Quito, Ecuador month 1
Its official, I have finally visited every continent! (Minus the poles) the fact that The World Race has finally begun is still beyond me. Being surrounded by such a think community of Christians is such a different but wonderful change.
On January 9, 54 of us World Racers left Atlanta, Georgia on a red eye flight to Quito, Ecuador. About half of us were placed with a ministry organization called Incalink to take care of us for the month. They are a group who helps support and accommodate missionaries in the Latin America region. Incalink has provided us with a beautiful hostel to call home for the rest of the month in down town Quito. It’s hard to say this but for the month of January I have lived in a BEAUTIFUL 2 story hostel. We have running water, electricity, clean fresh beds, and an amazing view overlooking Quito. Definitely not what I expected coming into the WR but I will appreciate it while I can because I know each month will not be like this.
Our cooks Mabe and Fabi are the cutest, coolest Ecuadorians you will ever meet. They knew your name after only meeting you once and always encourage dance parties in their kitchen. The Incalink Hostel truly feels like a home. Whenever you come home from Ministry you are always welcomed with a giant, sincere hug from either the staff or one of your squad mates. After the hugs are dispersed you get asked about your day, how you are doing, what you learned that day or best of all how your ministry is doing. Even though I am far far far from home, I can truly say that I have found a new family who truly loves and cares for me.
This month myself, Brittany, Emily, Amy, Jennifer and Anna have been placed to work with a local church in Quito. Our Ministry hosts, Andrea and Fabian are a married couple who are extremely involved with their church. I can hands down say that this couple has defined to me what hospitality, love and dedication look like. The 2 of them took my team and I in as their own. Constantly loving on us, helping provide us with paint, brushes, planting supplies, or whatever we need (oh and snackies) for our ministry site. With both of them being doctors, it was amazing when they scheduled to see 2 of my team mates in their Clique after picking up a nasty parasite. They introduced us to a village up on the mountains called Caspigasi where their church recently planted a ministry site. This village is very…dry. Not only in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense. All of Ecuador is quite green, lush and frugal. Yet Caspigasi is like a mouthful of too many Saltine crackers. We were told that Caspigasi was once lush like the rest of Quito but the people have lost hope in it. It also has a history of dealing with satanic worship. Like I have seen in Haiti, devil worshiping always brings about dryness and death. Weather that is towards the land or the people. So with this newly founded site, Andrea and Fabian’s church has the vision to welcome the children of the village in on a weekly basis to educate them about The Lord with a cute little lesson and to provide them with a healthy, hearty meal. Hoping that through the children they will also be able to reach out to their families. So 6 days a week my team and I have been spending our days paining daisies, birds, rainbows and scripture all over the walls. Adding some excitement and fun to a room that miracles and life change will happen. Along with painting we are planting flowers on the land to show the people that their land still has life and hope. Every Saturday the children come in with dull faces. But there is no reward greater than to see them all leave with full bellies and faces that glow as bright as the sun.
Our days off are full of adventure. Together my team and I (6 of us) bussed to a tiny rainforest village way up in the mountains called Mindo. We each packed our daypacks up with a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, a clean pair of underwear, 3 tents and headed out to tent in the rainforest. Getting there was half the adventure when we realized it was already getting dark before we found our tent site. But don’t worry, after a couple wrong turns, a sketchy bridge and some beautiful views later we landed a perfect site. Tenting in the rainforest is unreal. I was serenaded all night long by tropical birds and critters on FULL BLAST. Probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in my entire life. I was in awe of Gods beauty the next day when we hiked about 10km up a local mountain and were nearly as high as the clouds. If the distance was not enough of a challenge, the thin air was! At the top of the mountain we zip lined through the clouds and rainforest canopy.
Hello Ecuador.
Fun Fact: Quito is located right on the equator, so each day I pass from the southern hemisphere to the northern 4 times to get to our ministry, No big.
