Merry Christmas

I am currently at my parents house in Indiana. I got here on Dec. 19. I left Cuenca on Dec 13 and spent 4 days in Shell before I came to the states. This was my first trip to Shell. I have not had internet access on my laptop, so I have not had a chance to blog about Shell because I want to include photos. After Christmas I plan to go somewhere where I can use my laptop. I promise I will tell you all about it. What I will say right now is, I think I am going to like working in Shell.

My current plans are to spend the holidays with my family. I will be returning to Ecuador on January 5. I will be going back to Cuenca for one more month of language school (hopefully that is all I will need). Then I will be heading to Shell the beginning of February.

I am very grateful that I am able to spend Christmas with my family. Tonight we went to my parent's church for Chrismas Eve service, then we came home and sang christmas carols. We are having a good time together. I am blessed to have a family that loves me so much.

I wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas. And may God bless you all in the coming year. Thank you for all your prayers as I begin my life in Ecuador. Like I said, I promise to get some pictures of Shell and a blog about my time there as soon as I can.

El Chorro de Giron

On Saturday we went to El Chorro. This is a place in the mountains with 3 large waterfalls. There are trails to the bottom of each waterfall. We went to the first and the second. The hike to the first one was pretty simple, one part up hill where you had to pull yourself up with your arms, but not too difficult.

Then we ate lunch. After this we set out to the second waterfall. The hike to this one is a bit different. We had a guide and we started out on the path to the falls. We got about half way and the guide noted the path was closed. So we went a different way. We hiked up the mountain through some very steep areas (my legs got very tired, very fast) for about 1 hour or more. We got to a place where we could see the falls, but we could not go any further and we were not close to it. This was a bit disappointing. Our guide tried 3 or 4 different trails to see if we could get to the falls from where we were, but no luck. So we turned around. On our way back, we walked past a cow pasture. The original path was on the other side of this pasture. Our guide, with some encouragement from our group, decided we could walk across this pasture and catch the original path which would lead to the falls. So we did. The problem with this was we had already hiked up the mountain for over one hour and this path would be close to one hour as well. This was a more difficult hike. At times we had to pull ourselves up with our arms, using tree roots or rocks. We made it to the second waterfall and it was worth it. It was beautiful.



In the photo to the left (with the waterfall in the distance) is of the second waterfall. You can see our path up the mountain. It is the lighter colored line in the middle of the photo closer to the bottom. After we hiked up that path, we hiked through the forest to the bottom of the falls.

The hike back to the car was a bit more interesting than the hike up the mountain. Those of you are hike in mountains, you know this, it is more difficult to go down than it is to go up. I did not fall this time, but I did slide down several times and I did sit down on purpose several times to slide down on my bottom (this was an easier way to go). Thankfully it was not raining, nor had it rained in several days, so the ground was dry. I am not sure I would have been able to maintain my balance if there had been mud.

The next day, my legs and arms were very sore. They still are a little (3 days later). But it was all worth it.

There are so many beautiful places like this one in Ecuador. Ecuador is a beautiful country with so much to offer in the way of scenery. I hope many of you get the chance to visit this beautiful place some day.

Feria Libre

Feria Libre is the large market in Cuenca. I went there today to get some photos and to buy fruit. There are many sections to the market. There is the section where they have clothes and shoes and other miscellanous stuff (this is only open on Wednesdays). There is the section where they have live animals. The photo to the left is of Cuyes (Guinea Pigs). Yes, they eat these (I have tried it, see my post "Cuy" from October 26). They also sell baby chicks, rabbits, turkey, chickens (all are sold as food). Then there is a part where they sell dogs (these are not for eating), there are always many different kinds of puppies.

The next part I walked through was the fish market. It starts with Cangrejo (crabs). They are bundled in packs of 12 and they are still alive. They can't move because they are all tied to other crabs. Then they have shrimp (these are not alive). Then you get to the part with fish. There are whole fish, fish already cut up but still with skin and heads, and fish filets without skin or heads. In the photo below, there are trout and the large body on the top of the table already cut up is shark. The best part about this table was the dog underneath. He was licking up the juice from the fish on the ground.

Next comes the fruit market. This part is beautiful, there are many colors. The bad part is it is right next to the fish market so that is all you smell.

There is also a part with other meats (whole pigs, guinea pigs, beef) The sell every part of the animal that has been slaughtered. The tongue, the eyes, the intestines, the stomach, the hooves (they make soup with this ??). I did not visit this part today (the fish market was enough for one day).

