What?...{Mande?}

In Ecuador, the word "mande" is commonly used as "What? I didn't hear you." It literally means "send it back." This week I have been one of the translators for our short term team and I cannot tell you how many times I've asked people to "send it back" to me because of my difficulty in understanding them.

Last week we had a short term team from Daybreak Alliance church in Harrisburg, PA. They're pretty awesome. They came so prepared for this week and are willing to let God work in and through them in new ways. Their flight got rerouted to Guayaquil so they came a day later than expected. Here's a brief breakdown of what happened in El Carmen.



Sunday: Group of 11 arrived around 9am, we packed our mochilas,3 hour car ride, got situated in our homes, ate supper, went to church. Debrief

Monday: Brandon, a 13-yr-old kid from the church helped me scope out the school for our VBS. We had lunch at his hourse with the whole team. Around 2pm we headed to school to play games with the kids, sing songs, do a Bible story skit, and a craft. I did quite a bit of translating at VBS. It was fun but challenging. Had fun swimming in a river after that. Debrief was full of worship and encouragement

Tuesday: I was supposed to go to Brandon's house to help cook lunch but the ladies only let me squeeze limes for limeade. The rest of the time Brandon & I played UNO and chatted a bit. VBS again at the school, it went well but I was pretty exhausted. Went to a different river that afternoon. Supper & Debrief

Wednesday: Mark & Cheryl finally made it to El Carmen! Team continued digging in the morning, I helped flatten out the dirt that was moved. It was fun because I got to hang out w/ Evelyn & Brandon. They thought it was hilarious when I kept saying "Matalo, Matalo!" "Kill it! Kill it!" to the big chunks of dirt as I stomped on them. That afternoon we went to a parade celebrating the founding of El Carmen. That evening we had supper & went to a church service. Loved worshiping with the church members and got to pray over a couple people who were sick.

Thursday: Last morning of moving that mountain, packed up & headed back to Quito. It was hard for everyone to say goodbye but I'm glad I got to say see you in a few weeks! We have another team coming at the end of the month & will be returning to El Carmen to help some more with building the church. The ladies gave us bracelets and Brandon gave me some of his favorite treasures. They were so sweet.

Friday: We hung out w/ the kids at the home for children whose parents are in prison & did a VBS. Marissa's thinking about going back for a couple weeks to be a "tia" "aunt" where she would be living there and help take care of some young girls. In the afternoon we went to the "Mitad del Mundo" (Middle of the World/Equator) museum. It was cool to be there again & share with some of the team about different experiences I've had here.

Saturday: Marissa & I didn't go with the group to the market because we had to go to Alianza Central church like every Saturday to practice for the mission's conference they're having on July 18th. We had a lot of fun joking around. I'm really glad to be a part of that ministry and hope I can get to know the youth better.

Sunday: Said Adios to the group as they left super early. Sarah from the group is staying as an intern as hopes to find a teaching job here. Went to the Alianza Central church w/ Marissa. I really enjoyed the service. It reminds me a lot of Amistad Cristiana (the church I attend in Iowa). I thought it was funny because the initials for both are AC. Went to lunch w/ Paul & Jemi. I was really encouraged when Jemi said Paul told her that I was really funny. For those of you who have been in an environment where you have to speak a language other than your own you probably understand. It's really hard to get your sense of humor across when you have a limited ability in that language so for him to have said that is kind of a big deal. After lunch we went to Gustavo's to watch futbol but couldn't find the right channel so we decided to go see Toy Story 3 but all of the showings were sold out. Late that night two sisters (Alison & Sara) from Utah arrived. Ali will be here for 3 weeks & Sara for one as interns.

Monday: Had meetings with Mark & Cheryl to discuss our plan for the rest of the summer...this weekend Guayaquil to visit my sponsor child, next week Fundacion Remar & Opcion de Vida, the following week family conference at AC & Otavalo pastors retreat, missions conference, week after that El Carmen again, then VBS (with 200 kids!) in the Quito area valley. I think I decided my creative project will be to make Casa Blanca more "homey" with furniture, encouraging Bible passages, inspiring poems and paintings, etc. in order to make this place more welcoming for the missionaries, and women who will move here for a place of healing and restoration. We started doing devos together as interns and it was a really good time for us to worship, read the word, and pray together. Marissa left for the jungle with Mark, Meylin, Ignacio & Mark back in Lago Agrio.

Tuesday (yesterday!): Went to Fundacion Remar. I enjoyed hanging out with the kids and teenage girls. I heard some of their stories about broken homes which was hard. Some of them also told me it was hard for them living there because a lot of the girls don't get along. Last night we went with Gustavo to a visitation because the father of one of his friends had passed away that morning. In many Latin American countries they hold funerals on the same day so that the family is not alone in their mourning.

Today (finally!): We tried going to the Bible Study at the Women's Prison but they wouldn't let us in with just our passports. Hopefully we can get visitor's cards soon. Instead we went to Opcion de Vida (the street kids ministry) and played futbol & fuseball with the few kids that were there.




Prayer requests:

Pray for Marissa & the gang in the jungle. Pray for health as well as spiritual, physical & emotional healing for the people the minister to.

This weekend all of us (Gustavo, Cassidi, Lisa, Ali, Sarah, Sara & I) are taking a bus to Guayaquil Thursday night (8 hour drive). On Friday I meet my sponsor child Michelita!!! The rest of the gang will be helping at an orphanage. We're flying back to Quito Friday night. Please pray for safety!

Please pray that I am able to connect on a deeper level with the girls at Remar and that God can use me and the other tias for to bring them hope. They need a lot of love and healing.

Please pray for the other SOSers around the world!

Praises:

More funds for interns & Casa Blanca have come in, Gus's wallet was found, having a lot of fun w/ the other interns and the chance to have devotions together each night. God is good!


THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR LOVE, SUPPORT, ENCOURAGEMENT, PRAYERS and FOR KEEPING UP WITH MY BLOG! YOU ARE SOOO APPRECIATED!!!