St. John's Lutheran Church

We are excited to show you a video from Dr. Manuel’s son, Juan. See pictures from our mission trip this summer as well as video of the pump in action. Water flowing and indeed Nueva Esperanza (New Hope).

On Sunday, August 7 the Team, trip alumni and their families gathered together at the Eytalis home for great food and fellowship. The Team got to meet people from past trips, share delicious food, laugh, share stories and spend time with Dr. Manuel and his wife Neli.
Dr. Manuel and Neli had spent some of the [...]

We arrived a little earlier than expected into Bloomington just before 10am on Sunday. Zach left us in Atlanta to travel to New Orleans for a sports competition and we forgot to add previously that Dr. Manuel and his wife flew back with us! The doctor and his wife are in the area to celebrate the [...]

As this is written we have returned to Guayquil after a great day. We headed back to Nueva Esperanza to give gifts to the school, photo portraits to the married couples (great job Jan, Deanne and Chris), distribute clothing intended for micro-finance and the village cooked us pig and more.
A touching end to the week [...]

And yet another busy day!
Vbs did their last event with the story of Hannah with great acting by Juan (Dr. Manuel’s son) and they were able to distribute beanie babies.
The Medical Team did not work today and the Construction Crew kept busy painting, hauling large rocks, mixing concrete and building a base for the well [...]

What’s the schedule like for us?

7:45a Devotions in a room above the hotel restaurant usually ending with us singing a few songs together. One song in English and one in Spanish.
8:00a Breakfast in the hotel
45minute drive (bumpy ride) to New Hope
Medical, VBS, Construction, and Sports Camp get to work!
Lunch around 1pm
Continue work until about 6p [...]

Another beautiful day in Ecuador. Great work is being done in Nueva Esperanza. Nueva Esperanza means “New Hope” in Spanish and just being here will truly give you hope in what Christ is doing among his people.
The Medical Team provided great work and wonderful hope to about 88 people, mostly children. The medical team travels [...]

The first night in the Su Majestad Hotel in La Troncal and thankfully we have air conditioning! We met for devotions at 7:45a where we reflected on the story of the woman and the yeast. Carol shared how the little things make a big difference (like in the story of the yeast). She gave us [...]