My trip was successful, I bought some very good fruit (apples, bananas, granadillas).

The Flavor of the Burger

This is the name of a place that makes hamburgers. My friend Juan, loves this place. He thinks the burgers are wonderful. It is just a small little kitchen on the side of the street. There are always several people standing around. You order your burger, wait a little while, when it is ready, it comes to you in a plastic bag. You can either take it home, eat it in your car, or stand on the sidewalk and eat it (this is what many people do).

Well, I had my first flavor the other day. I got the Italiano (it came with ham and cheese). The only reason the burger had any flavor was because it had ham and cheese and ketchup on it. It was flat like a McDonalds burger, and hard and chewy.

The problem is there are not many places here that make hamburgers so they do not know what a good hamburger is. There is a Burger King and a few other local places that make burgers, but it is not something they are used to eating. I say they need a Redamacks or Oaken Bucket!

The First Ecuadorian Haircut

I got my hair cut in September, before I left Massachusetts. Now it is December and I had frizzy, dead ends. I knew I could wait another 3 weeks until I was back in the states for a hair cut and pay $30+ or I could get my hair cut here and pay $3. I am going to have to get my hair cut in Ecuador eventually so why not start now, right?

So I decided to do it. I asked the lady I live with where she goes and if she would recommend it. She did recommend the place she goes and told me how to get there. I was a little worried, because no matter how hard I try to explain to the person cutting my hair, I always get bad hair cuts. So I asked at school, how do I explain in spanish how I want my hair cut. One of my professors told me exactly what to say. To say I wanted capas (layers) and only las puntas (the ends) cut off.

So I went to the peluqueria (salon) and explained exactly what I wanted and showed her how much I wanted cut off (only about 1 cm). She said she understood and she began to wet my hair. She then picked up the top part and made her first cut, about 3 inches off the top. My eyes got really big as I now realized she would have to cut the rest just as short to make it all flow. She thought she was doing a great job. And in reality she gave me a good hair cut it just is not what I wanted.

I think it looks fine, but I don't like it because I worked for over a year to get my hair to an easy style for Ecuador. I could go to bed with wet hair, straighten the front in the morning (about 3 minutes) and that was it. And if it didn't look good, I could pull it all up into a clip on the back of my head. Now, forget it, I can't even put the front behind my ear it is so short. Because I have curly hair, I can't leave it alone now because when my hair is short, my curls are not pretty. So now I have to straighten all of my hair except the back and I can not put it in a clip if I don't have time.

It is amazing how quickly someone can ruin something that I have worked so hard on for so long. But the reality is in about 6 months it will be back to the way it was and I will be laughing at this "bad hair cut". So I am a little annoyed about the whole thing, but I know it will grow, so oh well.

The best part is when I got home from the salon, I told the lady I live with that I don't like it. That I told her one thing and she did a completely different thing. She said they always do that to her too. So now I am wondering why she told me to go there. As for the first cut being in the front, I talked with a couple other women here who said everyone who cuts hair here does it that way. And they also told me that they never get their hair cut the way they want it either. So it appears to be the Ecuadorian way. I guess I have this to look forward to everytime I get a hair cut. Yipee!!

The photos are of my bad hair cut, one with it curly (how it would look if I didn't have time to fix it) and one after I have had time to fix it. Of course with it fixed, it looks fine (not much different than before). The tie dye shirt is a tribute to my good friend Karen!

language frustrations

As of today, I have been in language school for 6 weeks and 4 days (minus the 3 days I was sick). I am reaching the end of the predetermined amount of time I would need to master the spanish language (9 weeks). This week I have been in contact with the doctors in Shell (who are patiently awaiting my arrival) about when I will be starting. I informed them I was not sure I would be ready after 2 more weeks. We decided we would do a little test. The last week that I am in Ecuador, before returning to the states for Navidad, I will be going to Shell for 3 days to work with the docs there. They will then decide if I am ready or not.

I think this has been a source of anxiety for me. As of right now I do not feel ready, and now when I have a bad day (a day where I feel like I don't understand anything) I get really frustrated and my anxiety increases.

The reality is that I can have more time to study spanish if I need it, but we don't want me to study longer if I don't need it. I don't want to start working before I am ready because that will be even worse frustration for me.

Please pray for me during this time.

