A 23-person mission team from North Greenville University spent their spring break in the South American country of Ecuador, working alongside a missionary couple, discipling the believers and evangelizing the lost.
The NGU team shared with children of the Quichua people in the village of Huachiyacu Chico.The group’s ministry began with a five-hour bus ride to a camp at the edge of the jungle, followed by a two-hour bus ride to the Napo River, where the team members loaded themselves and their backpacks into a canoe for an hour-and-a-half trip down river. Arriving at a jungle trail, the team then hiked another hour-and-a-half to a small village in the jungle.
“It was pretty hard to get to, but those kids were amazing,” said John Petty, sophomore from Spartanburg. While in the Amazon basin, the team ministered to the Quichua people at the Huachiyacu Chico village. The team played with the children, taught Bible stories, shared testimonies, and assisted in a worship service.
“We had a great time ministering to more than 30 children in the village as well as the adults,” said Gracemarie Rosario, a sophomore from North Augusta and a member of Sweetwater Baptist Church. “We had lots of games, songs, and some crafts that helped us share the gospel with the kids.”
The worship team performed songs in Spanish, and each member shared personal testimonies throughout the week.
“Sharing my testimony in Spanish with the villagers during the worship service was really significant to me,” Rosario said.
The team spent one night in the jungle village and two additional nights at another camp on the edge of the jungle. For the remainder of the week, the team worked at Camp Chacauco in the Andes Mountains, where they led Bible studies and built relationships with the youth.
An unknown bacterial infection started to affect several members of the team on Wednesday. Rosario said 20 out of the 23 became ill. “Wednesday, when we were traveling, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, where we ate chicken and rice and mashed potatoes. We thought, ‘Yeah, good meal!’ And it was probably that meal that got us sick and not the other stuff,” said Cindy Nooe, NGU student mobilizer.
By the afternoon of March 6, six were taken to a clinic because of dehydration and were placed on IVs. “Andy Hack (of Lexington and a member of Oakwood Baptist) went through two IV bags and was there for nine hours,” Petty said.
Despite the struggles, the team was able to grow through the trip. “God showed me how desperate people are for his love and comfort, how much suffering there is, and how we, as Christians, should share in that suffering and express Christ’s pure love with everyone we encounter,” Rosario said.
Once landing in South America, it took the NGU mission team 10 hours, including an hour-and-a-half hike, to reach their destination in the Ecuadorian jungles.