Ecuador Day 12: Church at Zabala and the Start of Seminary

Getting up early for church was certainly worth the effort! I had forgotten what a hugging and kissing church Zabala is. Everyone is greeted with hugs and kisses from their brothers and sisters. One young girl asked Jon if I was a pastor from the U.S. When he said I kind of was, her comment was that I must not know Spanish then. She went on to say the only languages I probably knew were English and Chinese. I was kind of hurt because I also happen to speak Pig Latin pretty well. At least I think so…

Jenny led worship, and did a wonderful job of it. Granted, I didn't always know what was being sung, but I knew we were worshiping! As Cindy put it, we might not understand Spanish, but we knew what Jenny was saying! When we got to the preaching part of the service, I was in for a surprise. Marta talked about her journey to Zabala, and what it had come to mean to her. She then invited several different people up to talk about how they came to Zabala and how it had impacted their lives. Marta also called Jon and Karen forward to share about their history with Zabala. Many people there did not know that Jon and Karen had helped build the original church building not only before there was a congregation there, but also before they were missionaries here.

We also saw some pictures of what had taken place in the life of the church in the past year. We saw pictures of a big baptism service that had taken place earlier in the year. They made the celebration into a weekend trip for the whole church. It looked like a great time. The youth in the church also held VBS at several of our churches outside of the city. They went to Tonsupa for one of their VBS trips. Marta said that it went so well that people in the community begged them to stay an extra week, which they did. They worked with about 70 children, many of whom do not go to that church. I'll admit that I kind of wish I could have gone with them. One reason for that, though, is that Paula and Kati are fantastic cooks. The food looked awesome! I'll admit, I really like food. But the VBS looked awesome too.

Marta also went to Amazonas. Amazonas is a church that is south of Quito and is (as the name implies) in the Amazon jungle. The church building is so cute! It was interesting to listen to Jon and Karen's comments about the church because they've never been able to visit it. They were seeing parts of it and members of the church that they have never seen before. Part way through the slide show, Marta cut it off and told us that there were some sisters working hard upstairs to prepare some finger foods for the celebration who would like to see the pictures as well. With that said, we all headed upstairs.

We all got upstairs to find Jenny finishing up a lesson with the younger children. They seemed to be having fun. There were benches around the perimeter of the room with the children's chairs in the center.

Some of the kids at Zabala

There were some tables across the front that had snacks and three cakes on them. Karen, Cindy, and I made it upstairs ahead of Jon. We tried to go sit in the back and we were quickly informed that we had to sit behind the tables at the front of the room. We were not fans of this idea, but we weren't given an option. Jon managed to sneak in and grab a seat towards the back. Then they brought the projector and computer upstairs and decided the best place to show the rest of the pictures would be at the front of the room. Since they wanted us to be able to see them, they moved us to the back. This seemed like a much better option. Or it did until they moved the tables to the back. Not only were they moved to the back, but they were placed directly in front of us again.

I was pretty excited about the snacks on the table, but then they started bringing out potato cakes. They had cooked enough for everyone in the church to have them. Even better, they had some awesome ají to put on them.

Yum! Ají!

The potato cakes had beef and vegetables in the center. They were the best ones I'd ever had. Someone also brought out a plate with several more and put them on the table in front of us. Karen told me that we might as well eat them because they wouldn’t let anyone else have them. They were for us. Well, I felt bad about it, but I figured it would be bad to let them go to waste. They also had lemonade for everyone, but they brought us a big bottle of Coke. I asked Karen about it, and she said that many work campers won't drink the lemonade in case it's unsafe to drink. I figured I'd go for the lemonade anyway because I've never had something at that church that has made me sick. They are very careful to only serve food and drinks that are safe for us.

Karen cuts the cakes

The anniversary celebration lasted for about an hour, and we didn't leave church until about noon. We headed back to the house to eat lunch, but I wasn't the least bit hungry after eating at Zabala. We knew we'd have to leave for the Seminary in a few hours to get stuff ready, attend a worship service, and matriculate students. I took them time to take a nap. After all, it's Sunday afternoon, which I think is the best time to take a nap.

Little sisters: annoying brothers all over the world

Later in the day, we mosied over to the Seminary to get everything ready to matriculate students and give them their books and other necessary items. We did that for a little while and then headed next door for the worship service. Some of the young adults at Comite led us in praise and worship and then Jon shared about changes happening in the country that are changing the way Seminary is going to have to be structured in the future.

Part of the praise band

He then preached about the importance of getting education to prepare ourselves for ministry. After the sermon, he introduced those of us who would be teaching class. Manuel, the pastor of Comite is teaching a class on evangelism in the morning, I am teaching a class on other religions in the afternoon, and Cindy is teaching classes in the even on communication, conflict resolution, and addictions. Jon prayed for us, and then it was back to the seminary to matriculate students.

I was surprised at the age of many of the students. For a student to attend they must be at least 15, be actively serving in a church, and have the signature of their pastor. Many of the students are teenagers. The youngest is actually 14, but she's one of the most mature students here. Almost every student who signed up tonight are teenagers. We were told that there would be more students registering the next evening just for Cindy's classes at night. The reason for this is that they have to work during the day, but they are available to take classes in the evening. This is one of the first times, if not the first time, that there have been night classes. The hope is that they will be popular with those who work during the day but could attend at night if classes are offered.

After we finished up at the Seminary, we headed back to the house to get a bit of food and start thinking about bed. Because my class isn't until 2:45, Cindy and I don't have to be at the Seminary until around 2:00. This means sleeping in and study are both called for in the morning.