Iglesia Manatiales de Agua Viva (Beginnings)

This is the story of the new church plant's beginnings in Guayaquil, Ecuador, as told by my husband Luis Castro.


One time the Pastor, Emanuel Nieto told me, "Luis Enrique, God has given my wife a vision for us to build a church, and that we should look for the location on three streets of the city. 1. Via Francisco de Orellana, 2. Via a Daule, 3. Via Perimetral." So Pastor Emanuel and I went to look but found nothing. The next day the pastor and his wife were coming home from a hospital called Universitario, where the pastor's wife, Germany Maribel, works. Almost in front of the hospital there was a sign saying that there was a house for sale, so they went to see about it, but someone near by said that the house was no longer for sale, because they were already in the process of buying it, so the pastor and his wife left.


The next day, the Germany Maribel and a friend from work were passing by again, and at the same house they could just barely see a phone number that had been painted on the front of the house, the friend said, to pastor's wife, this is your house, so they took down the number to call later. When she saved the number to her phone, she saved it as "my house", as an act of faith.

The next day, Pastor Emanuel called about the house. He told the man that he was interested in the house and wanted to meet with him to discuss it. They met at the man's shop in the center of town and pastor asked how much the man wanted for the house and all the land, he wanted $8,000. Pastor said, "Ok well I will give you $6,000 for this house and all of the land. Look, the truth is this, I don't want anything for myself, its just that we want this land for a church, I would like you to just think about it." The man then agreed to sell the land to Pastor Emanuel for $6,000, becasue he too was a Christian.

Pastor was overjoy and agreed to bring the man $6,000 the following week, the only problem was that he had no idea where he would find that kind of money, but knowing that God had told them to buy land to build a church and where to look, Emanuel was sure that God would provide. He went home and told his wife about the situation that they were in, they prayed about it, and then she called her mother, asking her to sell of the portion of land that would be Maribel's inheritance, and give them the money to buy the church. The land was sold and the money paid, and there is now the beginnings of a new church in Guayaquil. God saved this land for His church and guided his servants to it. He paid the bill and little by little he is building His church and calling more and more servants to His work.

The church is called Iglesia Manantiales de Agua Viva - Fountains of Living Water Church. More to come later on the progress being made and those needs that still must be met. We would greatly appreciate your prayers for this new ministry, there is a great need in the area and the sooner we get things done the better, but we can't do it without God!