Ecuador Fun Facts:
- Ecuador uses the US dollar.
- Ecuador is roughly the size of New Zealand (shout out to Sjaan and family!) or the US state of Nevada.
- The Galápagos Islands were declared a national park in 1959. Today over 180,000 people visit each year. (Who wants to come back and visit the islands with me?)
Ministry:
Our ministry this month was set up through InkaLink. This organization works in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. InkaLink works with Ninawachi Institute here in Huaticocha. We are living and working with a local pastor. We are currently working in five local communities with our children outreach programs, church services, and English lessons.
Life
Mondays and Thursdays we are teaching English from 8:00-12:30pm. We are teaching in a public school and have three one-hour classes. My students were 7-10 years old. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays we do kids programs for local communities (songs, Bible story, craft, prayer and games-usually soccer, English lesson). Wednesdays we hike up to a community on top of a hill called Nueva Esperanza (New Hope). It is a community with 10-12 families. We do get to swim in the creek before crossing and jump off the bridge into the water. We help out however we can and then do the church service. Saturdays we do a kids program in the morning and then attend the local church service at night. Sunday mornings we go to another church service. Every church service we sing at least two songs and then one of us gives our testimony or a lesson. Friday is our day off. Last Friday we hiked for 5 hours in the jungle, went to a waterfall to swim and caves. We have cooked twice. Once for the family we made spaghetti, and last Sunday we made pizza for 36 people! We have made cookies twice. I am so thankful for Bethany and Molly on our team that can cook without recipes, without measuring utensils, different ingredients, ovens that do not have temperature readings on them, propane stove tops and two big pots. They are awesome and all the food has turned out great!
Our bathroom is on the back porch. One room houses the toilet and sink. To flush the toilet you have to pour water into it from a plastic water jug and you never put toilet paper in the toilet. It always goes into the waste- basket next to the toilet. The other room has a Rubbermaid type garbage can in it with water. There are cut off plastic water jugs that you dip into the bucket and then just pour over yourself, so a bucket shower basically. The cold water always feels so good because it is humid here.
I think 17 people live here. The other day a cousin, his wife and 3 month old baby came and will be staying here too for awhile. Our host family is Ivan and Nanci (both 36 years old) and their 7 year-old son Isaac. Two of Nanci’s sisters live here, in-laws, cousins and Team Open Arms!
We wait for buses anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours. There is no set schedule, you just get on a bus when it comes through town and hope that one comes through when you want! With our schedule and waiting for buses we have very full days. I am thankful for the full days because we have an opportunity to share God’s love with so many people. There are a lot of witch doctors in these communities and many do not know of God’s love and grace. I am thankful we are able to help Ivan start relationships with many of these communities through our English lessons and programs. I am also so thankful for your prayers, e-mails, comments and thoughts. They really encourage me and I am so thankful for you. I sing a song every night here, because the moon is so bright and beautiful and I want to share it with you, so you can sing along with me! Thanks mom for this song! I think I have sang it in every country I have traveled to!
I see the moon, and the moon sees me. The moon sees someone I would like to see. Please let the moon that shines on me, shine on the one I love!
I am going to leave you with a quote from Francis Chan and his book, “Forgotten God.” I highly recommend this book!
“Jesus had a crazy busy life but he found ways to escape. He took time to focus and be quiet. He was willing to remove himself from people’s reach in order to pray and commune with God the Father.”