Thanksgiving Reflections

This year I spent Thanksgiving in Ecuador with the Aviles family (pictured left). We had such a great time. It was kind of last minute. I was invited to the house of a missionary couple here, but at the last minute (about one week before) they found out the had to leave town. I talked with the family I am staying with and asked them if they would like to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal with me. They agreed.

I was going to make the stuffing and mashed potatoes and a cake. And Pachi (the mom) was going to buy some turkey. You see they don't eat a lot of turkey here, so she had never made turkey but knew a man who made turkey and she could buy some from him. On Thanksgiving day, I had class in the morning (because it is not a holiday here), I returned from class around 11:30 am. We had to eat around 2 pm because work began again around 3 pm. When I got home, I asked Pachi how she was doing, she said she was doing very badly. She said she went to buy the turkey and he didn't have any. So she want to Supermaxi (the grocery store) and bought a turkey breast but it was frozen solid. We had about 3 hours cook this frozen turkey breast.

I started making the stuffing and potatoes, she put the turkey in the microwave to try to defrost it. Eventually we decided to cut it into pieces to speed up this process a little. So we did and believe it or not, the turkey was ready to eat at 2:20 pm. So we had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and cake. Everyone enjoyed the meal. The stuffing and cranberry sauce were thngs they had never eaten before. They especially loved the cranberry sauce.

I am so grateful for this family I am staying with. This meal was strange for them, but they willingly ate it with me because they knew how much it meant to me. They have gone out of their way to make me feel at home. I feel like I belong in the family.

I am also very grateful for my family at home in the states. They have supported me in my decisions (as crazy as they may have seemed to them) over the last several years. I know they love me very much and I know they are praying for me while I am away.

I am also grateful for my friends in the states. I know that I will not make it in Ecuador without the prayers and love from my friends. And I know that my friends are praying for me all the time.

Most importantly, I am grateful for my God! He has carried me and continues to carry me through struggles. I feel his presence and his love with me at all times. I know things will not always be easy here in Ecuador, but I also know that he will never leave me or forsake me because he said so.

Navidad

Many of you know how much I love Christmas and decorating for Christmas. The lady that I am staying with found out that I make wreaths. She asked me if I could make a center piece for her table. We went to the "Salon de Navidad" to get the stuff. They have a limited selection of things to make wreaths with, but I found some good stuff.

I made a center piece (pictured right) and a wreath for the door (below). She asked me if I could make two small wreaths for her husbands office as well.

I feel so at home now because this is something I love to do. She helped me some and we had a good time. They also have a christmas tree in the house so it really feels like Christmas. And I bought some Ecuadorian Christmas music.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which is not a holiday here. So it is kind of like I skipped Thanksgiving and moved right into Christmas season. I learned that normally they put up their Christmas decorations on November 10, I am not sure why. So most of the people here are all ready for Christmas.

As for New Years, they don't celebrate New Years, they celebrate "ano viejo" or old year on Dec 31. The parties last until 4 or 5 am and New Year's day is just a day for sleeping. So in a way it is the same as far as the parties are on Dec 31, but the focus is different. We in the States celebrate the year that is coming, they celebrate the year that has past.

El Desierto de Jubones

Yes it is true, there is a desert in the middle of the mountains in Ecuador. I did not believe it until I got there and saw it for myself. How is the possible you might ask? I do not know, but it is true. And even though it is in the mountains, and still at about 6000 feet elevation, it is hot like the desert. It only rains there rarely. There is a river that runs through it, Rio Jubones, the water comes from when it rains in the mountains. On this particular day the river was very dirty because it had recently rained in the mountains so all the dirt was washed into the river.


We started by hiking up the mountain to the left of the river on a path that was anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet wide with a cliff down into the river on one side. The higher we climbed, the more forceful the wind became. Once we got to the top of the mountain, it was difficult to walk because the wind was blowing us, luckily it was going with us, not against us. I was wearing a backpack and at times it was under my left arm because the wind had brought it forward.

There were some cacti and a few other types of vegetation, but as you can see, not much. We saw one small (about 5 inches) lizard, he ran from us very fast, I don't think anyone got a picture, though some tried.

One thing I realize over and over again when I am hiking here in Ecuador is, there really are no standards for safety. You can do what ever you want to at your own risk. Like hiking up the side of this mountain with nothing to keep us from falling down to the river if the wind had gotten just a tad bit stonger. At times I am grateful there are not safety standards, because some of the things I have seen and done, I probably would not have been able to. But other times, I wish there were, because maybe the hike today could have been made safer. Again, inspite of the wind and the slight feeling of fear, I had fun.

