The Race is full of surprises. While the schedule each day may be identical to the previous day, the day before that, and the day before that, each new day is truly a fresh day filled with its own unique nuances. Every night I go to sleep thinking and exciting myself over the new possibilities that the next day will bring and the good gifts God has in store for me. Occupying my mind with this idea of surprises is especially encouraging when I’ve had a rough day, am struggling in some capacity, or have simply had it with….well everything. Our good Lord tells me that “there may be weeping at night, but joy comes in the morning”—one of my most favorite verses—and I find myself holding onto this promise quite frequently (Psalm 30:5).
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Living as a Racer in Ecuador is not your everyday life at home in the states: everything from going to ministry all day Mon-Fri and eating weird foods, to riding random Uber’s around the country and hiking active volcanos on the weekends has become our norm. If you were to tell me a year ago that this would be my life a year later, I would’ve said you’re crazy; yet here I am living and loving (for the most part…) this life! Sharing a room with lots of other girls is nothing new; only this time, 11 girls and I are sharing a tiny little shack apart from the main house in which the rest of the squad is living. While this tiny shack is adjacent to the main house, its interior isn’t half as nice and I dreaded staying there the minute I found out they assigned me there. It consists of a tiny living space with beat up, unfinished ceilings, two small showers with freezing cold water (most of the time), and one tiny bathroom to share between the 12 of us. However, the minute I figured out that the ugly ceiling could function as an anchor for my two large Ecuadorian alpaca blankets to be made into a personal tee-pee/cave above my top bunk, I accepted the room for what it was, and it quickly began growing on me.
Now back to the point. My team’s ministry for the last two months of the Race is at a K-12 private Christian school called T.W. Anderson, and we’re pretty much teacher’s assisting and teaching English in some capacity. I am everything BUT a morning person but, given our tight schedule and the fact that I want to exercise more often (I’ve never had this problem at home of NOT exercising and staying fit, but let me tell you: it’s been extremely difficult do on the Race!), I’ve been making myself get up at 6:30 every morning to go on a run on the street of our gated community, take a shower, and get dressed and ready in time for optional group devo time which begins at 7:30. During this time I read the Word and journal and basically just chill with Jesus until breakfast at 8:00.
Fabi and Mabe, our fearless ministry hosts (who are expecting a baby who’s due in a couple of months, actually!), prepare breakfast and dinner for us every week-day and require us to wait on every single person before we pray and begin serving. For this reason, all of us have been fairly punctual at meal times and the meals are usually served on time. We all gather in the living room of the main house (Casa Blanca), pray, and then form a long line to go through the kitchen buffet style to make our plates. Fabi and Mabe do an outstanding job of making us traditional Ecuadorian dishes which are very distinct in flavor and taste, unlike anything I’ve eaten before. Breakfast usually consists of Ecuadorian hot coco and tea, and fresh fruit which, although not very filling, gets us off to a good start since it doesn’t sit as heavily on the stomach as the bread at our previous ministry did.
At 8:30 sharp, each team goes to their respective ministries. This time, however, my “team” is slightly different from the team you might automatically assume (Team C.L.O). This is due to the fact that the last two months of the Race are set up a little differently than the first seven months have been because we have entered into a phase called the “empowerment phase” in which some things that were required of us before aren’t required anymore (i.g. team time, which was previously required every night, is now optional). Part of the empowerment phase is mixing up teams for ministry with several people from our original teams as well as several from another team. My team, C.L.O, and team Alithenos were chosen to be combined and so my “new team” for the rest of the Race is as follows: Amy, Brittany, and I from my original team, and Sophie, Morgan, Amanda, Katie, from Alithenos. This switch-up gives everyone an opportunity to interact and form new relationships (in a ministry setting) with people they might not have otherwise become friends with. It’s been weird doing ministry with people from a different team—especially since none of us foresaw it happening—but it’s going pretty well!
By public transportation, T.W. Anderson is about half an hour away, given that you take the right bus….which we have failed to do more times than not *hand to face*. We were told by Fabi the first day to take “any blue bus and it’ll get you where you need to go.” Well since then, we have found out that this is not the case, and have spent a good bit more money than planned on to come to this realization (in addition to finding ourselves aimlessly walking down the sidewalks and highways of Quito in search for another bus stop while simultaneously getting honked and whistled at by passing trucks taking note of us, the helplessly lost and desperately confused Gringos….*shakes head*).
I think we’ve finally figured out the ropes and, by the grace of God, have arrived safely to our ministry every day (although a little late the days that we took the wrong bus like a bunch of idiots….). Once make it to the school, we split up into our respective classrooms which vary day to day, depending on where our assigned teacher needs help. My teacher, Ms. Angie, who’s in charge of a class called CAS (Creativity, Activities, and Services), doesn’t have class until the afternoons, and so I usually pop my head into another class or do paperwork in her office beforehand. Last week she was substituting for the 7th-grade language teacher and so I assisted by practicing English with the kids (sweet, sweet kids, too).
For lunch, we’re served the same food the kids get in the school cafeteria (not the best, but I suppose that’s expected): soup, rice, and a bite of meat, with powdered lemonade or another type of powdered juice. Really and truly, the best part of lunch is talking with the kids at your table who bombard you with questions that they attempt to ask in English; and when they can’t, I ask in Spanish, and we all end up getting some practice in.
Teaching varies day to day which stirs up the excitement of what the next day might hold. As missionaries we are simply there to shine Jesus’ light and do whatever they need us to do. At times though, since the school is extremely established and professional, it feels as though we are unneeded and sometimes even an interference; but we have to trust that we’re there for a reason and that God is using us in mighty ways, even when we can’t see the end product.
We officially end ministry at 3:30 pm and walk to the bus stop praying and crossing our fingers that we’ll hop on the correct bus. Once we arrive at the last bus terminal, we twist our necks like owls to safely cross two busy three-lane highways, separated by a median, to reach the other side. From the other side of the road to the house is a 10ish minute walk which passes a small fruit stand and convenient store at which we sometimes pit stop to grab a refreshing Gatorade or Pitaya (*tangent alert* officially, and without doubt, my new favorite fruit—like, I didn’t even know there could exist anything as incredibly impeccable and splendidly delicious as this wondrous fruit! It’s similar to Thailand’s Dragon Fruit in consistency and texture, but a 1000 X better in taste and satisfaction, because it’s actually as good as its majestic appearance suggests—actually better! Even though I ate lots of Dragon Fruit in Thailand, it was never as good as I anticipated it would be and I finished the last bite disappointed every time: it simply didn’t have a flavor worthy enough to match its absolutely stunning and majestic appearance like the Pitaya. Okay I’m done).
For dinners (the biggest meal of the day), in addition to the main course of usually a soup or meat, we are served fresh squeezed juice of some sort of Ecuadorian fruit (not sure the names…), which is simply refreshing to the soul, as well as Ecuadorian popcorn or some other sort of side dish. Once we finish eating as a squad, we complete our team chores, hang out for a little bit, and then go to bed and get rest to do the same thing (or something very similar to it) all over again the next day.
And there you have it: a day in the life of a Racer in Ecuador! Questions?
-Sam
