On June 6, our high school youth at Country Club Christian Church will travel to Otavalo, Ecuador, for their summer mission trip.

For many of us, this will be our first time out of the country— and we are excited to get to know the land and people of Ecuador.

We will be working with an organization named FEDICE, a long-time partner of our denomination. FEDICE has worked for decades to empower indigenous and marginalized communities in the Ecuadorian Andes and to break the cyclical chains of poverty, discrimination and injustice. FEDICE has invested $1.2 Million dollars in 56 communities in order to increase the quality of life for nearly 20,000 Ecuadorians.

FEDICE works on the ground, at the community level, with the people. True justice and true transformation requires equipping people to build the flourishing communities themselves, which is the work FEDICE strives to do.

Our work with FEDICE will include working on the “New Seed Children’s Center” in Otavalo, Ecuador. We will do some updates on the facilities so that the center can better care for young children in the region. We will also spend time getting to know people in the community, building relationships and learning what it’s like to live in another part of the globe.

Follow along on our journey below.