The first week here...

I don’t even know where to begin with telling you about my first week in Ecuador! The Quito ‘09 conference was already underway when I arrived on Monday night and the rest of the week took off at warp speed! On Thursday, everyone at the conference split up into groups and went on weekend excursions to Bramadora, the Jungle, Agato & Iluman, and one group stayed in Quito. My group went to Agato and Iluman which was a small Kechua Indian village tucked in the mountains north of Quito. The drive there was absolutely beautiful! Here are some pictures:

I didn’t know what to expect, so as we were driving into town I was very curious and looking out every window. I couldn’t believe our huge bus was making it through the narrow, pot hole and man hole covered roads. There were many men still out partying from New Years, sitting on the sides of the roads with beers while others were completely passed out in the gutter. It was quite the introduction to Agato & Iluman and I felt the heaviness weighing in my heart. One of the other missionaries explained to me that many people in Agato and Iluman are very depressed and resort to heavy drinking. Once we made it to the church in Agato where we were staying, you could just feel the light of the Lord beaming and flooding into the streets. Children were playing, laughing, playing soccer, and/or eating ice cream, and loud music was playing. We unloaded the bus and all proceeded to walk through the crowd of people in the church yard. Boys and girls lined up to all watch us as we passed by.

The weekend was filled with hard work on little sleep, but I felt energized enough to make it through. Our team helped build a wall in the school and finished the roof on one part of the building. Here are some pictures:

On the way to Agato, I was exhausted and was wondering how I was going to get through the weekend and just decided to pray about it. I knew there was a little chance of taking a nap or getting a really good nights sleep, but praise be to God, after dinner the first night, we had time to take a 2 hour nap. We were sleeping on grass mats, but I was so tired I was able to sleep, in a room full of people, snuggled in next to people I didn't even know.

I had so much fun meeting so many new people and practicing my Spanish. The food was a bit interesting, but good. They mostly served chicken and soup. I have been worried about getting sick after hearing so many stories of other friends getting really sick, but I just pray before every meal and take my vitamins! :) So far, so good! :)

On the street buying some baked goods......................................some kids playing.......

Here are some of my friends that I have met here....some of them are also interns and will be here with me for at least 3 months. The one girl with the red headband is my friend, Paola, who is from Quito and speaks English really well. She is going to help me with learning Spanish! :)

I was feeling sad that the conference was going to end and everyone was going to be heading back to their countries, but we are all still surrounded by a big group of friends and there is always something going on! We have had some down time to rest after Quito 09, and have slowly picked up speed this week with getting involved with the ministries Inca Link has going on. On Wednesday, we went to the women's prision, had a worship time and message. Afterwards we got a tour of part of the prison. It was very interesting and NOT at all what I would have expected. The woman who brought us on the tour was a prisoner herself and had keys to her wing of the building. The women in the prison are allowed to smoke, have family and friends come visit and go to their room with them and live in their own rooms with a plethora of pictures, stuffed animals, and comfortable living items. It looked more like a dormitory. I have never been in a prison before, but it wasn't what I had imagined. Besides the point, many of these women have come to know Christ and are hopefully making changes in their lives. The whole message was in Spanish, so I couldn't understand what was going on, but I could tell by the looks on their faces and their passion while worshipping that they have a heart for the Lord.

This week has been filled with so much joy, exploring and new beginnings, that it's hard to decide what to tell you all about. The last exciting thing I want to share, though, is that I got to meet my cousins, Margarita, Emi and Andres. My mom's cousin, Diane and her husband Bob (Emi and Andres' grandparents) are here visiting and we had a small bday party for Emi on Wednesday. Here are some pictures from the gathering. It was the first time I met Margarita and the kids, but it feels like I have know them for forever. The kids were climbing all over my lap, and Emi took to doing my hair and dressing me up with her new gifts from her jewelry box.