A group of people from my squad went adventuring last Saturday (9/22) to the best lookout in Ecuador. I love adventuring… when I’m not the one getting people where they need to be. I’m thankful for someone like Aly Badinger who’s a rockstar when it comes to logistics and herding large groups of people. She’s fantastic.
Anyways, we rode something called a gondola (I describe it as a “little house ski lift thing”) up the side of a mountain. Then we all wandered around said mountain, took LOTS of pictures, and laughed really hard. Kori ate a croissant next to a Llama while Aly took dope pictures of Caleb with mountains and the city of Quito as the backdrop.
I could stare at a million views of mountains, or oceans, or trees, or stars, or anything in nature anytime. But what leaves me in the most awe are people. faces. portraits. They beat snow-capped mountains any day. The people on my squad have some beautiful faces.
I hope these make you smile and leave you in awe of the creativity of our Creator. He creates really beautiful, really good things. It would be selfish of me not to share such beauty.
P.S. I was actually tearing up when I was looking at these pictures, taking them, and editing them. They strike me with so much awe. Once you get to know me, you’ll come to discover that I yell/squeal for joy when I see something really beautiful. This happened a lot because of these pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
The gang. Photo by Aly Badinger.
Aly in her element. Inspired by this woman’s creativity. Photo by me.
The mountains. Photo by me.
Me: “Kori! Ella! Get in front of this red wall so I can take your picture!”
Kori: “Should we jump?”
Me: “uhhh, sure!”
Love these girls. Two out of nine on Team Esther. Photo by me.
Cami took pictures of Abby walking, and caught her dramatically falling in those pictures. This is the aftermath of the laughter it created. Photo by me.
Abby laughing at the photos of herself falling. Photo by me.
Kori and Cami – two of the girls that I have the privilege of leading. Photo by someone.
Kate Goeler – a woman of sacrifice and fervency. (Kate is our squad mentor, so her role entails a lot. In short, she oversees, directs, guides, and corrects the squad. For most of the nine months, she stays in America. BUT – she leaves her home, her friends, and her life three times throughout the year and lives with us wherever we are for about a month. She carries her responsibility well). Photo by me.
Kate and Abby. Photo by me.
Julia – deep in thought. She has a really beautiful mind. Photo by me.
Three months ago, after my Race ended, I texted Aly over Instagram and asked her to mentor me. Three months later, we took a picture together on the top of a mountain in Ecuador. She loves me really well and I’m just really thankful that she’s in my life. Photo by someone.
Cami. Full of joy as she holds Kori’s walking stick that Kori picked up on the side of the road on the mountain. Photo by me.
Kori and Aidyn. Community love. Photo by me.
Kori. Love this lil’ bug. Photo by me.
Abby – a deep thinker and phenomenal storyteller. She challenges people just by being herself and sharing her thoughts. Abby is also one of the girls on my team, Esther. Photo by me.
This mountain WINDED us to climb up. We also may or may not have fallen quite a few times going down. Worth it. Photo by me.
I just love these colors. Photo by me.
Aidyn. We started off the day with her telling me that she was intimidated by me, and ended the day being friends. She. Is. Stunning. Photo by me.
The people! (p.s. this photo is EXTREMELY staged. gotta do it sometimes, you know?). Photo by me.
Kori sprinting down the hill with her walking stick in hand. Photo by me.
after Kori ran down this hill, Aidyn found a wheat walkway. cool things happened and my creativity exploded. check out her blog if you wanna know more.
Aidyn. Photo by me.
Aidyn II. Photo by me.
Aidyn III. Photo by me.
Kori. Photo by me.
Abby. This woman has a lot of passion, and I love hearing her talk about it. Photo by me.
Abby II. Photo by me.
Sophie – another one of the girls on Team Esther. She’s meekly bold and super sassy. I love her. Photo by me.
Cami. Photo by me.
Julia. She’s just one of a kind. Photo by me.
Rode this little thing up and then back down the mountain. I was terrified, but it ended up being fun. I was proud of myself for not hyperventilating or crying. Photo by me.
To end the blog, here’s a picture of Kate peeking out the window of the gondola. Photo by me.
Much love.
-Lyss
