Hello

Thank you for your continued prayers! Details for my trip to Ecuador with Brio are coming
together very quickly and well. I received an e-mail just this week from Mrs. Gowler, one of
the people heavily involved in the planning of this trip. She has just returned from visiting
Ecuador to make sure everything is ready. Her report was very positive. She said to expect good
weather and to prepare to be changed by God. I keep getting more and more excited!

Indians trudging through the jungle on what is called a trail, rain sprinkling from the sky and
seeping into the already drenched land...this would describe where I was only three weeks ago!
No, I was not on my way to school! I was on an island named Isla Tigre (Tiger Island). Why? I was
on a miniature mission trip with my fellow eleventh and twelfth graders (seven of us in all!).
Each year our mission school sponsors a mission trip into one of the villages where our missionaries
are working. This year, we went to Isla Tigre.

The trip was a long one. It started with an eleven hour van trip and ended with an hour boat trip
(and that was just one way!). We had an incredible time! On the way we spent time learning four
songs in Spanish, which we sang at the church. We also spent plenty of time sleeping, admiring our
surroundings, (we traveled over a mountain swirled in mist; past several small, but beautiful
waterfalls; over a huge dam; and across the ocean), talking and joking, reading, and just getting
to know each other better.

The time we spent on the island was equally exciting and fun. We spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
on Isla Tigre. Saturday we arrived late in the afternoon. Our boat trip was very good, except for the
drenching rain! We made quite a spectacle stepping from the boats soaking wet! The rest of Saturday
was spent drying off, getting oriented, visiting with the missionaries, and meeting the pastor and his
family.

Sunday we were blessed by another huge rainstorm! We spent all day at the church where we shared our
testimonies, sang our four songs, and taught the children new games. The people were very friendly and
were touched by our eagerness to "fit in."

Monday the boys leveled the church sidewalk. The sidewalk was built on a hill and the rain was washing
it downhill! We girls helped by baking, working around the missionary families' homes, and teaching
our songs to the pastor's wife (she loved the songs and wanted to teach them to the children during
the Bible club).

This miniature mission trip was a very neat experience. I believe that God encouraged me by showing
me ways I can impact people even at the age of seventeen. The Indians of Isla Tigre spoke Spanish very
well and being able to communicate with them helped me to develop close friendship with several of the
girls (although they still cannot understand how a seventeen year old girl can still be single!).

This trip also got me very excited about the trip I will soon be taking to Ecuador! I am still awed
that God wants to use me, but I'm thrilled to be a part of His amazing work.