Hola, my supporters!
I apologize that it took a while to post a blog, but thank you a lot for you patience :).
As I am writing this blog, I am actually in Trojillo, Peru for our next ministry. I will write a blog about Peru soon, but for this one I will write about my time in Ecuado last month. I had hoped to post a blog sooner, but the adjustment of this change was a bit challenging and I needed more time to process it and other things (hence being an introvert).
So let’s get started! It was an almost all squad month, so probably around 40 of us. We stayed at a hostel called, Casa Blanca. My team’s schedule generally looked like: The cooks (Mabi and Fabi) served delicious Ecuadorian breakfast everyday at 8:00am except on Sundays.
Tuesday through Friday we served our time at Camp Esperanza from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Camp Esperanza is a non-profit organization that takes care of children with and without families who have physical and mental disabilities. We walked to that ministry (which was awesome!), so we had to eat breakfast fast. While there I volunteered in the 2-5 age range room who have cerebral palsy. They brought me so much joy and I brought them so much joy as well (they smiled a lot!).
For our second ministry, Pastor Efren had us teach English to the locals around the neighborhood in his church. We would teach English from 4-7pm, Tuesday through Friday. On Saturday, we taught English from 11am-12:30pm. Pastor Efren, his wife, and children were amazing. They invited us over to our house and they made us a scrumptious costal, seafood dish. They also took us out to a beautiful spot in Quito to look out over the beautiful colonial city with the mountains in the background. It was a blessing to have met them.
Then, we would come back to Casa Blanca for dinner, hangout with the squad (or have introvert time), and have our team time. We would have worship nights on Thursdays. We had busy schedules that were truly rewarding. Sundays and Monday were our off days. On our days off, God blessed me with the ability to:
* Go to church (all preached in Espanol!)
* Get lost in the city of Quito, but secretly like it (aka adventure!)
* Dance salsa (Ecuadorians are fantastic dancers)
* Walk in the rain forest (saw the neatest centipede)
* Travel to Mindo, Ecuador with Jenn (thought we hitch-hiked, but technically didn’t – ahaha)
* Tour the Basilica (big, gorgeous church)
* Hike to the top of two volcanoes (the second volcano was called, Pichincha, which was almost 16,000 feet! It was so intense!)
What will I miss most back in Ecuador? I would have to say, Gustavo and Andrea! Gustavo is the director of Inca Link and Andrea is his sister who helped cook our scrumptious dinners. Thank you both so much for being extremely loving and an inspiration to be more like Jesus.
There is A LOT more to say, but I think I summed it up the best I could. I hope it gives you an idea what we did last month. If you have any questions, feel free to message me on Facebook.
One last thing before I end. I am still in need of $7,500 to be fully funded for my World Race. It is difficult to fund raise while I am on the field, but I believe God will provide since He called and brought me here. If you feel called to donate I would be VERY grateful – please do so at my blog: calliefike.theworldrace.org
Thank you for your support and for being my followers :)!
