Month 1- ECUADOR!

                                   The door I walk out of every morning to the view of Quito and Carapungo

My team, along with two other teams from our squad, are staying at Casa Blanca for the month, which is the housing complex owned by our contact, Inca Link.  We are rejoicing in the hot showers, bunk beds, free laundry and wifi, incredible food prepared for us, and gorgeous weather—this is definitely not a World Race norm.  Soaking it up.

                                        
                                                 
                                                                     Mary Ellen and Calli, this is for you

Our ministry for the month is with a church in Carapungo (northeast area of Quito) called Vision Mundial para la Familia. We work mainly in the afternoons and evenings, which is great for my night owl tendencies. It also gives our team time to bond away from the other teams, as well as some much needed alone time. 

           
                           Team bonding on swingset                                                                              Pensive Alex

What have we done so far? Mainly living life with the members of our church and saying "yes" to whatever they need from us.  Right now they are in a time of much needed restoration and revival, and it has been humbling to hear that our team, each specific person, has been an answer to their prayers. It's hard to comprehend how we have served them, because it seems like they have served us so much more, but that is how God works. He is using us in ways we don't even see.

Much of what the church does is outside of its four walls, which I love. Specifically we have preached and shared our stories with the congregation, visited homes of church families for house church services, gone to a hospital and rehab center, walked the streets of Carapungo, and more. We have also been visiting an orphanage a couple days a week, playing with the kids and doing some work around the property.  In a nutshell, it is going to be very hard to leave these people in a week and a half. They have beautiful, beautiful, servant hearts and have become family to our team. 

I will leave you with a few pictures of some of our adventures on our days off!  We are definitely enjoying our time here.

            
                Agape w/ llamas at the fake equator                                                            Agape at the real equator

                 
     Masked Daniel in Otavalo, S. America's largest market                                          Playing street games in Old Quito