3/23/24
Guess what? After two relatively full days of traveling, I’m
finally ready to spend my first full day in Ecuador. Despite me not needing to
be awake so early, I set my alarm for 7:00 so I could spend a little time in my
Bible and have some much-needed personal time before starting my day. Normally,
I would start my mornings with a refreshing shower. However, I’ve learned on
past trips like this one that I’m better off showering at night since I will
undoubtedly be sweaty and gross before 10:00 am.
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| Our cabin |
Once 8:00 am rolled around, I joined the rest of my team for
a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. I honestly thought it was pretty sweet of the
camp’s food crew to make an Americanized breakfast for us. After finishing up
breakfast, Matt voluntold Jamie and me to ride into town with Steve to pick up
music equipment from Crossworlds. Honestly, I was onboard with this decision as
it gave me some time to see the city and the surrounding countryside in the
daylight as opposed to the dark like the night before.
After we got back to the camp, we actually only had a brief
moment before those of us that were new to Ecuador loaded up in a van to go
back to Manta to see various sights. One of the places that we checked out is a
group home called Shekinah. Shekinah is designed as a safe place for young boys
and girls who have been taken out of abusive situations by the government. The
goal is to eventually reunite families which sometimes will happen and
sometimes will not. After that, we drove to pick up Chinese food for lunch for
our team. Also, have you ever seen a lady on stilts handing out advertisements
in city streets for Hyundais? Yeah, I hadn’t either before today.
After we finished up with lunch, we were joined by our
Ecuadorian team members for some teambuilding exercises. For me, probably the
most difficult part was just learning everyone’s name. That was especially true
considering one of our exercises involved going around a circle and repeating
the names of everyone that came before you. That was really inconvenient for me
since I was the next-to-last to go. I honestly felt like I was going to have a
panic attack just thinking about how hard that could be. I made it through
successfully though! After that, we had a couple of more teambuilding exercises
before it was free time where I found a place to write all of this down.
Here is the part where I should write about me hanging out
in the lunch area to write alongside the company of a blackbird who was stuck
inside. Once Andy arrived though, we started a mission to get the bird out an
open door to the enjoyment of our Ecuadorian meal team. After several laps
around the mess hall, we finally succeeded though and the bird had escaped! Not
long after this, we regathered in the auditorium for setup and instructions
regarding the week ahead.
After that, it was time for hanging out and playing soccer
together in the auditorium where I kicked a ball around with Levi and our new
friend, Efraim. Finally, to wrap up the night, we met for a bonfire in a large
outdoor courtyard where Micah led our entire group in worship, followed by
Adrianna delivering a devotion as translated by Sheila (pronounced Shay-la) for
both teams. People then spent some time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and
otherwise just hanging out together until bedtime.
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| Don't get too close, Andy! |
Not a bad first full day in Ecuador if I do say myself.
#DaddyWrite
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| "TA-DA! Now please buy a Hyundai." |
Very interesting, Jesse,,,, will await your day #2! Barb.
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