Ecuador Update
In June 2022, Northside began supporting two young couples who graduated from the Quito School of Biblical Studies. They moved to Salinas, Ecuador, and quickly began evangelizing the people in that coastal town. Four years later, the church they planted is thriving, and many souls have been added to the Kingdom.
Below are some recent updates:
- In the past three months, six people have been baptized: Wellington, Joel, Jorgelina, Adonis, Valentina, and Rolando. All of them are eagerly studying weekly in discipleship classes and the men now help lead worship.
- Our missionaries keep finding new people who want to study the Bible. There are so many, in fact, that they can’t find enough time each week to meet with all of them.
- Criminal activity continues to be a concern as gangs traffic drugs in and out of Salinas, the western-most port on the Pacific coast of Ecuador. As a result, we and the team have come to the difficult decision that they should relocate their work to Cuenca, a much safer city and the third largest in Ecuador.
In March, the building where the church was meeting was vandalized for the third time, so they have now started meeting in the courtyard of the hotel Wellington manages and they are renting a room there for the children’s class. One blessing in all of this is that they are now paying much less in rent. An added benefit is that the church will be able to keep meeting there after our team leaves.- One husband and wife who were baptized last year had to move back to Venezuela because of the gang activity, but thankfully they are worshipping with a Church of Christ there and they’ve started teaching a weekly Bible class in their home to about 15 children from the neighborhood. Kevin Canelón reflected that, in a way, the Salinas church has now become a mission church itself, sending this family to share the good news in Venezuela!
