Before I leave on my 36 hour bus ride to Trujillo, Peru today, I wanted to share with you a little more of what has happened in the past few weeks, the things beyond the ministry…
The first thing that struck me about Ecuador was its beauty. Surrounded by the Andes Mountains, I knew God put me here first to remind me how much He loved me.
The second thing that struck me is Ecuador's people. Our hosts are a lovely woman named Johanna and her brother-in-law, Pastor Fernando, and ALL their extended family. They have treated us like their own, and in so many ways became our “family away from family.” Kids always running around the house, doors always open.
After a hard day's work, the team takes a long walk, or drive to a church member's house where they host us for dinner. Their hospitality is amazing! With the average salary being only $230/month here, I sit at their table amazed at what they provide. A $2 bottle of coke is almost a half day’s work for them, and still they chose to bless us. We fill their table and they stand, insisting on putting us first. Would we ever consider doing that in America for our guests? It’s hard to accept these gifts, and yet I compare them to Mary (Mark 14) who takes expensive perfume to was Jesus’s feet…they are doing it for us. In general we have a plate full of rice, chicken, fried bananas, potatoes, and maybe some beans, I’ve spent the month spooning half my food onto any willing boy’s plate when the contacts aren’t looking.
We get one day off a week, so on those days the team took a gondola ride up a volcano, and hiked 2 volcanoes, we also went to the equator.
Perhaps my favorite part of the day was team time. An opportunity for us to share our testimonies, give feedback so that we can become more Chirst-like, and just simply bond. These people will be my family for the next 11 months, and I look forward to growing from them. We’re learning how each other work, and how we work best. Let me tell you being the only introvert and thinker in a group of extravert feelers is a unique experience.
I fall asleep at night to dogs barking, many, many dogs barking, their howls seem to echo throughout the valley of Quito. I wake up at 6am every morning to a man in a microphone from his truck trying to sell tanks of gas.
As for God and I, I'm starting to realize that spending your days SERVING the Lord is not the equivalent to/replacement for SPENDING TIME with the Lord. I knew this before, but we certainly have had the time we should have had this month. In some ways I look forward to limited internet next month so that I can focus more on what is important.
Off to tent life! A month with the whole squad (the 60 people that are travelling from country to country together), and I still have no clue what our ministry will be.
