If I’m being honest Ecuador has been my toughest country thus far. Homesickness really hit me in November. It was crazy hot and a lot of the surrounding areas were dry and in need of rain which I found depressing. One of our regular ministries was visiting the nursing home the first half of the day. I hate to say this but that’s not my favorite thing to do. I know that as a minster of the Gospel we’re supposed to love and care for everyone, be instant in season and out of season for whatever God would have us do but I’m telling you, this is not one of the things I would choose for myself. It’s not the people themselves I think it’s this overwhelming feeling of hopelessness when I walk into a nursing home. These people are at the end of their life, most of them don’t have friends and family to come see them, the food there is minimal and horrible, their minds an bodies are fading, it’s just so sad. It’s a terrible way to go out. I messaged Mom probably the first week and told her that I refused to send her or Dad to a nursing home. They can live with me and between Andrew, Kendall, and I we’ll just figure it out. I know that sounds dramatic but I can’t handle it. My mother laughed and was appreciative but didn’t want me to feel obligated if things ever become to much to handle. I will say though, as time went on we did have some favorites there. One man we met had dementia but we didn’t realize it until the second time we met him. The first day we met he was having a good day and was lucid so we didn’tthink anythingwas wrong. He spoke both Spanish and English well and we could tell he was very intelligent. He kinda reminded me of my PaPa which made me like him even more. The next day the same man was a completely different person. He couldn’t walk without assistance, his mouth stayed open, and his shirt was soaking wet from drool. He didn’t know what was going on, couldn’t communicate, and didn’t have control of his muscles. It was so sad. I’ve never been around anyone at home who has dealt with this before so it was a new experience for me. I’m so sorry for anyone who has had to watch a loved one turn into someone else and you know it’s not really them anymore. We taught another guy we called Pablito how to “dab”, he was fun lol. One of my teammates became besties with a lady that LOVED to have her nails painted. She would get a “touch up” every few days and show them off to her friends. She was so cute!
The second half of the day consisted of what we call Garbage Dump Ministry. We took a bus to the side of town where the garbage dump is and right across the street from it where several families who work there. They work in shifts at the dump itself and they will bring home trash to go through to find anything recyclable to make money. So basically they live accross from the dump but they also live in a dump. The first day I got there it was legitimately hard to breathe. It took me a minute to not feel nauseous but somehow after the initial shock you get used to it. We did bible school for the kids every afternoon and fed them a meal prepared by our ministry host’s mother. The kids are sooo cute! Check out my Facebook for pics. There were a couple of days we played soccer with the moms as well. That was comical because NONE of us had soccer experience but it was a good time nonetheless.
As rough as the month was emotionally for me my absolute favorite part was our ministry host family. Percy, Gema, Mila, and Amy are the cutest, sweetest, family ever yall! They were so kind to us and Mila and Amy were the best! Mila is 5 and Amy is two. Mila was the sassy one who tried to act like she didn’t like any of us but we knew different lol. Amy is the typical cutie patootie 2 year old that likes to wear her food as opposed to eating it. Her daddy has a nursery rhyme that he’s all the time singing in the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” saying “Amy, Amy!” and without fail she responds, “Si PaPa!” I’ll post a video in the Ecuador album on my Facebook. It’s so cutie! Thank you to Papa Percy and the Figueredo family for taking us in and loving us so well!
