It was about the year 2000 that God began to impress upon my heart that He wanted me to go to a far away land to preach His gospel. (God impressed upon my heart that there were people who have never once heard of Jesus Christ and His atoning work upon the cross.)
It wasn't until 2006 that I learned it was Ecuador. Although often curious and desiring to know where, I decided in 2001 that I would wait upon the Lord's disclosing this to me. He impressed upon my heart that I would know, when someone asked for help. In July of 2006, a missionary/pastor from Ecuador was visiting the United States. We had the opportunity to have him at our home for dinner. After dinner, while fellowshipping, he asked us to come help in the Lord's work in Ecuador. At that moment, the Spirit of God revealed to me the "where" as far as the country was concerned.
It wasn't until April of 2008 that I learned the exact where and why of God's desires for me. With a desire to make an exploratory trip, I made arrangements with our missionary/pastor friend in Ecuador. He asked me what was on my heart. I told him God had impressed upon me the jungle area and that there were still people there that had never heard of Jesus. He arranged some trips to various places and villages in and near the jungle.
In one village we went to, called Tonampade, God's Spirit spoke to me. This village has a "believing" church made up of some of the Huaorani, (Waodäni in the Hauo language), that were reached after the five missionaries were killed in 1956. On my first visit, which lasted about four hours, we took a canoe trip down the river to the place where the missionaries were killed. As we were there, I asked them the one question I had for coming. " Are there any more people in these jungles who have never heard of Jesus and what He has done for us?"
Their reply was, " Yes, many of our relatives fled deeper into the jungle after the killings and have never heard. We want to bring them the Word that was brought to us. We know they may kill us but we want to bring it to them. We need help."
At that moment, God's Spirit once again spoke to me and revealed the exact where and why. We concluded our time there upon that sandbar along the Curaray River with prayer, giving all to God's will and desires.
