God is soooo Good!

Brief updates: 

My camera could not begin to capture the beauty of Paltabamba and Guaranda. Nuff Said

God sustained my health throughout the week despite conditions my body was WAY not used to. Thanks for prayers SO MUCH. I would not have enjoyed being sick there in the least...I am enjoying being sick here, in my house, AFTER my return!

Okay, so I went to Guaranda, Ecuador, WAY smaller than Quito but bigger than Ringgold by a few times. It was way in the mountains and more beautiful than I could describe. We slept in a hotel in Guaranda, a huge blessing I was not expecting. I think it proved to strengthen our abilities during the day as well as grow our gratefulness. Zero or painful sleep would not have been good to run on, especially since I didn´t get any sleep the night before we left for Paltabamba. I was and am sooo grateful! 

Paltabamba is the name of the area directly to one side of Gauranda. It is across a small gorge with a large creek flowing through it that comes from a nearby snow capped volcano called Chimborazo. Each morning a truck from Palta came and picked us up and I enjoyed the view from the back like all the other Quichua. Its kind of like a Quichua taxi system. Everyone starts walking in the direction the need to go. The trucks have metal bars on the sides up to my armpits-ish and another bar along the middle as high as my shoulders so a ton of people can fit in and we all stand up and hold on to the bars, if ya want. When you want a ride you simply yell ¨Espera!¨ , Wait.  then you hop in. When everyone is in you yell ¨ya¨. When you want out you yell ¨Gracias¨. then you pay the driver 20 cents. One morning when it was only me and Cefora, age 9, granddaughter of Cecilia, an Ecuadorian missionary in charge of the VBS, I took some video. I would not take out my camera if I was with Ecuadorians other than missionaries b-c no one has camera and it shouts to my wealth even more than my pink face and what they call blonde hair. I took pictures all during the week at the church though. One of my jobs for the team that week was to be the photographer.

This week was a wonderful leadership opportunity for Cecilia. She is an amazing organizer and knows a lot about Quichua context. When we go do VBS´s in these communities it is more than just a VBS. When the MTW missionaries are involved it is for the purpose of teaching church leadership in young churches with little or no leaders or pastors. This was the first VBS for the church in Paltabamba. The Sunday school teachers were the main leaders. they are girls all younger than me. During this time the three or four men leaders, typically the father´s of these girls, were learning some basic doctrine from Segundo and Rick, other missionaries who know Quichua (Even though they use Spanish for almost everything). 

The first day we had about 80 kids. But we ended up with 125. I did the games. This was a unique opportunity for me and for the community b-c I was the only Gringa there. In Quito my nick name is ¨La Gringita Bonita¨ but while I was teaching in Paltabamba they called me Lacy and ¨Señorita Gringita¨.  We had a meeting after the first day with four older men from the church. The four girls who led the groups and us three from the MTW team. (Me and Cecilia and Ritha) Cecilia asked me if I would teach English lessons to the kids as one of their activities. Apparently they think it is really fun. So thats what I did for the rest of the week. It didn´t go exactly smoothly considering I had no materials so we improvised.  That night I brainstormed and tried to remember the games I learned when I was learning Spanish in middle school. The next morning I drew some hideous pictures of people, clothing, and animals. It was quite humorous b-c I had an audience of about ten kids. I drew the pictures and let them color them however they liked. Ha ha. a few times I started drawing one four-legged animal and then I asked them what it looked like so by the end it was a different four-legged animal than I had intended.  All the kids learned Head and shoulders, knees and toes. 

The miracle of my health.  Yes, I am sick now, but I was not sick at all last week. The reason it was a miracle is b-c my body could not have been prepared in any way for the conditions of what I ate last week. I ate normal food, potatoes, corn, chicken, but the church does not even own soap and we all shared dishes that they had been sharing for years and had never been washed. Food was served from the same containers where we put out dirty stuff. This is why it is a miracle of God I am not sick until now.    

After VBS one day I learned the game called Tira Libre. Free Throw. It was super intense. One day I only watched the game and took an inconspicuous video and explained it from an aerial view. I hope I end up playing it again somewhere.

Que Mas... Que Mas...

