Hello friends again! This will be a blog about my weekend adventures in Quito. The way our weeks work right now is we have ministry for 5 days then we have two off days; one off day is meant for adventuring and the other is a day to spend with God.
Last weekend we went to the middle of the world which was incredible. It was somewhat like 4 corners in the United States where you can have a body part in four states at once but instead I was in all the hemispheres at once. We had a tour guide that told us all about the natives that worshiped the sun, their traditions, and why this place was so important for them. I love learning all about past cultures but the physics of being in the middle of the earth were astounding. Here are just a few of the things I experienced: not being able to walk straight on the equator line, weight loss (about 1.5 pounds on the equator line), complete loss of strength on the equator line, and I watched water spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. All these phenomenons were caused by the north and south poles opposing forces. You can imagine my brain was spinning.
This weekend was my 19th Birthday! My team was so gracious and let me pick where we were going to go and I chose a beautiful place that truly made my jaw drop; it was a dormant volcano crater with a lake that was a magical turquoise color in it. Hopefully I will be able to upload some pictures below of my birthday adventures. It was a four hour bus ride to the volcano but my team/new family made it feel nice and short. When we got there we where not prepared for how cold it was! The wind was coming at us in crazy gust and we were 15,000 feet above sea level which made it unbelievably cold and deprived us of oxygen. I don’t know if I should be saying this on a Christian blog but I have always been confused about when people said they were sky high (pertaining to drugs), I get it now. Little oxygen equals your brain thinking everything is funny. Many of us got conned into buying alpaca clothing to keep us warm before we even got in the crater. I think I can speak for all of us, before we saw the lake, we were wondering if I was worth it. But oh my goodness, when we saw the lake we were in awe. The rest of the day consisted of getting down the crater, canoeing in the lake, taking many pictures, and riding a donkey back up. It was a day filled with laughter and an incredible reminder of the reflection of how beautiful God is in his creation. My team was incredible, they made me feel at home when I am thousands of miles away from it. They all wrote me notes, made me cookies and brownies, signed a birthday balloon for me, and made the trip with me to what I can confidently say is the most beautiful place on earth I have seen so far.
Just a quick update on ministry, I am currently at Camp Hope. It is an orphanage/ day care for mentally and physically disabled people of all ages. There will be another blog about the amazing things God is doing through me and in me.
Thanks for reading and leave me a message below if you have any comments or questions! If you would like notifications when I post a new blog make sure to subscribe. Que tengas un buen día!
