To close out the Ecuador blogs (even
though we’re halfway through Peru), here is the monthly summary. I may post one
more video, but other than that this should be it for Ecuador. There is a video
at the bottom that sums it all up for you. Enjoy!
Here are the numbers
Number of places I made my bed and slept: 5
Number of Internet networks I connected to: 3
Number of meals I ate that included rice: 57 (yes…that’s right)
Number of hot showers taken: 4
Number of times I swam in a waterfall: 3
Number of baby chickens Joy adopted (and subsequently buried):
3
Number of miles hiked to/from Vacation Bible Schools in the
rainforest: approximately 21
Number of hours spent on the chiva (think a Disney Worldish
open-sided vehicle that you can ride inside of or on top of and/or load cows on the back
of): 16
Number of minutes spent in any type of air conditioning:
approximately 30
Longest church service of the month: 9 hours
Longest number of days in a row without a shower of some kind:
3
Advice to Future Racers
If your team is assigned to the rainforest, bring bug repellent
and copious amounts of AfterBite. Or just pitch your tents in the house like we
did.
Similarly, if you’re in the rainforest or the jungle, don’t
wear or bring any type of pleasant-smelling toiletries…the bugs will sniff them
out and eat you alive!
If you’re in a small town or village, get to know as many
people as possible. The entire town can be your family, and they will love you
for it!
Bring some kind of spices and/or chile sauce to break up the
monotony of the (at least) twice-daily servings of white rice.
Go ahead and learn as many children’s songs/games as possible,
along with their Spanish translations. You will be asked to entertain many,
many children at the drop of a hat.
If you have your birthday in Latin America, prepare to have
your face smashed into the cake…and make sure your teammates are ready with
their cameras.
Always be prepared with your testimony, a short sermon, and a
few songs to perform as a team…you never know when it’ll turn out to be your
day to do the church service.
If you go to someone’s house to pray over their illness, don’t
give up and leave after ten minutes. Sometimes the people around you are
watching you, and you really might be there for their benefit.
Finally, if you come to Ecuador and you are white, please heed
this warning: THE SUN IS, IN FACT, STRONGER AT THE EQUATOR…AND YOUR WHITE SKIN
WILL QUICKLY BECOME PURPLE BLISTERS. Apply sunscreen in a high SPF liberally.
Repeat often.
Ministry Summary
For a more complete summary of our ministry, check out the
other blogs I have written, or read my teammates’ blogs. But to summarize, our
time in El Reten was wonderful. There were times when it seemed to go slowly
because we were so isolated, but that gave us more time to bond as a team and
to get to know the people from the church really well. My favorite thing about
the town was the children. They were so open and loving, and we got to make
some really deep friendships with them. We also helped sand and paint the
church’s fences and the school’s classroom bars and doors. Our main time
commitment was a two week VBS that we helped the ladies from the Alliance
church in El Reten put on. The first week was in El Reten, and the second week
was in a more remote location that we hiked to and from everyday. The kids
liked having seven gringos to stare at and be entertained by. We also got to
swim in the rivers and waterfalls, explore people’s cacao and passion fruit
plantations, and just soak in the incredible beauty of the rainforest. Probably
the thing that most impacted our team was the prayer and healing that we got to
see and participate in. The town had so many people hurting and suffering from
illnesses, and God really worked in their lives during our time there. To read
more about this, check out this blog and this blog.
Prayer Requests
Please keep the town of El Reten in your prayers. The people
there are so amazing, and they are really on the right track to growing and
awakening their church, but they could use your prayer support to help them
keep seeking God and showing grace to their community. To read more about this,
check out my teammate Joy’s blog (part 1, part 2).
As far as our team goes, we are now in Peru with the new
version of Team Kaleo, TK 2.0 as we call ourselves, and we have a few current
prayer requests. Due to our constant travel and frequent climate change, several
of us have been having some allergy trouble. Joy, in particular, has been
having a rough time this week with her allergies. Also, please pray that we
will continue to unify as a new team and really find our stride here in Peru
with our ministry contacts. I’ll be posting a blog in the next few days that
explains what our ministry in Peru is.
We also have a support raising deadline coming up. As of April 1st, each person has to have $10,000 in their support account to remain on the World Race. Because of God’s faithfulness and your incredible generosity, I am fully funded with my monthly pledges. The rest of the members of the new Team Kaleo are also fully funded, but many of our squadmates are not. I don’t know everyone’s support raising situation, but I know that the following people are under $10,000 and need help:
Daniel Thornill of Team Dunamis
Char Matz of Team Dunamis
Lamar Anderson of Team Deliverance
Kellen Gorbett of Team Deliverance
Denise Bavone of Team Deliverance
Rachael Metzger of Team Deliverance
Don Hamilton of Team H.I.S.
Katie Eason of Team H.I.S.
Shida Brooks of Team H.I.S.
Megan Thomas of Team P.O.P
Kelsey Aho of Team P.O.P.
There are others on the squad who need financial help too, and I’ll add their names as I find out. If you are still interested in supporting a World Racer, or if God is putting it on your heart to help us complete the mission we have started, please consider supporting one of my squadmates so that all of us can continue this journey together. Thank you so much!
Finally, here is a video I put together that summarizes Team
Kaleo’s month in Ecuador. The song in the background seemed to apply to our
time there. It was written by one of my favorite professors at Wheaton, Dr.
Alejandro Roop. It’s the Spanish translation of John 7:37-38, and has become a
sort of anthem for Wheaton’s Honduras Project program, which I participated in
during my sophomore year there. The recording I used was done by my best
friend, Scotty Turner.
“En el ultimo y gran dia de la fiesta, Jesus se puso en pie y alzo
la voz, diciendo, ‘Si alguno tiene sed, venga a mi y beba. El que cree en mi,
como dice la Escritura, de su interior correran rios de agua viva.'”
