Our Last Day in Ecuador - Hasta luego!

The mission trip began in Quito on December 30, 2014 and ends here today on March 17, 2015. Our plane leaves at 11:30 pm. We will leave for the airport between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. In the evening, it should only take about 40 minutes to get to there.

On our way to the Quito airport - our mission trip is complete.

 

We should arrive in Atlanta, Georgia at 5:45 am and depart for Minneapolis, Minnesota at 7:30 am, arriving at 9:10 am. Our daughter Lori Redman will meet us and probably our granddaughter Ingrid. We will linger in Minnesota for awhile and hope to travel to Florida before returning to the UP.

Ingrid - "Inggy" at her second birthday

 

Our stay in Minneapolis will give an opportunity to visit the Ecuadorian Consulate to try and get an extension to Walt's visa. Another but shorter mission trip is scheduled for July. Yesterday, Walt visited the immigration office for the fifth time and was given one more requirement.

We have been blessed with new friends, a better understanding of the Ecuadorian believers, and so far, with good health and safety. The US Embassy does periodically send out warnings to the American citizens in Ecuador. Only a few days back they warned of a demonstration against the government and advised us to stay away and avoid becoming a target for the frustrations. Also, a short time back, we were advised of an attempted armed robbery of a foreigner in Guayaquil.

There is also an underlying civil unrest here and an election as been suddenly called for two weeks from now. The president is going to address the people on Thursday via all of the media forms. Some people are on edge as to what will happen after his address. It is a good time for us to leave.

Thankfully we have always had Christian escorts and have not had any problems.  So we are happy to return to our country, family, and friends.

The Flag - Our symbol of freedom and safety

 

Back in Minnesota, the snow is gone by now but the flag still waves and stands for freedom. We have a lot to be thankful for as citizens of our nation. We can still freely go to services and worship the living God who has given us the hope of eternal life through His Son and many gifts and blessings. We have the freedom of worship and assembly.

Even though we at times see dark clouds attempting to form on the spiritual horizon of our country, and in this world we have a God who is all powerful and who hears our petitions in behalf of our nation and its citizens.  Many of our citizens recognize the battle for freedom and the right to continue to worship as Christians in a predominately Christian nation. May God give a time of awaking in our country when our fellow citizens will seek for the peace of God through the forgiveness of sin.

Unless something really exciting happens on our trip home, this will be our last blog post. Of course, you can return to it as many times as you wish and read it again. We hope to publish it for ourselves as a keepsake from the trip. Many have enjoyed following it. We hope it was useful, and for the benefit of giving an insight into the lives, joys, and struggles of our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters in faith.

Surprisingly, individuals from many different countries have viewed the blog. If you are one of those individuals and who is not familiar with how we believe and would like to know more please visit the following site: www.llchurch.org

Hasta luego!

Walt and Avis