Bonus Day - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Seis

3/26/24

Remember when I said that yesterday was full of struggles. Yeah, me too. I probably shouldn’t have said anything though because if yesterday was a struggle, then today is most definitely an epic struggle. My struggle today is based around chest and throat congestion, dehydration, and epic migraines. Clearly a fun way to start one’s day in a foreign country, right?

Regardless of how I am feeling though, the day can’t stop. Therefore, I got up and dressed myself and then walked up to the cafeteria to write and read my Bible. Eventually, people started wandering in to eat breakfast so I joined the line and picked at the food in front of me that I had no appetite for. After breakfast, I made a quick stop in the auditorium to pick up my freshly laundered camp shirt and got myself changed for the day. Somewhat unfortunately for me, I absolutely could not find the ibuprofen in my suitcase that I knew was packed so I finally had to give up and head to the auditorium sans medication.

When the day really got underway and the music started blaring, I could immediately tell that this was going to be a day that I couldn’t wait to end. After all, loud music, squawking recorders, boisterous kids, and intense heat are never conducive to getting rid of a migraine. Regardless though, I pushed through. If I had to pick a highlight of the day, it would probably be recreation time as I got to hang out with the kids in the shade as they played on the playground equipment. The lowlight though would be music time as I wanted nothing more than to curl up in the fetal position and go to sleep. Unfortunately for me, I was much too stubborn to let people know I was struggling and instead just tried to tough it out.

Team flags make a great sunshade in case you're wondering.

Somewhat mercifully, the day finally ended. The kids on my team were great. It was just the migraine that was wearing me out. There was one fun surprise though once the camp day ended. Andy had finally obtained the camp’s Wi-Fi password meaning that I could reach out to Bethany and the kids at will. I also gained the ability to send texts and Marco Polo videos to people too!

One of the only things I really remember well from this day was Abel working on a 12-sided Rubix cube and me expressing my doubt to him that he would get it done. He proved me wrong when I saw him about three hours later.

Reaching out to Bethany and the kids was actually the very first thing I did after receiving the password. While reception was a little spotty, it was still really good to see them. In fact, I found my way back to the auditorium later that night for an extended conversation with Bethany on a set of stairs leading to the stage.

After my initial conversation with Bethany and the kids, it was time to head to dinner where I spent time talking with Matt and some of our Ecuadorian friends. Taxing my brain by trying to speak in and understand Spanish probably wasn’t the greatest idea after having my migraine. It was an idea though. After dinner, it was back to the auditorium for our nightly debrief where Dan gave a really stellar devotion.

After our nightly debrief ended, it was actually free time for the rest of the night. While I had originally planned on sitting on the edge of the pool and letting my legs dangle in the water, it was unfortunately closed for cleaning for the night. Instead, I wandered back to the swings by the soccer fields and hung out with a bunch of Americanos and Ecuadorians as we watched the ferocious games unfold. Finally though, it was time to call it a night and go to bed.

At least I thought that was the case. Right after I had laid down, I heard someone calling my name inside our cabin. I drug myself out of bed to find that one of my roomies had scraped a scab off his leg in the shower and was bleeding everywhere like crazy. I fulfilled his request to grab his first aid kit and then passed him several band-aids and pieces of gauze as he tried to put his leg back together. Finally, he everything bandaged well enough that he was able to head to the camp’s first aid station to get some real bandages. The moral of the story is that even when one goes to bed on a mission trip, that doesn’t mean the excitement for the day has stopped. At least, I think that’s the moral. I’m not really sure.

#DaddyWrite

I promise no one died here...

Day 1,711 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Cinco

3/25/24

I feel like in any mission trip, a person inevitably meets those days that are full of struggles. For me, today was one of those. I woke up at 6:00 am with an agonizingly sore throat. If I had to guess, it’s probably due to extreme temperature shifts between the sweltering heat outdoors and the intense A/C indoors. Regardless, I couldn’t let a sore throat get me down so I took a quick shower to get myself going and headed to breakfast.

Just a tree. A really pretty tree.

