Life and death...

Because I now have more internet access, it's easier to post. So I will post another story:

About a month ago, during the anniversary of Ecuador's independence, I was walking to a bus stop in Quito. During this time, there were lots of people in the city because of all the festivities. When I was almost to the bus stop, two men came up from behind me and started talkin to me, being friendly and pretending like they knew me from somewhere.
After a minute, they stopped the small talk and said "Money or die!"
My heart started to beat even faster. "Lord help me!" I prayed to myself. "Get me out of this, or at least give me the words to say."
Then they blocked my path to the bus stop.
With my head starting to feel the rush of blood, I said: "I don't have much, but what I do have, I can give you."
"What's that?" they replied.
"The love of Christ."
Hesitating for a second, they responded with: "Oh you must be part of some cult."
"No, I'm a follower of Christ. In fact, do you know Jesus?"
"Oh yeah, we know know Jesus, but we don't care, money or die!"
"No. Though you think you know Him, you don't and you are not saved!"
By this point, I could hardly speak because my throat swelled up from fear.
"We don't care, give us money or we're gonna kill you!"
They kept repeating that, however the error on their part was that there were lots of people around during this time.
I was keeping my eye out for an escape route and in my fast-beating heart I was still crying out to the Lord: "Save me!"
The two thieves didn't see a group of people coming our way because they were faced toward me. Right when that group started to pass I turned shoulder and joined them in walking the other direction and got away.
By the grace of God, those men did not even lay one finger on me! I even had with me: my phone, camera, money and my backpack that was holding gifts that I had just bought. They did not steal one item from me!
The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever!

I'm Home!

Thank you for all you prayers and support. The Lord is faithful and good. His mercy never fails. It is by His grace that I am now home and that I'm still alive.

I almost couldn't get out of the country...
When I went to the Ecuadorian Embassy back in June to extend my visa. No one told me that all tourist-visa holders have to obtain a citizen's card. All Ecuadorians have a citizen's card and i guess you are considered a citizen if you are there with a visa. But for those people, they can't do anything without their card. They can't open bank accounts, they can't apply for loans, they can't even leave the country.

So the customs official would not let me through.

I went back, very mad, to the delta counter and asked them to unload my bags from the plane and cancel my flight. I was gonna have to go to the office of foreign affairs the next day, pay a fine to get my citizen's card, then pay another fine to reschedule my flight. We're talkin hundreds of dolars.

The lady at the counter made sure my bags were unloaded and canceled my flight and all my connecting flights and she tore up my ticket. During this time I was prayin hard and askin the Lord "What am I gonna do?"

Then as I was beginning to walk out of the airport, the same customs official along with another official (maybe his boss) saw me and waved for me to come back up to customs. I quickly ran back up the stairs.

He asked for my passport again and told me, "We will let you through."

My jaw dropped.

He told me that if I already told the delta officials then i need to go back and undo what I had just done. I told him I'd be right back.

Arriving at the delta counter again in a hurried manner, I told the same lady: "they accepted me!"

Her jaw dropped too.
Shw said "The only thing is that I dont know if I can get your flights back because I cancelled everything, but I will try."

The next ten minutes were very intense for me. I prayed so hard for the Lord to get me back on my plane. I also was able to reflect on my entire trip and how good and faithful the Lord had been.
And the Lord hears our prayers I tell you!
After ten minutes had passed, after seeing many irritated expressions on the delta lady's face (as she was fighting with the system), she told one of her employees: "Get Kevin's bags back on that plane, cuz he's gonna fly today!"

Jesus is awesome! He is strong. All because of His grace.

Psalm 139:15-18
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.


Thank you Lord for your grace, that I am now home. I also thank you for all my friends and family. I pray that you bless them and be with them. May the true journey start now!


"The greatest mystery is not why He allows things to happen, it's:
'Why does He love us?'" John Mark Comer

"Peace is not the absence of violence,
It's confiance in Him in the presence of violence." Unknown

The beginning is near...

