Back Home

So I have been back home for a while now and I never posted anything once I got back. I guess I was so excited about being home that I just didn't think about writing anything on here.

Being in Ecuador was a great experience and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to go and spend 2 months.

Right after I got back home my car quit working and I had to take it to the shop, which took 2 weeks to fix and return to me. After that was fixed I interviewed for 2 interpreting jobs; one was full time and the other was part time. I didn't get the full time job (which is the one I obviously preferred) but I did get the part time job.

Most of you may know that I eventually would like to be a Spanish teacher so if you hear of anything please let me know. I am thinking about doing some substitute teaching here in Thomasville and get some experience.

Sorry it took so long to write everyone.

Who's Coming Home??

Yes, that would be me. It has already been 2 months. Kinda hard to believe I only have one day left. I have to start packing my bags tonight and I have already said a bunch of goodbyes today and this weekend. It is kinda sad that most of these people I may never get to see again, but something I have heard in my time here that I really like is that if I don't get to see them again here in this world, I will see them one day in Heaven. I always loved it when people said that because it showed the importance of the body of Christ and gave the assurance that this would not be the last time I saw them.

So for my schedule; my flight leaves Guayaquil at 9:45 am Monday morning and then I have about a 3 hour layover in Miami. I leave Miami I think at 6 or 6:30 and I am scheduled to arrive in Atlanta at 9:45. My Momma and Aunt Karen are going to meet me at the airport but I won't be able to come straight home. I will have to get on a bus to Lawrenceville and spend 3 nights doing debriefing with MTW. The last bus from the airport to Lawrenceville leaves at 11 so pray that neither of my flights are late or I will have to...well I'm not sure! Anyway, I would also like to have time to talk to my momma and aunt before I have to elave again. Anyway, I will officially come back to Thomasville Thursday afternoon. I can't wait to see everyone and share all of my stories and pictures. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, support and encouragement during these 2 months. It has meant so much and look forward to being able to see you all in person.

Medical Team from Texas

So I apologize to everyone for not writing for over a week. Last week was super busy and I didn't get home until about 8 or 9 every night. The reason was because there was a medical group from Texas that came to help out at the sister church of the one I have been attending since I got here. It is a Quichua church in a city called Duran, which is about 20 minutes from Guayaquil. They were here until yesterday. We went to the church and did basic check ups from Monday until Thursday and Friday was a free day. We went to the Historical Park and saw all kinds of animals. I took some really great pictures of some parrots and flowers. I will definitely post all of my pictures on facebook when I get back.

This past week at the Quichua church I helped mainly at the intake table getting basic information from the people and finding out what their problems were. A couple of days I had to listen to them explain their problems to a nurse who was from Guayaquil and couldn't speak English and my job was to translate it on their intake form. Other times I would be the one who listened and tried to extract the basic idea of what was said and write on their sheet. We had a nurse practitioner and a doctor who saw patients at the same time and they always needed an interpreter. A couple of times I helped out with that when Jim or Elena (the two main interpreters) needed a break. And I will be honest, that was one of the hardest things I have ever done. After not too long of doing this I felt like my head was about to explode. But it was such an awesome experience to see the gratitude in their eyes, it was totally worth anything difficult I had to do. That was also the first time I have prayed in Spanish for someone. I'm still not sure of what I said but I later prayed that if I said anything remotely rude or ridiculous that the Lord would help them to understand what I was trying to say and that they would leave blessed.

The group that came was from Houston, Texas and they were so much fun. I am so glad I was able to spend the week with them serving this church. The pastor and his brother (who is the assistant pastor) were so much help too. They were the ones who helped us keep the flow of the patients going smoothly and a couple of times they helped interpret Quichua to Spanish when we were talking with some of the older members of the church who didn't speak Spanish well. And even a couple of times the translated Spanish to Spanish for me because sometimes the people would talk so fast or low and they could see that I was struggling. The pastor and his family were so wonderful. It took until Wednesday until it felt like they were loosening up to us some and I think the Quichua culture is more closed than that of the Latin culture in general. The last day the pastor spoke to the group after everything was over and expressed his gratitude for what we had done and then I could see that both he and his brother were tearing up. I can't express how blessed I felt to have done something I considered so little and not very well done and to have them tell us how much it meant to them. They presented each of us a gift; typical Quichua handmade things. Everyone got a bag that said Ecuador on it but they gave me a belt that the women use to wrap a few times around the waist of their skirts to keep them secure. The reason they did this was because I had seen one of the women wearing one and said how much I liked it and they remembered it and got me one! That was wonderful.