The Earthquake

For those of you who have been asking, here is my spanish entry. The english translation follows.

Era jueves, a las 10:13 in la noche. Estaba durmiendo. Me desperte porque oi un ruido alto. Pude ver la ventana moviendose. Pense que alguien en the casa estaba corriendo. Oi al padre gritar "bajen todos" pero, no desperte totalmente. No entendi porque alguien estaba corriendo en la casa en la noche. Cuando me desperte en la manana, olvide lo sucedido, hasta que la madre me pregunto si he sentido el temblor. Entonces me acorde. No pude entender porque el hijo fue abajo dejandome en mi cuarto??

It was Thursday at 10:13 pm. I was sleeping. I woke up because I heard a loud noise. I could see the window shaking. I thought someone was running in the house. I heard the father yell "everyone downstairs" (my room is on the 3rd floor), but I was not really awake so I did not understand what he was yelling. I did not understand why someone was running in the house or why the father was yelling so late at night (you see I thought it was midnight). When I woke up in the morning, I forgot what had happened until the mother asked me if I felt the tremor. Then I remembered. I could not understand why the son had gone downstairs but left me in my room "asleep"??

The Earthquake epicenter here in Ecuador was in the jungle. We just got a tremor and no damage was done in Cuenca. There was also an Earthquake the same night in Chile that did a lot of damage. I do not know all the details about either one (or if they were really the same one). I wish I had been fully awake to appreciate, I hear it was pretty impressive. It lasted about 25 seconds.

Permission to leave

This week, I had the experience of the immigration office. I am here in Ecuador on a volunteer VISA. Because of the type of VISA I have, I had to go to Immigration and fill out some papers to comply with some laws.

First, I had to obtain a Censo. The government maintains a census of Extranjeros (foreigners) in the country. The Censo is proof that I have been counted. It is an ID card of sorts. It also is my proof that I am now an official resident of Ecuador. To obtain my Censo, I had to sign the card before it was laminated (like how old drivers licenses used to be). When I signed it, I signed it like I sign my name now. The immigration officer yelled at me because my signature did not look like my signature in my passport (which I signed 8 years ago, before I was a doctor). He made me sign another paper, with a signature that matched my passport, to prove that I was me. I guess signatures are very important here. But on my Censo is the sloppy signature. This card also contains a photo. He took a digital photo that he then printed on my Censo. Well, I am not sure what kind of software they are using, but the computer elongated my face. So on top of it being a bad photo, my face is very long, so now it is a really bad photo.

Next, I had to obtain a Salida. Now that I am a resident of Ecuador, I have to get the government's permission to leave the country. I am planning on going back to the US for Christmas, so I need a Salida. When I went to that part of the office, I said I needed a Salida. The immigration officer asked me in a very gruff voice where I was going and when. I was thinking to myself, 'this is ridiculous that I have to tell him anything, I am an American citizen and I can go to the US whenever I want to.' Of course, I did not say anything even close to that to him, because I knew I needed his permission to go. So I just answered his questions and he gave me a paper to fill out. I then had to leave my passport, my Censo, and that paper with them and return the next day to get it back. I returned the next day and retrieved my passport, my Censo, and my Salida. No problems. I now have the government's permission to leave the country.

I still am having a hard time processing all of this. I am now a resident of Ecuador, I am now under the laws of the government of Ecuador. Of course, I am a US citizen first, and I am and always will be protected by the US government. But it is weird to imagine that I had to get permission from Ecuador to go back to my home country. The reality is, I could have left here without permission, but then they would not have to let me back in when I return in January. This is all definitely new for me and, as with all new experiences, it takes a while to get used to how things work.

My purpose for being here is to serve God and I have to jump through all these hoops first before I can do that. I will do whatever it takes to follow God's will, and right now, I believe this is all a necessary part of that. I do not want the government to kick me out, then I can be of no help to anyone.

Bus Experience

I am now living with a different family, and I get to take the bus. Taking the bus in Ecuador is an experience. I have done this before, but today was the first time I did it by myself.

First off, the maximum capacity of a city bus here is 50 people. There are 39 seats (mas or menos) and the rest of the people (supposedly only 11) get to stand. I believe at times there are probably 30 people standing. You see, there are 2 people working on each bus, one drives, the other collects the fare and yells out the window what the destination is trying to get more people on the bus. These 2 people, more or less, own the bus. Every fare is pure profit so they want to get as many people as possible on their bus. They never believe the bus is full, there is always room for one more.

