bit of work for and alongside of the Work & Witness Coordinators for the North Andean Field, Jon & Shirley Fischer.  The work has been diverse, rewarding, and often outside of Ian's comfort zone.  Here are some of the highlights!

Painting the walls of a mobile chapel.

Part of the work Ian was assigned included helping to construct and paint a mobile chapel building for a church plant here in Quito.  There are over 20 of these simple metal structures being used by Nazarene church plants and small churches throughout the country who have, for whatever reasons, been unable to build a permanent church building for their congregations.

A picture of the outside of the mobile chapel structure.

The inside of the mobile chapel structure (no roof yet).

A view of the front door, from inside the mobile chapel.

The plasma cutter is awesome!

At times, Ian has just been handed tools he's never worked with--including this plasma cutter--and been asked, "Wanna learn how to use this?"

While this shot makes it look like he is doing hard work, Ian is in fact simply cutting his name into a piece of scrap metal for the purpose of learning how to use this new contraption.

A couple of the Point Loma girls and Jon Fischer, the
W&W Coordinator, gathered around a 5 ft. hole we dug
by hand for cement footers.

A couple weeks back, Ian actually traveled to a Shuar Indian village near the town of Palora, Ecuador to work alongside of a Work & Witness team from Point Loma Nazarene University.  This group of about a dozen Californian college girls worked harder than many men digging holes for footers and pouring the concrete for the foundation of two buildings the Church of the Nazarene has partnered with Compassion International to build in this remote community.  Ian worked with part of the team on the construction efforts, while others ministered to the children of the village.

Two Ecuadorian men, Harrison (a friend from the seminary)
and David, mix cement while a few of our Point Loma girls
prepare to wheel it over to the holes we dug for footers.

Recently, there's been quite a bit of welding that has needed to be done around the Work & Witness shop on the seminary campus (actually, to prepare the support structures for the building the Point Loma team was constructing in the Shuar Village near Palora).  One day Ian was asked, "Do you wanna learn how to weld?"  He said, "sure!"

The first day welding, I (Ian) remember turning to Harrison, an Ecuadorian friend who was teaching me how to weld, and I told him, "You know, if we were in the States right now, I wouldn't be able to touch this machine on my first day.  In fact, we'd probably have to have people with special certifications talking to me about welding for several weeks before I ever picked up the electrode and started to weld."  I remember that he looked at me, and with one word he summarized the difference between North American and Ecuadorian culture: With a perfectly straight face he asked me, "Why?"

Some of the welds Ian has made.

Ian welding... yeah, for real.

To a professional welder, these are probably not pretty welds.
But they've held together!

Ready to weld.

The work Ian has been asked to do as of late has been very rewarding.  It's a blessing to be able to serve, not only in the ways we thought we would, but in exciting unexpected ways as well.  Working alongside Work & Witness here in Ecuador--being on the receiving end of short term volunteer teams--has given us a more complete picture of how our church works around the world.  The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed... a mustard seed that includes a 26-year old learning how to weld in an Ecuadorian workshop.

Next Chapter...

So on our previous post, Hillary mentioned that we have some exciting news about our next chapter of life after we return to the States in about 10 weeks.  We're thrilled to announce that Ian has been accepted into Asbury Theological Seminary on a full tuition paid "Kern Scholarship," so we will be moving to the small community of Wilmore, Kentucky when we return.

When we originally accepted the call to come to Ecuador, returning to begin seminary was not what we had in mind after our year of volunteer service.  Last August, however, just a few weeks before we left to come to Ecuador, Ian received an unexpected, though very clear, call into pastoral ministry.  As we discussed as a couple what this would mean for us, both of us were led to the conclusion that Ian should attend seminary in preparation to fulfill this call.  We had actually just visited Asbury a few days prior to Ian receiving this call; at that time, Ian was investigating their Ph.D. in Biblical Studies program.  The funny thing was, as we left that campus visit I (Ian) specifically remember turning to Hillary and saying, "I'm not sure I'd pursue a Ph.D. here, but if I were someone looking to pursue a Masters of Divinity seminary degree this is certainly the place I would do it."

As the Lord led us through a series of confirmations when we were considering our move to Ecuador, he also led us through a series of confirmations concerning Ian's call and our decision to move to Wilmore, KY in order to attend seminary.  This sense of confirmation has only grown even as we've been on the mission field here in Ecuador, and the Lord made his intentions for us very clear just a couple of months back when Ian was interviewed for and received a full-tuition scholarship to attend Asbury.  The scholarship even includes a small stipend to cover some of the cost of our housing--a brand new 2-bedroom townhome that the seminary has set aside specifically for us.  We're not sure how else we could have made it happen without this financial support, so we give thanks to the Lord for his clear call and provision.

