One week done already!

As I woke up this morning and realized it was already Wednesday, I could not believe that I had already spent a whole week here in Ecuador. Much has happened and I definitely have the tendency to be rather profuse and, well, just plain wordy with my posts, so I will try and keep my thoughts organized and succinct :)

So Saturday night we returned from the pool and felt so relaxed. Granted we ended up taking a bus back and had to wait long enough for the mosquitos to do their damage, but we felt we truly earned our dinner that night. And the ice cream we went out for later. A rather dangerous habit since ice cream is only a dollar and we tend to frequent the local ice cream shops quite often. Just supporting the locals every way we can!

Sunday morning was fantastic. Not only were we able to sleep in later than we ever had, it was a gorgeous sunny day and made the walk from the apartment where we are staying to church much more enjoyable--since normally it is a good 20 min walk and we end up taking taxis because we are lazy. I mean, exhausted from so much work. As we arrived at church, I was reminded of one thing I absolutely love about Lainto churches that at the same time causes me to cringe--the volume and quality of music. They were singing and playing for all of Macas to hear, and they were making a joyful noise to the Lord, I am just not sure if they were able to hit every note quite right. Lauren and I smiled at each other quite a few times during the service. But that was beside the point. It was wonderful to be worshipping with my brothers and sisters who immediately welcomed us and greeted us with holy kisses on the cheek as is the custom. I was able to understand the worship songs and the sermon, and was encouraged, challenged, and blessed by the pastors (hour long) message.

After church we went out to lunch for another delicious and traditional ecuadorian meal, then we prepared the church for the arrival of the American team. While we waited we went and enjoyed another ice-cream, of course. When the team arrived, it was so fun to see all the families together. There are 27 people from Salem Alliance Church ranging in ages from 5 years old to, well, a grandma, and they all bring unique gifts and interesting perspectives to our time here. We had a team meeting and a nice dinner at the church, then we attended the evening serive at the church as well. There are actually about five services a week including Bible studies, so the church is a very central part of life. While much of this may stem from the fact there is not much to do in Macas, it is a challenge to me as I evualate how much time I spend in fellowship and discipleship.

Monday could not come quickly enough for me. After all the cleaning, planning, and organizing of supplies I was greatly anticipating the arrival of the children for the English VBS camp. One interesting thing is that we are doing the VBS program Son Rock Kids Camp, which is the same one my church at home is doing. I have been thinking and praying about that program, which I believe starts next week so will run concurrently with what we are doing here, and it is amazing to me that God´s children from all parts of the world will be learning His truths in much the same way. Granted, the kids here don´t quite understand everything that is going on and I need to translate a bit, they LOVE LOVE LOVE the songs and can belt those out in English, hand motions included.

So Monday I found out that I had twelve students in my english class (ten and eleven year olds) and I could feel my heart bursting as they sat in my classroom and learned their numbers in English. It is a little tricky because we only have 45 minutes of actual class time, then I take them to all the traditional stations, music, games, snack, and computers (instead of crafts). So I am not sure how much English they are actually learning, but I am having so much fun getting to know them and biting my cheeck as they attempt to repeat bible verses in English. They all call me "Profe" or if they remember they will call me Teacher but never Miss Linnea, which is how I introduced myself. They just stare at me and say, "¿Como?"

After the VBS camp we had lunch with the team and I hung out a little longer with one of my students, Linda, whose mom is our cook, and I loved chatting with her and trying to keep up with her excited ten year old spanish as we waited for lunch to be ready. Amazing food by the way...you would never think it but bananas stuffed with cheese, chicken soup with french fries, and rice and beans can truly satisfy.

After lunch we had a much needed coffee break and then went back to work getting things set up for Tuesday. It was also mine and Lauren´s turn for laundry, and the whole time I thought about how much I appreciated our new washing machine. While I knew there wouldn´t be any hot water (showers are generally electric here and the water that runs through the house is always cold) I didn´t anticipate needed to scoop water, bucket by bucket, into the waching machine before starting the cycle. But I am grateful that I have a washing machine facility to use, becuase my clothes get pretty disgusting after a day of working and, well, sweating here in Macas. The rest of the afternoon seemed to fly by and before we knew it dinner was being served. After dinner we just went to an internet cafe for a while then went to bed a little earlier, so that was nice.

