We Have Come to Serve

Two separate teams from Arizona, led by Bill and Eileen Estle, went to Montalvo, Ecuador to work alongside the leadership team to minister to children and put up the structure and roof of the second story building. The building is currently serving as a church, dining room, kitchen, and classrooms where over 200 children come weekly to eat a good meal and learn the Bible stories that form the values of their everyday life.  The teams represented the Nazarene Churches from Turning Leaf and Sun City.  While there the teams participated in the weekly classes with stories and crafts involving  Bible Hero's.   Not only did they put on the roof they helped to dig a trench and put up a security fence, help cook meals with the cooks, and help feed the children.   The Montalvo church started a year ago and have a church plant nearby among the rice fields.  Both teams went to minister with them to the church and saw the many needs that were being met by the church.  The exciting thing about working in this community is that parents are so appreciative for what is being done for their children and come to work whether a team is there or not.  After the team left they continued the work by putting up the rest of the security fence and the walls of the church building.  While the team was there and there were no classes the children helped to carry up the blocks to the second story.   There were many wonderful things that happened on the trips but a couple of the highlights were, the team had the opportunity to participate in showing the Jesus film in another part of Montalvo one night.  The other was the team participated in the graduations of the children as they passed from one level to the next of their weekly classes.  The graduations were held at both the church plant and at the Montalvo Church.  The graduation at the church was on Saturday and there was a constant hum of motorcycles for over 45 minutes of children being dropped off and parents wanting to get a seat for the ceremony.  The team was touched by the leadership team consisting of young adults that were very dedicated to their ministries.