There are bus stops, but you can wait anywhere on the bus route and when the bus comes just wave and the driver will stop for you, even if you are not at a designated stop. The same is true for when you want to get off. There is a string or at times a button and you pull the string or push the button when you want to get off. The problem is there may be 20+ people standing in the aisle and you have to try to get past them to get off.

My first bus ride today, I got a seat which is a good thing during the ride, but bad when I was ready to get off. I got up in what I thought was plenty of time to wiggle my way past the people in the aisle, pull the string, and get to the door. Well, there were no people on the side of the road wanting to get on so the driver was going about 40 mph (try wiggling through people at 40 mph). I pulled the string, the bus stopped very suddenly, so everyone standing, including me, jerked forward then backward. Then I had about 4 more people to get by before the door. The driver only stops for a couple seconds. Needless to say, I made it off, but I think he may have started driving again before my back foot was off the step (this is also common). If there is a line of people to get on, the last person will usually have to get on a moving bus because he starts going before everyone is on, yet another tactic to getting more people, always in a hurry.

My second bus ride was slightly more eventful. Again, I got a seat, again not a good idea for when you want to get off. When we were getting close to my stop, I pulled the string but nothing happened. In this bus, there was a button and the string was disabled. So I moved toward the button and the bus stopped suddenly, I almost fell. Some teenage boys smirked. I pushed the button, the bus stopped but the door did not open. You see, I was at the back of the bus and apparently either the back door was not working, or the driver chose not to open it. So now I had to make my way to the front of the bus. Luckily I always try to get off a little before my road, so we hadn't passed it yet. I got to the front of the bus and pulled the string but again nothing happened. Then I realized there is no button in the front of the bus. So I said "quiero salir" ("I want to leave"), nothing happened. Then suddenly the bus stopped. Right in front of my street there were some people who wanted to get on. So I was able to get off.

So, this is what I get to look forward to everyday. I am thinking it will get easier as I get used to it, but I don't know. At least I don't have to walk, that would be over an hour each way.

Cajas National Park

Today I went on an excursion with the school to Cajas National Park. This park is up in the Andes at 11,000 feet elevation. The temperature was about 45 degrees and it rained all day.

For Americans (especially those who live at sea level) it is difficult to breathe up there. We did a lot of hiking (about 4 hours) and walking through water (because it was raining) and mud. I think I fell in the mud 3 times.

We ate lunch in a cave because it was raining. I didn't see any spiders and believe me, I looked.

There is a special type of tree that grows in Cajas (this is the only place in the world where it grows). It is called Polylepiz. These trees were very important to us today as we were hiking in the mud and many times when I thought I was going to fall, I would grab onto the tree.

When I got home, I was soaking wet and full of mud. I had to throw my socks away and my clothes, shoes, and jacket went straight into the wash. Inspite of all this, it was a good day.

Cajas is a great place to enjoy God's creation, it is beautiful and complex.

Cuenca

Cuenca is the city I am currently living in. Cuenca is in the Andes mountains. It is a beautiful city with lots of culture. Here in this photo you can see the top of the new cathedral, which is in the center of downtown. Many fiestas are held in the park that is right in front of the cathedral.

Cuenca is a mostly catholic city with cathedrals being a main focus point. On any given day at any given time (when the cathedral is open) there are many people inside praying to the saints and leaving there candles and flowers.

Lately in my conversation class we have been discussing the religious aspects of Cuenca. It has been an interesting discussion as the class currently consists of me (protestant) and 2 catholics (one from Ecuador, the professor, and one from Germany). The discussion often turns to the evangelical churches which are now present in Cuenca as well. I have enjoyed our discussions, and have learned some about the catholic religion here in Ecuador as well.

As you can see, Cuenca is a beautiful city. I like it alot which is why I am here for the 4th time!

