After 25 hours of travel we have made it to Ecuador! We are staying in a city named Quito and it is a valley city. The city is surrounded by mountains and it is breathtaking. Our house that we are staying in is in the upper part and blew my expectations away, from having bunkbeds, hot showers, a huge living area, 3 cute dogs and lots of gardens all on a gated property! The house reminds me of my Oma and opas house out in texada from all the wood to the flower sheets to the smell that is throughout out the house. Our hosts are beyond amazing; Mabe is the one who tells you things as they are but also there if we need to talk or a big hug. She is so wise and her words have such importance, also she is an amazing cook! Fabi is pretty opposite to Mabe, he is so funny and jokes around with us. They are both such God driven people and I am so excited to learn and be mentored under their presence for the next 2 months.
The ministry I am doing is working with disabled children and teens and I am so excited to see how the lord will give us all patience and perseverance to work around the language barrier and their disabilities. The ministry, Camp Hope, is a 35 minute walk one way so we are definitely going to be getting in our exercise.
On Friday we had our first day of ministry and it didn’t go as I planned it to go in my head. I had thought that I would be working with a kid all day but instead my self and 3 others were cleaning out and wiping classrooms, organizing shelfs and the food storage room, and dumping about 100 bottles of expired gel down the toilet! At the end of each new assignment you could tell how much the staff appreciated it. The way that we were serving that day wasn’t to the kids but to the staff in which they put in countless hours serving these kids who are fully dependent on someone for everything. We are there Monday to Friday 9-3:30 and then Saturday and Sunday are our days off to explore! I am really looking forward to start building relations with the staff and kids at camp hope.
The community that has been build around the house throughout the squad is amazing. It has been 2 days and it already feels like we’ve know each other for 2months. Can’t wait to see how close we are going to be after 9 months!
I will try and put out a blog every week if I can!
Deuteronomy 31:6 ” Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
