Guess what?! I just showered (cold water, of course) and am currently sitting on my bed in PORTOVIEJO, ECUADOR! I cannot believe I’s finally here! Especially considering there was a time where I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it. There’s no wifi here, so I’m not sure when I will get to post this. I’m also running on very little sleep in the past 48 hours, so hopefully my sentences make sense.
The 10th was my 23rd birthday, and it was the craziest birthday of my life thus far! I knew it was going to be a long day, but I did not expect for almost everything to go wrong. After spending the night in the airport, taking a flight from Atlanta to NYC to Miami and then finally Quito, I was exhausted. Our ministry this month is Portoviejo, about a 9 hour bus ride outside of Quito. After arriving in Quito and waiting for our host contact to meet us in the airport, we boarded our first bus. Nice, comfy seats, relatively spacious, me gusta! Our contact, Jorge Luis, only speaks a little english, and I had to get by with my broken spanglish. I’ve been doing alright so far! Jorge then tells me that we have a total of three buses to take for the long ride to Portoviejo. Good to know, no sleep tonight. Everything is going relatively smoothly, until we arrive at the second bus station. It’s locked and looks closed, but after about 15 minutes of Jorge Luis speaking in very fast Spanish with the security guard, we understand that the next bus is 20 minutes away. At this point it’s 11:20pm. The bus ride is an hour long. The next bus we need to take is at 12, and it’s the last bus of the night. We are all prepared to sleep at the bus station, and are so exhausted that all we do is laugh. Jorge Luis takes control and decides we’re going to do our best and take taxi’s to the next station, praying we make that final bus. We cram into two taxi’s, speeding through the streets of Quito feeling like we’re going to crash, and singing along to the radio with Celene Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” When we get to the station, there was a brief few minutes of panic waiting for the other taxi to arrive as we realize we have no way to contact the rest of our team with our phones not working. As soon as they arrive, Jorge yells “RUN!” What?! Mi amigo, I got 70 pounds of weight on me right now. I can’t remember the last time I even went on a walk. But with our bus leaving any minute, we all make a sprint for it. We must have been a sight, seven white kids with huge packs sprinting through the street following an Ecuadorian, dropping things along the way (I somehow lost my coffee mug already…) It seemed like I ran for an hour, but in reality it was probably barely .5 miles. We made it to the bus without a second to spare, but we were all feeling like we were going to vomit at this point! So now we think we’re all home free, and can sleep on this next 6 hour bus ride. WRONG. I have never been on a more treacherous journey. There were several times were I thought to myself, ‘This is it. You will die on the World Race. There are worse things. Thank you Jesus for my time here!’ I’m not exaggerating. Those thoughts genuinely went through my head. We were going full speed ahead with the windiest roads known to man. The bus would rock back and forth, our stuff was thrown into the aisle and the seat across from us, and our bodies were like jelly. Aubrey, Dustin Mick and I were hysterically laughing and crying because we couldn’t decide if this was more comical or terrifying. It was the longest and most nauseating 6 hours of my life, but somehow we finally made it to our host family’s house at 6am! When they woke us up at 9am this morning for breakfast and church, I almost couldn’t do it. But I rallied, and now it’s nap time!
I am so excited to hear about our ministry tomorrow and what we will be doing for the month. I am living in a pastor’s house with my teammate Aubrey. Him and his wife have a darling 6 month old daughter, and the place always seems to be bustling with visitors. I love meeting everyone, using my broken spanglish, and I can’t wait to see what relationships the Lord builds this month!
I just got wifi at Vanessa and Jennie’s homestay, and now I know this month is going to be packed with ministry! We will have very full days from 8am-midnight. From construction, ministry at an elderly home, youth group with college students, garbage dump ministry, and playing soccer at night, we have a range of activities. Please be praying for our energy levels and that the Holy Spirit gives us His words!
