We landed in Quito, Ecuador last Friday and ever since, have been completely and utterly spoiled. After a very warm welcome at the Quito airport by our hosts from IncaLink, we took a bus to Casablanca – our home for the next few weeks. Outside of the comfort of our bunk beds, we have available to us hot showers, western toilets, amazingly delicious food, tons of fresh fruit, and hosts who have made us feel like family.
Saturday was a day of new friends. We were met by Pamela and Juan Carlos, who guided us to Carapungo via bus to go to our ministry site. Once there, we met the pastors of Iglesia Vision Mundial Para La Familia (VMF), Juan and Ester. They discussed with us their desire for renewed faith within their fellowship, the different ministries they are involved with (at a drug and alcohol rehab center, an elderly home, home churches, etc.) and how we can serve alongside in these. The following day, we were blessed to worship with VMF. On the World Race, I suspected we would often be spectators at worship services due to language barriers, but Team Agapetos is incredibly blessed to have a translator in our midst.
Meet Daniel! He's been a blessing beyond description! Aside from the fact that he loves us tremendously well, praying for us and encouraging us at every turn, he has been graciously serving us by communicating on our behalf and translating for us.
Sunday turned out to be a day of being well fed – both spiritually and physically. After a tremendous service and time of worship with our new family at VMF, we were invited back to Juan and Ester's home for lunch. The fresh fruit is beyond amazing here – we've enjoyed our fill of strawberries, fresh pineapple juice, bananas, and so many more new fruits that I simply cannot remember the names of… Then, set before us for lunch that day, we were served steak, potatoes, white rice, and a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and hominy. The word delicious hardly does this meal (or most all of the others we've been served) justice!
After our meal and a dessert of strawberries with cream, coffee, and tea, we were honored to meet some more friends and spend time discussing our incredible Father.
On Monday, our first free day, our team made our way to the Middle of the World (Mita del Mundo) – both the fake and real one. Many years ago, a statue was built on the site believed to be the middle of the world, but when GPS came along, it was discovered they were just a bit off… We thoroughly enjoyed our time together exploring both of these sites and getting sunburned together.
I'm very much looking forward to what lies ahead for Team Agapetos here in Ecuador! Please continue to pray for our hearts as we're living this adventure and the hearts of those we'll come in contact with.
On an unrelated note – I'm in a music video!! My friend, Aspen and I attended the Legacy Conference back in July 2012 where we had the opportunity to be a part of this shoot. I'm a little hard to spot, but at the 2:52 mark, you can see me on the lefthand side in the white shirt and then in the breakdancing scenes in the background as well. 🙂
