From Ecuador with Love: Amanda's Journey of Faith, Flexibility, and Flavor
Episode 12 | 10 Minutes | Aug 4, 2024
Amanda went on a short-term mission trip to Ecuador with a group from Foundations Church. She left her family behind to join the journey and had a positive experience seeing new places and forming relationships with the team. She enjoyed trying new foods and experiencing the culture of Ecuador. Amanda advises future short-term team workers to be open-minded, flexible, and willing to try new things. The trip also had a spiritual impact on Amanda and the students, igniting a spark in their relationship with God. Amanda is open to future cross-cultural service opportunities and hopes to involve her family in future trips.
In this Episode:
God made a way for a trip when it felt impossible
Seeing students find a spark for cross-cultural service and ministry
How this trip allows space for picky eaters
Hopeful plans to join short-term team trips in the future
-
Amanda is a dedicated mission trip leader from Colorado with a passion for short-term mission work. A mother of three, Amanda is enthusiastic about engaging in service projects abroad. She recently returned from a 10-day trip to Ecuador with Foundations Church, where she led a group of 18 teenagers alongside three other adult leaders. Despite having a family vacation planned in Arkansas, Amanda managed to balance both commitments by traveling to Ecuador after her family trip.
Amanda values the deep connections formed on mission trips, both among the team members and with the local community. Her adventures also included experiencing new cultures, such as trying guinea pigs in Ecuador and appreciating the local commitment to environmental conservation. Amanda is eager to continue participating in and leading trips, potentially involving her family as her children grow older. She is open to exploring various regions and remains flexible to whatever opportunities arise.
-
Introduction and Meet Amanda
Alright, hello! Today we are with Amanda, and we are going to hear about her trip. And so first, I want to just hear a little bit about her. So Amanda, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Well, my name's Amanda. I live in Colorado.
Amanda's Background and Passion for Mission Trips
I've got three kids, a 15-year-old and two 10-year-olds but I just really love short-term mission trips. So when I got the opportunity, I jumped on it.
Yeah, that's awesome! I love to hear that. Just tell me the basics about your trip. When and where did you go, and who'd you go with?
Details of the Ecuador Trip
It was the beginning of June. And it was with the Foundations Church. There were 18 students, so teenagers. Um, was me and three other adult leaders that went, so we went to El Refugio for about 10 days, and yeah.
Awesome. So did you have your family go with you or did you go alone and lead?
Challenges and Personal Sacrifices
Kind of in a big way, actually So, kind of background on my involvement I started helping out at the beginning of the year, and as kind of the initial conversations I had with the youth pastor, about me, I said, hey, just so you know, I love short term mission trips. Like, that's kind of my jam. So, if anything ever comes up, like, let me know. And he said, well, actually, we've been praying for another female leader, so, how about How about now? which was great, except I had a trip, a family vacation planned with my family um, kind of overlapping those dates, and so I already had taken time off of work, had stuff planned with my family in a different state um, so because God is, kind of works things out when he wants to, um, Everything worked out so I went on my family vacation to Arkansas, to Bentonville, Arkansas with my family. And then I left my husband and three kids there, I flew to Denver, met the team at the airport, and flew to Ecuador. So, Yeah but yeah, it was cool.
Yeah, that's awesome. Glad you could do both. That is a perk. That's awesome. So what was one of your favorite parts? Just a favorite moment, um, from this trip specifically.
I'd never been to Ecuador. So that was fun to kind of just Check one more box off the list. Um, and just seeing a new country. But just seeing the relationships of how teams kind of form. You know, you take this group of people who didn't know each other. then a week later, you feel like you have a new set of best friends. And just especially watching the students kind of develop those relationships. Um, it's one of the cool things, um, for me.
Yeah, talk to me a little bit about seeing kind of those dynamics form from a leader. I've heard a lot of students talk about how those dynamics form and how they get close with the groups, but talk about what it's like to see that form from a leadership perspective.
it's interesting because I did several trips growing up. So I kind of, I've experienced it from both sides. So for me, it brought back a lot of nostalgia of like, Oh, I remember this phase, of life. And so just kind of seeing the, the way people come together. And on our trip, there was some kind of big tragedy that happened back home with some of the kids in the group. And so seeing everybody. just come together and kind of have this unconditional support through all that was pretty amazing.
That's awesome. I love to hear that.
