Yep, this blog post takes me back over two months ago! Whhhooooaaa.
It’s the story of my first adventure day in Quito, Ecuador during my time with Team Young Royalz! It was wild, and was one of those days where we truly were letting the Holy Spirit guide us and we had to trust in Him… because YES, we were out of gas driving on a windy mountain road, after dark, in the middle of nowhere. Completely lost, but I’m getting ahead of myself now. Let me take you through the day. Here is my recounting of that day, as written in my journal:
2/12/19
Lord, what even was today?!
[9:00am] We started off with a plan to go to the volcano national park, then that got scratched! So we didn’t have a plan.We decided to to the Old Town in Quito. We walked around, found a gorgeous church/basilica. It was grand and majestic. Nicole and I were asked to take a picture with this older women from Quito. We met T in a little gift shop. We got postcards, stamps, stickers, pins, patches, and llama magnets and key chains. She told us how to get to the central market, or at least a general direction. We stopped every few blocks to get a clearer direction and make sure we were going the right way. It wasn’t much of a market, so we decided to get lunch.
[11:15am] We looked in a few places but decided on Texas Chicken. As some of the girls ordered a lady walked in. She spoke English and said she grew up in California but was recently deported. Carly bought her lunch and then she started crying. Me, Emilie, Kylie and Carly left and went to get empanadas and KFC. We walked back to Texas Chicken where M was sitting with Nicole, Katy and Lauren. We got to pray for here,give her a cross, hear her story, and share gospel truth. She was moved to tears many times. She said she was giving up alcohol and had been praying and crying out to God the night before. She said she knew how to get to the equator and that she would show us what buses to take.
[12:30pm] We walked to the Marin Station and almost got pancaked by an oncoming bus. We walked up the opposite side of the terminal and had to climb around the poles to get on the platform. We waited for the blue bus. It came. Kylie, Emilie, Lauren and Katy got on. And then the doors closed. Panic ha. We laughed because it was crazy and there was nothing we could do. Nicole texted Lauren telling her to get off at the next stop. We got on the next bus and met them. M left us to go work at the church parking cars. We waited a long time and jumped on the Ophelia bus. Emilie tried to asked the driver if we were going to the center of the world. Some guy said we would take the bus all the way and then transfer. It was like an hour ride. The bus also broke down in the middle of the road for a hot second. We finally got to the bus station and found our next stop, thanks to Google Translate and a guy wearing scrubs.
[2:30pm] We waited a LONG time, but decided to stick with it. We made it to the center! We walked a little ways to an ATM and got popsicles and espresso. We walked to the fancy museum thing but decided not to go in because there was a closer place. We took pictures and I spilled my drink. We walked to the closer, more accurate equator. We just wanted to take pictures but had to pay $4 and take a tour. The tour was 40 minutes so we took the express 20 minute tour with water draining, egg balancing, line walking and picture taking! Emilie got the egg master award. We got stamps and I bought a cool ring. We finished and started to leave.
[4:30pm] We didn’t know where the bus stop was or which way the buses would be going. We finally got on one.
[6:00pm] We finally got on one. We drove back to Ophelia. [Oh yeah, we went shopping at a supermarket for snacks and lotion because… peeling.] We went right over to the Marin bus. There weren’t many people on but it got very full and started to get very dark. It was such a long ride. We made it back and called two Ubers but hoped we had the right address for home.
[7:00pm] I went with Katy and Lauren. Our guy was in a red Chevy. We took the exit for North Quito and we had to verify were were going the right way. We went down a street with speed bumps and shops and I said hmmmm this is interesting. [Backing up, on the highway we drove in one lane of the opposite traffic on the other side of the barrier to relieve traffic. Weird] We turned down a bumpy road, we laughed and were like yep, this is our road. We must be coming the back way. We drove and drove and wound our way around many curves and cliffs. It was super narrow and there was nothing around. No lights. No house. No nothing.
[8:00pm] He showed us the map and said we have 30 minutes left. We laughed because originally we should have been/were supposed to be home at that point. We really laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. Katy said she could taste dirt and the driver said it was a long way to eternity. All of a sudden he said he had no gas. We were still super far out. We tried to call the other girls, no service. At this point I thought we would either die or have to walk very far tor a very long time. Almost panicking, but holding onto faith. I started praying and turned on my worship music. Do it Again, Ever Be, Extravagant, Ever Almighty.
“Your promise still stands, GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS, you’ve never failed me…”
[8:15pm] We put in an address for a gas station that was 6 KM away, still 20 minutes. Lauren shared her location with the other girls who are home and Katy starts building our faith by remembering in the Bible the story of the oil that was continually filled. She said God did it then and he can do it now. Our host talked to the driver on the phone and low and behold we had made our way to our street. Home sweet home. We asked him to take a picture with us and he said he was too scared, but he did it.
[8:45pm] Wow God! Gloria Dios! Our 21 year old driver from Bogota, Colombia, studying law had been in Ecuador for 13 years and is Catholic but still gave praise and glory to the Lord.
I’m not much of a journaler, but I knew I wanted to remember this day. I need to remember this day, ever detail! I’m so happy I stayed up past my bedtime to get hand cramps writing it all out! No regrets! So, sorry if it was hard to follow. I learned His plans are always higher than mine, and definitely more exciting! Such thrilling surprises await us on our journey with Jesus. Am I right!?!?
