(picture taken my my lovely teammate, Nicole)
What an exciting month for Jamos and I. Since we moved from Houston on June 15, we drove to Michigan, to Tennessee for his brother’s wedding, back to Michigan and then, our final drive from Michigan to Florida with my mom! It has been a whirlwind which also contributed to lack of blogging on our part. Now, within the same month of our driving travels, we are now in Quito Ecuador! We left Miami International Airport around 7pm. I have to admit, my mom dropped us off and thru the sobs, tears (and strange noises), I made it out of the car into the airport to meet the rest of the group. It only makes me realize what an AMAZING family we have to support us and do SO much for as we got ready for this trip- we could NOT have done it without them.
We had a great flight and landed about 11pm- got to our hostel around 12:45am! We were thankful for a comfy bed and the opportunity to get some rest!
Quito is located in the center of beautiful mountains- the elevation here is about 4,500 feet above sea level, so the weather is cool and the sun is mostly shining! We had a group lunch a little bit ago and it was fun and good food. I was able to get my aqua con gas (water with carbonation) so I was a happy girl! I love my sparkling water. Jamos has been going thru leadership training with our field support people. It is nice to come to a new country and have people here who are ready to train and support us as we go out into this nation.
Here are some things I have noticed that I already like about Quito Ecuador: 1) I see long stem roses everywhere! In the airport, they just have bouquets of them all over! And, walking the streets this morning, I saw some flower shops with the beautiful fresh flowers. 2) The children. I have a feeling I am going to be falling in love with many of these sweet kids! They are SO beautiful. 3) Looking up and seeing the mountains with slight cloud cover- just makes you feel like you are in an amazing place! 4) I am sitting by our window in our room while typing this and the window is open, over looking the small streets and colorful buildings, and there is no screen on the window, so I feel like I am in on all the action out there!
Jamos and I seriously cannot believe that we are ON THE RACE!! We have been planning and preparing, but it is finally here and now we can see how well we planned and prepared ourselves for this adventure. We have to admit, our packs didn’t fit quite a lot of what we thought we would bring, but, simplicity is good!
On Sunday we will head to our ministry sites in our smaller groups. Here is some lingo you may hear, so I will explain a few things:
SQUAD is the large group of 58 people who are all raising support, leaving the comforts of home behind to serve the Lord. TEAM is what the larger group is broken into (5-7 people) who will travel across Ecuador to do ministry in different locations. Jamos is a TEAM leader, so please continue to pray for him, as well as our financial person, Nicole. They have a lot of responsibility for the rest of us and we need to be sure to surround them with prayer support and encouragement along the way!
GRINGO am American in South/Central America (us!!)
We still have t-shirts for sale. They are really cool shirts and it is a great way to continue to support us as we are now on the field and won’t be able to fundraise as much. Tell your friends and family about us! We left the country still in need of $3,000 until we are fully funded. Again, as we always say and believe in our hearts: We can’t do this without your support (prayer and financial) and I can’t wait to see how God uses use thru YOUR donation and prayers.
