Update and Details

I am returning to Ecuador. I am so excited for this trip and what God is going to do on it.

Let me explain a little more.

Last summer, while in Ecuador, the thought crossed my mind that I wanted to return to Ecuador the following summer. I've traveled to many places, but Ecuador has a special place in my heart (in part because I've spent time there and really gotten to know people there). But I also realized that it was my final "free" summer before the "real world." Another thought crossed my mind at that same time - the thought to go on one last mission trip with Susie Magazine (formerly Brio Magazine). Not two days later, I found out that the Susie Magazine mission trip would be going to Quito, Ecuador. I was already formulating plans in my mind about how it could work that I go on the trip.

When I talked to my mom about it when I got home, she was a bit more cautious than I was, reminding me how much I have been traveling, and that maybe it's time for me to get a job. She had a good point and I agreed, so I didn't think too much about it. A few months later, my mom informed me that my dad had given the "go ahead" for the trip, and I was caught off guard. I didn't know what my summer held for me and if I'd be able to get time off from work.

I began to think and pray about going, not really sure about what God wanted me to do. I wanted to go, but didn't want that to be the only reason I signed up for it. I also talked to Big World Ventures, the missions organization in charge of the trip, and found out that my younger brother could go on the trip and do photography, rather than the drama ministry. My parents and I talked to him about it, and I encouraged him to think about it and get his application in. When he made the decision to go on the trip, I decided that I would to go too.

We both signed up for the extended trip - an extra week of ministry in the Galapagos Islands! I was so pumped about getting to go to the Galapagos. As time has gone on, however, I have realized that the Galapagos is not where God wants me this summer. I came to this conclusion when I got an email about the other option for the extended week of ministry - a week in Otavalo and the surrounding Quichua communities. I spent a week in Otavalo with my team last year and I was hoping we'd get an opportunity to take a trip there. When I found out that this was the other extended trip, I felt my heart being pulled toward it. As much as I wanted to go to the Galapagos to say I'd been there and experience it all, I had a strong desire to go back to Otavalo (maybe even to the community I worked in!). So after much prayer and talking with others, I made the decision to go to Otavalo. So now my brother had better get me some good pictures from the Galapagos so I feel like I was there too!

So that's where I'm at right now. We just passed the 100 day mark. I will be heading down to Miami, FL for training 3 months and 1 week from today. I am stoked. I look back on so many of the experiences God has given me and see how He has been preparing me for this trip - most notably, going to Ecuador last summer as well as working with Junior High students at my church for the past 2 years. God sure knows what He's doing :)

Amy Lynn