Local pastor, wife help spread gospel, clean water during Ecuador mission trip
Imagine driving from Colbert County to Sacramento, California.
Then, just for good measure, drive another 200 miles.
That’s how far away Tuscumbia is from Quito, the capital city of Ecuador in South America.
Pastor Nick Ray and his wife Carlinda of Sunnyside Church of God in Tuscumbia were part of a mission team to Ecuador on a trip from Aug. 5-13 to assist in the installation of water filtration units for facilities in local communities near Quito.
The effort was organized by Alabama Men and Women of Action (AMWA) under the leadership of Donnie and Carol McWaters of Oneonta and directed by four pastors and their wives, along with two additional volunteers: Jon and Becky Chappelle of Selma, Thomas and Nicole Dunn, Jr. of Owens Cross Roads, Mark Gidley of Gadsden, the Rays and Tom and Sue Wilborg.
The team also assisted another water filtration ministry, known as M-25, to install, minister and observe the supervisory roles of its constituents in their homes.
Ecuador, which is Spanish for “equator,” has about 18.3 million people and is around 109,484 square miles.
For comparison, Alabama has a population of about 5 million and is 52,420 square miles.
Quito alone has 2 million residents.
“In many areas of Ecuador, clean water does not exist and is causing harm to all of its inhabitants, especially children,” Nick Ray said. “The goal of the mission was to assist in placing the water filters in areas to do the maximum good. Due to regulations concerning transporting items of this nature, only small numbers of them can be delivered and installed at any time for residents of this nation.”
AWMA assisted M-25 with ministering to children at the latter’s Aqua Viva facility, an after-school program that helps kids with their homework, mentoring and ministry. Aqua Viva also provides support to women in the area for spiritual care.
“For myself, I had never flown on an airplane before the trip and experienced aviation for the first time when the group departed from Birmingham/Shuttlesworth Airport on Aug. 5th, where we landed in Miami,” Ray said.
“We boarded another plane there and flew to the Quito, Ecuador, airport in the early morning of Aug. 6. This was the first time for Carlinda and me to have ever been outside of North America. After a 45-minute drive to our base of operations, SEMISUD, a seminary for Latin American Pentecostal students, we stayed in the dormitories there.”
The mission team was afforded a four-hour nap before efforts began.
Ray said SEMISUD President Dr. Nelson Parra and his wife, Olga, greeted the group and became guides and interpreters for most of the stay there.
“We were shown the campus and toured the chapel, academic buildings, classrooms and had a unique opportunity to view a rare collection of Inca artifacts that is on loan from the Ecuadorian government and is housed in an open campus museum at the seminary,” Ray said.
“I was allowed to preach to the SEMISUD students that day, along with the other pastors and their wives ministering with the students. During our time at SEMISUD, we also had the opportunity to participate in two Sunday church services at a very active church on campus. Two of our pastors had the opportunity to preach at those services, while we all served as lay ministers and provided spiritual care to the local congregation.”
During the team’s two-day stay at Aqua Viva, Carlinda Ray and other pastors’ wives ministered in a women’s service.
The team also attended an indigenous church service in Quito.
“Congregants worshipped in Spanish and (a native language), with our pastors given an opportunity to preach the message, while other AMWA mission team members assisted in the altar service. Over the eight days, AMWA was able to minister to over 300 people, and the reports of what God had done were mighty!” Nick Ray said.
The team then had the chance to visit some local Andean Mountain peaks, with average elevation for the week’s stay at 9,200 feet.
The Andes are the longest continental mountain range in the world.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is the farthest point from the center of the earth. While it is 20,560 feet above sea level, compared to the 29,029 of Mount Everest, the Earth bulges at the center due to centrifugal force created by the planet’s constant rotation.
Because of this bulge, Mount Chimborazo’s summit is about 6,800 feet farther from Earth’s center than Everest.
Everest is also not the tallest mountain when measured from base to peak. That record goes to Mauna Kea, a volcano in Hawaii, which is 33,500 feet, though 60 percent is under the Pacific Ocean.
“The elevation made breathing a challenge since the air was thinner at those altitudes than what a normal Alabamian is used to, and we had to adjust accordingly,” Ray said. “We also experienced three earthquakes (no one was harmed, and no damage was incurred) and a microburst weather event that took the roof off of a cottage where Carlinda was staying at the time, and she suffered no harm.”
Ray said the team was sad to leave Ecuador when the trip came to an end.
“Ecuadorians are a very warm, kind and loving people,” he said. “We pray that God will continue to bless them and all those who made the trip, one that we will never forget. We hope that this will not be our last mission trip, but we are trusting in God to provide if He so wills. Carlinda and I want to thank all of those who prayed, contributed financially and gave in kind to make this trip possible. May God bless you all.”