Once I finished eating breakfast (which was actually quite a struggle), I headed to the auditorium to wait for my team to arrive. Before long, buses began to arrive carrying the campers and teams congregated together outside the building until the day officially began. Now, our days at camp are actually more than a little long. They are an intense nine hours of VBS-like activities. I don’t care who you are; that’s a really long day. The day begins and ends with large group assemblies in the auditorium but the remainder of the day is spent rotating through the following stations: Rhythm practice (Boomwhackers), swimming, a Bible lesson, recreation, recorder practice, music and dance, and art.

If I’m being completely honest, nine hours of VBS makes for a fun but exhausting day. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt as loved by a group of people as I do these campers. My blonde hair makes me a bit of a novelty so I don’t think that I have ever had my head touched as much in one day as I did today.

Once our session ended and the last of our teams departed, we had free time until dinner at 6 pm. Since it had been several days since I had been able to talk to Bethany and the kids, I borrowed Micah’s phone and called home. Even though it was a relatively short conversation, that call was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits. I had seriously underestimated just how difficult ten days away from home would be. After all, the last time I had been on a mission trip was nearly ten years ago and there was no Ellie and Ethan in the picture.

After dinner ended, it was time for our leaders’ meeting where Leslie provided a devotional, followed by our Northland breakout. At this point of the evening, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t exhausted. In fact, the call of my bed was almost too much to resist. However, I decided I needed to make the most of my evening so I wandered to the hammocks where I spent time watching our Ecuadorian friends play soccer at the turf field.

While laying there in my hammock, I felt an unmistakable push to go be social and make friends with some Ecuadorians. With that, I wandered a little further down the path and struck up a conversation with five of my new friends who were hanging out by a series of porch swings. As I stood there talking with Rebecca, Gabi, Salma, Aldo, and Breisa, I found myself forgetting how tired I was and instead just having a good time. By the time our convo was finished, we had spent nearly an hour talking about our families, favorite foods, jobs, and school. If I’m being honest, this conversation was actually my favorite moment of our trip thus far and that’s not just because I learned that all of my Ecuadorian friends believed that I was only 25. Don’t worry, I told them the truth about my age to which they responded, “Imposible!”

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,710 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Cuatro

3/24/24

It’s a few days into my journey and I find myself having a rough time actually keeping track of what day it is. However, today it’s actually clear because it’s Sunday and that means it’s church day! Like each day thus far, I set my alarm to wake up early enough to spend some time reading the Bible. Then, I got dressed and wandered around the camp for a bit.

On this day, I ended up finding myself down by the swimming pool and spent some time sitting on a pool chair and praying for a while. For one thing, I’m totally certain why it was God’s plan for me to be in Ecuador as I’m still feeling like I’m not certain of my place on our team. After all, everyone else seems to have strong connections that they came in with except for me. No worries though as I’m sure things will be clearer at some point, right?

Once done at the pool, I wandered over to the cafeteria to join the rest of our team for breakfast before going to change clothes for church in Manta. After the bus ride, we unloaded and headed into the sanctuary where we were instructed to split into men and women for Sunday School. Now, I don’t want there to be any misconception about my ability to speak Spanish. For one thing, I have little to no ability to do so beyond small talk. Therefore, a Sunday School lesson largely conducted in Spanish was kind of a challenge for me.

Once Sunday School ended, it was time for church. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised but the sanctuary was actually really full. At one point, our entire team, which was spread out all over the room, had to stand up and be recognized. Unfortunately, those of us that don’t speak Spanish had no idea when to sit down so we had to be directed to do so via hand motions. Fortunately, we did receive a break from listening to nothing but Spanish as Matt gave a message over Romans 5:6-11 via the aid of a translator.

Once church ended, we quickly shifted gears and changed into different clothes so that we could prepare for the first day of camp which would be held at the church. Once everything was ready to go, I headed into the sanctuary where I met my group’s co-leaders for the week, Leo, a bilingual 17-year old who has the goal of studying English at the local university, and Wilton, a middle-aged man who either works for the church or just has very deep ties (I could never figure it out for sure).

