We arrived in Manta on September 13. We hired a moving company to load our things from the Guesthouse in Quito and drive them to Manta and unload them. On moving day, we left at 6:30 AM thinking we would arrive before the moving truck. However, the truck left around 5:00 AM and beat us by about an hour.
After a year and a half of living in Quito, at nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, there are some adjustments to make to live on the coast. The climate is different, cooking at sea level is different, the way they speak Spanish is different, and breathing is much easier!!!
At the Guesthouse: Stuff ready to be loaded on the truck
At the Guesthouse: Stuff ready to be loaded on the truck
At the Guesthouse: Stuff ready to be loaded on the truck
The truck is packed
In Manta: Time to unpack and organize
Although we really like our apartment, one thing it lacks is storage and closet space. So we have had to buy a couple closet/pantry shelf units.
We are just a few minutes from the church and even closer to a shopping area that has several stores, including a grocery store and pharmacy.
Manta Church: "Cristo es la Respuesta"
Thursday Evangelism:
This community of people lives under tarps around a cement basketball court. They have all lost their homes. We go with some people from church every Thursday and teach the Bible: there is a lesson for the adults and a lesson for their children. We also bring them sandwiches each week and sometimes other necessities, like toilet paper, tooth paste, and soap.
Hannah helping with the children's lesson
Diana sharing the EvangeCube with these men.
Earthquake Relief Planning...a few pictures of what we've seen as we evaluate the properties:
It's sad to see the condition so many people are living in. And it's not just Manta. So many towns and cities along the coast were affected by the earthquake. We are so fortunate to have so much; so many people here have so little.
Below is a copy of the letter we sent to everyone on our mailing list regarding our ministry change.
August 10, 2016
Steve and Hannah Skinner
Ministry Change
Dear (name),
We trust this letter finds you doing well. You are receiving this letter because you are on our mailing list - which means one of the following: 1) you currently support us financially, 2) you have at some time in the past given to our ministry, 3) or you requested to be on our mailing list.
We are excited to tell you that we will be changing ministries. We will be moving to Manta, Ecuador (on the coast) and leaving the Guesthouse Ministry. Manta is an area that was really affected by the Earthquake in April. Since the earthquake, we have taken 3 trips to Manta to help our OMS church there. We have helped with the soup kitchen and with passing out food and necessities to the victims of the earthquake. We have really enjoyed our trips there and have enjoyed getting to know the pastor and his family and serving alongside them. OMS has long-term plans for helping with the recovery, and since we have a church in Manta, it is a great place to start to help. But with these plans, it is essential for an OMS missionary to be in Manta as a point-person/coordinator. No other OMS missionaries are currently in Manta. We don't know all the details of our role yet, but we do know we will be helping to coordinate the OMS teams that come to Manta to help with the recovery/rebuild. We will also be working alongside Pastor Julio and Diana in evangelism and discipleship. Since the earthquake, church attendance has increased and many people from the community are asking for visits from the pastor and elders. We are just at the beginning of our talks with the OMS Ecuador Field Leader and OMS Headquarters in regards to the plans for Manta, so we don’t have it all figured out yet.
We were in Manta last week and we picked up 15 folders with a total of 86 requests for help. Our Field Leader spoke with Pastor Julio (pastor of the OMS Manta church) and asked him to have people from his church, along with pastors and members of other churches in Manta, to complete a questionnaire requesting help due to earthquake damage. Each of the 15 folders represents a church, and inside the folders were the requests for help, 86 in all. With this information, we will start the planning process.
Towards the end of last year, we both felt a strong desire to do more work outside of the Guesthouse ministry. We talked to the other OMS Ecuador missionaries and told them we wanted to be available to help them with their ministries, when possible. We helped one of the missionary couples in May with a mission team that ministered in the jungle. We really enjoyed that trip as well. So, with our trips to Manta and with the trip to the jungle, we both felt very strongly that we didn't want to continue for too much longer in the Guesthouse ministry, although we would do what was best for OMS and for the Guest House. Because of the earthquake, and the great need in Manta, it worked out for us to leave the Guesthouse sooner than we thought.
We already have an apartment and will be moving sometime in the first half of September. We will need to furnish the apartment, including buying appliances like refrigerator and stove. In the Guesthouse, we didn't have those expenses since the appliances were already there. We did have to purchase bedroom furniture and living room furniture, so we will be taking those with us to Manta.