Cultural Experiences in Ecuador
And so now I want to talk about what you mentioned that you've never been to Ecuador before. And so you are going out of the States and the normal Westernized culture into a new culture. So tell me a little bit about what that's like. What were some new things that you experienced from the culture?
the biggest thing would be some of the food specifically the guinea pig that we got to try, um, which I, love experiencing different ones like super adventurous eater when I'm at home, but if you put me in a different country and you say, here's part of the culture. If this is what you should do, then I'm all for it. So that's probably the biggest cultural experience I would say from a food perspective. Um, but just seeing the people and just seeing them, we went to the cloud forest and so kind of seeing the people there and just how they love nature and kind of their commitment to the environment. Um, it was kind of a different perspective for sure kind of what you see here.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Advice for Future Short-Term Mission Workers
So I do have a question about advising future short-term team workers as they join the field, but I first want to ask a very specific question. What advice would you have for someone who is a picky eater on this trip? What advice would you give them?
The guinea pig was a very one-off thing. We did not eat crazy things all the time, just to put that out there. All the food, for me, was very good. There were always some things, even the people that were a little bit pickier in the group, there was always something that they could eat but packing some protein bars and kind of some things, just so that if there, if there are things that come up that you're like, oh yeah, that's a no. Um. The group there was super accommodating, so people that had allergies, as long as you kind of communicate, like, here's, here's kind of the constraints, to make everyone was well taken care of.
Nice. That's super helpful. And then we'll just talk about this now. Do you have any other piece of advice for people who are starting to go on these trips and committing to this trip? How should they prepare?
just have an open mind, because if you kind of go into these kinds of trips with a certain idea of what you're doing or how things are going to go um, Mission trips really are a lot, about being flexible and so kind of just jumping in and raising your hand whatever it is that you're asked, whether it's something that you typically do or not, but just to try. Um, but just kind of be honest if you're like, nope, I, whether it's, you're not physically able to, you're not comfortable but just being, honest, but also kind of step out of your comfort zone, that's really what these are about.
Yeah, for sure. A definite common pattern of that answer is just to be open but I like that you said willing to try new things raise your hand and be willing to help wherever it's needed. I think that's super helpful.
Spiritual Impact of the Trip
And I also want to talk about the spiritual aspect of these trips. It's hard to go on these trips and not see God working and moving. And so how has God been at work in your life since the trip as a result of your experience?
I always, feel like one of the reasons I love trips like this is because I feel like it does kind of rekindle that spark of your relationship with God because you are kind of pulled away from everything and it kind of becomes a little bit more intentional on spending time with him, listening um, and just kind of trusting that. So I've tried to be more intentional about God, like, spending more time listening to worship music, or just continuing to trust that. God's plan is working. And kind of seeing how he made it all possible for me to go on the trip, and how that all worked out. It just kind of reinforces that, like, oh yeah, he'll, he wants it to happen, he'll figure it out.
Yeah. And as a leader, did you see that spiritual spark ignited in the students Talk to me about what that was like.
honestly, I was blown away by the students. Like, just how much they dove in. They wanted to talk about things and Weren't shy to raise their hand to say things that were they're struggling with some things that they wanted to work on. Um, You could see a change for sure
Yeah, that's awesome. I think that's so cool.
Future Plans and Aspirations
So the last question I just have for you is now thinking after you've gone on the trip and after you've led what will cross-cultural service look like for you in the future? Do you see yourself going on a trip again? I know you said that you love doing these short-term team trips. So do you see yourself doing that again? Do you see yourself leading? What does that kind of look like for you?
I mean anytime the opportunity presents itself, I can make it happen I want to I would love to take my family With my kids, a 15 year old a couple 10 year olds. So as they get older I would love to be able to take them. My husband's never been on a short-term trip like this, so I would love for him to get to go. So I open whatever doors I can walk through.
Yeah, is there a place or a kind of demographic or people group that you are passionate about trying out or do you see yourself going back to Ecuador?
I speak enough Spanish to kind of get around, so really any of those countries would be great. But I also have kind of a soft spot for Africa, so I mean I would go anywhere for the most part. Yeah.
That's fair. But yeah, Africa I think would be super cool. And this is just out of curiosity has your church done trips with one collective before? Was this like new? How did that kind of happen?
someone on staff had been through one collective a while ago. So that's kind of how we got connected there. This was the first time in several years that we've taken a student team internationally. So I know the plan is to kind of start trying to make that a more regular thing. Um, hopefully, that will be something that happens again next year.
Nice. We love to hear that. that. is our goal. Um, yes, we would love that. And we would love to maybe even try out a new spot. I think that would be fun. But that's awesome. I hope you get to lead again, and I hope that you get to bring your family, and it's fun. It's an enjoyable and fulfilling experience for them.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Thank you for answering all of my questions. I'm sure this will help future short-term team workers as they go into the field and as they think about what that process is going to be. And ultimately, it's always a testament to God's work through you and the world. Thank you so much for joining us and we will talk to another person soon. Bye!