Over the next hour or so, campers began arriving. At first, I entertained myself by attempting to converse with the kids and learn about them. However, my Spanish eventually ran thin and I resorted to never-ending games of Bottle Flip with the kids.

Once service began, I immediately fell in love with how high-energy it was. The band, which was partially made up of kids from Shekinah, was unbelievably talented considering that they’ve only been playing music for less than five years. After quite a few songs, it was time for groups to break off on their own for a bit. Our blue team headed upstairs to a classroom set aside for us where the kids spent time decorating a team flag. Then, we had a paper airplane folding exercise (side note: I had to ask multiple people how to fold a paper airplane as that is one very noticeable gap in my knowledge base) and a science experiment involving the mixing of what I assume was baking soda and vinegar.

After breakout times, it was back to the sanctuary for one final full-group assembly full of lots of music and dancing. Then, all there was to do was wait for parents to pick kids up for the night. Once the last kid left, it was time to head back to camp for a late dinner.

Once dinner was over, we had free time until 9 when we gathered for a full-staff meeting. During said meeting, Micah led worship again and Andy led a devotional for everyone. After that, our Northland crew split off and spent a little time talking about our experiences so far. However, everything is still new enough that I don’t feel like I have any huge things to contribute to the conversation.

Finally, it was time to head to bed for the night as I know that we have a huge day and week ahead of us starting tomorrow!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,709 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Tres

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.

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.

Don't get too close, Andy!

Not a bad first full day in Ecuador if I do say myself.

#DaddyWrite

"TA-DA! Now please buy a Hyundai."

Day 1,708 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Dos

Just a friendly reminder that these stories already happened...

3/23/24

It’s Day 2 of our Ecuadorian adventure and by the time today is over, we’ll actually be standing on Ecuadorian soil! Crazy stuff, right?

I started my day off with my watch alarm buzzing away on my wrist at 6:50 am. That could only mean one thing. It was time for Duolingo. After all, I need all the practice I can get if I’m going to spend a week in a Spanish-speaking country. It’d probably be nice to actually understand some of the language instead of just pretending to do so.

Once Andy woke up for the morning, we got dressed and headed to the McDonald’s next door to grab some breakfast. It was actually pretty funny to see that five other members of our team had the exact same thought process. Once we were finished eating, it was time to head back to the hotel and pack up for our trip back to the Miami airport. Just like the prior night, it would take two trams to get us to the airport with the same people waiting for the second tram.

At the airport, we checked our bags in for our flights and headed to security. Unfortunately, the lines in Miami aren’t quite as efficient as in Kansas City so we were waiting for quite some time. By the time we were finally putting our shoes back on, we only had about an hour before boarding. After finding our terminal, I proceeded to join Jamie for a walk around the airport to kill some time before boarding our plane.

The thing about traveling though is that nothing ever goes quite according to plan. In this instance, the torrential downpour outside was certainly wreaking havoc on our travel plans. In fact, it was so bad that we ended up delayed for at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half. After a while of sitting on an airplane, you end up losing all semblance of time. That’s especially true when you don’t have headphones that sync up with the airplane’s media system. Finally, the time came to take off. However, we found ourselves mentally preparing to spend a night in Panama as we expected there would be no way for us to make our connecting flight.

When the plane landed in Panama, I learned something about airplane etiquette in other countries. Rather than patiently waiting for each row to disembark, people instead start shoving and heading towards the exit as quickly as they can. While all of this was happening, an announcement was made that our plane to Manta had been held due to there being at least 25 people on the delayed flight from Miami. So with that renewed hope, we booked it down to the gate we would be leaving from and boarded to the stares of many unhappy passengers. Although, I probably would have been unhappy too if I had been waiting to leave as long as they had.

If I’m being honest, our flight to Ecuador was more than a little bumpy. At one point it seriously felt like our plane was a roller coaster. Crazy, right? Soon enough though, we arrived in Manta and departed the plane via stairs on the runway. Seriously. One of my goals in life has always been to get on and off a plane via stairs on the runway and now I can truthfully say it’s happened. We then successfully navigated through customs and retrieved our luggage where I was dismayed to learn that my suitcase wheels had partially melted at some point during the day. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to roll a suitcase with melted wheels but it doesn’t work well at all!

