Ecuador GO Week

By Samantha DePriest

Two of our GO Week trips traveled to Ecuador earlier this month to serve internationally. One of our trips was to Cuenca, Ecuador. Ecuador is located on the west coast of South America bordering Colombia on the north and Peru on the south sitting on the equator. Ecuador has a beautiful coastline on the west and the Andes mountains to the east. The city of Cuenca is known as one of the safest cities in the country and one of the gems from the Spanish colonial period.

This trip was led by our Head of School Dr. Mark Anthony & TCS Director of Donor Services Mark Northcutt. Our Director of Soccer and Varsity/JV Boys Soccer Coach, Mike Townson, and Kayla Freund, Health/Athletic Performance, Girls' Lacrosse & Flag Football Head Coach, and Boys' & Girls' MS & HS XC Assistant Coach also helped lead the team with an amazing team of Trinity parents and students.

TCS Head of School, Dr. Anthony, shares “I am so proud of all of our students. They broke into groups and helped lead devotions and share scripture with over 100 kids each day. They even held a glow party. Trinity students Micah Cobb, David Compte, Abigail Pope, and Lily Wozniak led devotions for over 100 kids each each night.”

Mike Townson, TCS Director of Soccer and Head Varsity Soccer Coach, shared the excitement of hosting soccer camps for almost 1,000 students in Ecuador. Coach Mike shares, “Multiple camps and hundreds of kids experiencing Jesus and soccer each day! Our TCS Staff, students, and parents were amazing! I especially cannot brag on our students enough.”

Trinity partnered with local non-profit Uniforms United to bring new or gently used soccer uniforms, balls, and cleats for the children in Ecuador. This is not the first time Trinity Christian School has partnered with Uniforms United. Co-founder Karen Hacker shares, “Uniforms United has had amazing support from TCS for the last 9 years. We cannot thank the school leadership, students, and families enough for the impact they have made. Uniforms United has donated new and gently use sports equipment to children in need in 11 countries across the globe. In 2020, GO Week missionaries personally brought donations to children in the Dominican Republic. What an amazing gift for all of us involved! This year we sent a large donation of mostly MOBA soccer uniforms to Ecuador. The mission team has told us that ‘the underserved, impoverished children thought the donations were spectacular and the town was covered in MOBA yellow!’ Thank you TCS!”

The group also explored the beautiful country side and enjoyed zip lining through the Andes Mountains on their last day in Ecuador. They tried all new sorts of foods and experienced the beautiful sights of Cuenca.

Our GO Week team shares not only were the hearts of the people of Cuenca, but our students hearts were impacted as well. Witnessing God moving in the lives of our youth, this is what GO Week is all about!