I know it has been a really long time since I have updated, but I have been real busy and without internet a lot of the weeks. This is going to be a real long post, just a forewarning, so you may want to prepare to read in sections if I start to ramble on a little bit :)
First, I'll start off with my time in El Carmen. We were there with a team from Port Charlotte, Florida from July 21st until July 26th. The night that we got there, the church set up a special service for all of us with music and prayer for us to have a successful week of work and VBS with the kids in the neighborhood. It was so amazing when I got to church because not only did I recognize a lot of people, a lot of them remembered seeing us girls a couple weeks prior when we were with the other teams. I love being able to go back to places and seeing the same people and showing them how much I really do care about them. I saw my family that I stayed with last time, and they were sad that we couldn't still stay there again this time, but they were still going to help us work during the day and come to be with the kids in the afternoons. I also got to see Elmer, who is the pastor of the church, and I hadn't seen him since the Amazing Race since last time we were in El Carmen he was in the United States. Even right before the church service, a little girl ran up to me and covered my eyes and I turned around and saw that it was a girl I had spent a lot of time with in the VBS last time I was there. I only saw her a couple of times, but she remembered me. And, the coolest thing about it is that her name is Anayi too, just like the little girl at the orphanage in Quito who I have spent the most time with. Maybe it is a sign that I have to name my first daughter Anayi or something :) Elmer talked a little bit about Philippians 1:3-6 and how God began good works in all of us and He is going to complete them as time goes on for the rest of the week. It was a great encourager when we didn't quite know the task that was going to be ahead.
I was real excited the next morning to go out to the site where I had once took a machete to a part of it and then worked on digging up that hill/mountain with the last team. I really wanted to see the progress that had been happening in the couple weeks I was gone. When I got there, nothing really looked different from the last time we had left it. It was weird, but I found out that it had been non-stop raining since we left, so they had no way of getting anything done. They were praying for good weather for us so that we could use our time efficiently and help them out the best that we could. They delivered 17 truck-fulls of dirt to the site, and our job was to level them all out to make the ground a couple inches thick of dirt for the foundation. It was great to be working with some of the same people that we got to spend a lot of time with last time. Cesar is an elder in the church and was so excited to see us and for us to help him again, and even Rudolfo (who was my daddy last time in El Carmen) loves coming out to the site and working along side of us all. It was definitely more about building relationships with the people of the church instead of actually building a building. We worked all morning, and then after lunch, we went to our first day of VBS. The team was not expecting too many kids, but I tried to tell them about our experiences last time, and I was hoping that the same amount if not more kids would come by. As we were driving down the same road to get to the area in the neighborhood where the kids would meet for this VBS, kids just flocked out of their houses, ran with excitement, jumped in our car and truck with us, and loved on us completely. There were kids singing songs that we had sung with them the past time only twice, but they remembered every word. Then, when we actually pulled up to the classroom building and open field, there were already 30 kids there just waving and screaming with excitement to see us. I looked out in the crowd and one little girl in the back caught my eye and she was jumping up and down staring at me and waving like crazy. I looked at this girl and I remembered how much time I had spent with her last time I was in El Carmen. On the first day of VBS she was really sad, so I just held her and got her to stop crying, and I spent the other day with her blowing bubbles and playing with the jump rope. But, now little Mylai was standing out there waving and remembering me and the second I got out of the truck, she ran up and gave me a huge hug and wanted to take a billion pictures. Needless to say, I spent most of my three days at that VBS with her and her sister. We got to play a ton with the kids, sing songs with them, teach them a Bible story, have them listen to some testimonies, and even do a craft with them. It was seriously a successful three days of VBS and I loved being able to spend more time with the kids I had met a couple weeks prior. It broke my heart when on the third day they started asking if we would be back tomorrow and I had to say no that it was the last day, but there is going to be a club starting for them on Saturdays in a house, and they will be focusing on Bible activities, so hopefully most of the kids will attend that. Elmer spent time on the last day of VBS to talk to the kids about the importance of believing in Jesus and God and devoting their lives to them. He also told them all about the church we are building and how they can help encourage their families to attend with them. It was great because all the kids really wanted to listen to Elmer and they loved listening to the word of God when we spoke it to them. The faith of children, especially here in Ecuador, continue to amaze me.