But the week is now over and now begins another, the last, one. Another group from the states is coming tomorrow to help with a conference the pregnancy center is having. This will probably be another busy week but I will try to post at least once or twice, But my flight is Monday (can't remember the time I will have to look) and then I will spend 3 days in Lawrenceville with MTW doing debriefing. So I leave Monday the 27th from Quito and leave Lawrenceville the 30th. Can't wait to see everyone again!

Quito, Quito, Quito

Last weekend I was "out of town" the whole time because I took a trip to Quito. There is another family of missionaries who are also part of MTW who live in Quito and they offered to let me stay at their house for the weekend. So what did I do you ask??

Well I traveled alone for those of you who may be wondering and I arrived in Quito at about 4pm and was picked up at the airport by Craig Pohl, the husband. By the way the missionaries are the Pohl`s, as you can tell and they include, Craig, Stacy, Karis, and Amy. Karis is 7 and Amy is 4. So when I arrived at their apartment I was given a tour and shown where I would be sleeping. Their apartment is on the 5th floor and there are no stairs but it`s worth it for the view they have of the city.

That night we went to a restaurant called "Pim`s", which is at the very top of one of the mountains. It was a very nice restaurant and from the top I could see all of the historic downtown of Quito. It was an amazing view. I will try to get some of the photos uploaded soon. So Saturday I awoke to tiny footsteps outside my door and little snickering every few minutes. When I finally got up and opened the door the girls said they thought I would never get up; like they were waiting for Christmas morning or something. It was really cute though. So we got ready and went to "Mitad del Mundo", which means middle of the world, more or less. There is a monument built in the spot that at the time they thought was the equator; which is about a football field`s length away. I did however cross over the equator in case anyone was wondering. Inside the monument is a museum with displays of the different provinces of Ecuador and at the very top on one side you can see the mountains and volcanoes and on the other the line showing where the "equator" runs. It was still cool though.

That night we went downtown to see the historic buildings that I saw my first night at Pim`s restaurant. There is a street named "Calle de las siete cruces" which is Street of the 7 crosses. There are seven churches (all catholic I believe) down this street and all very beautiful. We went to the open plaza area and walked around while taking pictures. I took a tour of what used to be a catholic church that has been turned into a museum. It was a lot of fun. I could have spent hours downtown, but I knew the kids would have wanted to strangle me. We went home after that and Stacy made homemade pizza.

Sunday we went to Sunday school and then to the morning service and I actually understood about 80% of what was said. I really enjoyed the church service. The name of their church is San Marcos I believe and it is the largest Presbyterian church in Ecuador. After church we went to the mall to eat lunch and I had some good 'ol KFC. It tasted pretty similar to the one at home but they didn't have mashed potatoes with gravy, which I was a little disappointed about but it was OK. After that we went to a place called the "Teleferiqo". This is basically the same thing as a ski lift and it takes you to the top of one of the mountains. The view in the cable car was absolutely amazing. We could see all of downtown Quito, the slope of the mountain we were ascending, and the volcanoes in the distance. At the top we got out of the cable and walked further up the mountain to take some pictures. There was definite drop in temperature from the bottom of the mountain to the top. At the bottom I was hot in my sweater but I the top I had to put my jacket on over my sweater because the wind is so strong at the top. It felt really good though because I started to get a little motion sickness and the cool temperature helped it to go away. After that we came back down the mountain and then I got my stuff together and Craig took me to the airport! It was a very busy weekend but I really had a good time and the Pohl's really took care of me and made sure I had a good weekend.

