My parents are a part of a mission
organization called Global Recordings Network (GRN). In some countries people and natives have no written
language; they’re oral. (They have no alphabet). How can these people hear the wonderful news of Jesus if
they can’t read the Bible? GRN has
the solution. There must be a way
that these people can hear the gospel without having to read… this is where GRN
comes in. They send “recordists”
to different parts of the world to record Bible stories, in these languages,
onto CDs and give them out to the people who speak it. For example: Let’s say GRN sends a recordist to Spain; the recordist will
then search for a person who speaks both Spanish and English and then asks this
person if they would mind being recorded.
Once they have the recording, the GRN staff will then edit it and make
it into a CD. So now the recording
is on a CD; how does this CD get distributed to people who speak Spanish? This is my dad’s job; he is the Director
of Distribution for the U.S. He
travels with small teams to countries, such as Spain, and hands the CDs out for
free.
I’m sure your still wondering why I
came to Ecuador, right? Well, GRN
is holding a training seminar for recordists, teaching them how to use the
newest and latest recording equipment.
My job here: to help out with little things: leading worship, labeling
cords, making snack, babysitting a recordist’s two little girls (Hannah- 6,
Casey-1 ½); anything anyone needs help with. Now your probably wondering what have I done yet?
Well, bright and early Wednesday
morning (September 26, 2012) my family (Emil- Dad, Stacy-Mom, Tatum- little
sister -10, and me, Becca -13), Matt Haide (the GRN intern from Oregon) and
David and Gerry Gutierrez (a couple who also work with GRN) all drove up to the
LAX airport. At the airport we met
up with 3 men recordists, 2 from Australia (Noal and Kim), and 1 from Thailand
(John). Our 5 hr flight took off at 10:40am heading to Miami, Florida. We later boarded the plane once again
this time for Quito, Ecuador. A while back I heard a story about Gerry on a
plane. First let me tell you
something; she is a doctor. Before
the plane even took off a man had a heart attack, luckily Gerry was there to
help. The man recovered and Gerry
was bumped up to first class. What
a God thing! Knowing this story, I
had a strange feeling that something like this would happen on the plane. On this 4 hr flight something did
happen, not as drastic as the first, but still a medical emergency. There was a 6 yr old girl in the row of
seats in front of me who had a fever and her hands were shaking. Fortunately, my dad could tell that the
little girl was having a seizure, and quickly called Gerry over. Gerry gave the little girl some medicine
and calmed down her hysterical mother.
The girl was fine and the stewardess gave Gerry a bottle of
champagne. Praise God!( About the
little girl being alright, not about the champagne). Once arriving in Quito, we located our luggage, got our passport
stamped and went and stood in line for customs (where they x-ray our bags once
again). As our suitcases were
exiting the machine, the woman looking at the x-ray, started asking us what in
the world the equipment was for.
Having no clue what we were trying to say, (she spoke Spanish), she
decided to go through our suitcases for herself. As the lady began looking at the equipment, my mom
remembered that in her bag was a paper saying what the equipment was. She gave it to the woman, she read it,
nodded her head and released us. Thank you Lord! Later my family found out that there were two planes that
arrived that night, we were scheduled to land first, but instead landed second. We also discovered that the first plane
that had arrived had gotten ALL of their luggage checked, that could have been
us. All glory to you, God!
At the airport there was a man
named Gustavo, who is a recordist with GRN, came and picked us up in a bus that
he had rented. The bus driver took
us to a hostel used for teams on short-term mission trips. We stayed there for the night and left
for the scenic, 5-hour drive to Shell, Ecuador. Wow, and when I say scenic, I mean it; tons of pretty
rivers, beautiful house and tree covered mountains, gorgeous turquoise skies,
big fluffy, white clouds, and the best part; a glorious, perfect rainbow. Trust me, I have plenty of pictures to
prove it. When we arrived in
Shell, we stopped at I-Tec the location the training course will be held. We sorted through our bags and headed
for our houses. My family is
staying at the Williams’ house.
The Williams are missionaries with Youth World, and are on a visit to
California. No, they’re not
staying at my house, but in Orange County. Their house is such a blessing! Internet access, warm showers, and on the roof there are 6,
yes 6, hammocks!!!!!!!!! Pure
Awesomeness!!!
This afternoon, after church, my
family, Noal, Kim, and John, were walking to my house when all of a sudden it
started pouring rain, we quick ran
toward shelter, a bus stop, where many others were also sitting, avoiding the
rain. We stood there shivering,
holding our umbrellas, trying to block the wind from blowing rain and soaking
us, for about 10 -15 minutes.
Besides this ordeal, the weather has been beautiful no humidity, and
clear skies.
So far I have been on a suspension
bridge, eaten new and old foods, learned a ton of new Spanish words, gotten the
opportunity to lead worship (I play the guitar), and met lots of new
people. This morning the team
attended a Spanish speaking church.
For worship we sang Your Love Endures Forever, How Great is Our God, and a few other songs that I have never heard
before, all in Spanish. I just
clapped and hummed along. Thank
you so much all of you who have been praying for my family and I, it really
makes a difference.
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