Travel Diaries: Ecuador

By Matt & Renee Landsdowne

In August 2009 my wife Renee and I were part of a ministry team travelling to the great land of Ecuador, in South America. Our mission was to visit major cities Riobamba and Cuenca, both nestled in the Andes, above 8200ft. Riabamba lies in an area known as the Avenue of the Volcanoes, on the edge of the equator and the Amazon jungle.  On the journey through this amazing landscape we visited medical clinics, hospitals, orphanages and visited a traditional Indian village. We saw miracles, healings, encouraged the church in ministry and the Kingdom of God.

Ecuador is largely a Roman Catholic country which has brought good and bad things into the culture. One of the good things is that people are very open to talk about Jesus and receive prayer. Even with the lack of interpreters and our poor ability to communicate we watched in amazement as God seemed present everywhere we went shopping trips, to hospital visits, right through to the church meetings.

During the trip we went from driving well above the clouds along shear cliff faces to dropping through the clouds into hot, humid, crazy Amazonian rain forest. The Ecuadorian Andes is one of the most naturally beautiful places I’ve been. In many ways – from my perspective – the people reflect the beauty of their land. They were so hospitable and honouring, they consistently made it their top priority to make sure we were all well looked after. (Matt)

Out of the 10 days we spent in Ecuador (plus 2 full days travel there and back) 9 of them where jam packed with ministry and one was a day of rest. The ministry days generally consisted of organized community outreach in the morning (hospitals, orphanages, schools etc), a few hours spare time in the afternoon, and either revival or leadership equipping meetings in the evenings.

I think that one of the most exhilarating things in life is to a persons face as they encounter God. The overwhelmed look on people’s faces of shock at His utter goodness and love is unforgettable. I’m so glad to be a part of what God is doing here on planet earth.   

To give you a glimpse into what a normal hour on this trip looked like here are a few of the testimonies that Renee and I could remember. As you read these remember that God wants to use all of His children in power and love. No one is left out! And God is not restricted to a certain geographical location either. – Matt Lansdowne

Interpreter gets a shock

At the beginning of the ministry time tonight a man came from the congregation and asked if he could be my interpreter. We went around praying for people and saw miracles first hand of people being healed.  After the third person that night had been healed and touched by the power of God my interpreter started telling me how amazing I was. It was a bit strange, so I made sure that he knew that it was the Holy Spirit doing the work,  and that God can use us all. As we were walking to the next person I told him that it was his turn! We came to a man that had one leg about an inch shorter than the other; it was causing him pain in the lower back. So we got him to sit down and showed him his feet. He was shocked to see how much shorter his right leg was to his left. I then asked my interpreter if he wouldn’t mind commanding the short leg to grow. The next scene made me laugh for the rest of the night as he commanded it to grow and right before his eyes it did! The interpreter was so shocked he almost fainted.

Twisted Feet on 4-year-old girl
We’ve spent a few days ministering in a clinic/small hospital in Cuenca.  Renee was in the waiting room when a young girl and her mother walked in. The girl's mother had taken her out of school because she had the flu, but the daughter had also been born with a crippling disease, which caused her feet to turn outward. The doctors had told the family that over time, they would be completely turned out resulting in this beautiful girl walking on the bottoms of her legs (ankle bones). To add to their problems the girl's father has left and moved to Brazil. They haven’t heard from him since. This obviously has caused an immense amount of hurt for both the young girl and her mother.  Renee and Rose, another team member spent time loving them and prayed with them.

After praying for the mother for quite some time the two started to pray for the young girl, they prayed over her a number of times, sang songs to her, and loved on her. Then they asked the mother to take her daughter’s boots off, the special boots designed to help her walk. With a look of shock the mother looked back up at Renee and then back down at her daughters feet. The ankle bones had twisted back inward, and the arches in her feet had come back, PRAISE JESUS! Renee asked, “Do you think that there is still room for improvement or are they 100% healed?”
The mother answered, “No they are totally healed, look they are normal now!”
That mother and her daughter will never be the same again; their lives are forever changed by the goodness of God. The mother recommitted her life to the Lord right there in the waiting room and was so grateful to God for answering her prayers.

Broken Femur bone

Some of the team, including Renee,  have traveled high up the Andes mountains to an Indian village. Whilst spending time with the Indians, Renee saw a man walking on crutches and asked to pray for him. He had broken his femur and was on crutches, unable to put any weight on his leg. He agreed to let Renee and some of the other team members pray for him. They prayed for him around 7 times, each time he felt more strength but on the 7th time he felt electricity go up and down his leg. After feeling that the man started jumping up and down on his broken leg, now totally healed! WOW! He was so excited that he took Renee and the few that were praying for him into his house to meet his sister who had major abdominal pain. The team got the healed man to pray for his sister and God totally healed her! That man now has a vision to preach the gospel through his nation and is linked in with a local church.

This mission certainly has been one to remember. Many of the people we met will never be the same again after encountering the absolute goodness of God in such a tangible and real way. I experienced an Ecuador that is coming into a place where they are realizing who they are in God.
The impossible is – day by day – looking more and more possible and I am so excited that we’ve all been invited to be a part of God’s great work.