Some cultural things that I have learned so far:
· Latin American people speak with their hands. A lot.
· Saying hello and goodbye is a huge deal. You must say it to everyone in the room or else you are being rude.
· Do not tell people “Soy muy excitado estar aqui.” That translation of “excited” is much different than the one I wanted to convey.
I’m sure many more cultural differences will come about, but those are the main ones so far.
So far, my team (pictured below) has had the chance to meet our Ecuadorian contacts, Juan and Ester, and talk to them a little bit about what we will be doing while we are here. We will be helping them out with a whole lot of different ministries that they have started in their church, Iglesia Visión Mundial Para La Familia. We’ll be doing a lot of talking to the members of the church during services as well as during cell groups, which are like our small groups. We will also have the chance to go to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and a home for the elderly to talk to those people and visit with them. I am so incredibly excited to work with them and learn from Juan and Ester because even though there is a definite language barrier, I can tell that they absolutely love the Lord and are doing their ministries for the right reasons and are coming from a place of love. They are some of the most hospitable and welcoming people I have ever met and I’m excited to get to know them better.
Like I said, there is a definite language barrier, and if it weren’t for my teammate, Daniel, we would be so completely lost. He speaks fluent Spanish and has been our translator since we arrived. He has been such a blessing to our team and he has been the one to make our relationship with our contacts so much better even in the short time we have been here.
This is Daniel-
We were lucky enough to be invited to Juan and Ester’s house for lunch today after church and it was such a great experience. They made us a home cooked meal and it was delicious.
We also got to hear a well known Christian hip-hop artist, named Iguana, perform in their kitchen. He’s going to let me rap with him before we leave, so I’ll be working on my skills.
