We made it!

LIFT 29 arrived safe and tired in Quito, Ecuador on Monday the 11^th at 11:30 p.m. We arrived at El Refugio at 2:00 in the morning. After a good, but short, sleep we began our first day in Ecuador, with a delicious breakfast of eggs and ham with bread very similar to a croissant the food here has been some of the best food I have ever tasted. That may have something to do with how busy we have been going up and down mountains, though the Ecuadorians would call them hills. After breakfast we were briefed on El Refugio, a ministry of Youth World. Then we took a short hike and were shown around this beautiful 300 acre piece of property. From lunch to dinner our day was filled with hiking and climbing the 40’ outdoor rock wall that previous LIFT students have helped build. Then with much excitement we were able to go to bed for a full night of sleep!

Wednesday the 13th was our first work day; we started work at 9:00 and split into four work groups, which consisted of building a platform for a new high ropes course, digging out old tree stumps and leveling the ground off for a storage shed/bouldering wall, digging a fire pit with amphitheater seating, and the group I was in built a huge cross (30’ tall), dug the hole and removed some trees out of the way so that it can be seen from Cale Cali in the valley below. We ended work at 4:00 and this evening we are prepping for ministry in Chaco for the next four days. We leave in the morning and will stop at the equator for some shopping and continue over the Andes Mountains to the small city of Chaco. The ministry teams are going over the last details for their various outreaches and are getting excited to love on the youth in Chaco.

The next blog update will be in a few days. Please continue to support us in prayer.

Kayla Deuling