It has been an incredible experience here in Ecuador. I thank you all for your prayers and friendship. Without the Lord, nothing would have been possible. I look forward to sharing with you my experiences. So much more happened than I can even begin to write. I don't see this as the end of my journey but the beginning. The real journey for me starts now. The next time I post will be to let you know that I made it home safely.
I hope and pray that the Lord will be with you all and that He would bless the dreams and ambitions that you have. And if you don't yet know Jesus, that you may come to know Him and that He loves you and wants you.

As far as while I'm still here in Ecuador I do still have some prayer requests:
1. For my journey home. (once again I arrive home this friday Sep 4th.)
2. For my transition back at home and that Jesus' would be praised in my life, especially when I share my story with others.
3. and for the new believers here. That they would trust fully on Christ.

Psalm 90:17
May the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

He estado viajando

Hola Everybody!
The time of my return is approaching fast. I've been wanting to do a little bit of traveling before I leave for home. I just got back from the Amazon as well as a town called Cuenca where there are lots of ancient Incan ruins.

The Amazon was very fascinating and hot. We went to a couple zoos, saw lots of monkies, reptiles, exotic birds. We also went on a guided excursion into the jungle and saw lots of interesting plants and stopped for a few minutes rest in a Shwaran hut.

Some ancient Incan ruins in Cuenca.

For my last few days here, I'm going to spend resting and spending time with friends.

Despite all the traveling, I am ready to come home and see most of you. It has been an amazing expeience here in Ecuador. A lot has happened in the past 5 months and I've leared so much. Once again, thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughts. I will post at least once more on my blog while I'm still here in Ecuador.

Dios es bueno.

Hola a todos!
God is good. During our mission trip to Rio Bamba, we went to about 7 communities that have been affected by the Tungarahua volcano. In each community we did a VBS that involved dancing, music, puppets and the gospel. To each family of every community we gave food, shoes and bibles. To some we gave clothes and a bar of soap.
I believe the Lord worked through us during this trip. In every community, there were some that received Christ. One elderly woman was healed of her vision after the pastor prayed for her.

For a couple days during the trip a few of us got sick. Me and Josh (another american on our team) got it the worst. But despite that, the trip was still an incredible and life changing experience. Not only for me and my team, but also for the people of those communities. Thank you to all of you who have prayed!

"You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them." Nehemiah 9:17

A prayer request...

Please pray for me and my team from Portland as we preach the gospel for the next two weeks in Rio Bamba.
Pray that we will be effective in doing what the Lord may have us do.

Thank you for your prayers!

Hola!

Hey Everybody.
Here it is already mid July! Time is flying.

A quick update for you...
I already finished teaching English in the schools.
That was a very cool oportunity and I am very blessed now to have had that experience.

Last week, I went with some friends to a place called Baños. It's one of the entrances to the amazon (Not quite the amazon though). There were lots of waterfalls, rivers, an exotic zoo. It was very cool.

The weather here has finally started to get warmer. It's still cloudy for most of the time but there are fewer clouds now.

Now I'm really focusing on learning Spanish. Taking part in lots of conversations, reading, watching movies, taking notes. It's intense, but good.

Next week, some friends of mine from the US are gonna arrive here and we're going back to RioBamba. We will be sharing the gospel and giving clothes and other essential supplies to some of the indegenous people. Some of the people are still affected by the active Tungurahua volcano (I posted about it on June 16th).

After our mission trip to Rio Bamba and the surrounding area, I'm gonna do some more traveling, site-seeing, and learning of Spanish.

I do have some prayer requests:
1. For my grandma who is going to have surgery on July 23rd. That it will be effective and the healing process will go fast.
2. For my friend Rick Meigs in Portland, who is still healing from a nearly fatal accident a couple months ago.
3. For our mission trip down here in Rio Bamba. That the Lord would be with us and that we would be effectivene in sharing the gospel.

Thank you for your prayers and you friendship! May the Lord be with you.

Kevin
Psalm 105:4-5
Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.