A few days left in Ecuador

Our last full day at Escuela de Amor y Esperanza was yesterday (Friday).  I'm in the music group and we worked with the 7th graders to make sure all three groups were ready to play their choir chime song on Saturday.  After school, we traveled a couple hours to swim in hot springs off of a volcano.  It was awesome!  The temperature outside was cold but the water was soothing and relaxing!  We were there for awhile and gathered around in a circle talking about God's creation and things that were on our minds.  Pancho and Pity led and we prayed for each person in our group and something they wanted to pray for.  This took awhile but it was really powerful and I'm so glad we got to do that.  Pancho and Pity are such a blessing to our group and their teachings have taught us a lot.  

Today we attended the fair at the school.  Each grade and classroom had something prepared and the families of the students could come into the classroom in shifts to see what they have been working on at school.  It was a little crowded but it was good to see many families come to support their children.  I visited the classrooms that I have been working with all week to see their presentations (5th A, 5th B, 6th, and 7th grade).  I stayed in the 7th grade class the most to help with the choir chimes.  They all did very well playing their songs and I was impressed how quickly they learned!  They played a few wrong notes here and there, but overall it was wonderful for learning the music and how to play the choir chimes in less than a week.  After the fair, we went to a smaller market similar to the one we went to last Saturday and then to a mall.  The mall was big and all the stores were really expensive.  It's crazy to me to see such a poor area in the beginning of the day and then go to a richer place where people are spending large amounts of money.  It makes me sad that we have so much and still want more when many people have hardly anything at all.  Let's just say from Pancho and Pity's teachings as well as our experiences on this trip, God is opening my eyes!  I'm very thankful for what I have and I want to serve Him more because I'm seeing that these kids just need to feel loved and that is something we can all easily accomplish without much work.

God bless!  Lindsay Meece

june 3rd by Joe Hannis

hey everbody today was a great day.  the kids at the school are great.  i mostly play games with the kids and they are so fun to play with even though i hardly understand a word that they are saying. i also worked in the arts today they learn pretty quick and love to be around us. we finished painting some rooms today and alot of the kids stayed around untill we were done just to be with us, so we could play around with them. they are so full of love they just run up and hug you it is really great. i was almost tackled by how many kids just run up and hug you all at once and it takes forevor to get them off of you but thats probably because we love them being around us and dont really try to get them off. i really like everything here the scenery is great with the volcano mountains everywhere it is great. are hosts are really great they are so nice and loving. well thats pretty much it thank you for all your support and for making this trip possible. thanks Joe Hannis

2nd Day at Carmen Bajo

Our second day at Carmen Bajo has passed and we are all winding down in the living room now. First, I must apologize, there may be times in the blog where I begin to blog in 'spanglish', I'll try to correct everything before posting but I can't promise anything. Second, I would like to thank everyone who made this mission trip possible for all of us. Third, I would like to ask all you to keep all of us in your prayers (if you don't already), a couple girls were sick today, but in the name of Jesus they are healed! I know this is devil attack our group because God has some amazing things planned for the remainder of our time here. Okay, so the reason I am blogging: to tell you what happened today!


During the morning, our group broke up into smaller groups doing crafts, music, games or teaching English, which is the group I was in. These past two days that I have spent with the children has been life altering. Every class we walk into, before we can get a word out, the children stand up and say "Good morning, God bless you, Teacher", without fail, even in the afternoon. The looks in their faces as we walk into their classes always causes my heart to soar. They are so happy to see us and spend time with us, I am just in awe. A couple of the classes my group worked with today were the same we worked with yesterday which in my opinion helped a lot! Not only did we not have to go through the long introductions but I saw even the little bit of work we did with the students yesterday helped them. There was a class we went to yesterday that I just wasn't sure if I was getting through to them at all, the whole entire time they looked bored and disinterested, not paying any attention to me, and then when we returned to their class today, they knew the vocabulary we went over yesterday and were kind of competing to see who could get the word right. It was such a humbling experience.


After our sessions with the classes, our groups got a much needed break (most of us slept during this time, on mattresses they provided for us, Thank you Lord!) before moving on to painting the classes on the top floor of the school. In my personal opinion painting those two rooms--which we did not complete--was harder than the six rooms, hallway and staircase we painted at Alliance Academy International...but just as fun. Part of painting job included painting the bottom half of the walls with an oil-based paint. Oh man. Oil-based paint does not smell good, think of a gallon of gasoline in a small (very small) classroom with little circulation and voila! You have the room we were in for an hour, needless to say, we were getting a little loopy at the end. 


To top off a fun day, we were invited to eat dinner with a future Greenville College student and his family. Where we played signs, which has become the choice game of the group, after eating pizza--from Domino's nonetheless.


Okay, if you make all the way down to the bottom of this post, I am sorry for the extremely long length but I hope what I have written was sufficient for you. God Bless.
-Maria Rodriguez :)