Hey! Hey! Hey!
Blogs are back! Haha, ok… it’s time I gave you a snapshot of what our month in Ecuador was like. I won’t be going into a ton of detail about the different stories that happened while in Ecuador because I need to get you all caught up to Peru. Woop! Woop! But, if you’d like to see more about my time in Ecuador please check out my Youtube channel www.youtube.com/connorgaul I put in a lot of work on those videos (aka the reason I didn’t blog) so if you haven’t already, be sure to give them a peek 🙂
Ok, now that we have the Youtube plug out of the way, let’s dive into the beautiful country of Ecuador!
We arrived in Quito after an amazing squad debrief in Baños (yes, there actually is a place named bathroom… and it’s beautiful). A quick rabbit trail here, debrief is a time that our leadership sets for us to process what we’ve experienced on the world race. Our coaches and mentors fly out, hang out, listen to, and pour into our lives so that this amazing experience is actually all it can be. The time in Baños was extremely refreshing and eye-opening for me. Exactly what I needed to process through month one and actually begin wrapping my mind around what it means to travel to 11 different countries for an entire year!
Yeah, so I came into Quito refreshed and ready to go. Which is a good thing, because our ministry assignment in Ecuador was by no means easy or comfortable.
My team partnered up with CRU (Campus Crusades For Christ), Quito. CRU’s heart and mission is to locate people who are passionate for Christ on college campuses all throughout the city and essentially disciple those individuals. They also start conversations about Jesus and love bringing people into the Kingdom! Our particular ministry in Ecuador was evangelism. Seeking out people who are longing for a Christian community on their campus, and sharing the Gospel with those whom Holy Spirit is already drawing to Himself.
To be transparent with you, it was difficult to view this as a ministry because at times it felt like a job. The (amazing) CRU leaders we were working with didn’t make numbers a priority for us; however, it’s difficult to not get caught up in producing names just to have a “successful” looking list… especially for me. It’s been hardwired into me that God is impressed with results and that when it comes to evangelism I need to produce results for God to be pleased with me. This is not true.
The flip side of that coin is that I am good at confrontational evangelism. I just hate doing it. Walking up to cool college students and saying, “Hey, how are you? Do you mind if I…” Yeah… it’s not exactly one of my favorite things. However, it was really cool to see God redeem confrontational evangelism in my life by placing me alongside CRU. I wasn’t getting paid for or rated on my performance. I was doing it because I chose to come on the world race to share the Gospel with those who need to hear, and that’s exactly what God allowed me to do! Even though I had to constantly check my heart and make sure my heart’s motivation was love and not performance.
We had so many God-ordained conversations, met so many incredible people, and God even allowed us to see multiple people enter into His kingdom! Yeah, we actually saw people accept Christ as Savior on college campuses in Ecuador! How amazing is that? The Spirit is at work around the world and I’m so glad I was able to be part of it with my team and with CRU! God taught me that it is so easy to be a part of what He is doing in the lives of others. Many times all it takes is saying a simple, “Hello.” Then sit back and watch where the Holy Spirit guides the conversation. I left Ecuador excited to talk to people. Excited to ask them about what spiritual experiences they’ve had or what they think about God. True, not every person we talked to wanted to chat and there were many who rejected us. However, the quality conversations we did have made all of those rejections SO, SO WORTH IT.
In summary, I would say that Ecuador was a surprise. Not every surprise was pleasant (that’s the world race for you), but so many experiences were really, really awesome. I was blown away by the beauty of Ecuador’s landscapes, obsessed with Quito – Ecuador’s capital city – I enjoyed meeting so many different people and thoroughly enjoyed exploring as much of the country as I could.
I think sometimes when you have such high expectations you will often walk away disappointed. One of the reasons why Ecuador was so enjoyable for me is because I didn’t really have high expectations for it. I didn’t know what to expect, and God ended up blowing my mind in so many different ways. Not that it was easy, not that it was comfortable, but like I said, it was so worth it!
I praise God for my time in Ecuador! I left so encouraged by the college students who are new believers and for those who are on fire for God. God is at work in Quito, Ecuador, and I am so humbled that I was able to share a part in it.