The perspective of a patient

I recently had the opportunity to be a patient here in Ecuador. I have a bad cough that I had attributed to my allergies, but it was getting worse and now had been 6 weeks (I know doctors are the worst patients). So I decided to go see one of the doctors here that I have worked with in the past and whom I trust. He listened to my lungs and decided I needed a chest x-ray. A little bit of background. The day before I went to see him I got an upset stomach and was real nauseated. I did not eat anything all day because I was afraid I would get sick. So here I am now, needing a chest x-ray. To get this x-ray, I had to walk 5 blocks up hill to the nearest place where they do x-rays. Now keep in mind I am weak from not having eaten anything all day the day before. I got my x-ray then I had to wait 1 hour for the doctor to come who reads the x-rays. After this I had to walk back 5 blocks (through a construction zone where they were working on the road. you can just walk right through while they are working, but beware of all the holes they have made.) I returned to the clinic with my x-ray and result, the doctor looked at it and said it was normal but I had abnormal sounds in my lung (which I had heard as well). Now he wants me to go see the pulmonologist. I had to get in a taxi and go cross town to the pulmonologist for another opinion. It ended up that I had a bronchitis type infection and I am now on antibiotics.

Here are my thoughts on this. When someone is sick enough to need an x-ray, we (physicians in Ecuador) make them walk 5+ blocks to get this x-ray, no matter what is wrong with them. Sure they can take a taxi, but that costs money and we already are making them pay for an x-ray they probably do not have much money left. I find this an odd practice, but unfortunatly that is the way it is here.

One good thing is it is very easy to get in to see the specialist and it only cost me $25 to see him.

So you know I am getting better.

Cuy

Cuy is Ginea Pig, this is a delicatessen here in Ecuador. I have been in Ecuador 4 times and I have not eaten Cuy until last night. I have to say overall it was not a good experience.

We had a farewell dinner for the team of American doctors who were leaving to go back to the states. Several of them wanted Cuy so we went to a place that was known for their Cuy.

First, the way the cook Cuy. They remove all the hair and take out all the insides. They load them on a stick (usually 3 at a time). The stick comes out their mouth. They are then cooked over charcoal rotissere style.

It arrived on our table all cut up, basically cut down the middle then in pieces about 3 inches. The head was on the plate as well, and all the legs, still with feet. The mouth still had teeth in it. I was told you have to eat it as soon as you get it because the longer it sits, the worse it gets.

I tried a piece that had ribs. Not much meat on this part and a lot of bones. It tasted like smoked ham, but fake ham, more like bologna maybe. Not horrible, but not really good either. Then the skin, very crunchy, salty (from seasonings I am assuming). The skin I had a hard time with mentally. I only tried one piece, then I was done.

It is an experience I can say I am glad I had, but I hope to never have again. I really had chicken for dinner, that was just something I tried.

I think the thought of eating Cuy was actually worse than eating it. It just didn't taste that good, and I only had a hard time with the skin.

volunteering

This week I am volunteering at Foundacion Hogar in the afternoons. There is a group of doctors from the States here so there are between 100-200 patients per day. So I go in and help out after my spanish classes.

It has been weird for me, here´s why. This is the first time I have seen patients when not in a training program. The other doctors here know my story, they know I did a fellowship and they know I just finished. But they are not family doctors except one (one family doc, one cardiologist, one PA who works urgent care, one NP, and one pediatrician.). So they have been sending me most of the female patients with female problems. And the cardiologist (who has probably been practicing for 20+ years) is asking me questions. This is what is wierd for me. I have always been in a training program, and now people are coming to me when they don´t know something.

Everything else is going good. I am enjoying spanish class, but I feel like I have gone backwards. I am learning more grammar now, so I am trying to say things correctly so I speak so slowly now. I am sure this will improve with practice.

Keep praying as I know this is helping me tremendously. I was reading about David this week. It is amazing to me how many times he messed up big time, yet God continued to bless him. And it appears to me that he ultimately stayed on track, he kept the Isrealites focused on God, and he advanced God's Kingdom. This is encouraging because I know I mess up a lot of times as well, and yet God continues to bless me also. What a great God we serve!!

first impressions of language school

I just completed my first week of spanish language classes. I would have to say it has been interesting. I have studied spanish in the past, but always in the states with teachers who were native Americans. The teachers I have now are native spanish speakers, and do not speak much english. When I do not understand something, they will explain it in spanish not in english. Many of the other students do not speak english either, many speak german. So we can't even help each other except in spanish. Right now it is a little frustrating, but in the long run I think it will prove to be a good way to learn a language.

Right now I go to class all morning, then I have about 1 hour of homework. I usually spend a little more time just going over vocabulary. But, I have to speak spanish all the time because I do not have much contact right now with people who speak english, that has been good for me as well. I am no longer afraid to try, I either try, or I don't talk and we all know that is not going to happen.

