Leaving Esmeraldas, Starting Camp
Sunday was our last day in the beautiful city of Esmeraldas. After working all week with children from all over the city, we had the opportunity to visit the main host church for our Sunday morning service. During the service, several team members performed piano and violin numbers and delivered testimonies. Worshiping with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, it was amazing to see that despite the cultural differences, the object of our adoration remains the same. After the service, we were swarmed by children who we had worked with during the week and their parents. After tons of pictures and autographs, we were treated to one final amazing “Esmeraldas” meal.
After our lunch, we headed over to the camp were we would be teaching and living with kids from Quito for the next week. Let me tell you, the transition from comfortable, air-conditioned, hotel rooms to the bare, concrete floor, barely ventilated cabins was rough. Here’s just a little run-down on the camp facilities: no air conditioning, no consistent running water (it comes and leaves ever 10 minutes or so), no hot water, no internet (this blog post is being posted by our faithful team leader, Elizabeth, who is making the long trek to the local internet cafe), and TONS of bugs. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The kids make it all worth it. It is SO much fun to see their expressions at everything from the beautiful beach with its enormous waves to the “larger-than-life” grasshoppers that make their home on the ceilings. Since all of the kids are from the mountain city of Quito, beach trips are a rare occasion for them, and every trip to the beach is a new experience. “Cuando vamos a ir a la playa?” (When are we going to the beach?) is definitely the most asked question. 
Despite the “less than 5 star” accommodations, this week is turning into my favorite week of Ecuador. Even though just getting a shower has turned into quite a feat, this camp has made me appreciate the “little” things of life. (For example, after being in a hotel and bed and breakfast for the past two weeks, most of the team members never missed their own personal towels. Let me tell you, after drying ourself off with old shirts for a day, we have NEVER been so glad to see the towels that the team leaders bought.) This week will truly be summed up in the verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9 - And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
-Nani, on behalf of the team
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A Day Off for the Team
Today was WONDERFUL! After a lovely but exhausting week in Esmeraldes, the team went to the beach!
Thanks to our awesome photographers, we got our team picture set up and over with quick enough. Afterwards we went whale watching and some much needed shopping was accomplished =) One broken shoe and a lot of spent money later, we headed back to the beach.
At night we hosted the youth program at Pastor Louis’s church. Danny (Fox) and Christina shared personal testimonies and Daniel (Cavanaugh) gave a short sermon. As usual the ladies of the church made AMAZING food for us for our last night in Esmeraldes. Afterwards the teens plus some of the team members got together for an impromptu worship group. And it was lovely. To hear half of the teens singing in English and half singing in spanish was truly beautiful. It just showed once again that a love and passion for Christ is never contained by langues or cultures.
Personally, my favorite part of the day was the boat ride out to the whale watching spot. Boat rides on the ocean are truly one of my favorite things. It’s so hard to imagine the fact that the ocean goes down for hundreds and hundreds of MILES. It’s more than I can fathom. How tiny we are compared to everything else. Think about the size of the ocean, the earth, the universe…. but even after all of that, after you feel completely negligible, trivial, insignificant, and infinitesimal… God whispers “I have called you by your name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1b) Wow. I think I’m just gonna go and marvel at the love of God for the rest of my life. =)
Nikita, for the team
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Friday in Esmeraldas
You know that connection that you have with people in the Body of Christ? It transcends culture and location. It lasts for years; kind of like meeting an old friend and just picking up where you left off.
This is how I feel about the people in Ecuador.
We’ve been here almost two weeks already and, still, one of my favorite memories was seeing the smiling faces of my Ecuadorian friends waiting to greet us in the airport as we exited the baggage claim. These people are some of the same people who have been with us throughout this trip as our translators. They are so giving and we would not be able to teach anything without them. They have been a wonderful part of the team!
We were blessed with a whole group of youth to translate for us the first week - Roberto and Sam were the Amazing Craft Team 2 translators A whole team of them came with us to Esmeraldas and have become near and dear to all of us.
One of our translators, Andreita, had to go back to Quito today because of her work. She is less then 5 feet tall and has the most sparkly face and eyes. I have so enjoyed sitting and talking with her on the bus, or when we get ice cream. She will be very missed.
