As most of you know we worked with a mother church and a number of daughter churches in the Calderon area just outside of Quito, Ecuador from 2004 - 2006. As a natural result of our discipleship there, we have formed a group of Ecuadorian missionaries raised up from these churches, and have been working in three unreached communities above the church "Linaje Escogido" since 2007, located about an hour and a half from Quito where we live. There is still different levels of persecution against the Gospel in these areas, ranging from threats against property to bodily harm. These areas are steeped in superstition, alcoholism, idol worship, and bound up by fear and ignorance.
"Cangahua Pungo", and "Chaupiestancia" are the first two remote communities up the cobblestone road into this mountainous area, and the leaders of both are aggressively opposed to the gospel. Here, our Ecuadorian missionary team is working weekly to spread the message of hope, with slow but steady success. We have number of believers and a discipleship study going on in "Cangahua Pungo" right now. There are a few believers from "Chaupiestancia" coming down to church at Linaje Escogido on Sundays as well. Especially pray for these new believers, as they face tremendous pressure and persecution to deny their new belief from their community, some women even being beaten by their husbands for it.
Cangahua Pungo
A look at Cangahua Pungo from above
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Cangahua Pungo village
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Cangahua Pungo village
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In the center of the community
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Cangahua Pungo life
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Chaupiestancia
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Chaupiestancia community
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Chaupiestancia community
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Chaupiestancia community
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Chaupiestancia community
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Evangelizing in a
this
closed area
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Sixto had a bible study
here, but was run off
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Catholic church in Chaupiestancia
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Typical house in Chaupiestancia
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Monte Serin Alto
"Monte Serin Alto" is the third village up the cobblestone road and is at the peak of the mountain (11,700 ft). We had a Christmas outreach there with much success, seeing 15 or so people respond to the gospel. Discipleship is slow going as it is VERY remote and quite dangerous to get to... in the rainy season it is impossible for even a good 4 wheel drive vehicle. So we go as far as we can and drop our group off, and they walk UP the mountain the rest of the way from 20 minutes to 45 minutes, depending. The president and vice-president of the village have made professions of faith, but are stumbling due to community pressures. In May 2008, this community has suddenly become closed to us (at least officially), through the influence of the next village down the mountain, "Chaupiestancia", an extremely hostile community to the gospel. Please pray for our opportunity to restore relations with the local government. We continue to visit regularly anyway, for the most part being received by the people very well. Unfortunately, the leaders, including the president, have succumbed to the tremendous pressure against the gospel.
Road to Monte Serin Alto
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Monte Serin in the distance
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Monte Serin in the distance
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Monte Serin Alto community at the top of the mountain
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Ancient Indian site at Monte Serin
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Closeup of Indian site
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Monte Serin Alto home
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Monte Serin home
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Monte Serin Alto home
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Monte Serin Alto home
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Monte Serin Christmas Outreach
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Sharing a testimony at the outreach
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Scenery on the way
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Scene from the area
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Monte Serin Alto roads
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Asking if the road is open
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Monte Serin road
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Monte Serin roads
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Monte Serin Alto home
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Monte Serin people are herdsmen
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Monte Serin people are herdsmen
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Monte Serin Alto roads
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Missionaries Update:
The roads up to these communities became impassable due to construction of sewer lines in 2008, and the work was abandoned in favor of working in the communities below Linaje Escogido Church, where by "coincidence", the only evangelical church had folded. This left a huge community "ripe for harvest". This has proven to be very fruitful to this day (2011). Unfortunately, the volunteer missionaries from the different churches have slowly dropped out over time. We still have Jose Panama as an active team leader in one of the mission areas below, and Jose Farinango working in evangelism and teaching. The rest, for the most part, have returned to the business of maintaining their own individual churches. We hope to return to these small communities one day, Lord willing, and perhaps even with the new believers from the community below. Please pray...
