Setting Out by Spencer Bard

How to describe the situation? Well, as I’m writing this we’re all on a bus heading through downtown Atlanta to the airport. It’s hot, almost as hot as it is in the jungle now that I think about it. The bus is one of two, packed with 27 people, their luggage, and all the hopes, dreams, expectations, and uncertainty that accompanies any major endeavor.

For some, this is the first time to Ecuador. For others, it’s a return to a place that will always be a part of their heart. For me, it’s my third and probably final time getting to do this, and I am excited. The thing about mission trips is that very little of what goes on and what people write home about is planned. The best moments of these trips just happen without anyone really expecting them to.

I am confident that the Lord will provide many of these moments over the course of these next ten days, and despite the familiarity for many, the land and the people of Ecuador never cease to be novel and surprising. I pray that we may grow together as a team, and that we may live up to the words of Jesus that “this is how they will know that you are my disciples; by the way that you love one another”. Even now, having only just begun, I know that the Lord has prepared the way for us. But for now it’s a lot of waiting as we still have a lot of miles to cover before we make it to the jungle.