"I haven't had this much fun since I was a kid"--Rita Soine

Short Version:

On Thursday, Rita and I had a blast trying to fertilize trees planted on boggy ground where you sank up to the tops of your boots. A pig was butchered. We helped make Ecuadorian food for dinner. Friday included baby time, singing with the elementary aged kids, and heading off for Banos.

Pray for: Yulisa--to fit in and find her place in the world, for Rosa to transition successfully to adulthood, for Arucely--for protection from HIV, and for Sol--for healing and amazing progress in her development.

Thursday:

Tracy, Jaime, Yulia, and the Pig

On Thursday morning, Rita and I went to the Casa early in hopes of cleaning the chicken coop and the pigsty. We were in luck with the chickens, but they were already in the process of holding the pig down to butcher it. As we cleaned the coop, terrible pig noises came from the other side of the wall as the pig spent its final minutes alive. It was interesting for this city girl to experience a small part of the butchering process. Once dead, they needed to hang the pig up. As it was rather large, we ended up with six or seven of us to lift it up high enough. Yulisa helped with the butchering all morning but said the next day that she had bad dreams about it and didn’t want to do it again.

The Pantry Framework

After devotions at the bodega (maintenance building), Rita and I set out to use the contents of the chicken coop to fertilize some trees. The problem was that the ground was extremely boggy between us and the trees. Yulisa told us what path to take, but I only partially understood and we were soon sinking up to the tops of our boots, and it was clear that our wheelbarrow would not make it any farther. Yulisa came to the rescue and took us a different way. We wheelbarrowed as far as we could, and then set off carrying the bag. It was one of the more comical events of my life, as we continually sank down to the tops of our boots, laughed, tried to decide which trees really needed the help, laughed some more, sank some more, and Rita said “I haven’t had this much fun since I was a kid!”. I agreed. You’d have to be there to really understand, but it was better than an amusement park!!!

Painting

The framework of the metal pantry that Jeff, Chris, and Gernan had worked on all week was ready to transport to the kitchen. We spent some time moving other kitchen equipment, and cleaning and then carried the frame into place. Others from the group spent time cleaning and painting it, but we didn’t get it completely finished.

The Casa de Fe chaplain, Mark Blosser spoke to us about his work in Ecuador. His wife is Peruvian, and I think Mark has spoken Spanish for so long that he sometimes has trouble with English. In addition to his work at Casa de Fe, he does other work with local churches, and I think some street ministry.

Cleaning

We had lunch with the kids, and then Rita and I went back to the hotel to shower. We headed Patti Sue’s house at 2:00 to help prepare supper for everyone that evening. We spent time shredding chicken (I got startled when we found the head and feet in the chicken pot), peeling and slicing plantains, and chopping other vegetables. The Ecuadorian cook who was doing the main work evidently doesn’t normally like how gringos chop vegetables, so I kept asking if mine were OK. She said yes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if inside she was wondering how I never learned to properly chop. Rita chopped cilantro, and I couldn’t imagine how it could possibly get any finer, but the cook wanted more and more and more…

The Life of the Team: Barb and Carol

We had some time to hang out with Patti Sue and Rosa (a girl who has aged out of the orphanage and is living with Patti Sue while finishing school). Rosa taught me my first Spanish tongue twister “Tres tristes tigres comen trigo en un trigal.” (Three tired tigers eat wheat in a wheat field.) I wrote down another one to memorize for the future.

Although Rosa speaks English well, I think she appreciated having an American speak only Spanish with her. She is one who I really connected with over during the last three days of the trip, and who I will pray for. Girls her age are so vulnerable without a family—she could so easily end up on the street if she decides to quit school, or get sucked into a relationship that’s not good for her by a cute boy who is really a pimp, or any number of things.

Empanada and Dump Truck

We enjoyed a dinner of empanadas, “dump truck” (plantains, beans, tuna, and several other things all dumped together), and tres leches cake when the team arrived, and took time to share about our experiences, and what the Casa de Fe staff did well, or could have improved on for us.

That night at bedtime, I decided to do crazy Bible stories with Kendra with my roommates. Stories like Ehud and Eglon in Judges, the ax head floating, and Elijah on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal. Anytime I doubt God, I just need to go to stories like these (especially anything about Elijah or Elisha), and I’m reminded of how great God’s power really is. He can make things right in these kids’ lives, even though I can only do small things for them. He can heal the brokenness, and give them hope and a future.

