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Saturday, August 9, 2008

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for a week now. It’s hard to believe that this week is already over.

Putting on the children’s program here in Quito has been one of those strange phenomenons. You know – where it feels as though we’ve been here for a month when really, it’s only been seven days.

Really. It’s only been one week.

It seems like we just landed in Quito and at the same time it seems we have been here for ages.

Today was the last day of the Children’s Program. The Magnum Opus. The all-day-er. Seven days ago we arrived with this monster of a task ahead of us, ready to conquer. Seven days ago I had no idea what to expect, about anything at all. Seven days ago I had no idea how much my heart would attach to 96 little faces from the mountains of Ecuador.

This week has been a journey for me, but not in the way you would expect. I wasn’t teaching a craft class or leading songs in large group or making sure that everything ran the way it should.

 

My job was to watch. To watch and record.

As one of the team photographers, I had the experience of being the ‘eyes’ of this body of Christ. What I saw was just that. The body of Christ. His very presence, here in Quito, working through our team to touch lives of all ages. Mine included.

This week I watched love in action. I watched my teammates be challenged and tried and stretched.

I watched 70 some kids from Quito memorize God’s word and hide it in their heart.

This week I watched 15 young people build crucial relationships to pass down God’s principles to the next generation.

And today, I watched as it all wrapped up and came to a close.

Week one in Quito: accomplished.

Goodbyes were said. Bandanas were signed…..and signed some more. As the kids were filtering out, saying their last goodbyes, I couldn’t help but notice the impact of love. These kids, who were once stoic on the first night were now beaming with joy - love brimming over.

 

Love makes a difference. It really does.

Tomorrow we leave for Esmeraldas, a city on the coast of Ecuador. We leave behind Quito, just for a week - but at the same time, I feel we are leaving something more than that.

We are leaving Casa Del Padre, the faithful house on the mountains.

We are leaving hours of planning, traveling and discussing.

We are leaving the congregation at the Church in Quito, the one that has so graciously opened its arms to us.

We are leaving 90 shining faces that left smiling every night this past week.

We are leaving a legacy.

7 days.

1 church.

96 kids.

5 colors.

15 Brave young people.

7 translators.

1 amazing week

Week 2: Esmeraldas here we come….

Laura, for the team

 

(Editor’s note: Please pray for us as we travel to Esmeraldas. Six hour bus drive! We don’t know what our connectivity will be once we get there, but as soon as possible, we’ll blog to let you know just how different it is at sea level than in the mountains. Talk to you soon from the Ecuadorian coast of the Pacific Ocean!)

Pictures courtesy of Laura Clawson.

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Blog, Ecuador 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.