Spend 1-2 weeks with full-time FMC missionaries who live in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador! Enter into the lives of these missionaries, encountering and serving the local people of the Napo province through evangelization and service to the poor. In the parish where our missionaries serve, there are more than 70 smaller communities and currently only one priest. Several of these communities can only be reached by canoe and hiking through the jungle. Along with the missionaries, you will go to share the Good News.

You will be based with our missionaries in Chonta Punta. Each morning everyone gathers for prayer and breakfast. After that, smaller groups go out for service: work projects, such as building or renovating a chapel or home, or helping the local people with their crops; visiting the sick, elderly and handicapped; and bringing material necessities to families. In the evenings there will be opportunities to share your testimony and pray with the locals at various prayer meetings.

Traditionally, there is one day when everyone goes on the “long hike” to visit an indigenous Kichwa community that doesn’t receive many visitors because of the challenge of reaching them. It is a day of hiking through the jungle and is physically demanding. We typically play sports with the kids, share testimonies and scripture of God’s goodness and faithfulness, and share meals together. You may even enjoy some refreshing chicha made by the local people. Everyone will stay the night in the community. The next day we return to Chonta Punta.

One day, towards the end of the trip, we dedicate up to 2 hours for prayer and alone time with the Lord, which we call “desert day.” Like our Lord who went off alone to be with His Father in prayer, this time is spent in nature, often near local waterfalls or the Napo river. That night you will stay in a small community called Sinchi Warmi, made of several families dedicated to preserving and sharing the Kichwa way of life. Sundays are observed as a day of rest.

Throughout the entire 1-2 weeks of the mission, we encourage daily personal prayer time with Scripture, while emphasizing the urgency and excitement of Jesus’ mandate to all His faithful “to go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” And we always want to be open to the Holy Spirit!

The last day of the trip is a pilgrimage day in Baños. There will be Mass at La Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Agua Santa. There will be an opportunity to hike up the side of the volcano Tungurahua up to a Marian statue which overlooks the city. After your time in Baños, you will bus back to the airport to depart from Quito.