Hola Mis amigos. DISCLAIMER: I did not proofread this much.

I know I have not said much on what I have been doing here and will be doing so let me tell you what I know.

First I know God has blessed me with the most amazingly hospitable and welcoming people that he possibly could have. Every one is soo nice. At least all the women and girls. ha ha. Nothing against the men at all! I have not met any!!! I met couple of older men at the church (2) and they were very nice as well.

I go to Salva una Vida (SUV) every day. It is a crisis pregnancy center. It mainly serves the poor. Girls come from all over the city for help. Sadly, a lot of girls can not come even though they need the services becuase they cannot afford the 25 cents the bus costs.
I mainly study and practice my Spanish while I am there. I run little errands with the women and play with the babies when they came in.
Friday we celebrated Child's Day which is celebrated in many countries but not the US. We had a party to celebrate all the lives of the babies and their mothers. There was a short bible lesson, a health and nutrition lesson, SUV gave out recipes. Education on how to keep a healthy baby is very low here. Most of the babies that come in are underdeveloped. Small children have very poor nutrition b/c they eat a lot of junk food. I think that it is due to lack of education b/c I don't food is relatively cheap here, even healthy food. I know in the states healthy food is a lot more expensive than junk food and that is a large reason for malnutrition in the States. I need to ask if it is due to lack of ed or a cost difference but I think it is lack of ed.

Ecuadorians eat a lot of rice and a lot of bread. Fine by me! There is also a lot of fruits and vegetables. A typical meal is a hearty bowl of soup with potatoes, veggies, tiny bit of chicken, big fat noodles. Then you have a plate of rice and other food like veggie meat mix or something. I don't know very much b/c I have only been here a week and eaten with the same woman everyday. My Melba!

Saturday I went to the church (La Iglesia Reformada de Gracia) Reformed Grace Church. There was a clinic set up by some American vets that come every year. They cared for 59 dogs in one day! Then that night the church showed a movie. Fireproof! Now I have seen it in Spanish and English. It is funnier in ENGLISH b/c if you have seen it you know it takes place in Albany, Georgia. Some southern humor only southerners can understand. It just Does not translate. Sorry Ecuador. But everyone thought it was really really funny. Every one laughed out loud and cried too. Even the men. But I bet my dad cried in the movie so... What ev.

Sunday was CRAZY. Sunday school. We talked about Justification. Church was atypical b/c the American vets were there so it was translated. After church their was a program for Child's Day. A puppet show performed by two church leader men. I met them both. They are both very funny.

Then we ate these giant hotdogs and their were games for the families and children outside in the back yard of the church. During this time a met a really nice girl (Danielle)who is 22 and trying to get a college age Bible study going. At 2:30 we went to church member's house, Canadian missionaries, and had the first meeting of the college age students. There were six girls and one boy. We are going to look at the Christian apologetic approach to certain issues common among young people. The book is a John Stott book actually.
I stayed at that house with young people until almost 9 pm. I played the game of life with three 14 year olds and a 13 year old. They all are soo nice a I think they like to teach me new words. they kept saying "Miercoles!" (wednesday in Spanish). I asked them why they kept saying it and they said it is to keep from saying a bad word. I am lucky not to know any bad words in Spanish but if I keep hanging out with teens then I will learn plenty of substitutes.

I have had a difficult time explaining my internship in Spanish because I have had a difficult time discovering the names of savings groups in Ecuador. If any of you don't know what I am doing here goes: Near the end of July or into August I will move to a different part of the city. It is up on the side of the mountain. Its name is Atucucho. It is a LOT different from where I am now. It is quite poor and not developed near as much as this part. The research project is called a financial landscape analysis. This just means I will try to find out from the people how they save their money and how they acquire lump sums of money to operate or open a business. (By business I mean extremely small business where most of us have had garage sales bigger.) I will be staying pretty close to the church in this "survey" process. Questions that need answering are: What types of savings methods have the people used? I have a list of a few methods thast consist of saving in groups and savings through another person. What did they think worked? Why? What did not work? Why? What would they like to see in the community as far as a community bank or solidarity bank? Would they like to form a rotating savings and loan group. etc. This data is for the McMahan couple with MTW so that they can help the community organize what ever type of group the community wants. I will primarily use focus groups and we will meet in neighbors homes or the church room/garage.

On Sunday Danielle was trying to tell me what she knew about the Ecuadorian names for microfinance activity. A man who spoke English overheard and he told me what types of savings groups were legal and illegal. He had participated in these types of groups when he was in the states a while back. Names for these groups can change city by city and community by community.

Okay I think that pretty much covers it.

Please pray for
My relationship with Dani -- Melba's daughter who I live with too. She is a lot harder to become friends with than everyone else I have met. She is really really nice too but we never have any time together.

It looks like I am going to be teaching Jewelry lessons to several women. Pray for that. Thanks to the overwhelming support of my financial contributors I am able to purchase a lot of jewelry making supplies and teach women from SUV and Melba and her sisters. There is also a cool girl in the study at church who makes jewelry too. I told her I would let her know when Melba and I were having a bead party. I think Melba and I will go to the store on Friday to buy a lot of the basics. Teaching the women at SUV could potentially be very fruitful for them. If they like it and decide they'd like to try to start a small business selling sets of jewelry then maybe they could get a micro loan to buy the basics. It only takes a loan of a couple hundred dollars to get a jewelry business up and going.

I am having really good prayer time with God, but please pray for my Bible study. I am going through John and looking closely at what Jesus says in hope of learning and falling in love with him all over again. Please pray that God opens my heart to his message. I just don't know what I am supposed to come away with after I read. Pray for that please.

JUST TO LET DANIEL KNOW...I DO MISS YA'LL!