We are excited and nervous for this change, but really feel this is what the Lord has put on our hearts.
Sincerely,
Steve and Hannah Skinner
Ecuador Earthquake Relief
If you are interested in giving to our ministry to help with the additional expenses we will have in Manta, please return the enclosed envelope or give online at www.onemissionsociety.org/give/theskinners2
Every month we send an email update. A link to the update is also posted on our Facebook pages. If you are not receiving that, and would like to, please send us an email and we will add you to our list.
If you would like to be removed from our e-mail list and/or mailing list, please let us know.
Steve and Hannah Skinner steve.hannah.skinner@gmail.com
942 Erny Dr steveandhannahskinner.blogspot.com
Greenwood, IN 46142 U.S. number to reach us in Ecuador: 260-220-9607
We had another great visit with family! My brother Marc and his family (Michele, Henry and Harper) visited us from August 14-23. It was great to be with them and spend time with them - even before we came to Ecuador we didn't see them very often as they live in Minnesota and we lived in Indiana.
Like me, Marc was born and raised in Ecuador. And like me, he lived in the Guesthouse when it was a dorm. He lived here his Sophomore through his Senior years of high school. This was his first time back in Ecuador in 22 years. Last time he was in Ecuador, he came with Michele while they were in college dating.
We had a lot of fun playing games and spending time together at the house. We also did several fun things in and around Quito:
1) We went on the Quito City Bus Tour
2) We went to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World)
3) We went to the Otavalo outdoor artisan market
4) To earn a few hours for community service for National Honor Society, Henry helped us buy, sort, and package 30 bags of food and personal hygiene items for the earthquake victims. We'll take those with us when we go to Manta.
Not too many people in this country can grab items off the top shelf flat-footed!
5) The boys went up the Teleferico (cable car)
6) Hannah and Michele went to the Quito artisan market - no photo evidence :)
The most important thing we learned about our nephew Henry is do not challenge him to an eating contest. That boy can eat! And what we learned about our niece Harper is that she has the best voice and face for the "bee" filter on Snapchat.
Well, that completes visits from 2 of my siblings (Laura and Marc)...my sister Andrea is next, hopefully. We're also hoping for a visit sometime from Hannah's brother - so Andy, if you're reading this, our casa es su casa!
On Saturday night we said good-bye to my sister and niece. We're so happy they were able to visit us for 2 weeks - it went by so fast! We were very busy and were able to see and do a lot of fun things. Two different mission teams were here during their visit so they were able to see first-hand what our ministry looks like. It was nice to have some extra hands helping in the kitchen!
Part of their time in Ecuador was spent with us in Pallatanga at the annual OMS Field Council (business meetings).
Laura was in charge of the kid's program while the rest of us took part in the business meetings. We shared about what we've done in our ministries over the past year and our plans for the future. It's always nice getting together with our OMS Ecuador family. Laura must have done a great job with the kids because on our last night in Pallatanga there was no kids club, and some kids were complaining and crying.
Kayla had a great time in Pallatanga and made some new friends...
After breakfast on Sunday morning, we headed back to Quito...with a slight detour to Mount Chimborazo.
Fortunately it was a pretty clear day and we were able to see the whole mountain. It was quite awesome.
You are able to drive up to the First Refuge, which has an elevation of nearly 16,000 feet.
If you want, you can hike to the Second Refuge (30-40 minutes). To go any further than the Second Refuge, you need a guide. We were feeling the effects of the altitude so we didn't do any hiking.
We also went to Mindo to do some zip-lining, which Kayla loved, and hiked to a waterfall, which was smaller than expected.
We spent the night in Mindo. Right outside our room were 2 hummingbird feeders and a lot of hummingbirds.
The next day, we drove from Mindo to Otavalo.
Otavalo is known for it's huge outdoor market. The big market day is on Saturdays but every day of the week there are a lot of vendors set up in the town plaza.
We had a great time with Laura and Kayla - we're so glad they were able to visit us.
(We've put several pictures on this blog post, for many more please click the link at the bottom of the page.)
The team!
What a great experience we had on this trip to the jungle! Several months ago we let it be known to the other OMS Ecuador missionaries that we would like to be able to get out of the Guesthouse, when possible, and help any of them with the ministry they are involved with. Danny and Julie Beasley, missionaries in Loja, took us up on the offer and said we could help with a mission team that would be serving in the jungle with them. Danny and Julie regularly visit these churches to preach, teach, and encourage. This mission team is from the church where they were previously on staff in Illinois. There were 9 people total on the team.
