I say “Good Morning” in English to our bus driver, Edgar, and his wife, Rose.  As I board the bus that we will be using for the rest of the mission trip, I smile because they speak no English and I speak no Spanish, but we still communicate with love and smiles to each other.

There are so many different sites to see as I travel down the roads of Ecuador and watch out my window.  I see places where people are living that I would think were abandoned and no one could possible live there.  I look closer and people are living there.  We go through towns and the roads are bumpy, dirty, and very primitive and people are working in the marketplace selling and buying.  It is different than my own culture.

We start down this very, very bumpy road – I am not entirely sure it is a road!  We climb a steep hill and I look around and I can’t imagine where we are going.

This can’t be the way to where we are going to spend the night!

Yes, we are stopping.  At the top of the hill among all this poverty and very small dwellings is a hotel.  It is a beautiful place.

The owners are Christians and they house missionaries when they come through.  This hotel is like a villa, so peaceful, beautiful, and very Spanish looking.  The flowers in the courtyard are amazing.  In the doorway is the lady who runs and owns the hotel.  She speaks no English, but smiles and we try to communicate.  She is a very precious lady.

My room is on the third level.  I step out on the balcony that opens up out from my room.

I can see almost the whole city.  In front of me is beauty – the mountains.  Below me are dwellings that are very poor.  Some dwellings that have never been completed!

Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for we are all one in Christ Jesus.”

My heart is blessed, because I realize as I run my eyes over the diverse landscape and people – that all of us who know Christ will spend eternity together with Him.  Christ never looks at the outward, but looks at our hearts.  I love this thought that He loves us and He loves these people.

My prayer is that this week our team would share the love of Christ and that those who don’t know Him will see Him.

Day is drawing to a close and the night is setting in.  I return to my room and prepare to go to sleep.  It is a cool breezy evening, so I open the windows.  I hear firecrackers going off ever few minutes late into the night.  What are they celebrating?

The next day, I am informed that they shoot firecrackers to ward off the evil spirits!

They have much to overcome here – superstitions and lack of knowledge of a complete and powerful God.  I am so grateful I have a Savior who his able to help me and protect me.  My heart is overwhelmed that the Lord has brought me to this place.

Bumpy roads lead to beautiful places that teach us so much about who God is.

“Grace be to you, and pace, from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God and our Father.” Galatians 1:4

I am excited about the next destination, so look forward to what the Lord wants to teach me, and praying that He will use me for His glory.

Pam Cavanaugh