Ecuador is a beautiful place with lush vegetation, deep jungles, and high snowcapped peaks. I am so thankful for my time here. From where I am living this month I can look out beyond the city of Quito and see one of only two snowcapped peaks on the equator. Cotopaxi is a massive volcano topped with white that can be seen on a clear day. Last weekend I ventured a few hours East and wound up in Mindo, a lovely little town buried in the jungle. This is where one finds cable cars into the jungle, waterfall hikes, nature walks, and artesian chocolates. I ate the most wonderful brownie of my life. I saw a wild creature (I called it a bear cat), it was probably an ant eater. Suffice it to say, Ecuador is a stunning country.
The people here are amazing as well. My team and I are working with a foundation known as Covi. This is a safe haven for ‘at risk’ youth who, if not at Covi, would most likely spend their days wandering the streets selling anything they could get a hold of to make a buck. The children come to this center located in the heart of one of the world’s largest metropolitan parks for safety and love. Through out the day it is typical for my team and I to attend their soccer games, basket ball practice, play jump rope, color, play cards with the kids, cook them lunch, serve them snacks, clean the center, work in the massive garden, and create education class boards for them. These children have a tough exterior and are not easy to befriend, but we are working hard to build friendships and make them feel loved and valued.
It is all squad month; so all 34 of us are living in the same house up on a hill above Quito together. We are staying with an organization known as InkaLink and they are taking very good care of us. We have beds and a shower this month and they cook delicious meals for us! I really appreciate the work Fabi and Mabi (they run the missions home here) do! They believe taking care of the earth and wasting nothing is the way Christians should live and that is a Biblical life style. They do not let us waste anything, they compost, we eat EVERY THING on our plates and they have worked hard to teach the people who are in their care the importance of being good stewards of the earth. I whole-heartedly believe in their mission and am inspired by them daily to live in such a manor. They encourage us not to become ‘professional wasters’ like most of the world. Finally! I feel like these people speak my language. How can we possible love others well if we are trashing our home and care nothing of the gifts God has given us?
In other news, guess who made a guest appearance here in Quito?! That’s right, my backpack! I suppose it got tired of Asian cuisine and grew lonely traveling alone so it hopped a plane to Quito and asked me to pick it up at the airport. Everything was still in place, but the back had a few extra scrapes and holes. It was also missing a buckle, but I can’t complain. It missed me. I must say, I had made peace with it being gone and was looking forward to being reimbursed for the lost gear, but I am glad to get the sentimental items back. However, I got used to living with only what could fit in my daypack and now I feel over whelmed with how much I own and have to carry. Loosing my pack was a wonderful lesson. We can thrive with very little. That being said, there are more than enough resources in this world to go around if we could just rid ourselves and our culture of the spirit of selfishness.
All this to say, Ecuador is wonderful and I look forward to being stationed in Banos later this week for another mission.
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