Minintry trip Cuenca 2010

We just got back from a 10 ministry trip in Riobamba, Alausi, Cuenca and SiqSiq.  It was an amazing experience sharing God's word and love with the people of Ecuador.  We had 20 people, we did Kids ministry in 3 places, did Evangelism and lead church in 2 places and painted and added on to the roof in the Cuenca District Center!  God is good, here are some pictures of our week!!!

Soy de La U!!!!

So last Thursday night we went to a soccer game, LIGA or LA U (I don't know why it is LA U but it is) So it has been a while since I've been at a soccer game...let me think since somewhere around 2001 my senior year in College when the Messiah Falcons (my alma matar) won the National Title!!! WOO HOO and well this game was a tad different. First of all I have never been in a stadium where people sang, chanted and screamed for the entire and I mean ENTIRE game. They have so many specific chants and songs especially for La U. It was like church no it was more exciting then church, if only people would get as excited to go to church as they do to go to a soccer game. They sang in the loudest voices I have ever heard, they cheered, I'm sure some people prayed and it was just intense...what would happen if we did that in church??? Anyway it was a great game we won 7-0!! WOO HOO There were flares, we threw rolls of paper, people ran towards the fence when we got a goal...in fact that was a tad scary, all the people behind us just started running and pushing, and then of course there was the shower of beer that came sprinkling down where there was a goal. It was a lot of fun, definitely a cultural experience and hopefully we will get to go again :) Here are some pics so you can get a better image of my LIGA experience :)

Waiting for the Game to Begin!!

Part of the gang! Harrison, me, Kim, Christyn, Lucy and Kristin (siga no mas)

Lucy and Salomon

Me and Kimmy!

Harrison and I :)

Yes that would be some kind of smoke, powder stuff we were covered in it :o

Liga in the white! That guy in the middle we ate dinner with him once, ok well not really we went to eat Empanadas and he just happened to walk in while we were there!

First Goal!! Woo Hoo and this is what happens the fans climb the fence

Yoan, doing the "fan thing"

LIGA de ECUADOR!!!!!

Las 3 Muskateras :) The Three muskateers!

WE were very happy LIGA was winning!

Yep more of that flare, powder stuff, this time it was pink :)

Getting ready for another Goal!!!

And THERE IT IS!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!

More fans climbing the fence...OH WAIT that is one of our NILI's Kevin (with the backpack) and a seminary student (Patucho)

Last Goal and we won and the Aliens came to climb the fence :) haha, never a dull moment!
YEAH LIGA!!!!!

Oh my how time flies...

Well, I just have to tell you it's been alittle busy around here lately and unfortunately towards the bottom of my list of things to do is update my blog. I always have good intentions however it seems sleep usually wins on that debate. Anyway there is no way I can write all that has happened since I last wrote which was waaaaay back in sept. Oh goodness how time flies! But I will post some highlight pics of what has been going on. I must say I can't believe we are three weeks into November, in one week I leave for 5 days in Galapagos with our NILI classic students this trip seemed so far away when I first got here in August, in two weeks I will be on my way to Shell for out last trip of the semester, in three weeks I will be 31 :O and in four weeks I will be home in Pennsylvania so needless to say things aren't going to calm down at all in the next few weeks :) But it's ok I must say God has blessed me more then I could ever have imagined and more then I can ever explain in allowing me to live this life, I Love it and all because He called me and I was obedient to His calling! Thank you Jesus for this wonderful life I get to live and Thank you that you are with me every step of the way!!! TO YOU be the all the Glory and Honor, Praise your Holy Name!!!

So I hope you enjoy the pics!

This is Cotopaxi, one of the beautiful mountains here in Ecuador...this was on our way to Riobamba for our ministry trip waaaaay back in Sept.

Every time we go to Riobamba we visit and hike up Mt. Chimborazo, it is the highest mountain closest to the middle of the world...and here I am on top of a monument close to the first refuge at Chimborazo and you can see the top of Chimborazo behind me...it's really high and hard to breathe up there!

Here we are in Riobamba for our ministry week. Project #1-sod the front yard of the church and District center...when we arrived there was a big pile of dirt, here we are almost finished! Everyone was very dirty after this job...I was sad because I had been sick and couldn't help "play in the dirt".

Ministry Week Project #2-We built and painted these desks for the children at the church, they are starting a Compassion International program at the church and last May NILI and a team from Mount Vernon made benches for them, the kids had been praying for some desks and God Blessed us with the opportunity to be an answer to their prayer!

Ministry Week Project #3-We visited the Riobamba School and sang and practiced our Spanish and English with the kids and of course we gave out candy! Here are Kevin and Christyn (our two NILI classic students) giving out the sweets!

Ministry Week Project #4-Once the pastor found out that Jill (a wife of one of our professional students) liked to paint he asked her to paint a mural for the cross on the front wall of the church. Here is Jill and her final project!

With the Ministry aspect of our trip completed we headed to the coast for a different side of Ecuador. On our way we came across snow...so of course we had to get out and play in it...yes I was in flip flops and capris...we were on our way to the coast aka warmer weather...never did I think we would have to go through snow...just shows the variety of weather and experiences we have here in Ecuador :)

We made it to Guayaquil and my new favorite restaurant "Cafe Teri" where you can get all traditional coast food, which is very different from sierra food (or Mountain food-Quito is in the mountains so we eat alot of mountain food aka RICE...coast food is very different) So here was our sampling of coast food...We had ALOT of food and it was sooooo good!

After a few days of sighseeing in the largest city in Ecuador-Guayaquil- we headed to the beach. Because if we travel 8 hours to the coast we HAVE to go to the beach. So here are Kim and I in Salinas with the catch of the day!

After a week on the road we headed back to Quito while we were comfortably riding inside our sprinter in seats we were reminded to be thankful for our van because if not we would have to ride back to Quito in public transportation...which sometimes means your seat is anywhere there is room...even on the roof!

The first weekend in October we headed to Otavalo for a weekend of shopping at the largest outdoor market in the world and to enjoy the Indiginous Culture of Ecaudor. Sunday morning we worshipped in a Nazarene Indiginous church here are some of the ladies!

We had a new NILI professional family join us right before this trip. The Benedicks are here studying spanish so that in December they can move to Shell to be Medical Missionaries. They have two great kids Caleb (3) and Jael (1) The two kids are always making new friends, here is Jael making friends with the Indiginous people...they call her muñeca because she has blond hair and blue eyes, and if you go to a toy store and look at the dolls 90% of them have blond hair and blue eyes!