So I’ve been “living” in Quito, Ecuador for about 2 weeks. It feels like I have been here forever! It’s hard to believe that I was in Washington DC saying goodbye to my parents just 15 days ago. I absolutely LOVE it here! I just wanted to tell you all what a day here would look like.
Breakfast is at 8:30 every morning, and getting ready isn’t my usual routine back home. I get out of bed about 45 minutes before breakfast, get dressed, brush my teeth, freshen up just a bit, throw a bobby pin in my hair and head downstairs to the living room area. I usually read my Bible or check Facebook (this month we have Wi-Fi where we live!) and wait to for the doors to open to the kitchen. The food here is amazing by the way. After breakfast I get my stuff together and head off the ministry with my team. Right now, we are working with Inglesia La Luz, which is a church located in a poor part of Quito called Carapungo. My team and I have been renovating the church for the past week and a half. We’ve been sanding, painting, laying carpet, and cleaning. The church pastor is absolutely wonderful! He has been there with us every day and his bubbly personality and humor is what gets us through those times that he tells us there is one more project to do 30 minutes before we’re supposed to leave. His wife just took over the children’s Sunday school which we have been cleaning and organizing as well. We have an 11am snack every day, and then eat lunch just 2 hours later. Sometimes our morning snack is bigger and better than our lunch. We work until about 4 and then we have bible study in the park, exercise, or just hang out at the house. Evenings consist of dinner and team time.
I wish all of you could see what I see while riding of the bus every morning on the way to ministry.
I wish all of you could hear the laughter of the children I hear every Saturday morning.
I wish that all of you could cry from laughter almost every day like I do with my team.
But I’m learning that that’s not what the World Race is all about.
The World Race is about looking at yourself and pointing out what you need to work on. It’s about letting others point out the things you need to work on to become the person God has created you to be. It’s about living in community with people who sometimes drive you crazy. It’s about loving them more than you love yourself.
I couldn’t have asked for a better team. I know they love me and want the best for me, and I love them so much and want the same for them.
The World Race is hard sometimes, but I cannot wait to see who my teammates and I become after 11 months of this.