We do some fun things at the school as well. This week we went to a museum about the history and culture of Ecuador. We had dance class where we learned salsa. We also had a cooking class, but I did not go to that class.

Overall it has been a good experience thus far.

reflections

Today I would like to reflect on a book and a scripture. I don't read very much for fun because I am usually so busy working or reading for work that I don't take the time (and let's not forget my busy social life).

Right now, I have a lot of free time. I only have class from 7:45 am to 12 noon, with only about one hour of homework. So, I have had time to read.

First the scripture, Job 37:14 "...stand still and consider the wondrous works of God." This is my favorite verse these days for a couple reasons. "The Wondrous works of God" makes me think about nature and nature is one of the major ways I worship. So this verse reminds me to worship. Then the "stand still" part. Like I said above, my work and my busy social life many times take presidence over my relationship. This verse reminds me that I need to stop what I am doing and be still in order to see the works of God. When I am soo busy, I let the world pass me by and that includes creation. This also reminds me that when we are so busy, we can easily miss what God is doing or trying to do in our lives or the lives of those around us.

Now the book. I just read "More Ready Than You Realize" by Brian McLaren. I recommend this book to everyone. It is about evangelism, but not how most of us think about evangelism. Believe it or not, I read this book in 3 days, that maybe a record for me. The main point is that we have to change the way we think about evangelism, or the opportunities God is bringing our way may go overlooked. We have to be friends with nonchristians or they may never see what christianity is all about. I have often had thoughts about how people who are not christians should not be allowed to serve in a church. But isn't this basically keeping them as outsiders? How will they really see what we are all about if we don't let them participate, if we don't let them in. Please read the book, and then lets dialogue about it. I want to hear your thoughts as well.

Now just a few funny things I have experienced since I came to Ecuador. We went to a restaurant and on our way out they gave us a cough drop instead of mints??? We ordered pizza (at Pizza Hut) with choriazo which is sausage but it really had hot dog on it??? I had some hot milk, but it tasted like melted butter (that was the worst one)???

And a sad note, my lizard, Ester, the one who lost her tail for those of you who know, died this AM. She was sick before I left and I knew it was only a matter of time, but I am sad just the same.

24 hours in Ecuador

10/12/07
I have now been in Ecuador for 24 hours. Let me give you the recap.

First, when connected to the internet here at the Sheraton Quito, everything is in Spanish, interesting.

My flight arrived without any problems, I got through immigration and customs easily, my luggage made it with me. And not surprisingly, no one was there to pick me up, (much like my last trip to Ecuador, except this time it was not midnight). After staring at the pay phone for about 5 minutes and trying to make a call, I finally asked someone and found out I needed to buy a special card to use that phone. Now I had the card, but phone numbers are weird here. The prefix is different depending on what you are calling (cell vs land line) and where you are calling from. After about 5 more minutes, I figured it out all by myself, and the call was made. About 10 minutes later my ride arrived and all was good.

I am staying at the Sheraton Hotel and we ate dinner at TGI Fridays (doesn’t really sound like I am in a foreign country, does it?)

Day 2 was a bit different. I joined the staff of Samaritan’s Purse for a picnic with the team for Operation Christmas Child. We drove about 1 hour up and down mountains with 15 people in the van. I saw many of the things that I love about Ecuador. The mountains are beautiful. There are cows randomly on the side of major highways. At one point today we were driving up a “hill”, about 5 people had to get out and walk up the hill because we could not get the van up the hill (when’s the last time you had to do that in the states).
The picnic was fun, the house it was at was beautiful, set on a hill, surrounded by lots of land. The food was good and the fellowship was great.

Tomorrow I am off to Cuenca.

Ready to leave

This is my first Blog post, so please be patient with me. This is a learning process for me.

I will be leaving for Ecuador in one day. I have to say that so far the hardest thing for me has been giving my 2 bearded dragons away. I know the friends that have them are going to take good care of them and keep me posted on how they are doing. But it was still hard. Many people probably do not understand this. Just think about your animals, whether it be dogs or cats, birds, small mammals, or whatever you have, think about having to give them away. It is the same thing.

So right now, I do not think the reality of moving overseas for 2 years has hit me. I will be coming home in 2 months for about 2 weeks. So right now this is just like a 2 month mission trip, no big deal, right? In January when I leave for the remainder of the 2 years is when I think it is going to hit me.

Well, Please keep in touch and send me comments or e-mails.