The last day of the kids program was a little different because many of the school children had “examines” that morning. I hope they all did well - sometimes we wonder how the kids learn anything in this learning environment. Some of the same kids came to see us that night at the evening program. All week we have been “encouraging” the kids to sit quietly and listen (and the parents not to talk) and tonight they were really quiet (by Esmeraldas Standards). We told them about how God is Eternal and never changes and that the things they’d learned about Him this week were things they could count on forever.
“Is this the last day?”
“When are you coming back?”
“Look, He’s crying because he doesn’t want you to go”
These were some of the phrases we heard as we ended both the morning and the evening programs. Sometimes it is hard to see the fruit of what we are doing - but I do know that there were many kids who felt loved this last week. I pray that the seeds of God-Love that were planted in their hearts would grow and that when a team comes here next time they will be able to see how God has worked in the people here.
- Amanda, for the team
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Tuesday in Esmeraldas
The kids’ programs started today! Here are a bunch of pictures of the activities, including the morning at the school and the evening program with the churches.
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Esmeraldas Begins…
And so our first week in Esmeraldas begins!
We will be working at a public Christian school called Luz y Libertad this week. We went to the school this morning to meet with Pastor Luis (Papi) and the director of the school. We also spent some time praying over the school and for the kids that we will be working with this week.
Today also started the ritual of three-a-days… that is three showers a day. Because it is so hot here, some of us *cough cough* (me) have been losing a lot of excess water through our pores. It’s pretty nasty.
We are all so excited to be working with the same people that we worked with last year. The hearts of the people here never cease to amaze me! They are so loving and kind! I don’t know that I have ever met a group of people that loves complete strangers so sacrificially!
We also did some training for the Ecuadorian teams that are going to be helping us in the children’s program this week. There were about 50 Ecuadorians who showed up excited to help this week! Boy, are they going to be such a blessing with this week’s children’s program as large as it is!
Pray for us this week, as we will all be stretched so much farther than we would naturally like to be! Pray that we will rely on Christ to give us the extra strength that we don’t have in ourselves.
In Christ Alone,
Nathaniel
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Sunday: Arriving in Esmeraldas
(Dearest readers and followers of this blog, I would like to preface this post by telling you that today we drove a very uneventful seven and a half hours from Quito to Esmeraldas today…)
Beep……………….Beep……………Beep…………Beep……..Beep…..Beep, Beep……Beep, Beep……. Beep, Beep…….. Beep, Bee-CLICK!
The lovely sound of David’s alarm clock was the sound that was first heard in our room of four boys this morning. (Me, Daniel Fox, David, and Tim) I lay they for a while meditating on getting up and what that would feel like. I finally arose, skipped a shower and went straight to the breakfast table. Breakfast was… well…. what we always have for breakfast (egg-something and bread). After a short meeting we hit the road. Our first stop was the “equator.” (I say “equator” because it the place we went and took pictures was not actually the real equator. The real equator is actually about 40 minutes away. Smooth, ay? But we did actually cross the equator later in the day.)
After a ridiculous amount of pictures we moved on to more important things such as driving… driving…. Driving…. And driving…. Driving….. driving…. and TIRE CHANGE….. Driving… Driving….. Driving….. and LUNCH….. driving…. Driving…… driving…… and SINGING….. driving…. Driving….. driving…. And BRIAN REGAN (a comedian)…. Driving… Driving…. Driving…. And GAS STATION…. Driving….. Driv-(You get the point).
Finally we reached Esmeraldas. We checked into our luxurious half-size rooms and then piled back into the bus to go eat dinner. We pulled up to the school. As we walked through the gate we were shocked and amazed by the amount of people that had shown up to this so called “dinner.” It ended up being more of an evening show then a dinner! First off on the agenda was the rain… Yes, Rain and lots of it. We had to dry off all of the seats before we sat on them. (Did I mention that the dinner was outside?) However rain or shine… the evening still went on! There was singing, dancing, and speeches from the Ecuadorians to give us the, hands down, best welcome to any city, country, or event that I think I have ever had! To add to that was the food that followed! (I have been sick for the past week and have not been able to eat food of any kind, however I ate THREE PLATES of food tonight!) Needless to say, the food…. WAS AMAZING!
It was so refreshing to see all the familiar faces that we left behind last year! The care that these people had for both God and us was evident in every little detail that they put into this fabulous dinner, from the flower arrangements, to the program, even to the gifts that they gave us! I am so excited and anxious to see what God is going to do through these amazing people and churches over the next week!