So, as we return to the States at the end of July, after this final NILI semester comes to a close, we'll be packing up all our stuff (still all stashed in a bedroom in Ian's parents' home) into a moving truck and heading to a very small town (about 3,000 people) in central Kentucky to begin a very different kind of chapter of life than the one we're currently living.  We're very excited, as are our parents--both sets living only about 3.5 hrs. away from Wilmore.  The community at Asbury truly seems to be a beautiful one, and we look forward to forming new relationships with the neighbors in our community who come from some 30 different countries, growing fruits and veggies in the community garden there, and finding new ways to more deeply plug into the ministry of the church.

Pray for us as we pass through the culture shock that most certainly comes with any move back to one's homeland after a year abroad, but especially as we transition from a Spanish-speaking, South American city of 2 million to a predominately white, English-speaking small, rural Kentucky town of 3,000.  :-)  We have done our best to follow our Lord and Master, Jesus, as a couple these past 5 years of marriage (June 21st is our anniversary!), and doing so has always proved exciting, interesting, if not also often unexpected.  As our time in Ecuador wraps up, we are preparing to follow him into this next exciting chapter.  Thank you all for your prayers and support!

NILI 16 Highlights Video

     Hello dear friends and family! We are so thankful to have just finished up our second semester with NILI! This past week was jam-packed with final activities. Monday afternoon we had a "Reverse Culture Shock" workshop with the students, Monday evening I led our final women's Bible study with NILI and seminary students, Friday the NILIs presented their final projects, and just this morning (at 3 AM) we dropped the NILIs off at the airport, U.S.-bound -- just to name a few.
    During our going-away luncheon yesterday with the NILIs and their roommates, Ian shared a video he'd made with highlights from the semester. We thought you might like to see it as well!

    As always, thank you so much for your prayers and support! It's been such a blessing to serve with the Church here in Ecuador, but as the time draws nearer for us to return home to the U.S., we're growing more and more excited. And actually we have some great news to share with you all about what we'll be up to next when we return so keep your eyes open for our next post!
    Many Blessings,
    Ian & Hillary

An Unexpected (Jungle) Adventure

     Two weeks ago our NILI group left  the seminary campus in Quito and headed down out of the Andes Mountains East into the Amazon Jungle. It was to be our last trip of the semester...  Little did we know it would also be the most surprising and adventurous of all!
     This was the trip into the jungle that Ian had accompanied NILI on last semester, and this semester I (Hillary) had the privilege of going to help. Me, Jen, Lucy, our four traditional NILI students, our NILI professional family, and our Latina guest Andrea all packed into the Sprinter Friday (4/5) and traveled to Riobamba, a town still in the Sierra just over three hours South of Quito. That night we tried "chanco," a very popular local dish, which is basically meat from an an entire pig, baked whole. After we overcame our timidity at the sight of it, we dug in -- and it was absolutely delicious!

Trying "chanco."

Where we bought our dish.

     On Saturday, we drove to the base of Mount Chimborazo, an inactive, snow-capped volcano, which Ecuador boasts as it's tallest mountain. It's summit (20,564 ft) is actually the farthest point on the Earth's surface from the Earth's center. Our goal was to climb from the first refuge to the second on the mountain (not a great distance but at that altitude, still quite the hike!). Because we were up so high, it was difficult to breath and everything we carried seemed to weigh much more than usual. It was a great challenge, but the views along the way were breathtaking.

At the first refuge, getting ready to start our hike.

Beginning the ascent.

Enjoying the beauty.

Stopping for a quick break.

At the second refuge! (And the snow line.)

     Saturday evening we participated in a youth service at the Riobamba Church of the Nazarene, and Sunday morning we attended worship with that same congregation. It was a blessing to be able to participate in the life of our director's, Lucy's, home church.
     After service, our group left Riobamba for the jungle, making a quick pit stop in Baños along the way for some water fall sight seeing and hiking. The first waterfall was "Manto de la Novia" (Bride's Veil), a beautiful double cascade, which we saw from the distance and up close by taking a "tarabita" (cable car) across the valley. Then we hiked down to a huge waterfall called "El Pailón del Diablo" (the Devil's Cauldron). The sound of the water crashing down into a pool below was almost deafening it was so powerful.

"Manto de la Novia" Waterfall (with the cable car line on the left).

After hiking to the second waterfall.

At "El Pailón del Diablo" waterfall.

A view of the cascade from the distance.