Each day after VBS, we went back to the river that we were at a couple weeks before. It was a great way to cool off and relax and even shower-- yes this was my only form of shower for 6 days, washing my hair in the river-- but it was still good. I got to play a lot with Krystal, who is Elmer's 8 year old daughter, and spend more time talking to my family from last time. One time when we were driving out to the river, I was in the back of the truck with Marissa (one of the other interns who stayed with the same family as me last time) and then Jessy and Ruth (my two sisters) and Rudolfo (my daddy) and he said, "Look, all four of my daughters are on this truck with me." It was so sweet and made me miss staying with them even more. That is what is so great about the people here. They are so willing to give up their houses and their lives and their love for people that they hardly even know. I still talk to Jessy and Ruth and we say how much we wish we could see each other again, so hopefully that will work out sometime in the future. Yo extrano mis hermanas muchos!
On Sunday we started off by going to Bramadora (which is about 40 minutes outside El Carmen) and went to church there in the morning. I was in Bramadora once during the Amazing Race (it was where we stayed the first night) and that was the first church that Elmer helped start up before his call was moved to El Carmen. It was a great service, and a lot of the people there were really excited to see the leader of the Port Charlotte team again. The church in Port Charlotte actually helped build that church and they help sponsor the pastors there and Elmer so they can get paid a decent amount to not have to work another job while they are trying to get these churches up and running. They are all Christian Missionary Alliance churches, and it is amazing to see the support from not only El Carmen to Bramadora, but from the United States to these churches in Ecuador. It was a really great service, and there was a lot of great music from some of the youth who lead the worship there. Then, we all road back to El Carmen, the youth worship leaders too, and had a really huge meal waiting for us. All of our meals were provided for by the ladies of the church, and believe me, they were absolutely amazing and we probably all gained a ton of weight just being there. So good! Then we all got to relax for the afternoon before dinner and church at night. At the house I was staying at there was this amazing hammock outside, and because it was so hot, it was better to lay outside than inside. I took the best 2 hour nap in that hammock probably in my life. I don't know if I will ever nap as good now that I am without a hammock. At night, we went to the service at the building they are temporarily holding services and we had more great worship and messages and testimonies from the Port Charlotte team and the people of El Carmen. We got to hug everyone afterwards and it was really hard to say goodbye this time because I knew I wasn't going to come back later this summer, but I know that God is definitely blessing their ministry and their congregation. We took a lot of pictures and like I said earlier, I still keep in touch with my sisters from last time and have them tell my daddy that I say hi. It was such a blessing to be there and I pray for their continued growth in ministry and love for God.
We left El Carmen on that Monday morning and spent the rest of the day driving back and doing last minute stuff with the team. I finally got to meet the missionaries that started Inca Link, Rich and Lisa Brown, because they just returned to Ecuador after being in the states for a year spreading more news about their mission here in Ecuador and Peru. They are great people, and I have enjoyed the time that I have spent with them so far. Then, Tuesday I went off to El Tingo, which is about 40 minutes away and it is in the valley, and I helped out with a VBS. The people in charge are from England, so it was enjoyable to hear an English accent on some words, but they have a ministry called Mano y Mano. In England, the ministry is Hand and Hand, and that is why they translated it into Spanish here. They help out during the school year by giving kids a place to go after school and giving them a healthy meal, and then on Fridays they invite all the kids in the neighborhoods to come by and they put on something called "The Grand Show." They play games and sing songs and just do everything to help the kids glorify God more. But, for these two weeks, they were doing a VBS with the younger kids and doing a "hang out" time with teenagers to try to introduce them to the idea of God and Christianity. From 2-5pm, about 60 kids from the ages of 6-12 came each day for the VBS part. We started off playing games and then grouped them together to sing some songs. Then, we separated the little kids (6-8 years old) and the older kids for the lesson for the day. I helped with the little kids and even got to teach them a song that I knew from El Carmen. Then, they do a craft and play more games before getting a snack and grouping back together for one or two more songs before the end of the day. The teenagers (13-20 years old) came from 6-8pm and we started off by just playing futbol and basketball for an hour---yikes they are good, but I think I improved some by playing with them--- and then we sat down and talked for only 10 minutes or so about God working in their lives, and then we went back to playing other games. The point of the teenagers was not to overwhelm them, because most of them were not Christians or attending churches, but just to see that there is something so much bigger than themselves out there in this world.
