On the day where we are finally existing Quito because the Lord is faithful, I just wanted to give you all an update on what has been happening. We were staying at the foundation for sex trafficked women for the last 13 days when it was only meant to be 6 days. The day before we arrived at Dunamis the president of Ecuador raised the gas prices. Previously the government paid half the price of gas to support their economy but due to debts, they raised it to standard prices with no support from the government and the country was furious. Riots persisted for 8 days, many buildings were burned, all places of work were shut down, police and military were taken hostage.
But again because of the good grace of God, we were pulled from the middle of the city and placed on a mountainside where we were safe but watched buildings burn, heard the gun shots, and the chanting. Again, I was safe on a mountainside. Many of us felt the affects of the riots very emotionally and spiritually and unfortunately physically; our mountain had protesters blockading it and creating fires; consequently we were unable to get more food. There was just a bit of rationing but that combined with the manual labor created short fuses and distress among our group. At one point our water was shut off due to the government attempting to discourage the protesters. But the only physical ramifications we received from the protests/riots were rationed food, lose of water for a day, inability to leave the compound, and extended stay in Ecuador.
I understand that many of you were praying for me at home and keeping up with the Ecuadorian news feed. While all this was going on, I had 7 hour days full of manual labor. This week I learned that Ecuador will trust anyone with a motorized concrete mixer… because I was told to work it. I was mixing concrete for the majority of the time which I know many of you will laugh at (hopefully I can upload the picture in this blog).I also was entrusted to cut rebar and learned that the sparks flying from the saw will cut you and make you bleed. I want to give a shoutout to my dad for thinking like a father and making me pack work gloves before I left because when we arrived they put us to work with no gloves; by the end of the first day, one of my friends had 12 blisters on her hands and I didn’t hear of one person not having one. My hands were sore but no blisters which is good because, I’ll admit it, I’m a baby when it comes to blisters.
This was the average day at Dunamis: wake up at 7 on the plywood floor where we all slept and kept our packs in a room that was 17ft x 28ft that had no heating or cooling, then get ready in the one bathroom available for 21 people (not gonna lie, the toilet was clogged nearly everyday), then a rationed breakfast that was mostly American food, go to work either digging holes, pouring concrete, or cutting/bending rebar, lunch at 1 that was always a sandwich, back to work for another two hours but by the second half of the day our mountain was in a cloud. Sounds fun right? Not really, it was dirty, cold, and wet. After work everyone is scrambling for a shower it seemed and thankfully we could take 10 showers in our shack and 10 at the home for the women. Then after showers was some down time and then dinner that thankfully always had some meat in it. Then clean up and team time (which is small group debrief), finally I would play cards or watch a downloaded movie with my friends and back to the plywood and repeat in similar fashion.
If that’s not the best day ever I don’t know what it! Now I know there seemed to be a lot of sarcastic complaining in that paragraph. Our challenge this week was no complaining which we all failed at because of our living conditions but I needed that reminder to have an attitude of gratitude.
I have found that being grateful has the ability to combat nearly any thought the enemy puts in my head. And this week there were many ways the devil could have discouraged me and made me think this mission trip isn’t worth it, I’m not meant to do this kind of work, or make me forget to be present wherever I was. Praise God for all the blessings He put in my life during a time when it could have been easy to see the worst in every situation. Praise God that I had a roof over my head, Praise God that my muscles got stronger, Praise God that I had the beautiful view of the mountains, and Praise God I was safe.
Thank you all for reading and I encourage you to make sure you read my other blog post posted today! Thank you all for your prayers and I will keep you posted on my next steps in this adventure. A specific prayer for these upcoming days and week would be a smooth transition into Lima Peru and a safe 27 hour bus ride. I have a 45 hour travel day coming up so prayers for patience and team unity would also be appreciated as we all know that travel can create frustration. Have a great day!
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