Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying warm. I know it’s cold and snowy in Grand Rapids/Chicago, so I’m happy to say that I’m quite tan and maybe a little sunburned. My team is really sunburned. We are most definitely not cold. It’s about 85 degrees here and not a cloud in the sky. It feels like I haven’t stopped sweating, even in the ice cold shower I took last night.
This is going to be kind of a hodgepodge of various thoughts, so it’s kind of long, but I hope you continue to read in its entirety.
I want to take a second to acknowledge today and tomorrow as bittersweet days. Today is Valentine’s Day. For those of you who don’t know, I REALLY don’t like Valentine’s Day, but I like it for one reason. On this day 58 years ago, my grandpa proposed to my grandma. Two years ago tomorrow, my grandpa passed away, and I want to acknowledge this as well. He was the patriarch of our entire family, and a he and my grandma provided a firm foundation on which our family was built. I’m thinking about him a lot lately, and want to honor him in some way tomorrow. Tune in next week to find out what I did if you’re interested. I want to be able to tell him all that we’re doing, the people I’m meeting, the crazy stories of what God is doing in our lives, and I can’t. Just because it’s been 2 years, doesn’t make the pain any less deep, or any easier to talk about him. However, I’m glad he is no longer suffering. I’m glad he is finally comfortable. These two days are bittersweet. I ask that you send up a quick prayer for my grandma and the rest of our family as tomorrow is a hard day, at least it is for me. My grandpa was one of my best friends and I miss him dearly, as I’m sure the rest of us who knew him do as well.
*wiping tears from my eyes*
Ok, everyone, now that we’re well into our second month on the field, that means we are in Ecuador. Our first few days were spent in debrief with the rest of the squad. We have officially finished with debrief about 5 days ago, so we’re no longer with the rest of our squad, and officially kicking off our ministry here in Ecuador. We felt that God was leading us to the coast and then up towards the forest area, so we looked up places to stay and buses to help get us there. We are down south in a town called Puerto Lopez. This is our second stop after debrief, but the first stop was crazy chaotic so that’s why there was no blog sooner. Sorry about that. There’s a good reason though! STORY TIME!
We had a very difficult time trying to find a place to stay in the place we were set to head to. Our bus ticket was purchased. Our bags were packed. All we needed was a place to stay. Turns out that there is this huge festival that pretty much takes over most of South America around this time called “Carnival” which is a Catholic holiday that kicks off the season of Lent. It’s similar to Mardi Gras back in the states, but I think it’s more like Mardi Gras on steroids. Thousands of people come from all over the place and celebrate this, so that means that there are a ton of people headed to the coast that also need lodging. Supply and Demand, then, in turn jacks up the prices for places that are in our price ranges. Rooms that could go for $25 a night are upwards of $300+ just because of Carnival. The time came for us to leave and unfortunately, we still didn’t have a place to stay when we got there. (Don’t worry, Mom, Dad, and Grandma, there’s a happy ending.) When we arrived in Santa Elena, one of my teammates and I left the rest of the team with our bags to go find a place to stay, if only for one night. My first thought was, “I hope I know enough Spanish to get a place to stay.” My second thought was, “This will make for one heck of a story that I will one day laugh at.” The day where I can laugh at it has not quite arrived yet. We were out for about 3 hours looking and kept getting rejected. Finally, we went into this church that was not quite within budget, but they had a room available and we took it. The next day, we went out for breakfast to a place that had Wi-Fi to look for another place to stay, and it was there that we met a slew of people from all walks of life and from all around the world. We met some people from Cape Town, South Africa, another person from Zimbabwe, the owners were from Belgium and Trinidad, and there was even a couple from the Chicago-land area there! We all started talking with everyone, and people kept asking us what we were doing there. We told them we were missionaries, and were staying at a church just down the road. Turns out they were all friends, and one thing led to another and we had an offer from the couple from Chicago to stay at their home for the rest of our time in Santa Elena! GOD PROVIDED FOR US IN AN INCREDIBLE WAY! We took them up on their offer, of course, and I am so glad we did. They are such nice people, and we still got to see some of the other people we met at the restaurant while staying there. It was just such a joy and dare I say a comfort to me to have stayed there. We spent quite a bit of time talking to them and they are just wonderful people. They are so kind and genuine. We had the opportunity to make them dinner one night and share a meal with them. Thank you, Bill and Val, for opening your home to 5 strangers. I’m glad we’re not strangers anymore, but friends.
We have made it to Puerto Lopez and settled into our hostel. We are having a Sabbath today, which seems fitting that it’s the first day of Lent. I’m never good at figuring out what to give up, so I’ve decided that for Lent, I’m going to give up trying to figure it out. I’m just kidding, but I’m still not sure what to give up.
God provides. He always has, and He always will. I’m learning that slowly, but surely. He not only provided a place to stay while we were in Santa Elena, but He provided me with just enough Spanish to communicate with the people we were speaking to. The person I was with didn’t know a whole lot of Spanish, so I walked around thanking my Spanish teachers in High school and my Spanish Professor in College in my head. He provided us with a possible ministry opportunity here in Puerto Lopez which I hope turns into a thing. I will tell you more about that next week when there is something to tell. My anxiety for this trip has really ramped up, especially when we didn’t have a place to stay where we were going, so if all of you who pray, please pray for that. The life of a World Racer is stressful, at least for me, but at the end of the day, I’m happy and I’m proud to be a World Racer because in the end, God will provide for every one of your needs, in His timing.
#chacoboutadventure
#proudtobeaworldracer
#adventuresofaworldracer
#ThanksGod