That night was the only night of the trip that I really slept well, well enough to dream at least. I guess deep seated anxiety must come out in dreams because I dreamed that I got my period early on the plan on the way home. So much for peaceful sleep!

Friday:

Nancy woke up with the song “10,000 Reasons” in her head and asked me to sing it, which I dutifully did. I woke up with “Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory…” in my head. I’m sure Rita and Nancy really started wondering about me when I sang the WHOLE song to them. If you don’t know it, I’d love to share some time. “So Noah, he built him, he built him an arky, arky…”

We loaded our luggage into the Casa truck after breakfast, and started our last walk to Casa de Fe.

Kendra and Sol

Up at the casa, we got to spend the morning having baby time, followed by Chris Zuniga talking to us about “what’s next” for us after this experience. I was hoping for a short adventure to help fill the propane tanks in town (no large tanks with a truck to come fill them in Ecuador!), but I was kicked out of the truck because there were four of us, and evidently the cops are cracking down on overloaded vehicles. They must not care or notice when a 12 passenger van has 13 or 14 or 15 in it!)

Garden at the Former Boys' Home

During baby time, I bonded with Sol. I discovered that she would smile every time I sang “You are my Sunshine”, and I helped her stay in a crawling position, and a standing position (she won’t put any weight on her feet). I tried to love on her as much as I could, and hoped others would take on some of the other babies.

I also had a chance to go up to the school while the kids were having a short recess to interact with them. I taught them the Polar Bear Hunting Song, and we sang more of the songs I had taught on Sunday.

Wish I could have this in my yard...

We had lunch with the kids, and my lunch buddies quickly asked for Josiah’s stuffed animal cat, which I retrieved for them and we enjoyed one last meal together. Lunches at the Casa always started with soup (Locro de Papa one day), and then had a plate with maybe rice, meat (like chicken on the bone. A kid asked for my bones and proceeded to get off all the meat that I didn’t), and yucca fries, or something else. The dishes were metal, and every day "Please sir, may I have some more?" popped into my head as I brought my soup to the table. So thankful these kids are treated 100 times better than the kids in "Oliver!".

We left for Banos around 2:00 in the Casa van, driven by Chris (who didn’t like to slow down for speed bumps), with our luggage in the Casa truck. We made a stop at a home that used to be a boys home. The elderly owners are hoping to keep the (gorgeous) house in ministry and to find people to run it. It had the most beautiful gardens overlooking a river, with a tall cliff across the river.

Taste of Ecuador Meal

After seeing my dream car, an old, purple VW Beetle, we arrived at the hotel (Posada del Arte?) around 4:00 for our free day and had a little time to shop. I helped Rita get something at the pharmacy for her throat, and then we discovered Mama Juanita’s store. She gave me a free purse, bracelet and hair tie as she showed me all the great deals she had for me. I ended up with a sweater for me, a sweater for Katja, and several knitted hats. Jeff and Rae said that she used to be three times as wide as she is now, and had terrible teeth. Possibly due to the Cormorant Lutheran groups, she’s been able to lose weight and fix her teeth.

 

We had a taste of Ecuador meal with a beautifully decorated table back at the hotel. Patti Sue, Rosa, and John Paul were with us. Rita could hardly talk, so she was signing as she whispered and several of us learned a few signs. She led us in the Lord’s Prayer in sign for our table prayer. Dessert was a strawberry-jello-whipped cream concoction of some sort. Patti Sue ordered a beer and gave a bit to Rosa, who let me try it. Disgusting!!!!!!!! It’s the second time I’ve ever tasted beer, and I still don’t like it.

After dinner, Nancy, Jenica, Rosa and I went to the hot springs pools, which were right by the amazingly tall waterfall. Downstairs was a very hot pool and a cold one. Upstairs, they had drained two pools, but we were able to spend some time in the bathtub temperature one that they were in the process of draining, and enjoy the view of the waterfall.

Back at the hotel, I talked to my family, and then went to bed. Sleep was elusive...which gave me time to think and pray...and hope that sleep would come...