Travel begins about 9 am or shortly after it depends on how fast the kitchen is finished. We walk about ten minutes up a hill, down a hill, around the corner and across the street to the bus stop. We get on the bus that takes us to another bus station and then another bus to a corner stop down the street from Casa de Debar. It can take up to an hour and a half to get there. People get on the buses and back off, kids cry, people come to make a living selling food, school supplies, and there is often the same guy who sells the sweet nuts. Outside we fly by shops, schools, people going about life, hurt people, lonely people, loving people, beautiful landscapes of land, and so much more. I know the route the bus takes and I know it really well, ask me what is outside the right side of the bus at any point and I will most likely tell you exactly what you will see. Buses are something so special although not many people know how special they are. All of them with their own stories and even if your Spanish is not very good you are still likely to have some small or large conversation with someone on the bus. They laugh at your Spanish and you laugh at it also. You ask them how you can be praying for them. If that doesn’t work you get to just be in their presence and pray for them constantly, praying for them on the inside and wherever they are going. Or you get to ask the sweet old couple how long they have been married, the young man where he works, or you get to just make silly faces at the little kid sitting next to their parent. Buses are a constant moving ministry, a community of people that just want to go somewhere.
Once the bus ride is over we walk down about two blocks to Casa de Debar. They greet us with hugs and a “¡buenos días” Today we thought we were going to paint a picture we started yesterday in the living room. They said they decided to just paint it white though so we were thankful for their honesty so that we wouldn’t do all the work and them not like it. We asked what they wanted us to do today and the answer was so simple…they said we’ll make pizza, paint a protective coat of paint on the big picture that we painted outside, and teach English. Now that just isn’t a lot when you look at it like a small list of things that are all so simple. By the end of the day I saw that list in a whole new way. We weren’t just making pizza we are making relationships with those who were also making pizza with us. We are talking about life, the future, the struggles of life and so much more. We were given the opportunity to see the passion and love in the family that lives at Casa de Debar. Now we had that opportunity throughout the whole month to see and hear from them but today we were able to focus on their story, struggles and ways God has blessed them.
They made us lunch everyday and in the mornings we would have pineapple or something small for us to eat. They would give us snacks in the afternoon. On the weekends they took us new places driving us in their cars. Paying for our entry into different places or paying for our food. Not allowing us to pay but joyfully paying for us. Now meat in Ecuador isn’t cheap, gas for cars isn’t cheap and so many other things. Their time off of work during the weekends they spent with us and not just their family. There were sacrifices made to do all of this for us but God was providing for them in return. It was a blessing to hear this from our ministry host.
So I am posting this blog very late, to be honest it was typed out about a month ago. I just have not been able to post it yet. Although there is a point to this post, sometimes what we might think is so surface level is really deep and meaningful. So today as you go through your day look at those surface level things and find the deep in them. It can be the deep love showing through someone, the relationship with someone you get to build when talking to them or the opportunity to provide for someone so that God can provide for you.
Hope you have a blessed day!
~Amber Barton
>Pictures below<
This is what we painted outside of Casa de Debar
Pizza made with love from loving people!
Just the view during the walk home.
