So I just wanted to give a little update on what we have been doing this month in Ecuador. Our first week was in a city called Banos…yes, I know that usually means bathroom but I believe in this instance it is referring to springs (like from the ground). Let me just say that Banos was one of the prettiest cities I’ve been to in a long time. I loved it! It was super old feeling but very classy. It’s nestled in the middle of large green mountains with waterfalls everywhere. We were there for about 5 days on debrief, which is a time when our coaches and mentor fly in from the States and spend time with us and have meetings and such. It was a much-needed refreshing time. While we were there they were celebrating Carnival, which is kinda like Mardi Gras. Basically what I got out of the holiday is that you walk around and spray everyone with a silly string/shampoo like substance all day. When you were wanting to play, it was a blast…when you were just trying to walk down the street and mind your own business and you get sprayed in the face by a car driving by…not so much of a blast.
Two fun things that I got to do while I was there was the ‘Swing over the edge of the earth’, and canyoning. The swing is just a regular big rope swing over the edge of the mountain cliff…you’re strapped in…mostly. The day I went it was super foggy so I don’t think it was as scary as it normally would have been but it was still fun. Canyoning is where you repel down waterfalls strapped in a harness. It’s kinda like rock climbing but down a waterfall instead. It was very cold but totally worth it!
So after Banos we traveled to Quito, Ecuador’s capital where we had all squad month. This is where all 37 of us stay in the same place and live together while doing separate ministries with our teams during the day…it has been so much fun all being together!
My team, The Willing Wanderers, is working with two ministries this month. Three days a week we work with teen moms and their babies…just doing life with them mainly, playing games, cooking, working in the garden, baby sitting, etc. They are all so precious, both the moms and the kids. We’ve gotten to love on them and share Christ’s love and the Gospel with them…please keep them in your prayers, they’re mainly from bad situations.
Our sec ministry we go to twice a week and it’s in one of the biggest metropolitan parks in the world, it’s pretty massive! We work with Tomara, a woman who has a huge heart for kids. She’s ligit. In the morning, they work with kids from high-risk situations and in the afternoon with street kids. Mainly they help them with their homework, feed them lunch and share a Bible story with them everyday.
Two of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do here in Quito was to get to go to the equator and hike a volcanic rock mountain. The equator was so fun, they have you try to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed and it is so hard to do because of the pull on you from both sides! Hiking the mountain was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. It wasn’t as hard as Monchu Pichu but was still pretty intense and had a wide range of terrain, regular dirt, sand, and rock climbing. The altitude made everything harder and the higher up we got the colder and cloudier it got. It was fantastic to actually be in the clouds. When we got to the top it was so worth all the work that went into the climb, truly, it was breathtaking. I was 15,000 feet above sea level, sitting on hardened volcanic lava and was overcome by the beauty that comes from God’s correction (we have mountains and volcanoes because of the flood)…but that’s a blog for another time I think J
It’s crazy to think that we are coming to the end of our second month already but I’m excited to see what God is going to do through us in Colombia!
So yea, I hope that wasn’t too boring to anyone or anything, I just wanted to fill everyone in on everyday life here, thanks for all of the continued prayers! Much love!