The "real" trip didn't start until Saturday, May 21, but we wanted to be in Loja a couple days before that and spend time with Danny and Julie. On Wednesday, May 18, we flew from Quito to Catamayo, about an hour flight. Danny picked us up and took us to their apartment in Loja, about an hour drive from the airport.
Arrival at Catamayo airport.
There are no international arrivals in the Catamayo (Loja) airport, so the team flew into Quito first. Danny flew from Loja to Quito on Friday afternoon to meet them. They arrived late on Friday and had an early flight Saturday morning. They spent a few hours at a nearby hostel between flights.
On Saturday morning they arrived in Loja - Danny had hired a driver, named Leodon, and he picked them up in his van. The 9 of us (10 including the driver) had breakfast together before heading to Gualaquiza. We had two vehicles for this trip: the Beasley's SUV and Leodon's van.
On the way, we stopped for some pictures in front of this waterfall:
We arrived in Gualaquiza in the afternoon and checked in to the hostel. We stayed each night at the hostel, it was our "home base".
Each morning we had breakfast at the restaurant next to the hostel, and we had supper there each night, too. After dinner each night, we had some sharing time to talk about our personal experience from that day. We talked about things that impacted us positively and negatively, things that were difficult, and things that were fulfilling.
The people group in this area are called "Shuar". They are an indigenous group of Ecuador. They are the ones that are known for head-shrinking, though that has not been a practice of the Shuar for many, many years. The communities we visited are very interested and accepting of the Gospel, and they want to learn about the Bible. We went to several different Shuar communities around Gualaquiza, they are too small to find on the map so I couldn't pin-point each one.
At each community we handed out dresses for the girls. There is a wonderful ministry called "Let's Dress the Girls"; the team from the states brought down 100 dresses that we were able to give away. The dresses are called pillowcase dresses, and each dress comes with a headband, a pair of underwear and Bible verse. The girls were so excited to receive them. Many of them put on their dress right away over their clothes, they were so happy.
We had a different schedule each day.
Sunday
We went to a morning church service in Gualaquiza. Steven (in the photo at the top of the blog he is standing beside me in the blue jacket) preached in English and I translated. Before the group arrived, I had asked for some notes or a general idea of what the message would be about, so I could be prepared. I was happy that Steven sent me the full message. I looked over it several times before Sunday so I could figure out how to translate any of the more difficult sections. With any translation, there are phrases or expressions that are impossible to translate word for word because they don't literally translate. Those are the areas that I wanted to be prepared for in advance. It was such a good thing that I had his message because it started POURING rain during the service and I could barely hear what he was saying. Fortunately, I could hear enough to follow along on my copy of the message.
In the afternoon we went to a Shuar community in "Machinaza". The plan was to have part of our group teach the VBS lesson to the kids while Steven and I ("the Steve Team" as Hannah called us) shared the message during a special afternoon church service. There was a miscommunication/misunderstanding, which can often happen when working with the nationals, and we weren't able to have the church service.
Instead, we had a lot of extra time with the kids, which was very impactful. We taught the VBS lesson and had a lot of time running around and playing with the kids. The VBS lesson is about being thankful and it is based on Luke 17:11-19 when Jesus healed 10 lepers and only 1 returned to give thanks. We taught the same VBS lesson in each community. Afterwards, we played tag ("cogidas"), duck-duck-goose ("pato-pato-ganso"), and red light-green light. I played some, but mostly watched Hannah have a great time. She is drawn to the kids and they are drawn to her.
We left the vehicles and walked across the bridge...
...and up to Machinaza.
Monday
We spent the day at a Shuar community called Proveduria. It was quite the adventure getting there. Danny had been there once before and told us what to expect based on his experience. Unfortunately, it wasn't at all the same. When he went, he parked his car near a bridge and walked a short distance to get a ride in a canoe. After a 10 minute canoe ride up the river, he got out and walked about 10 minutes to the community.
Because of a lot of rain in that area, the road we were supposed to take was blocked due to a mudslide. We ended up driving across the river twice on different hanging/suspended bridges trying to find a way to get to the area for the canoe - it was quite scary.
We eventually made it to the bridge where we would leave the vehicles, but there was no canoe waiting for us. We're still not sure exactly what happened, but there was no canoe ride and we had to walk to get to the community. It. Was. Muddy.
