This is our second week here in Calderone. It's not actually in the Jungle, as we were told, but rather 30 min outside Portovijeo. We spent our last week evangalizing here in Calderone and in the next town over, San Placido, and having church services every night. With some free time in the middle of the day to help our host mother, Narcissa, make lunch or dinner, clean the church, read, journal, and get to know one another. It's been a wonderful blessing to be in one place and have a bit of rest after 2 weeks of travel.
That being said, I have had a lot of conflicted feelings about our time here. When we first arrived, our first discussion with our host family revolved around the multiple tattoos and piercings our group had. These are bad, they relayed to us in a combination of simplistic Spanish and hand guestures. We've tried to be respectful – ironically we're prob the most tatted up group so this took some doing… Allison and Evan have been wearing long sleave shirts (in the heat) to cover their arms, Rikki has been wearing high collar shirts, I've been making sure to cover my wrist with a bracelet, and Nathan removed his lip ring with pliers (ow!). I realize that this is simply their cultural view and we have no right to come into another country and thrust our opinions on them, but at the same time I cannot say that I was not upset by their assertion that Christians don't have these. We're not Christians? Does God really care if we've inked up our bodies or put some holes in it? I honestly think He is more concerned with where are hearts are than with what our bodies look like.
As the week progressed, we commenced door to door evangilism, and my conflictedness progressed. 
As nobody on our team has more than a handful of Spanish, we were grouped up with local church members. At first I thought I was the only one who felt uncomfortable with this type of evangilism, but when our team discussed it at the end of the week I learned that several other people also felt that the process involved more talking "at" rather than talking "to" the people we were visiting. Despite this, it is certainly amazing how welcoming people are… there were no doors shut in our faces as I'm sure would be the case were we to try this approach in the U.S. And to be fair, the approach did vary with different people. Paola, a 14 year old girl who has been a Christian for 1 year, was amazing. She didn't read through the tract as some of our guides did, but instead simply told her story. She conveyed that God was love and expressed how He had changed her life. I think we forget sometimes how powerful honesty and simplicity can be.
Please don't get me wrong… this family and community are truely amazing. They're extremely generous, kind, loving, and welcoming. We absolutely love them and will miss them dearly. The other day, Narcissa, after a very confusing example (in Spanish, of course) and a run for our dictionary, relayed to us with tears in her eyes that she considers us her children, that she will miss us, will never forget us, and will pray for us always. We were so touched and blessed. My conflicted feelings certainly do not stem from any neglect or hostility shown to us, but rather from a lack of understanding for this culture, but I'm learning that perhaps it is not my place to approve or disapprove. Sometimes all you can do…. is LOVE.
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P.S. Dancing is not allowed either. Nathan said we're living in our very own version of "Footloose."
THOUGHTS: We're barely getting by with our handful of Spanish… what the heck are we going to do when we get to Asia? I'm pretty sure those languages are going to be a lot harder to pick up!
FOOD: Sean made Shepard's Pie this week. I was so excited 'cause, HELLO! MEAT & POTATOES!!, but as he was preparing dinner, I started to feel queasy and dizzy. Narcissa's son, who is a doctor, told me to lie down, drink pedialite (apple flavor, so they said. was very ick!), and not have any dinner. SOO disappointed!! 🙁
COMMUNITY: After one of our church services in San Placido this week, we were brought to another building down the road a bit. It was 11pm, there were a ton of people sitting in chairs on the lawn of this house, and we had no idea what was going on. Then Sean saw the coffin through the window. We were at a wake. Our hosts told us to follow, and proceeded to enter the house and find seats. I sat there, at a wake for a woman I had never met, feeling sad, intrusive, and probably the most awkward I have ever felt in my life.
BUGS: We're havin
g a contest to see who has the most mosquito bites by the end of the month. Allison is currently winning with about 16 thousand or so… I believe I'm in a close second.
THANKS: Special thanks to Katie for the wisdom she shared with us during her visit. But most especially, for her cookie recipe. 🙂
— Katie surrounded by our team of 7 and about 15 Ecuadorians in a truck bed on the way to evangilism
