One BIG Week

¨Observing¨ the Short Term Team

A lot has happened here since my last entry. Last week I had the opportunity to observe an MTW short term team. When Mike, an MTW missionary, told me that I could tag along if I so desired I was really excited. Not so much that VBS really gets my juices flowin...I was much more excited about seeing how MTW and missionaries who have been trained in how to do short term missions without doing harm operate a short term team. I wanted to see how the missionaries encouraged the team and the relations between the local churches and the team. What I did not plan on was becoming attached to the team and the churches for the whole week. This was by choice mind you. I loved every minute of it. Right now I am in the wealthy part of Quito, the north. The south is a completely different story; no high rises, no mercedes, no perfect people with perfect clothes and hair. One of the other leading reasons I wanted to tag along is b-c I wanted to see how the majority of Quito lived. Honestly, I would much rather be there right now. Aside from every person in the north telling me how dangerous it is, It seems like a much friendlier place to be. I suppose I am referring to the more rural areas. The poverty grows as the communities creep up the mountain sides. In the states the higher you are the wealthier you are, here, its the opposite here due to potable water issues.
Any way... My short term adventures began last Tuesday. I was picked up from my house and taken to the mission house (nice, but not luxerious like some) where I met the 15 people I would be spending next two days with. They were from a Presbyterian Church in Memphis called River Oaks Presbyterian Church. SUPER nice people. Three highschool girls, one college girl, one highschool boy, his mom, their youth pastor 33 yrs, another 33 yr. woman, older man, older couple, 28 yr old guy were among those included so it was QUITE the diverse group and WONDERFUL b-c of it.
We partnered with a Quichua church of about 30 or less members. This church had decided that they wanted to reach out to another community. Well, they advertised to an entire elementary school in a rural area called Caopicho Alto that they would do a vbs there after school. So the 15 of us along with about 15 of them did a VBS for OVER 300 kids!!! like 350 somedays. I will skip details but it was AMAZINGLY organized! Crazy organized, really. I was going to only come with the group on Tuesday and Wednesday but they were so welcoming and needed as many translators they could get so I stayed with them the rest of the week. I even ate with them afterwards as if I were a part of the team. I loved my time with them...
My lesson learned...I need community. It was super encouraging to be with the north Americans for a week. I practiced spanish a lot too b-c I was translating. REALLY FUN WEEK. I went with them to Mitad del Mundo one morning. That is the Equator by the way.

CULTURAL EXCHANGE...CUY!
One day before VBS our group and the Quichua church had a cultural exchange... ha.... ha...hmm. They taught us how to prepare Cuy and we taught them how to prepare...Smores. ha! One involved quite a but more prep than the other. If you don´t know what cuy is, its guinea pig. we were mingling in front of the church when one of the MTWers announced, ¨if you want to see the live cuy come now.¨ So we went upstairs on top of the church. The had a bunch of BIG OLE HONKIN cuy. The women do the prep. They hold the cuy and it looks like the crush the head with their hands but really they are snapping the neck. Some die at this point and some and just stunned. Then the dip the cuy in boiling water and rip the hair off. Then they do some kind of shaving to make sure its good and clean. We did not help kill them but everything else was a group effort. Soon they had a big bucket of dead naked mole rats. I did not partake in the following part. I washed the poles they would be cooked on. Im not good with flesh wounds... They clean out the mouth and the teeth...and the butt. WARNING: GRAPHIC They cut the hole a bit bigger at the back end. Then they squeeze all the guts out like a tube of toothepaste from the head down to the butt. One of the cuy was preggo. Then I think they are cleaned a bit more. Aftern that all the guts are in a pot and they use it for stew. We didn´t have that though. Then we spooned in salt and onions in the same hole everything else just came out of. Then we put it on a big stick and tied it on. I am saying ¨We¨ b-c the group I was with did all of it. It was a learning cultural exchange. I had little contact with the animals. If you look at my pictures you may understand why. Any way every thing was cooked and we ate. Cuy is served with potatoes. GOOD potatoes. I ate my cuy but my piece was a rib piece, not a hip piece so it didn´t have a lot of good meat. The flavor is that of chicken but some is pretty tough or fatty.
After lunch we pretended to teach how to make smores in just as dramatic of way as the cuy process. It was humorous for all cultures and ages present...pretending to snap the neck of a marshmellow and chocolate bar. I also have pics of the Quichua church rosting their mallows. They really loved it. All I could think about the whole time was the line from Sand Lot when the fat boy, i think his name is Ham or something, teaches Smalls how to make smores in the club house. ¨First you take a mallow...then you STUFF¨

News from the Pregnancy Center
On Friday and Saturday we were at a church in the south called Palabra Viva, Living Word. Mike told me that the pastor knew of a young woman with two small kids and now preggo with twins, no man in the picture. The center, Salva una Vida, Save a Life, is in the north of the city--VERY difficult for those in the south to get to. It takes between 1.5 and 2 hours to get to on the bus from the south end of the city. Plus, some of those who need the services could not afford the 25 cents to take the bus.
Any way, When I got home I talked to Melba about it and she said that if the pastor wanted to, the center could come south and do a day in the community. So, the next day I talked to Pastor Jorge about it and I told him stuff about the center... yadda yadda. Well, Now we are in the process of planning a big day at his church. The main thing is that we have to promote it really well b-c we don´t want to go all the way down there with equipment and no one come. I will emphasize this to him again. There is a boy my age, guy I guess, who is down here for the summer. He is living with Jorge in the south but we will attend the same young people thing on Friday nights. This way I can get a ton of posters and cards and pamphlets to him to get to Jorge. This group is every Friday at the church where several MTW missionaries go but not my church.

Jewelry Lessons
As many of you know, I make jewelry. After I had been here a few days I told Melba about my hobby. She asked if I could teach the clients of the center this skill as well as educating them about all the materials you need to make jewelry, primarily earrings b-c it uses less beads. I was super excited about this. THANKS TO ALL YOUR LOVING SUPPORT I was able to purchase all the materials SUV needed to get the courses up and running. I bought several tools and all the other basic materials used to make many different designs of earrings. The first lesson was on Monday. It went very well. Patti, a lady who works here, gives a Bible lesson before I start the jewelry lesson. I have all the materials drawn and labeled on a white board. They copy the info and I show them what they real pieces look like. Then I show them how to use the tools for each piece of material. Melba and I made several models of earrings and they are on display for them to see of each piece is used in an earring. Melba is more creative than me by the way. All she did was watch me make like two pair of earrings for her daughter´s birthday present and now she makes much more beautiful pieces than me! she is really good with color. After the lesson the girls are allowed to make one pair of earrings. We don´t want them to make a ton and stuff b-c if they are going to have ownership over their efforts they need to buy their own beads and materials rather than depending on the center. We also have set up more lessons for girls who want to buy their own materials and bring them to the center for more assistence. The tools really take some getting used to. I was super worried that the girls would learn their skill and then not have any finds to buy there own materials. So, when I was in the south I wrote down the name of every cooperative I saw. I got about ten different ones and there are multiple locations of these. Now, the only thing that I feel bad about is that I don´t know specifics or reputations of each of these cooperatives. A cooperative by the way, is an alternative to the bank. They help you save money and get credit. I have more lessons today, next monday, and wednesday.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for the jewelry lessons that the girls come to their appointments and can find a way to purchase their materials after learning.

Pray for my Spanish. --its getting a little better now, but just a little.

My safety and the safety of my loved ones here. Quito is a very dangerous city with a LOT of thievery.

PLEASE PRAY FOR the day when Salva Una Vida goes to Palabra Viva in the South