
Guayllabamba, Ecuador
This church will always
have a place in our hearts because we ended up their by God's divine
plan! You might think it was just a wrong turn in the road and a freak
time for an accident, but I believe all happens for God's purpose! They
are a tiny church on the end of a predominantly Catholic pueblo.

The pastor and his
family sing their favorite songs during the Christmas Service
Their mission has
been to spread the word and love of Jesus Christ to all within their
reach. The pastor and his family started out and built the buildings
you see themselves as they had money and grew this church one family at
a time.

Games are fun in
any language if you can explain them!
This year has been a great year for them in his opinion
as they
have seen growth in the membership, huge interest in the music worship
with the additional instruments CMC has helped them purchase, and an
energetic man interested in taking up the role of minister to the youth.

That's the youth pastor
playing dead during the youth drama
So much has grown and changed in the four years we've been
involved with them and the future looks bright with the light of Christ
continuing to grow and shine brighter!

Christmas Service
Projects:
- distribute 100 gifts, treat bags, and needed shoes/clothes to
children at the Iglesia Bautista in Guayllabamba.

Preparing the goodie
bags and making decorations

Clothing madness!
- continue the
construction effort of the expanding the sanctuary. We
were able to complete the roof, tile work on the pulpit floor, interior
and exterior painting, signage and murals on the outside walls,
rewiring of the lights, and general cleaning.
Putting on a roof is exactly as hard as it may sound! It was definitely
a workingman's type of job.
Not a moment too soon before the rain
decided to start for the afternoon!

Another hard job was the tile
work on the sanctuary. It was all day on the knees working for the Lord!

- We helped also
prepare
the building for the Christmas Day service with decorations, more
cleaning, providing more seating, repainting the benches, and window
washing.
- All the clothes were
sorted and ready to distribute.
- help in the house
with preparing the meals, cleaning, and just good
fellowship and encouragement to those that often feel like they are out
there alone.
- provide two days of
vacation for the pastor and his family to relax
and refresh to begin again in the new year. (They are now up to five
days of vacation in seven years, not much time to renew their own
spirits, especially for a family at it 24-7 for Christ.)



We weren't sure we were going to make it, but it all
came together!
God Working: There was never a question as
to whether there would be a Christmas service, the only question we had
was how long was it going to be! The church has grown so that they have
had someone step up as youth pastor and between him and the pastor,
they had 18 items on the order of worship for Christmas.
It was a
wonderful celebration of dramas, singing by several different groups in
Spanish and Quechua, thanks and praise, a message of Christ's love,
dinner for all on the grounds, games for the kids, including a pinata,
and distribution of the materials.

Pinata
and a little gift fun!
Santa
showed up in the middle of the youth skit!
We always try to get the pastor to take a
little break and relax for a
day or two. If you'd met him, you'd understand that he is at it 24-7
and is a part of everything that is going on. God gave us the world to
enjoy and relax in for a reason: to rejuvenate our spirits so we can
continue in His work without growing weary and tired of doing good.
The
fellowship with other believers and knowing that other Christians are
sharing their vision is a great blessing to the pastor and the church
body of Guyallabamba. The fact that more people continue to come from
CMC only encourages them and lets them know that they aren't alone.

What has to touch your heart is the
love and desire of this church to share Jesus with all they come in
contact with, no matter what sacrifice it takes on their part. What
breaks your heart is the isolation and lack of encouragement they often
feel from other Christians. Every year we have worked with them, they
have presented CMC with a plaque of appreciation. In a country where
the average person makes $600 a month and the pastor and his family
live on about $100 a month, that is an expense they don't need but they
do out of love. This year, they gave us a picture of the old church
with the congregation in front of it and a wall hanging typical of the
area to hang at CMC as a reminder not to forget them. The verse on the
plaque reads as follows:
Philippians
4:15
"Morever,
as you Philippians know,
in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out
from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving
and receiving, except you only...you sent me aid again and again when I
was in need."
To them, CMC is that church. We need to
honor them and the other
foreign mission projects we support by recognizing them in a prominent
place in our church facility. It would also let church members and
visitors know what our church is involved in and keep them updated on
current mission work around the world through CMC.
return to January Newsletter