Wednesday (July 28th) was my birthday and I got to celebrate it like crazy during the VBS and even at night. It started off in the morning with Dave and Ana wishing me a happy birthday at breakfast and the other two interns that I was with, Marissa & Cassidi, giving me pink roses. It was super sweet. We spent the morning getting the place ready for the kids to come by getting the craft together and sweeping and doing any last minute things that were needed. Then, when the kids came and we were all grouped together, they had me go up to the front and they pulled out a cake and candles and everyone sang happy birthday to me, first in Spanish and then any of the kids that could sang it in English for me :) After you sing happy birthday, it is tradition here to shove the cake in the person's face. Ana said she didn't want to put it in my face, but the kids were going to make her, so I ended up with a lot of frosting on my face. It tasted good though, so I didn't mind too much :) After the lesson each day, one of the leaders of the VBS has to sit in a chair and the kids get to answer questions, and if they are right, they get to throw a cup of water on the leader. I figured since it was my birthday, the kids would really love it if I volunteered to sit in the chair. Of course, it went over real well, and the kids loved getting me completely soaking wet. At the end, Dave called up one of the other volunteers (all the other volunteers were amazing and we all became good friends) and he had Esteban dump the whole bucket all over me as a special birthday gift. It was a good time, and a lot of the kids afterwards came up to give me a huge hug, even though I was soaking wet. The night with the teenagers was really good too, just a lot more futbol and games with them. Then, at 8pm when all the teens left, everyone from Quito came to go out for my birthday. So, to go out for my birthday there was Rich and Lisa Brown, their four kids- Olivia, Michela, Josiah & Alexa, Mark and Cheryl, the three interns- Cassidi, Marissa & Michelle, Dave & Ana from Mano y Mano, Ana's sister and her son Dan, and even Esteban, one of the volunteers at Mano y Mano with me. It was a crazy big group, but it was so much fun. We just went out for some pizza and enjoyed conversation and being with each other. Then, they had a huge chocolate cake for me, but they didn't make me shove my face in this one because everyone really wanted to eat it. It was definitely a great and memorable 21st birthday, and I am so happy I got to celebrate it all with my Ecuadorian family :)
On Friday with the teens, I shared my testimony at night. It wasn't easy, but I had a good translator helping me out, and I really felt that the teens listened to me. I sometimes forget that teenagers really are my favorite age group to work with, so I was really excited when I realized I was going to spend a lot of time with them. They aren't used to hearing other people around their age talk about God working in their lives, so I think they really appreciated hearing from Cassidi, Marissa, and me each one night. They even came up and asked a couple of us questions about what we talked about, and that was amazing because then we know that they are starting to see how much they do really need God in their lives. After that, I knew exactly that I wanted to go back to El Tingo the next week for the second week of the VBS. We were going to do something else, but I didn't want to be anywhere but El Tingo again. I was able to tell the kids and the teens that I would be back the next Tuesday and spend the rest of the week with them all.
Friday night we left for the last weekend that the four of us interns would have together. We decided to go to the beach, which is about a 6 hour bus ride, but we wanted to be in the sun and the sand for our last couple days together. We drove through the night, and then got to the beach by sunrise. We decided to sleep a little longer at the house we were staying at before heading to the beach, believe me, sleeping on a bus (especially the way they drive in Ecuador) is not easy at all. We left for the beach around 11am and stopped to get some food and a batido (it is an amazing fresh fruit drink. the best one I had was strawberry-orange, so good) and then we decided to lay out and get some sun. Especially since it has been colder than we thought in Ecuador, it was nice to be on the coast getting some warmth and beautiful sun. We decided to go walk around a little bit and we saw these inner tubes things that were being pulled around by boats in the ocean and we thought that we should check it out. They told us the four of us could go for 10 dollars, and we couldn't pass it up. It was completely crazy and we were flying all around and hitting waves, but I managed to somehow stay in the inner tube the whole time. We had a ton of fun doing that. Later at night we went back to get ready and walked to a place to get dinner. Conveniently, there was a great ice cream place right next to it, so we of course had to stop there before going back to the beach house. We played cards a little bit and then went to bed. We woke up on Sunday morning and went to the beach at 9:30am because we decided that we wanted to go look for the whales on this boat. It only cost 10 dollars a person so we decided it would be a good deal, and they told us we would see whales. We weren't quite sure, but when we got out on this speed boat far enough, we saw at least a couple of whales, and even one of them was a mother and a baby. It was amazing how close we were to these whales. I took a couple good pictures, and it was just beautiful. We just relaxed the rest of the day on the beach and then when we went back before dinner to change, we decided to go quickly so that we could see the sunset back on the beach before we went to dinner. We made it back in time, and it was once again completely beautiful. We walked around the beach and took some pictures and once again enjoyed each other's company. We also decided to go back to the same place for dinner, because it was so good and because of the amazing ice cream next door :) and we had another great meal. I tried conch for the first time too, and I actually liked it! We left late on Sunday night on another all night bus ride back to Quito, and made it back to spend Monday together before Michelle had to leave for the states early on Tuesday morning. We really had a good time at the beach, and it was great to go at the end of the summer to just relax from everything that we had done.