John
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Day of Rest
Saturday July 23, 2010
…and on the 7th day, they rested.
After a very full week of kids programs we were blessed with a much needed free day. This included a trip the a “waterfall” and shopping and dinning in downtown Quito. We drove to what was projected to be a quick 30 minute drive to the waterfall, (for your information, Ecuadorian time projections should be multiplied by 4), 2 hours later we arrived at the destination. As it turned out, the waterfall was no small hike so a quick change of plans and before you knew it the team members were flying down a zip-line.
Over the many hours of commuting it gave me time to think through the past week. First off, I can’t believe we’ve only been here a week! It has been amazing to see the child who on the first of the week was a raging wild animal bitting at any person in sight at the end of the week had his arms draped around his teacher. Many team members had already faced sickness and we were finally seeing light on the other side. And finally, is has been precious to see how God has knit the hearts of all 22 team members is such a short time. God has given each of us a heart for these people, and trust me, they aren’t always the most easy children to love. And yet, now it’s hard to imagine life without them.
As the evening came to an end I found myself strolling down a cobble stone street that reminds me of some place in the U.K. It felt so peaceful and relaxing, like the calm after the storm. Over all the ups and downs I have seen God’s faithfulness shining through. It is so beautiful how God uses each team member and their gifts to create His grand masterpiece. This coming week we are given a new set of challenges, I wonder how will God continue to use us in this beautiful land?
For the team, Lorianne Barclay
Nathaniel and Amanda
Brandon and Daniel
Hannah gets ready to fly
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Wednesday in Quito
Today was a day of adapting and being flexible, as a few members of the team got sick overnight (24-hour flu bug). Shuffling around the small groups, our team demonstrated amazing teamwork to fill the missing teaching positions. Today was our third day at the church in Quito. The children are just beginning to remember names and make connections with specific members of the team. It’s so incredible to see the way the children bond with us even when we completely butcher their language and agree out of ignorance to everything they babble.
Currently we are conducting two vacation Bible schools at two different churches. The morning event is significantly the larger. I have to admit the first day of the morning VBS was rough. It was hard to tell whether or not we were connecting with the kids since there were SO many of them. That changed when I arrived the next morning. Immediately I was greeted by a little boy, Mateo, who remembered my name! While this may seem to be an insignificant incident, it was incredibly encouraging to see that at the very least the kids were remember our names. Mateo has definitely become my little buddy at the morning camp. He’s always the first to greet me when we arrive and always the last to hug me goodbye. It’s always a delight to see his, as well as the other children’s, face light up when we sing the songs or practice our Bible verses. He’s almost become a little reminder of the potential impact that our team could have.
The second VBS is at a church in Carapungo, a separate section of Quito. This VBS is significantly smaller so its been easier to connect with the kids. The children, as are the ones in morning church, are always so full of energy, even at the end of the day. Their energy literally infects our team as we transform from tired people coming off a bus to teachers chasing kids around in games.
So far Quito has been quite the roller coaster ride. At this point the main prayer request is for physical strength for the team. Both for the sick members and the healthy (for now) members of the team. Pray that God would quickly heal those who are sick and give those who are healthy the ability to pull the slack. God has been so good to our team so far and we are definitely learning to “count it all joy.”
–
Nainisha Risa
1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your cares upon Him because he cares for you.”
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Tuesday in Quito
So today is Tuesday and we are in the lovely city of Quito, Ecuador. The showers are ice-cold, the food is fantastic, and the people are absolutely wonderful. Some of the team (including me) has a sore throat and not much of a voice. Despite the altitude headaches, today was a lovely day =) This morning we went to Pastor Benjamin’s church for the second day of church-camp. All the kids there are beyond adorable, but let me tell you, 5 year old Ecuadorian twins are THE cutest thing. Zoe and Gustavo, have honestly taught me more than anything else. They truly have so little compared to me, yet they are the happiest twins I’ve ever met. Their laughter is completely infectious and you can’t help but smile around them. And if they can be happy with so little, what excuse do I have?
Another thing the whole team has been learning is going outside our comfort zone. Because trying to teach 40 screaming kids with no voice is definitely a stretch (props to John and Danny for doing that). Besides the sickness, because of the language barrier even talking to a kid over snack break can be a stretch. (Don’t worry mum, my spanish is improving muy rapido!) It’s pushing us to show love even when it’s not easy.
Three more weeks? Bring it on! =)
Nikita, for the team
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