January Mountain Trip — Echo Team Nonprofit

Echo’s news

January 4th-14th

Overview

First and foremost, we would like to give God all the glory for the great things that HE did in Mexico! For those of you that prayed for us, thank you - you were a big part of this mission trip! This was only our second time going to the village of Colorado de la Mora in the mountains of Nayarit, Mexico. We love coming to this village because the people are so loving, welcoming, and hungry for the Word of God.

The Local Church

We held a six day revival in the little church in the mountains with a wonderful children’s program on the side. It was very special to see God move through worship and powerful messages from the word of God with over 150 people attending every night.

Our teaching staff taught wonderful workshops for the whole church on the following topics: how to use your gifts, how to be a godly woman, how men are lead Biblically, and how to overcome addictions. Everyone was very attentive and hungry to learn. The pastor of the church thanked us with tears of gratitude for what God had provided for them through us.

Humanitarian Aid Program

Two of the 10 days we were there, we ran our humanitarian aid program. God put together a medical team, dental team, physical therapists, psychologists who offered Biblical counseling, and barbers who gave haircuts. My favorite team of all was our prayer team. We strongly believe in the power of prayer and the gospel and they talked and prayed with everyone in the waiting area and would encourage those on the team who were working.

We were very blessed to have such a strong and experienced medical team who worked tirelessly and helped hundreds of needy people! Nearly 400 patients came to see doctors and all received free medicines that were prescribed to them. Many of these people traveled very far - crossing rivers and hiking 3-4 hours just to receive medical attention.

Our dental team consisted of only the dentist and I (Mateo), and we were able to see about 50 dental patients. We were very blessed to have an excellent dentist who worked very hard to help so many people. I worked alongside him as his assistant and we did everything from cleanings, to fixing cavities, to extractions. We thank God that everything went well with all the patients who were so thankful for the quality dental work that came at no cost to them.

We strongly believe in the power of prayer and the gospel. Having said this, throughout the time we were serving the people and helping their practical needs, we had our prayer team talking and praying with everyone in the waiting area. We were able to serve about 500 people in the two days we had the program set up, it was beautiful to share the gospel and prayer for them all! Glory to God for the great things HE did!

Go Tell It On The Mountain

Since we were blessed with such a large team, we were able to split up and visit multiple villages. Early in the morning the different teams hiked and took boats to villages that were very difficult to reach.

One village, San Pablo, required that we hike six hours to reach a small church there. The people were ecstatic to receive visitors. We shared the Gospel hut-to-hut and held a church service that evening. The Holy Spirit moved in such a big way during the service that we decided to make a second trip there a couple days later. We preached the gospel and had some workshop sessions on studying and teaching the Bible, prayer, maintaining church unity, and leading their families.

In the other villages we went hut to hut sharing the gospel and praying. We did skits and songs and had various team members teach. We also had the privilege to hand out about 160 Christmas shoe boxes from Samaritan's Purse.

Please pray that the local churches continue to follow up with the seeds planted in those we evangelized!

We do it for the kids

For His Glory Alone

Reaching the whole community!

After inviting surrounding villages to an event at the plaza in Colorado de la Mora, 500 people attended! This event included funny skits, worship, games, and a solid presentation of the gospel. God did wonderful things in both the adult and kids programs. The prayer time at the closing of the event was very Spirit-filled with many people asking our team-members questions about how to be saved.

Testimonies

The little boy pictured above suffered from a serious liver problem and couldn't go to school or play with other children because of the side effects. He shared with us how he believed in God, would go to church, pray, and tell his family about God. One morning during our team devotion, he came and asked us to pray for him, saying that he believed God could heal him. From that moment on, he felt better and was able to be more active. Later after church, he told one of our team members that that was the first time he was able to worship and not feel tired or dizzy.

An older gentleman came to our medical clinic saying he had been previously diagnosed with a very complicated heart condition. There was nothing we could do but consult him to a cardiologist, give him vitamins, and pray. A couple days later, he returned very happy and feeling a lot better! Both doctors listened to his heart realizing it was healed! They assured him that it was God who had healed him. That was the only explanation—they had only given him some vitamins. The doctors cannot explain how his heart rhythms were fixed except for that it was God who healed him!

There was a man who had very high blood sugar of 600 and was highly vulnerable to diabetic coma. After quickly administering IV fluids and insulin, he felt a lot better. We are amazed at the timing of our clinic because things could have ended very differently if God hadn’t brought him to the medical clinic and given an opportunity for our team to intervene.

The closest doctor to Colorado de la Mora is about 5 hours away and very expensive to get to! Our doctors saw a woman who had been pregnant for seven months. She had seen neither a doctor or a midwife during her entire pregnancy and appreciated a very much needed check up and prenatal vitamins to help her baby stay healthy!

It has been beautiful what God has done in this community since we came last year. God has answered so many of our prayers! For example, while visiting house to house last year, we went to one family's house where as we were walking up, the husband saw us and ran and hid. He did not want to talk to the “church people” so we prayed for him and his salvation as well as for his family. This year when we walked up to the same house with the husband excitedly waiting for us with food and gifts! The family shared that God answered our prayers from last year and that the husband had gotten saved three months before our arrival. God listens and hears our prayers!

The youth in Colorado de la Mora are very troubled because many of them do not have adequate access to education and do not finish high school. These youth often feel purposeless and lack a sense of hope due to their circumstances and turn to drugs, but God is doing a work in this area! God used the seeds we planted last year in January and from the youth conference in November to encourage them to dedicate their lives to following Christ. 11 were baptized and are committed to helping us in Echo’s ministry in their village.

We thank you very much for your prayers and support and ask that you keep these people in your prayers as God continues to do great things in them! We are very grateful for our whole team who has worked on a volunteer basis including our medical team who helped hundreds of people.

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I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 69:30