Day two in Ecuador

Our church has adopted this region in Ecuador. For the last three years, they have gone over to do medical clinics as well as assist some pastors in starting home bible studies. This is, I believe, the first year we go to help do VBS.

On our first full day in Cayambe, Ecuador, we woke up a little late and went to the restaurant in front of our cabins to eat breakfast. We had already been told not to drink the water in Ecuador and not to eat anything that was cleaned in water that wasn't boiled. Like salads.

But we didn't have to worry, because this little restaurant had omelette's, scrambled eggs, pancakes ( Aunt Jemima) and bizcochos. Now those little pastry things were my favorite. I'm sure it was loaded with fat, but boy were they yummy fatty things.

They even had cokes. The fridges they have are not like ours. They don't cool as much. So finding cold coca-colas was not that easy. They really weren't that hot, but they sure weren't cold. By the next day, the people at the restaurant would put some cokes in the freezer just so they would be a little cold. No Dr. Pepper for you that like that drink.

One of the views that greeted us every morning looked like this. God's beautiful creation.
The weather was also wonderful. At night it would get to the upper 40's and during the day it was only in the 70's. We either wore a light jacket or a long sleeve shirt.

We head on over to the molino, the windmill. This is where the pastor and his family live, work and where they were having vbs. It is 5 stories high. The bottom floor is the restaurant, the second floor was like a living room area and the rest of the floors were where they lived. Little to no light and in the evenings it was pretty chilly. They did have a little room on the bottom floor that had a fireplace and they would light that up on occasion.

We arrived a little early. VBS was going to start at 2pm. We introduced ourselves and started planning as to how we were better going to serve them. They had about 80 kids the day before and were expecting more on this day. By the end of the day there were close to 90 kids.

We had several bags with VBS supplies that we brought them. Kennedy and Maria, the pastor and his wife, were quite excited with what we had brought. We even took clothes for the kids. This was one of the needs that they had expressed.

There was a swing that was on a big tree at the front of the molino. That seemed to be a fun swing as it always attracted lots of kids. They would get on the swing in groups, then others pushed them. The joy that they had from this simple, broken swing was something that we really don't see down her in America. There was no fighting going on over how many times someone had already sat in the swing. No fighting over who was going to get on next, or who had more turns than someone else. They were just laughing and having a good time.

When we looked down the road from the molino, we saw lots and lots of kids walking. This was a poor little community and not very many people had vehicles. Old bikes were used a lot, as well as the legs that God gave them and sometimes the bus.

Lots of little kids came with their siblings. Almost all the siblings we saw took care of each other. The older ones held the younger ones hands and made sure they were safe before they left them to go play with their friends.

This swing set was already in poor shape when we got there. At the end of this second day, it was broken. The pastor said "It's better that it mess up with the kids than with the rain."

They had the general assembly outside. All these little kids eager to hear about Jesus. They were ready to soak it all in.

They called us 'missionarios'. Missionaries. They usually call Americans 'gringos', but they were afraid that we would be offended, so they called us the other word.

They introduced us to the kids and then had us go up to the front and do the hand motions to the song they were learning that day. That seemed to be the only song we could remember all week long.

The VBS they were doing was ' A Festival of Colors'. They were doing it based on the plan of salvation. On Monday, it was black. They talked about black being sin. On this day it was red. Talking about the blood of Christ. We also had to come up with a craft.

We were pretty tired by the end of the day. A good kind of tired. Knowing that God was already working in our lives. Ready for a hot shower and bed. Bed was good, but the hot shower didn't happen.