Nicole Roblin and Shantelle Matos, a dynamic and loveable pair of girls from FV, will soon be embarking on a mission to Ecuador. You can follow some of their adventures here on the FV Blog, or check out http://ecuadorconamor.wordpress.com/ and http://shantellematos.tumblr.com/ for full updates. Let’s pray for them as they go!

This journey began in March 2012. I traveled with my youth group to Trujillo, Peru for a ten day mission’s trip. To say the least, God began to stir up this passion inside me. A passion to serve, to travel, to do whatever is needed.

On this trip I became closest with one of my now best friends- Nicole. Together we loosely dreamed of traveling together and doing missions work for months at a time. Because of our similar passions for social justice and loving others, this trip has become real. In February 2014, we will be traveling to Quito Ecuador to live & work in a school and church plant.

We had the opportunity to get to know the members and partners of Extreme Response International better on the Peru trip. One of the partners we got to know better was Pastor Ramiro Maldonado. Ramiro works and lives in Ecuador as a pastor of the church and school Remanso de Amor. After getting to know Ramiro, God placed the idea of going to Ecuador with Extreme Response on our hearts. From that moment, we both decided to pursue this calling and do short terms missions together with Extreme Response International.

Our trip will be a definite length of three months. As we journey and work through the first couple of months in Ecuador, if we feel God calling us to stay longer and if it is financially possible, we may extend our time in Ecuador for an extra month or two. We will be staying with Pastor Ramiro and his family who run Remanso de Amor.

While in Ecuador, we will be interning for Extreme Response International and will be working at Remanso de Amor. Remanso de Amor is a community church with a vision of helping and serving others. We will be in living and working in Argelia Alta which is on the outskirts of Quito. While we are Remanso we will be teaching english at an elementary school, doing some maintenance and upkeep, as well as teaching Sunday school and running activities for kids. We do not have a definite plan of the work we will be doing but we are going with open minds and open hearts do to the work that God has planned for us.

I am excited for you to follow along with us as we take on this life-changing adventure God has planned for us!