I forgot to write about one thing...The church that I've been attending here has been talking a lot about Quito, how it's dangerous now and keeps getting worse...and how God wants to change it. Apparently Quito has been called the light to South America, and the Pastor says that Quito will now be called the light to the world....that's what the Pastor says God told him. So anyways, the Pastor says that God has been telling him for the church to pray around the Panecillo, which is a HUGE statue of the virgin Mary. It is a huge statue that is supposed to protect/ look over the whole city. And most of the city is Catholic, and it is like a huge idol. So he says that God said to go around the statue seven times like Nehemiah did in the Bible with the wall of Jerusalem until it fell. This huge statue is also leaning a lot, and everyone says that it is going to fall soon anyway.
The night of December 6th, which is Fiestas de Quito...sort of like our 4th of July....everyone gets really drunk and parties outside. So that night at midnight, the church met and got together to pray for the city. I said I would go, but I didn't really know what I'd be getting into.
First, we just prayed in small groups of 8 to confess our personal sins, then pray for God to have mercy on the whole city for everyone's sins. Then, the pastor talked about specific things that we should pray for. Everyone had a paper from the whole month of things to pray for each day, along with Bible verses. Some things, for example, were for drug addictions, violence, teenage rebellion, orphans, pray for all the pastors and churches. And so we started to pray at the church, and just talked a long time about how God can change Quito. There were 56 people there. Then at 2:30 a.m., we left the church and got into a bus. We drove the bus ALL around Quito for HOURS and prayed for the city. We drove past lots of people drinking and one person on the ground hurt with an ambulance. Then finally after driving around and praying, we drove to the Panecillo, the huge statue of the virgin Mary. And we drove around it 7 times, which took a long time because it's a long drive around it. At the end everyone was singing praise songs to God, and lots of peopel would stare at the bus as it went by. Pretty much everyone we passed had a bottle of alcohol in hand.
Finally, when we got to the top of the mountain after driving around 7 times, we got out of the bus and walked around the Panecillo 7 times. Then we prayed for the city and the people once more at a spot where you can look over the whole city. It was amazing. Now, we just wait to see how God changes it. Quito has been getting progressively worse over the years, and now it's just really dangerous. The missionaries who I'm working with right now saw someone get shot outside of their house 2 nights ago. And I've heard so many stories of people getting robbed in clear daylight. Because guys just come up to you right in the middle of a crowded park and flash their guns or knives at you from inside their jacket. then they tell you that they have friends all around the park watching you, so if you panic or try to run they'll get you, and so you just have to give them whatever you have. Also, I was out with some friends and a girl wandered off alone and some guys tried to rape her, but some other guys came around the corner, so they let her go. I have felt safe walking around myself, but I know you have to be really careful and this city is very dangerous. Anyway, it was interesting doing that prayer vigil. It lasted until 7:30 a.m.! Praying for 7 1/2 hours!!! The pastor asked me what I thought, if I thought they were a bunch of crazy people or what. I just told him it was great to see a church so passionate about God and prayer for the city. It often seems like we don't want to pray for 20 minutes. 7 1/2 hours was a long time! But yeah...that's something neat that I did recently. Also, if you look at the picture at the bottom of this blog you can see the Panecillo at the top of the mountain way off in the distance.