The women received gifts from the older women who prepared the food. Me, Cesi, Ritha, and Betty all received a big ole honkin thing of queso. That was a super nice gift for us. 

Interesting business story:

The man who drove us to and from Gauranda was Ritha´s niece´s husband. They own a fingernail place. Manicure´s for a 1.50 ladies. Any takers?  I have never gotten a manicure before but I am going with Ritha and her daughter Marina sometime soon. I like to be fixed up and pretty but I am way to cheap to spend money on a manicure in the states. Here, I am making an exception for the bonding experience with Ritha and Marina. plus, a dollar fifty is quite different than the states....actually, I don´t even know how much it costs? Katie, How much would you save by getting your nails done here, excluding the cost of transportation??  

I sat in the front of the manicure van with Rodrigo on the way to Palta. We got in a conversation about my internship so I asked him how he saved enough money to start the nail salon. First, he saved enough money to buy a cheap car, then he bought a nicer one, then he bought a nicer one, then he bought a nicer one, then he sold it to start the business. Isn´t that an interesting way to save?! (maybe not the safest, considering a car is stolen every 15 minutes in Quito, and there is probably no car insurance involved, and the car devalues pretty quick, but still fun if you like cars, and what else are ya gonna do if you don´t trust a bank?).

There are a LOT of cooperatives here, including a lot of Quichua cooperatives. One example is Mushuc Runa. That means New Man. It is either Christian by name or has christian influence. I am going to visit one with Segundo  sometime so that I can ask questions and stuff. He has friends who work in one near his house. That would be a shame if I came all the way here and never visited a cooperative. 

I don´t know when I will be able to put the pictures up. The wi-fi I had been picking up from one of the neighbors is down. 

  

I'm changing to Quichua

Hey party people

Nothing much has happened since the last blog. I hung out with Patti's daughters and they made me put on this dress and tiarra. Probably b/c I am the Gringita bonita. (joke). it means pretty white girl. The joke is that I have so many rules here of what I am not allowed to do by myself, almost everything. So I say No puedo hacer nada sola porque soy una gringita bonita. - I can't do anything alone b/c I am a pretty white girl. to see pics of princess Lacy you can clickear aca http://picasaweb.google.com/LacyEThompson .

I ate pizza hut today. It was good. They give you french fries. I didn't eat em though.

I thought the day would never come...I hate to say it...I think I like coffee. a lot.

And another weird thing happened. but maybe I won't tell you.

The purpose of this blog is to ask for prayer for the week ahead. Tomorrow I am going to get my hair cut with a friend. From what I have heard, I should be praying about this, or at least be very careful. If I don't watch out I will end up with the swoopiest of swoopy bangs and layers up to the top of my head.

But really, I need prayer for this week b/c I am going to Palta Bamba, outside of a smallish city called Guaranda. It's a Quichua village and I am going with the Ecuadorian missionaries. It will be fun hangin with those women! But please pray for our safety in the mountains, health, my back b/c I think I will be sleeping on a concrete floor, but that may be better than my bed now, I don't know. I'm going with no. My back pain has gotten worse since I have been here, worse but not awful by a long stretch. The Quichua church asked the missionaries to teach church leadership and doctrine basics as well as help them do a program for the kids, VBS. I am doing the games. and no shower for five days, woo woo! Fo ril, here, if there is no hot water you DON'T want to shower. We're talkin Andes cold! and Palta Bamba is higher and colder than Quito.


Please pray for this trip, me, the others, safety, and the church attendees. I leave at 6am on Wednesday, so I'm spending the night at a my friend's house tomorrow, the girl I am going with to the peluqueria tomorrow, Marina. Her mom is one of the missionaries going. And we will be back late Sunday.

The time will really fly after this b/c when I get back I am go go go.

Here's the lineup

When I get back I will have a few scattered days at SUV but will probably to up to Atucucho to help ready my apartment.
Next Wednesday missionary Rick is taking a few of us hiking to climb Pichincha! To the crater! or what's left of a crater.
Then, the next wednesday, July 29-Aug 1sh, I'm going to the beach with the singles young people from San Marcos.
Then, Otovalo with an MTW group. We will be in the community that Robin, the lady my future research is for, will be doing her project for her masters.
Then Pacto, Aug 8-10, for a conference with all the young leaders of all the presbyterian churches in Ecuador (10) and the same MTW group.