Tuesday morning I went back to El Tingo (and I was SO excited to be back there) and got to be with the kids for VBS and the teens at night. I got to talk more to the other volunteers and build good friendships with them, I got to know the kids a lot more, and I really got to build relationships with the teenagers at night. Like I said, the teens really started opening up to us, and I friended a lot of them. There were two boys that were brothers, Nicolas was 15 and Alejandro was 11, and I started talking a lot to them. We started joking around that they were my little brothers, and even by the end of the week Alejandro was calling me his hermana! I taught them how to play the game "Spoons" and it was so much fun, even though it got brutal when people were reaching for the spoons. It was just good to hang out with them and be goofy and play, but also be someone that they can ask serious questions too. I really enjoyed my time with those teenagers, and it was really hard to say goodbye to them on that Friday night. Dave and Ana want to keep in touch with them and be there for them if they continue to have questions, so hopefully all that works out.
On Friday with the kids at the VBS though, Dave needed someone to volunteer to sit in the chair for the water again, so Cassidi, Marissa, and I decided that the three of us should do it as a little going away thing for the kids. They LOVED being able to get three of us soaking wet, and believe me, I was completely soaked. That was the one day that it was a little overcast too, so we were freezing with the water, but once again, it was so much fun. The kids were just chanting our names each time someone went up to dump the water on us, and that was just great.
Saturday during the day the three of us decided to go to the market one last time to get all of our last minute gifts for ourselves and for other people. I, of course, had to pick up some more coffee :) Ecuadorian coffee is amazing. Then, we went out to a historic street called La Ronda and saw the fourth house that was built in Quito and a lot of celebrations that were going on because they are beginning to celebrate their Independence day. We had a good night walking around and listening to some music and going out to a nice Mexican food restaurant.
On Sunday we went to church with Mark and Cheryl, and I actually got to go to one of the churches of one of the pastors that I met at the pastor's retreat in Otavalo. It was really cool to see Raphael again and his wife Dioselina. Mark asked me to share my testimony in front of the whole congregation without any warning, but I decided to get enough strength up and I did it. Once again, Marissa was great to translate for me, but I guess it is a good thing that I am getting a lot more comfortable talking in front of people. After church, we came back to Casablanca and we were able to cook a nice meal together.
Yesterday I was able to go back to the orphanage that I spent the couple weeks at before in Quito. I was kind of nervous because I of course wanted the kids to remember me but I didn't know if they would. But, the second I got there, some of the kids were screaming my name and they were all jumping all over me and asking where I had been the past three weeks. I went out to the playground and I saw Anayi in the distance and she saw me, screamed "amiga" and came running to my arms. It was amazing to have all the kids know who I was and I loved being able to spend that one more day with them :) We spent the night hanging out with Rich and Lisa and their kids. They made us dinner and we got to talk to them some more about the summer because they weren't here the whole time, and it was just more good conversation. Later at night they took us to a prayer meeting for missionaries in Ecuador, so we were all just there praying together for each other and all of our missions.
Today we are just hanging out and doing some last minute things before Marissa leaves tomorrow, I leave Thursday, and Cassidi leaves on Friday :( I can't believe this summer is ending. Thank you all so much for your support and your patience with my lack of internet so these really long updates. Pray for safe travels for me on Thursday morning (and that I don't get stuck in the Miami airport again) and I will let you all know when I return back to the states! And I finally got a couple more pictures up, so I hope you like them!
Dios les bendigas,
Lisa
Singing with the kids in El Carmen at the VBS
Shoving my face in the cake for my birthday at the VBS in El Tingo
getting water dumped all over me at the VBS in El Tingo, also on my birthday
The four of us interns at the beach for the sunset
Sitting with some of the kids at the VBS in El Tingo
My two hermanos (Alejandro y Nicolas) at the teenage group in El Tingo
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