Each day is different and full of unexpectedness.
It starts out the same, waking up between 6:45-7, down stairs by 7:25 for squad devotions ( my plan is to read through the whole bible on my race so that is what I’m doing in this time) , breakfast is at 8 with the whole squad, then my team leaves for Camp Hope around 8:45,
Arriving at ministry around 9:15
From 9:15-3:30 our team is spilt off into classrooms, kitchen or cleaning.
Each day you are doing something different (Monday- Friday):
• Classroom: each classroom has different stages and ages of kids and their disabilities and can consist of physical therapy, massaging their limbs, walking with kids, teaching them how to properly do stairs, take care of themselves/ life skills, doing textures with them( putting their feet and hands in to bubble bowls, oatmeal, soapy water, leaves and these mittens with a whole bunch of different textures on them), doing colours with them, playing blocks and building stuff, sorting beans into cups, playing catch for 2 hours, playing soccer, playing at the park and just loving them.
• Kitchen: we help out the cook with prepping meals for all the staff and students, cleaning dishes, wiping the kitchen down, cutting garlic for 3 hours, pealing potatoes, chopping food, cracking nuts with a rock on a piece of cement, helping with morning and afternoon snacks. The day you are in the kitchen goes by really fast and is a great place to gather thoughts and it relaxes me.
• Cleaning: we help out the sweetest lady in general cleaning of the dining hall after lunch, sweeping, moping (inside and outside…), wiping down shelfs from dust, cleaning and disinfecting classrooms, emptying out expired bottles, organizing rooms, scrubbing crates, scrapping paint off windows, raking up leaves( with brooms…), and anything else that needs cleaning.
Our team all eats lunch together at 12 and then goes back to what they were doing. Who ever is in the classrooms helps feeds the kids at 12:30 which is always loud and amusing.
At 3:30 we head back home usually stopping at the corner store for a ice cream or snack and then arriving back home around 4/4:15.
From the time we get home till dinner around 7 we have free time, which I use for showering, journaling my day, watching a movie or a nap.
After dinner we have team time at 8 usually. During the week every night is something different.
• Monday: is squad worship, this can look a lot of different ways. From having a band (guitar and cajon), to everyone with their own headphones in listening to their own worship music belting out as loud as you can in community with everyone sining different songs (this was so cool!).
• Tuesday: Journey markers, these are check up questions that we send to our squad mentor Kate so she can see how we are doing and what we are struggling with to help better mentor and pray for us.
• Wednesday: we are given prompts for Blogging that we can use if we want, and then sometime to start.
• Thursday: as a team we do Feedback. It is a way to point out things in our teammates and point them back to the Lord in that area. It is a really healthy and open space to help us grow spiritually and emotionally in area that we can not see.
• Friday: Free for all Friday is as a team we can choose what we want to do, ie movie, talk, cook, paint, face masks or what ever we want to do. This upcoming Friday we are doing a squad open mic and im going to educate all of them on Canada! So this will be interesting.
• Saturday: debrief the week with our team, good/ bad and improvement
• Sunday: squad church in the pm
On Saturday and Sunday we have them off so this is when we have to post ur blogs and we can go explore the city! Some of the things we’ve done is gone to the mall, went to old town which is beautiful, up a gondola – teleferico de Quito , walked around downtown, went to markets and parks. This city is beautiful and I cant stop getting enough of it.