We parked the vehicles back by the big bridge, then walked across the hanging bridge.
I nearly fell several times, I was in need of a helping hand
The walking adventure took about 1 1/2 hours - it was actually really challenging because sometimes we would sink into the mud and nearly lose our shoe trying to take the next step. Even though the hike was a real challenge, we are very glad we got to have that experience. It's amazing to think that the people from this community have to travel like this on a regular basis.
We made it! The church is behind me.
Not long after we arrived, the church service started. The singing/worship time of the service is different from what we're used to. First, there was a lady who sang and most of the others sang along, but we couldn't because we didn't know the words. Then the pastor asked if there was anyone else who wanted to share a praise song, and someone else went forward to sing. After that song, the pastor asked again if anyone else wanted to share a praise song, and someone else went forward. That happened four times. To us, it seemed so random and unorganized, but that's the way they do it and it was great to experience.
Hannah started crying during one of the songs. She said she was just so moved - it just impacted her that here we are in some remote area of Ecuador and we're praising God with this Shuar community.
I translated the message for Steven
After the message, the pastor asked if anyone had something they would like to share. Then he specifically asked Hannah and Julie. I was just about to say that Hannah isn't comfortable enough with Spanish yet and didn't have anything prepared, when she nearly jumped up out of her seat and hurried forward. She shared a little bit about how happy she was to be there and worship with them - I was so proud of her.
Hannah being brave
After the service they served us lunch. As is common here, we got preferential treatment. We were served first and we ate around a table under the roof. It was the only table there. They served us way too much food. We each were given a plate of rice, chicken and salad. Plus we were each given chicken cooked in a palm leaf, which is not something they prepare every day. It was prepared especially for us, no one else was served the chicken in the palm leaf. You never know what kind of food you are going to be served, and though it didn't taste very good to us, it could have been a lot worse. It was a huge honor because we know that this meal represented their appreciation and respect for us, and it was the best they have to offer.
After lunch, we gathered the kids under the church roof and taught the VBS lesson. At each place we went, it was so encouraging to see how well the kids received the lesson and participated with us.
After VBS, we were so happy to hear that we would be taking a motorized canoe back to the car instead of walking the trail back!
Awesome rainbow as we waited for the canoe
It was a short canoe ride. After about 5 minutes, the canoe operator made a sharp u-turn towards the trees and we nearly tipped over. We were a little shocked because it didn't appear that this was any sort of place to get off the canoe. We stepped off into the mud and there was a very steep, muddy, hill to climb. We though we were done with the muddy trails, apparently not. It was about a 10 minute walk through the mud to get to our vehicles.
It was a challenging and very rewarding day.
Tuesday
We spent some time in the morning at a community called Naichap. It was a very small community and it seemed like it was just one big extended family as the majority of them had the same last name, which is the name of the town, "Naichap". We helped paint the church and we passed out the dresses for the girls.
In the afternoon we went to Roldos and taught the VBS lesson. Since it was raining we didn't know if we would be able to, but the teacher of the school opened up the classroom for us. This community really needs a lot of help and prayer; there is a lot of abuse, so much so that they have a social services type office in this small community.
Wednesday
We spent the day in San Pedro. We arrived in the morning and they were already getting things prepared for lunch. Hannah and one of the ladies from the team went over to help out. Hannah had a lot of fun talking to the Shuar women and learning how to prepare some of the food. Hannah got to sample a lot of the food as it was being prepared, so she wasn't too hungry for lunch.
Delicious grilled chicken
After lunch we taught the VBS lesson inside the church.
After the lesson, we went back to the hostel for a couple hours to rest and clean up, then we returned to San Pedro for the evening service.
Thursday
We left Gualaquiza after breakfast and returned to Loja. We had lunch at the Beasley's apartment and then went to the airport to catch our flight to Quito. We had a good view of Cotopaxi Volcano from the airplane; Danny took this photo.
We all stayed at the Guesthouse Thursday night.
Friday
The group from the U.S. had a late flight Friday night so we were able to do some "touristy" things during the day. We took the group to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World). Friday was a holiday as the country was recognizing the Battle of Pichincha (May 24). Because of the holiday, there were some traditional dance presentations that were pretty cool to see.
We went to supper at a nice restaurant that overlooks the historic district of Quito and then we took the group to the airport for their flight back home.
This was such a good experience for us. Thank you so much to those of you who support us and make it possible for us to do this.
Please click the link below to see many more photos of our trip:
