On Saturday, July 5, eight adults and 15 youth leave for Ecuador on mission. This is a trip that has been in the planning stages for nearly a year. After hearing about René Watson’s trip last year, Barry Russell immediately stepped up and offered to co-lead a trip for Alpharetta’s youth this summer. This will be the first international trip for AFUMC’s youth — and we are all pretty crazy excited to go.
The group will fly into Quito, Ecuador and, after an overnight stay, travel by bus to the jungle region. Jungle Kids for Christ is the partnering ministry for the trip. JKC ministry is located in the jungle town of Misahualli (Mee-sah-wah-YEE) located 200 kilometers east of Quito (about six hours’ travel). This small port town is located at the junction of the Napo and Misahuallí rivers and provides river access to many remote jungle villages. Check out Jungle Kids on line at junglekidsforchrist.org.
The team will spend nine days total and, while there we’ll work at Antioch Christian School, the primary ministry of JKC. We’ll spend the first half of each day on site at the school on a construction project to expand the school’s buildings. Antioch is completely supported by the donations of people who have a deep love for God and children, and it’s an incredibly special place. Children who attend are often orphaned or come from families unable to provide for them. Our sweat equity this summer will make a real difference for these special children.
The second half of the day the team will go to a local village and offer Vacation Bible School to about 100 children who live there. The youth have worked hard to create Bible stories, skits, songs, crafts, and games to show the love of Jesus to these kids who just hope for a hug and a smile. We’re going to give them that and whole lot more!
At night, we’ll reflect on just how God showed up and showed off each day and worship Him together.
Follow us as we journey on this mission. The youth will do their best to stay awake after a hard day’s work long enough to post some stories and pictures of our adventures. Stay tuned…..
Oh yeah, will you pray for us? Here’s the list of the team members:
Barry Russell
Rene Watson
Jay Gulbin
Wendy Russell
Stephanie Newton
Lauren Keene
Jenna Sellars
Teddy Mack
Andrew Leigh
Avery Spalding
Brenden Russell
Callie Shepherd
Carly Redmon
Emily Middleton
Emily Ruff
Hannah Williams
Josh Wilksinson
Katy Downs
Madison Boyd
Natalie Keenah
Spencer Bard
Wesley Powell
Will Wharton
AFUMC Youth in Ecuador 
To all of you, especially the youth, my prayer for you is that will open yourself up to your surroundings, allow yourself to be acclimated OUT of Alpharetta and into the world in which you temporarily reside. One of the most important parts of my first Honduras trip this past February was thw slow journey from airport to village. The time was valuable as I needed to be slowly awoken to my surroundings, to really “get it” in a way I would not have understood had we hopped off a plane and been in huge village in an hour.
Remember that you represent all of us, but as you travel, be nothing short of the very best of us. Why? Because something called you to say “yes, I’ll go” when the alternative choice was clearly the easier one. You’re there… So the victory is already won. Enjoy the work, love the people and they will love you more than you can imagine. Remember that the person who flies back to Atlanta in a week is not the same person excited to get their passport stamped as this journey began. Come home, tell your story, then count the days until you get to return. You’ve been blessed so that you can be a blessing to others.
Madison,
I hope you have a wonderful trip
Take care of yourself and be safe
Love you,
Cathy Broadus
God speed to all of you and may God richly bless your time and efforts. I will be following this blog and keeping all of you in my prayers