I'll just wait to move to Atucucho until after that. I met up with the couple a few days ago. I think we will have fun. David and Johi (Joy). The pastor and his wife. My age ish.

Prayer:

Please pray for my parents and grandparents. The Lord will know what you mean.

The trip to Palta Bamba

Spanish

Safety

Salva Una Vida is still in Crisis mode. Pray for good leadership.

I have really loved reading scripture these past few weeks. That's a praise! Pray for continual growth in my relationship with God. Also, I have not been afraid here. That's a praise. God has really calmed me and made me trust him with my life and plans.

A Series of Coincidental Events

Where did I leave off anyway...

The past couple of weeks I have been going to Salva una Vida. I never know what is going to happen or who I will meet. A few weeks back Patti, and employee at SUV who has a twleve year old and a 15 year old daughter, asked me if I could talk about abstinence to the youth group at her church. It is a very small church but they still manage to have about 12-15 regular youth attendees. I was a bit nervous about how this was going to go b-c I was to talk to both the boys and the girls together. That´s different from the way I grew up and I struggled with what to share. Another guy talked a few weeks before me, the son of the doctor at SUV, 24. I wanted to call him and talk for just a minute about what he talked about but the ladies here at SUV told me he was in Argentina for the week.

A couple Saturdays ago I went with Dani and her father to this sky car thing called Teleferiqo that takes you up the mountain, actually volcano, that is by the city. It is actually the volcano the province is named for, Pichincha. This is the day I was to talk to the kids about sex and relationships in the afternoon. I still did not know exactly what I wanted to say. I prayed about it but nothing really solid stuck. Anyway, There I was, atop Pichincha, and I hear a familiar voice and recognize the back of this one guy´s head. It was the doctor´s son from SUV! I thought, really God?, no way! so I was able to talk to Benjamin for about five or so minutes and I felt alot more comfortable though still not knowing what I was going to say.

Atop Pichincha I also saw a girl with a small group of white people wearing a Trinity College soccer shirt. A friend from highschool plays there so I said, ¨Hey, I know a girl who plays for Trinity, too...¨  We chatted for a second, ironic, but end of story.

So, talking at the youth group was a little nerve wracking but hey, I´m just a Gringa learning Spanish so No importa that I said some funny stuff that might not have made sense. The kicker here is that JUST as I was beginning my talk two tall, dark, and handsome Ecuadorians my age-ish come in the room to give a camp promotion. The leader of the group, Patti, says they can go ahead and give the promotion first instead of waiting until the end but NOOOOO, they decided they would be polite, since I had just started, and wait till after to talk about the camp. (Yes, I told Andrew the story) So now, Not only am I about to tell teenage boys about my past relationships, I am about to tell two Ecuadorian guys as well... ha ha. Im pretty sure this was some kind of joke God was playing, not for his sake, but for mine b-c I´m sure God knows I think its hilarious that these two guys had to listen to me ramble in Spanish for an hour+. To make things a little funnier, one of them said they could help me translate but some of the stuff he translated for me was wrong so when I heard it said back in spanish I had to say...thanks, but ummm, no, thats not what I said, or at least not what I meant. One example is this: I asked him what the word lust was in spanish and he told me the word for lost. so without thinking, clearly, b-c i know the word for lost, I said ¨The big enemy in relationships is lost¨and they all just stared really confused. Eventually Patti´s 15 year old helped me translate. Her english is good.

So, the theme of what I said was very appropriate for both sexes. The theme was relationships and your goal entering into a relationship, that it should be to try to help the other person become more and more like Jesus as possible. We want God to use us as a tool to help our partner grow more like Jesus, soo, if we aid in their sin, for example, sexual sin, then it is not helping them become more like Jesus and therefore not loving them. She also asked me if I regret dating so young and I said yes. Then she asked me what the right age to start dating was and I got out easy by saying ¨You are ready to start dating when you are ready to prepare yourselves for marriage¨ha ha, that leaves it pretty open but it also makes them think about why they would date a jerk or and air head if they know they would not marry them.

