At the last national meeting of the Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers (ECCC), our organization decided to undertake a mission trip. Sixteen of us journeyed to Ecuador to help the Rt. Rev. Neptali Larrea Moreno, Bishop of Ecuador, make one of his many dreams a reality. We were to join with people from his diocese to work on the construction of Centro San Jose, a conference center. Our group was a diverse one and included six ECCC directors and board members, an architect, and seven relatives of the directors. We ranged in age from 14 to 60.

We arrived in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, situated in the Andes Mountains at about 9,000 feet above sea level, about 11:30 p.m. After searching for our luggage, some of which did not arrive for three days, we were driven through the streets of Quito at breakneck speed to our hotel.

The following day, we made the journey to the conference center site located an hour north of Quito. We were met by the bishop, his wife and their son. Much of the land is leased to farmers who are growing strawberries, beans, corn and melons.

That first day we dug dirt and carried it by armload and wheelbarrow to fill in the ditch where the water line and septic lines were laid. We tried to get used to the tools or, more specifically, the lack of tools. All the members of our group had brought such items as hammers, drills, extension cords, circular saws, gloves, and other assorted tools (which we donated to the diocese there), but none of us had brought good shovels, pick axes, or any tool suitable for the concrete-hard soil.

We started the project with 10 volunteers from an Episcopal church in Santo Domingo, west of Quito. Volunteerism is almost unknown in South America. One of the bishop's dreams is to teach people in his diocese about volunteering their time and energy to this project.

During our time in Ecuador we worked and ate side by side with the volunteers from Santo Domingo and their priest, Juan. We dug holes for the concrete fence posts (wooden ones would be eaten by the ants), grouted the tile work in the shower and bathroom areas, laid the roof on the dormitory, dug holes for the new gates to the center, mixed concrete and other smaller jobs needed to get the dormitories ready for occupancy.

It was not all hard work. We took time for pick-up soccer games, to the delight of Ecuadorians of all ages. We talked with our new-found Ecuadorian friends, and we broke bread together around a makeshift table of boards set up on pillars of bricks.

One evening we shared an outdoor Eucharist, with Bishop Larrea celebrating, assisted by the two Ecuadorian priests, as well as two priests in our group. The next morning we waved goodbye to the group leaving for their six-hour trip back to Santo Domingo, traveling in the back of an army truck. Our shared love of God and our membership in the Episcopal Church bind us together in marvelous ways beyond many barriers.

We were soon joined by another group of men, mostly refugees from Colombia, and their priest. These men were displaced farmers who had lost their crops and livestock when the American government, as part of the drug war, had sprayed defoliants on their farms to eradicate the coca. Unfortunately, the defoliants had killed all the crops except, ironically, the coca. Apparently the Episcopal Church is the only organization doing anything to help these displaced farmers and their families.

Members of our group learned a lot about ourselves and our faith during this time spent working with the Ecuadorian people and their visionary bishop. We hope, as more groups go to Ecuador to help the bishop, their diocesan conference center will become a reality. It was a true gift to experience God at work in another part of the world.

Our guest columnist is Tom Eshelman, executive director of Valle Crucis Conference Center in the Diocese of Western North Carolina.