After exiting the airport, we were met by Steve and Robin, a pair of missionaries in Ecuador, and a pretty cool bus equipped with tons of neon lights to take us to Hacienda Los Correos, the camp where we would be staying for the week. After dropping off our luggage in our little cabins, we boarded a pair of vans to head to a rotisserie chicken restaurant for a family-style dinner. In case you’re wondering, it was seriously one of the tastiest things I’ve eaten in quite some time. After dinner, it was time to load up again and return to the camp for bedtime. After all, tomorrow is going to be a full day!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,707 - Adventures in Ecuador: Day Uno

As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve been missing for a bit. Of course, that goes along with the territory when one is out of the country for ten days. My destination? Ecuador. Whenever I go on a trip like this, I always strive to spend time journaling about my experiences. After getting back on Saturday morning, I thought that I might share some of those entries as people might be interested. So, with that in mind, let’s get started.

3/21/24

It’s finally here. The first day of my Ecuador trip has come. It honestly kind of felt like this day snuck up on me. Even though I’ve known that it’s been coming for a bit, I honestly didn’t let myself think a ton about it until this week. Part of the reason for that might be because I don’t fully know what to expect. I know we’ll be working at a VBS-like kids’ camp for several days but I really feel like that’s the extent of my knowledge.

I started off my morning by making it a priority to spend time playing with Ellie and Ethan. Honestly, I wanted to do whatever they wanted to do this morning since they wouldn’t see me for 10 days! Their choice was to spend some time playing board games and reading a bit. Before we knew it though, it was time for us to take Ethan to school. I gave him a big hug in the hallway right outside his classroom and told him that I’d miss him. I don’t think that he really understood that I was leaving though.

After that, Ellie and I made a last-minute stop at Dollar General as I realized that I hadn’t picked up any kind of granola bar or snack to have on hand. As I didn’t totally know the food situation, I wanted to be prepared for any uncertainty that might arise. From there, I decided to treat Ellie to a scone from Joelle’s. I made it clear though that she needed to share it with Bethany who was working from home for the day.

When we got home, I slicked Ellie’s choice of a white chocolate scone in half and Ellie took half up to Bethany. With that, Ellie and I had a little bit of time to hang out and chat before it was time for Bethany to take Ellie to school. When that time came, it was definitely hard to say goodbye. That was especially true since Ellie was near tears and continually proclaiming that she didn’t want me to leave. Fortunately, my ride was arriving just as it was time for Bethany and Ellie to leave so I didn’t have a ton of time to sit and think about it.

Attempting to go from left to right:
standing in rear: Amber, Levi, Mason, Micah, Dan, me, Jamie, Matt, Richard, Sharon, Andy
standing in front: Terry, Eden, Kalynn, Adrianna, Hannah, Jordan, Leslie

When I arrived at the terminal, it didn’t take long for me to meet up with the rest of our team as we checked our bags and headed through security. Once we were done, there was still more than an hour to spare before boarding so I took some time to explore the airport a little bit before it was time to leave for Charlotte. Soon enough though, it was time to board our flight to Charlotte where I killed time by watching old episodes of The Office while simultaneously wondering if I should really be allowed to still watch it on an airplane in 2024.

Once we arrived in Charlotte, our team of 18 disembarked and began searching for food. I found myself at a little deli in the airport along with five other members of our team where I ate a chicken Caesar salad. After lunch, I spent some time chatting with the Bettis family who I really didn’t know prior to our trip and exploring for a while before it was time to head to Miami on the biggest airplane that I’ve ever been on. Seriously, there were eight seats per row!

In Miami, we claimed our bags and headed to the shuttle zone to await the van that would take us to the airport Ramada. Unfortunately for some of us, the van wasn’t large enough to take our entire team at once. Therefore, Matt, Micah, Mason, Jamie, and I ended up staying behind and waiting for the next one which took nearly an hour. While it was a bit of a bummer, at least the five of us were together. Finally, though, the shuttle arrived and we headed to the hotel.

