News > Latin America

  It's been almost 6 months since I arrived in Ecuador. I arrived in Guayaquil on November 19, 2016. I stayed until the end of December in the house of the missionaries André and Ana Kim who treated me very well. My wife, the missionary Yessika, arrived in Quito on the night of December 31. On January 1, we held our first Sunday worship service.

  God has been very faithful to us. We thank God that all my family have already had a permanent Ecuadorian identity card. God has allowed us to get a small and old apartment to live near the Central University of Ecuador (UCE) at a low cost, and to also have a space to offer the Sunday worship service. God has also provided us with everything we need to feed ourselves; we keep praying for a stable job, that the topic  made us worried, but we have gotten a new strength, remembering the promises of God in sending us to Quito. 

  The last few weeks, I went out to sell cakes on the street; it was hard and its income was insufficient, but we have been doing it, obeying God who sent us to work and eat and not to depend on another(2 Thessalonians 3: 10, 12). Currently in Ecuador, there is a high percentage of unemployment; there has also been strong xenophobia and rejection of Venezuelan immigrants. So far we have been financially supported by the offerings and also by the savings we brought from Venezuela. We thank God and the missionaries and shepherds for their offerings. 

  We have gone fishing sheep to the university regularly. The city of Quito is cold, and the students are also very anxious about their studies, and do not want to have time to study the Bible; Many students tell us they are atheists or skeptics. In the midst of this struggle, God reminds us of his word from Genesis 15: 5, “He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’”

  Currently Augusto attends our Sunday worship service (Industrial Engineering); he is a Venezuelan who already believed in Jesus, but has adapted very well to our church and has helped us to serve and evangelize in the university. We are praying for his wife Estefanie (Mechanical Engineering) to commit to the Lord. Also Karina (Safety Technician) and Julio, other Venezuelans. God has allowed us to preach to the Venezuelan diaspora in Ecuador who have a heart prepared by the difficult situation in Venezuela and the high unemployment in Ecuador. We have had ongoing contact and have been doing Bible study with some students like Gabriel (Physical Education), Cristhian (Tourism), Raquel (Biochemistry).

  Last month, we participated together with UBF Guayaquil in the Easter Bible Conference, titled "The Great Love of God,” through the message of the Cross, “Father, forgive them,” we meditate on the love we must have for Ecuadorians despite their mistakes, as well as Christ loved us on the cross praying for us. Our plan is to continue to preach at university, to have group Bible studies, and to offer some special Sunday worship services.

Topics of prayer:

- Raising an Abraham and a Sara of Faith in the UCE.

- May God bless the activities of evangelization in the UCE.

- We pray that Augusto grow as a spiritual leader.

- To continue studying the Bible with Gabriel, Cristhian and Rachel.

- Getting a stable job to meet our basic needs.

Greetings in Christ

José Ortega.