ECUADOR In 1988 I trained many pastors and laypeople in open air evangelism. When I received no reports, I decided not to return. Then 11 years later, a young woman called Monica wrote me by email and told how her Youth Pastor was taking them out to plazas for wonderful open air meetings using our method. His name was David Proaño, and he had been on my seminar. I decided to return. Soon David and Monica were on our staff and married. Through Monica’s mother (a lawyer), OAC Ecuador was registered with the government. Now almost 20 years later, God has given them a tremendous ministry of evangelism, and David will become the president of OAC International in May 2020.

David & Monica, with their 3 children, have felt led to move to a little town near Riobamba, high in the Andes, to reach out to the Quichua Indians who make up about 40% of the population of Ecuador. We went to see an Indian museum on the equator in Quito before driving to Riobamba. The government had drawn the equator a distance away, but satellites have proven that the Indians were right. We saw that they had the constellations marked, and a sundial to tell the time and seasons. Our Indian guide had a basin filled with water. She placed it over the equator line (by Monica’s foot in photo 1), then pulled the plug and the water went straight down. Then placing it a few feet to one side of the line, she pulled the plug again and the water went down clockwise. Placing it on the other side of the line and pulling the plug, the water went down counter-clockwise. This was caused by “Coriolis Force” due to the rotation of the earth, proving that we were exactly on the equator. Coriolis also causes hurricanes and tornados to rotate, but not on the equator. I asked her what the Indians believed in (we had seen the shrunken heads of their enemies), and she said their god had been the sun. Many of them today have not heard the true gospel, or know the living God. That is why David and Monica have moved into their area. They are surrounded by 3.000 indigenous communities, where only 74 have established evangelical churches.

A church started by American missionaries years ago invited us to their VBS high in the mountains (photo 2). They had suffered persecution after the Americans left, and the priest had ordered all the Bibles burned. But God overruled, and now there are about 1,000 believers, and the church is well established. The children listened intently to the gospel through the puppets, drama and illustrated message, and were very receptive. The air was thin and cold, but thankfully their soup for lunch was thick and hot. Many of them came to wave goodbye.

The market place in Riobamba is a good place for outreaches (photo 3). Here the Proaño family is doing the Redeemer drama to music, which was followed by a sketch board message. In a plaza at another part of the city, the people were given a study book on the gospel of John after the message, and David led them through the first 10 questions. It was an incredible scene to see adults, teens and children writing down the answers as the cold night descended (photo 4). This happened time and again after most of our open air meetings. People, having never before read anything in the Bible, hungered to learn about salvation in Christ from the Word of God.

In another area, a pastor invited us to go to an unreached Indian community. It was very high and cold in the mountains, and as night fell, it looked impossible to reach anyone. Then amazingly the chief of the community said we could use the Catholic church to preach the gospel. The altar had idols and even a skull on it, and the priest only came maybe twice a year. We announced our program, and a good crowd of adults and children came. They watched the puppets for the children, the Redeemer drama, and a salvation message. The Bible study on the book of John was given out and all participated. A brother from a nearby community, who had led us to this place, was so excited that he is going to come each week to teach the Bible study! Please pray for these precious souls as they learn from God’s Word for the first time.

After an open air meeting with 170 people, David invited any who wanted to learn more about the Bible to come to a Christian home nearby. Thirty came, and this began a Bible study that has continued each week (photo 6). One of those attending just died, and David preached at her funeral. Thankfully she had come to faith in Christ. On the sketch board it says, “There is Life after Death.” I spoke from Luke 16:19-31, when Christ drew back the curtain on eternity and revealed the two eternal destinies of the soul. Their desire to continue studying the Bible and fellowshipping will probably lead to the planting of a church by a pastor from Riobamba.

A Christian factory owner ordered his employees to stop work and come to hear us present the way of salvation for an hour (photo 7). They all listened well, and some responded to Christ. Truly God used this brother to give his staff the opportunity to find eternal life.

Photo 8 shows us near the Proaño’s home at 10,500 ft. Behind me in the clouds is the volcano Chimborazo. Its last known eruption was about 550 A.D. With a height of 20,548 ft, it is the highest mountain in Ecuador. Its location along the equatorial bulge, however, makes its summit the farthest point on the Earth's surface from the Earth's center. The wreckage of a Viscount airliner lies near the summit... the same type of airplane I used to fly as an airline pilot in 1965.

PLEASE PRAY

1) For the Proaño family as they take the Good News of Salvation to the indigenous people.

3) For Elaine as she begins another school year with 19 precious children.

4) For OAC Congo (DRC) where the open air meetings are drawing up to 1500 people. Due to Ebola, my October trip had to be postponed. Pray for a cure and vaccination for Ebola.

5) For my trip to Nassau, Bahamas, in October. The area where OAC is based was unharmed.

6) For our WHERE MOST NEEDED fund that helps our evangelists India, Kenya, Ukraine, etc.

WE THANK GOD for the prayers and gifts of His precious people that make this ministry possible. We are laborers together with God for His kingdom and glory.

Compelled by His Love,