On Fridays I have a singles group I go to with a church other than my own, but there is a girl from my church who goes too. I really like this group b-c it is actually adults, not teenagers all the time, but i do like the teens too! We get together and do something fun on Sunday nights too, which is after the Bible study for my church consisting of college age. There is about 6 or 7 from my church and about 6 or seven from my other group as well. So, Sundays are long and late for me-- Sunday school, church, lunch, Bible Study, Hang out group from other church.

During the week I taught more jewelry and stuff. Today I made a powerpoint of pictures for tomorrow´s big SUV meeting. Last week I hung out with Patti´s daugthers a lot. They are really, really fun. I went to their house and learned how to make Chulpi. Its like popcorn but bigger kernals and it does not pop open, just puffs slightly, we ate tres leches cake, and watched journey to the center of the earth. I´ll probably make more chulpi tonight. Its healthy.... corn.... Its a super crunchy and a tiny bit sweet too so pretty much perfection puffed in a pressure pot. I went with them to Patti´s siter´s house to surprise her on her birthday. While I was there I talked to Patti´s nephew, who in a engineer in economics, about what I will be studying. He helped me out a lot by clarifying about why Ecuadorians don´t save money and why the marginalized communities were hurt more in the economic crisis of the 90´s and the change of currency in 2000. I learned a lot that day. They even offered for me to conduct my study in the country where they run a hotel type thing (but still very poor region). They said Atucucho was too dangerous for me and that I should go live with their family at this place so I´d be safer. But don´t worry b-c I won´t be doing any research alone. I am going to primarily use focus groups. This limits the amount of door to door i have to do, and what I do door to door i will be with a church member volunteer or the pastor.

Patti´s girls wanted me to do something on Saturday but Melbi asked me if I could come to the church and help clean and prepare for VBS. She said there would be a small work group of north Americans working as well. When I saw them I thought...Wow, they look familiar. It was the same group that I saw atop Pichincha. Apperantly Pichincha is the place to be really early on Saturday mornings!!! REALLY Ironic. And one of the guys went to highschool with several of my friends from college, and my roomate´s husband. There were 8 of them and all were super nice. We talked about random stuff and my perfect braces-less teeth. Not of my choosing but hey, whatever. Anj, I told your story and they give you their sympathy.

I just now found out that I will be going to a Quichua Village next week. I think from Wednesday until Sunday. I am not positive but will find out later today the days. This will be quite different for me. I am going with the National MTW missionaries. They have been working with them on church leadership stuff. 

The End.

Update!!! The Pastor from the church in the south came up last week with two pregnant ladies. One preg with twins, and two other kids and no man and super poor, the other with two kids and a husband but really poor. I enjoyed talking to the pastor for a good hour. Life is really not that different. (YES, CULTURE VARIES... I KNOW CDV professors) but I am learning that people are people with families, with decisions, with families, are people just the same. (that sentence made sense to me...you?) He used to work for a travel agency that had him traveling for a week every other week so he quit to go into the ministry and be able to spend more time with his family even thought it pays a lot less. Sound familiar? My dad quit his job that had him traveling a lot too so that he could be at home with his family even though it pays a lot less what he does now. We talked a bit about this. It was nice to relate on something even though our lives have been very different.  He is a 30 year old with two young girls and a wife. I like him b-c he cares a lot about helping the pregnant ladies in his community get to the center for help and he wants to help SUV with promotion too. Jorge is his name and his church is Palabra Viva. (Living Word)

The plan is to do a community health day at the church along with education and to continue to spread the word about SUV in the south and to help the girls who need to come be able to come since the utra sound machine can´t move south all the time.

PRAYER: 

Please pray for Salva Una Vida. Its crazy right now trying to transfer the leadership b-c the old leader is suuuuupppper busy and seems to be difficult to work with. 

Please pray for my Spanish. I really want to understand my new community in Atucucho, the couple, and the church members. I will be spending a lot of time with the church since our apartment is in it. 

Safety 

You can pray that I will listen to God since there are so many activities I have to choose from in the following weeks.