Tuesday I had three more students and I learned to be more flexible in my lesson planning. One of my favorite parts of the day is music. After trying for 45 minutes to get my students excited about speaking english, or making any noise in general, to see them belting out songs, more or less in English, and dancing is so awesome. The only not so awesome part is we all have the songs stuck in our heads all day long. I still have a fancy little jingle in my head right now about Keepin My Eyes on Jesus...and not even the spanish rap music in the internet cafe can take it´s place, so that is saying a lot about how memorable those songs are. I also love snack time, because I can just sit and chat with my students and laugh with them--I hope I am laughing with them and it isn´t them laughing at me...My second favorite part of the day is games because my students go CRAZY playing vollyball, soccer, doing relay races, and all those things. We played dodgeball tuesday and I hope it was a sign of endearement that they kept chucking balls at me. I was grateful when the siren bell rang and it was time to go to computers for sure. Though the computers station is probably the most boring. I understand that it is important for the students to have exposure to technology, but I would much rather be doing crafts with them than watching them type on word. But they do learn a fair amount of English through these activities as well, so that is good.

Tuesday afternoon we did more lesson planning and cleaning and such and then as I was walking down the stairs of the school a large truck came filled with wooden chairs for the school. As I helped unload the truck, Edison, one of the full time teachers here, asked if Elaine and I would like to go back with the truck to pick up a second load. Riding in the back of pick up trucks is one of my new favorite things to do here in Macas and so I gladly agreed, and despite the fact that I was wearing a skirt I hopped into the truck and the adventure began. We went a little further out of town and had a view of the river valley and it was gorgeous. Of course I didn´t have my camera, but the photos are forever in my heart. Oh, and did I mention that we were in the back of the truck with a group of boys from a place called Hope House, which takes in boys who have been abandoned or who would be incarcerated and gives them a home, an education, and teaches them carpentry. I am sure they were pretty amused by two white girls riding with them to unload chairs--and one of them in a skirt. When we arrived at the house it was gorgeous and it was so amazing to hear the story of the couple who runs the home for the boys. It is actually an American woman how lives here now with her Ecuadorian husband. Don´t worry mom, I didn´t get too many ideas :) It was fun to talk with the boys and see them laugh at our pathetic attempts to load chairs into the truck, and our equally pathetic screams of surprise as we went over bumps and up large hills in a very unreliable pick up truck filled with heavy wooden chairs. I know I can´t really capture in words how beautiful and meaningful to me this unexpected side journey was, but I hope you can imagine a large, dirty old truck filled with giant wooden chairs, "delinquent" boys who now know Hope, and a few white girls just trying to soak it all in as they wander the streets and jungles of Ecuador.

Tuesday night we spent time getting to know the team members more, and what an incredible encouragement they have been to me. One of the other English teachers is a professor of TESOL and had many good stories and perspectives for us girls as we are scrambling to find a way to instill any amount of English in our students. After leaving the church we went out to ice cream (I suppose you can see a pattern here) and then went back to bed, thankful for the opportunity of rest.

Today was similar in routine to yesterday, my students still call me just Profe, they still don´t speak very much English, but we have a lot of fun together. When I pulled out pictures of my family and friends to show a few of the girls during snack, they all swarmed my table and had so many questions about Los Estados and my family and where I lived. It was fun to just share in conversation with them and laugh with them. This afternoon we went home and took a nap. It was so nice to rest and feel more refreshed to come back to the school and tackle the task of organizing the donations that have come in so far...which I wouldn´t say I accomplished much because my brain was still foggy from my nap, but it was a fun afternoon anyway. Then it was time to eat again, crazy, and now we are back in an internet cafe and hoping to maybe get some guayusa (a type of tea) with some newly made friends and then head home to bed. Last night we put our beds on frames (previously we had been sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and when Elaine found a cockroach in her sheets we knew some changes needed to be made) and so it was even nicer to go to bed somewhat reassured that no little friends would be joining us.

May you continue to see God working in the mundane and the extreme places of your life as I have here in Ecuador. And if you get the chance to jump on the back of a pick up, think twice before you say no.