      Monday through Wednesday we stayed in Shell, border town to the jungle and home of the Nate Saint house, which was the base for Jim Elliot's, Nate Saint's, and their three missionary partners' "Operation Auca" in the 1950's. Monday morning was our day to fly into the jungle to meet members of the Waorani tribe: the people responsible for martyring these five missionaries but who ultimately came to know the Lord through the continued evangelism efforts of the five widows/their families.
     We took a small, four-seat airplane to fly about 20 minutes into the jungle, and when the plane landed in the clearing on a little grass landing strip, we were immediately greeted by the entire community who had come out to welcome us. Members of the tribe took us up to their church, where several people (including Dewu, the oldest member of the community) shared their testimonies of how God had changed their lives -- though they were once a very violent people, now that they know God, they live in peace. (In truth, the Waorani were some of the most joyful people I have ever met! Every sentence was accompanied with a smile -- and usually also with a giggle or laugh.) Dewu read several verses from his Waorani New Testament and then we sang "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" together. It was a very special time.
     I also had the chance to sit down with Dewu and talk with him (through an interpreter from Waorani to Spanish) for a few minutes. With pride, he told me about how they were widening the landing strip for bigger planes. The landing strip seemed to be the community's greatest pride, and it was telling how he measured time by "before the landing strip" and "after the landing strip."

Being welcomed by the community after landing.

A view from the landing strip.

Inside the church.

NILIs and our brothers and sisters from the Waorani tribe.

Me and Dewu, oldest member of the community and leader of their church.

     After about an hour and a half with our new friends, we headed back to the radio room (the only form of communication with the outside world). We were told that a pilot would be coming to fly the five of us out then, but we waited... and about three hours later still no plane had come. It had rained heavily earlier so we thought perhaps this had delayed our flight, and then we heard that the airport was closed due to bad weather in Shell. At dusk we finally heard the faint sound of a plane fly in, circle twice, and then fly out again. (We found out later that a pilot had tried to come and get us but was unable to land due to fog and a wet landing strip.) And at that point, because it was rapidly getting dark, we knew we'd be spending the night in the jungle.
     Mincayai, a dear women who was both nurse and radio operator for the community, invited us into her home to stay. Actually even before it was completely dark, she'd offered her home to us. Earlier she'd carried a dead chicken to the radio room and said "Here's dinner if we need it!". And so we ended up having a great chicken and rice dinner that night. We ate by candle light since there was no electricity, and there were no bathrooms -- just a covered hole in the ground outside. But we had good food, beds with mosquito nets, and great company. We had all we needed for the night.

The soggy landing strip (with the community's school in the background).

Waiting outside the radio room.

Candle light dinner in Mincayai's home.

The five of us with Mincayai (in the morning after breakfast).

     The entire Waorani community was so gracious to us while we were with them. Several people waited with us at the radio room the whole time that we were there (over four hours in total); they never left us. And Mincayai took us right into her home as if we were family, giving up her bed even so that we would all have a place to sleep. We were so grateful for their kindness and hospitality. Truly, the Lord had protected us and provided for us in a huge way.
     Around nine the next morning, after a breakfast of "maduros" (fried bananas), we walked out to the landing strip and were met by our pilot and plane. It was hard to say goodbye, knowing we may not ever see these friends in this life again, but we were so thankful for the time we'd had together.
     The rest of our time in Shell, our group enjoyed going white water rafting down the River Puyo and going on a jungle hike -- so there were still lots more adventures in store! We even managed to fall out of our boat while rafting and get attacked by wasps on our hike (it was pretty exciting!).

Our white water rafting crew.

Before going on the jungle hike (in our rubber boots).

Stopping for a jungle "spa" (river mud exfoliate)!

The beautiful waterfall at the end of our hike.

      After our jungle hike, we spent the afternoon in a Quechua / Shuar village, where we had fresh fish (steamed over the fire in banana leaves) for lunch and practiced our blow gun shooting skills.

The Quechua / Shuar village where we spent our afternoon.

Fresh fish for lunch (under the watchful eye of a pet parrot).

Practicing with the blow gun.

     Before we left Shell, we also were able to visit the Nate Saint House. It was meaningful to be able to look out the kitchen window at the airstrip (now the small airport in Shell), to stand in the radio room, and to imagine what must have taken place in those rooms.

Visiting the Nate Saint House in Shell.

In the radio room.

The radio used to communicate with pilots and other mission stations throughout the jungle.

The New Testament in Waorani.

    Overall, the trip was a great adventure in more ways than one. It was a wonderful combination of fun and extreme sports and visiting Shell and remembering the mission of the five missionaries and their families. In it all, God protected and provided -- for which we were so thankful! It truly was a trip of the lifetime.