Our First Trip to Shell!

Earlier this week we took our first trip to visit our new future home.  Just the trip there was absolutely breathtaking.  As you can see, we got to ride across a little cable in a Willy Wonka basket over a 300 foot drop to the waters below.  My knuckles were very white after this one!  The road to Shell passes by more waterfalls than a person could count, and the jungle is absolutely alive.  What an amazing Creator we have!

The road from Quito to Shell is called "The Avenue of the Volcanoes", and they aren't kidding.  This is a nice shot of Cotopaxi that we took during a bathroom break.

 

Since we arrived in Ecuador, everyone has been telling us how much we're going to love Shell.  We've only seen Shell for 1.5 days, but it was love at first sight for us!  This is a shot of our new home.  It is very nice inside.  We'll have a guest room for anyone who wants to visit.  Right now we're working on getting it furnished.  We did buy some orange couches already.  Sweet!

Shell is a great little town.  It is home to quite a few missionaries because, with the hospital and the airport, it serves as a central launching point for ministries to all parts of the jungle.  Shell was originally founded by the oil company.   Nate Saint arrived in the late 1940’s and contributed to the ideas for the airport, hospital, and school. We took a tour through the guest house that he and his friends built way back then (see below).

I started feeling emotional just thinking about the sacrifices that people like the Saints have made over the years to bring the Gospel to others.  I'm praying that we can be just as commited to the goal of bringing Jesus to those who don't yet truly know Him.  An opportunity to do just that may be brewing in a place called Centro Yuu, which is a Shuar community.  The Nazarene church in Shell has committed itself to supporting this pueblo. A water project is already underway to bring clean water to each home, and plans are being made to bring full time ministers to the community. We are excited that we might be able to participate in what’s going on—that is, bringing Jesus’ love to these people by ministering to their hearts and their physical needs. Below is a picture of some of the children in Centro Yuu.  We decided to take one of them home.  

Perhaps the biggest blessing of our trip was getting to meet some of our future ministry partners in Shell. The pastor and his family at the Nazarene Church have amazing servant hearts. Also, we got to hang out with some of the extremely chévere (cool) missionaries from the hospital, and we had a great time with all of them. They are very kind and welcoming, and we can’t wait to work alongside them. A bunch of them have a bunch of kids that will go well with ours. They’ve already been playing in the mud together. We fit six adults and eight kids into a Ford Explorer on our way to dinner.

Well, that about sums up our quick trip to Shell. Now we’re back in Quito, and we’re working hard on our Spanish. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! If you are reading this now, I can tell you that you’ve surely been a blessing to us.