On Saturday, July 1, 2006, another ICMO group left for Ecuador. Their mission: to heal bodies, win souls and change lives.   These are their stories...

Saturday, July 1, 2006

Most of us gathered at the Chattanooga Airport at 11 am to begin getting our luggage and supplies checked in for the journey.  As usual, the Lord granted us great favor with the folks at the airport who gave us a little leigh way with the weight of some of our cargo.

We do everything we can to minimize our packing,  but there are still quite a few boxes necessary for us to accomplish the task He puts before us.

Any time we gather to begin another mission trip it is like old home week... a family who has not seen each other for a while.  There are 28 team members of all ages on this trip, half of which have never traveled with us before.

Here are the new people: Tracy Yancey (23) and Josh Bell (24) found out about the trip the day before we left and decided to come. Tracy came because she has a really big heart for the people of Ecuador and really wanted to be apart of this mission. Josh wanted to come to serve the ministry, practice his Spanish and prepare for missions. He has been on other mission trips before but this is his first time with us and his first time in Ecuador. They are both from Cleveland and they met us at the Atlanta airport. They had both helped raise money for the trip before they knew they were going. Nicole Campbell (22) is a girl from Lee University who is going to help out with the pharmacy. Shawna Shrum (15) is Whitwell COG's youth minister Michael Shrum's niece. Stefanie (22), Tifanie (22), and Ronny Carr (17) and Jessica Nunley (17) are four youth from Whitwell. Maleah Hayes (18) is from Shelbyville and wanted to come because she is going to school for nursing. Marvin Philips (46) is David Philips brother and is also going to help in the pharmacy. His daughter Jessica (18) has also come with us. Heather Blair (30) is a mother of two who goes to Whitwell and wanted to come because she heard the stories from last year and really wanted to be a part of it.  Lyndsi Wadel(19) is also a first timer.  Lyndsi is the daughter of Mike Wadel who usually handles the media for these trips.  Lyndsi will be helping to document the mission with both photos and video.

Of course, those who have been here before will help guide the new folks.  But you soon find, after just a day or so, it is very hard to distinguish the rookies from the vets.

Returning ICMO veterans are Dr. Jonathan(33) wife Kristin(28) and son Michael (2) Kerley, Annetta(54) and Clark(57) Crawford, Peggy Miller(67), an ER nurse, and her great nephew Keith Owens(16). Jeremy French(28), Krissy Pyburn(18), Michael Shrum(33), Molly(14), Mallory(17), Margie(44), and David Philips(42) are all members of Whitwell Church of God. Margarita Colon lives in Knoxville and is our translator on this trip.  Margarita was a last minute add and there was some difficulty with her ticket at the airport, but with a diligent Delta rep. all was eventually resolved and off we went.

The flight to Atlanta was a little rough, because it was a small plane, but it was a quick trip and no one got sick. When we got to Atlanta we all sat around talking, getting to know each other, catching up with old friends and of course eating. The only real excitement came when Clark accidentally threw away his passport and plane ticket! He went to the trash can were he had thrown it away but the lady had already emptied it into the big trash bin that took the trash to the dumpster so Clark had to go and chase down the guy with trash and then dig threw it.  Well, the bible says, seek and ye shall find... He sought and he found... Praise God!

We boarded the plane for Ecuador around 5:15 in high spirits. On the plane we met another mission group that was also going to Ecuador; the Northside Baptist Church. They were going to Atacucho to build a medical facility, and we will be heading up to Atacucho one day so hopefully we will see them again.

The team spoke with a lot of people on the plane and invited them to come to church with us Sunday, and we are hoping that some might come.

We landed at 10:40, loaded our luggage onto the bus and headed down into the valley to the Michael and Denise Mills' home.  They are our host missionary family and have been a true blessing to this ministry.

Some of us felt a little sick initially from the altitude, but nothing major. We made it to the house about 40 minutes later, unloaded the bus, got the rules from Denise and then we all went up to a rooftop area called Peter's Perch to pray and thank God for our safe trip.

After that, it was off to bed to rest and prepare for what God would bring in the coming days.

We are all so excited to be here.  Thank you to all who have helped us get to this point and please pray for our safety, our strength and our ability to serve in the way He would have us serve.

More Tomorrow!

By the way... If there is a delay in postings to the web site, please be patient... Internet access in the third world is iffy at best... If you don't hear from us for a day or so, just keep praying.  We are fine and in God's hands.