I made it! We arrived to Quito, Ecuador late Friday night and were greeted by the lovely peeps from Inca Link (check them out:http://incalink.org/). I've been living at their guest house, Casablanca, along with 2 other N Squad teams. We've been blessed with mostly reliable wifi, hot showers (up until the frigid tragedy of yesterday, but I'm learning to lather and rinse in 1.3 seconds), delicioso food, bunk beds!, and laundry! Amazing. Setting the bar really high. We are living in North-central Quito and taking the bus to Carapungo everyday for ministry. The 9000+ altitude kicks my butt on a daily basis, thanks to sea level Jacksonville.
Our first morning was spent at Anita's house, a 29 year old woman who has been inviting her neighborhood children over to her house every Saturday morning for 9 years. She gives them activities and teaches them about God's love and these kids grow up to make better choices. Carapungo is a rougher area of town and typically children don't ever receive the love or attention that Anita has to offer them.
We were able to meet Pastor Ephraim at Iglesia La Luz Carapungo on Sunday morning. I'm pretty confident in saying he's the funniest Ecuadorian I've ever met. Our team is very glad to have Meredith and her Spanish knowledge, but I'm learning muy rapido! Ok, that made me sound like I don't know anything at all, but I promise, I'm making wonderful progress. This week we've been sanding walls, alphabetizing Spanish sheet music, cleaning, painting, etc at Iglesia La Luz.
Dry wall dust. Spackle dust. Dirty dust. So. Much. Dust. I've quickly realized that I've been grouped with 7 other people who make dust fun. Katy Perry dance parties and laughing until you cry are a daily occurance for Team Doulos.
Our love for Ecuadorian crossiant-like rolls, coffee blacker than midnight and stronger than Hercules, un-identifiable/un-pronounceable fruit juices, mora helado, and most importantly…the sucking mango…is growing everyday.
Our team has plans for a SWEET video update for each month, so please stay tuned for that! It's going to be so much more entertaining than those other boring missionary videos…just you wait. 
Well, my sleep has been extremely limited this week and I should head to bed. I apologize for the mediocre blog but I just wanted to jot down a quick update! Look out for a full album of pictures on my facebook toward the end of this month before we head to Peru. Thank you for continued prayers! Buenos Noches!
