The day started as normal. Eyes barely open, a cup of coffee and off to work. After a brief office meeting, we hear news that the police are demonstrating in Quito (the capital). They said that the police were going on strike. Quito felt so far away so I just though, ok Quito. Then ten minutes later our leader informs us that it isn't just the police in Quito, but the police nation wide decided to go on strike. I don't know about you but when I think about strikes, I think about factorys, nurses, and construction sites.. not police. A day without consequences, a day without security. Four banks were robbed before they could shut down, multiple local businesses looted, vandalism, assaults, murder.. The buses stopped running, the taxis too as they were being robbed right and left. The streets were left empty, a very eerie calm on the largest city in Ecuador. We stayed together in the office working on the normal activities while keeping one eye on the news. In the afternoon we started to get a bit more concerned as all the channels were taken over by the government channel. The events kept unfolding, the president in the hospital, the hospital being surrounded by angry police, the president rescued. Was it an attempted coup? Was it political? Was it just angry police about their benefits being cut? Who knows?
We don't know all of the implications that this event will have on the future of Ecuador but it has brought to light something that we had wanted to put as our prayer focus for October before this even happened. Violence in Ecuador has been escalating. And as Ephesians 6:12 says "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." We want to combat these occurances with prayer. We are asking for you during the month of October to pray for the situation of violence in Ecuador, in Guayaquil and in Quito. Pray for the safety of our team as we travel almost daily in public transportation to our different ministry projects all over the city.