Once I arrived at the hotel, I headed to the room that I would be sharing with Andy to drop off my stuff. Then, Andy and I headed downstairs to the hotel’s sports bar where we met Jamie and all four Marrs for dinner. With all of the excitement of our trip, I had honestly forgotten March Madness was beginning today so enjoyed getting to take in a few games since I knew that wouldn’t be a thing the rest of the week.

Once our dinner was over and we paid our bill, I made a quick phone call to Bethany and then it was time for bed. After all, we’ve got a busy week ahead and I can’t be too tired or I’ll never make it!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,701 - The Cake Mix

As my kids get older, I find myself trying to figure out ways to encourage and empower them. Sometimes it works out well. Other times, not so well. Regardless of the outcome though, it’s always pretty fun. One of these so-called empowerment events occurred on Monday night as Ellie and I made a quick trip across the street to Sun Fresh.

Normally our trips to Sun Fresh are because I forgot to pick up something that I needed to finish dinner. On this occasion though, we were going because Ellie wanted to pick up a cake mix and some frosting for a food drive at school. Nice thought, right? Therefore, as soon as we were done eating supper, it was time to go to Sun Fresh.

I decided on this occasion that I wanted Ellie to be in charge of our shopping trip. As such, I shared that with her as soon as we walked in the door by simply saying, “You’re in charge; lead the way to the cake mixes.” With that, I settled in behind Ellie and watched as she began to lead us across the store. While I thought for certain that she would read the signs hanging above the aisles, she did not. Instead, she simply glanced down each aisle as we walked past. Finally, she found an aisle that made sense to her and turned down it.

Now, while that aisle was certainly full of sweet substances, it was not what we were looking for. Instead of being cake mixes, it was host to Oreo cookies, Potato chips, and Animal crackers, among other things. Once we established that was not the aisle we were looking for, Ellie began to head towards the frozen food section. At this point, I didn’t want her to get discouraged so I simply asked, “Are cake mixes kept cold?”. She responded with “No,” and immediately spun around and headed in the opposite direction.

Truth be told, I expected her to find the cake mixes immediately this time as we happened to be on the side of the store where we could clearly see sugar and flour as we walked. However, Ellie was not clued in to my expectations. Instead, she proceeded to wander right past the sugar and flour all the way to the dog food aisle where she began to turn in. At this point, I began to wonder if we were on a fool’s errand so I decided to give another hint.

“Honey, do you really think they keep the cake mixes next to the dog food?”
“Probably not, Dad.”
“Would you like another hint?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Look up, what do you see?”
“Ceiling tiles.”
“No, the big green signs hanging from the ceiling tiles. What’s on those signs?”  

“Ohhhhhh.”

With that, Ellie started walking across the back of the store until she finally found a sign that listed “Cake Mixes”. We turned down the aisle, walked a bit, and lo and behold, there they were. Ellie took a few minutes to pick out the perfect chocolate cake mix and the perfect jar of vanilla icing. Then it was time to head to the checkout lane.

Just to put a punctation mark on this being Ellie’s trip to the grocery store, I handed her my credit card and told her that she was in charge of paying for our goods. This was good because it gave me an opportunity to talk with her about where money from credit cards come from and how we have to pay it back each month. Although, there was almost a minor disaster when she started loudly reading my credit card number for all to hear. No worries though as I was able to shut that down before she read too many numbers. Finally, it was our turn to check out and Ellie scanned my card to pay for our groceries. After that, she responsibly handed the card` back to me and we headed out of the store.

I enjoy small moments with lessons like this. For one thing, I’m teaching Ellie how to successfully navigate a grocery store which many people tend to have trouble with. Case in point, me every single time I have to buy maraschino cherries. Second of all, we were able to have conversations about where our money comes from and how everything has a price. Finally, it was just a fun chance to be out one-on-one with Ellie for a few minutes which is always good for a laugh or two. Good stuff, right?

#DaddyWrite