There is a substantial difference between the altitude in Guayaquil and Quito. Guayaquil is basically at sea level but I think Quito is somewhere around 9,000 ft. above. I never really thought anything about altitude sickness because I have never been that high up before but the whole weekend I had just a little touch of nausea. And when we went to the Teleferiqo, it really got worse, but the cool temperature at the top helped, remember. I think Craig and Stacy said the at the top of the mountain the highest point we got to was around 13,000 feet!! Wow. Pretty high up. It was a little difficult for me going from 13,000 ft to sea level in the span of about 3 hours. (Oh by the way it only takes about 40 minutes in a plane from Quito to Guayaquil, but 8 hours in a car).

So long story short it was a great weekend and I really enjoyed getting to know the Pohl's and spending time with them. Hope you all aren't too mad I waited so long to write this entry. Hope you still enjoy reading.

Tremor?

This afternoon as I was waiting for my usual 3:00 p.m. taxi I was staring out the window not really thinking about anything when suddenly the house started to shake. I didn`t know what to think because I had never felt anything like that before. It seems earthquakes are kind of common in Ecuador but this one only lasted about 5 or 6 seconds and wasn`t very strong. Sylvia called it a...well shoot I can`t remember but basically a tremor. That was wild. Sylvia was running to her father`s room yelling something which she later translated for me. She said during earthquakes you are supposed to stand under a door frame I guess so nothing falls on your head. So we stood there for like 5 minutes not really knowing what to do. So I guess you could say that was my first experience with an earthquake, or whatever you want to call it.

So I forgot to say anything about the pictures posted. The one with the water splashing was at a military base on our way to the beach. The waves are so strong here when they crashed they got me a little wet; that`s what the face was for.

The one with all the boats was where we bought the fish; and the men I accidentally called sinners

And the one with the men wearing strange hats was Father`s Day weekend with some of Sylvia`s family. I am between Sylvia and Manuel (the couple I am living with), the old man is Sylvia`s father (he`s 91), and the couple at the far right are Sylvia`s sister and brother-in-law and then there is their son.

Oh yeah thanks for the comments; it`s so much fun reading what everyone writes and makes me feel more connected. I miss you all!!

Jennifer

Weird Sayings

So as you may know it`s hard learning a new language and even harder when you try to speak it in real life. This entry is about the ridiculous things (that I can remember) that I have said to people.

I was eating with the Tates at the mall and I was trying to say something about curly hair and somehow I ended up calling it sausage.

One day at the office I was talking to one of the girls who works there. I tried to say that something I had been carrying was heavy and seems I said it was gassy-like it had gas or something, who knows.

One morning on the way to the office I was saying something to Caty about getting a pedicure done on my toes and I think I called them fingers (still not sure what I said exactly).

And the latest one I said yesterday while we were on the way to the beach. We stopped at the place to get some fresh fish with fishermen everywhere. I went to ask Sylvia something about the fishermen and I called them sinners. Even I laughed at that one.

I`m sure there will be more of these to come. Hope you got a good laugh.

Halfway Point

So it has officially been 4 weeks and this is the half way point. This week has been pretty busy. There are a lot of things coming up next month with the Foundation (Lluvia de Gracia). What`s coming up??

A group from Life International is coming for a week to do a training about abstinence to better enable everyone at the clinic to teach it themselves. The foundation has been going a lot lately to schools and churches doing some abstinence training and this should introduce some new ideas or ways or doing things. We are having a one day retreat I think on Saturday the 25th with different training sessions. I am not 100% certain but I think everyday we will need interpreters and I will probably be helping with that. One day we are having free and I think we may go sight seeing or to the beach. But there is a lot of planning that has been going in to this and a lot more to do so pray for the details to be sorted out and everything to fall in place. Also, pray that everyone from LIFE will arrive safely and that the information they share would be exactly what the Lord would have them to say.

So about this week. What has not happened this week is a good question. Mondays are always busy because there is a devotion with the girls that are part of the program at the foundation and sometimes counseling. The receptionist wasn't able to come 2 days this week because her son has sinusitis and asthma and was having a hard time breathing. So I answered the phones and helped with some of the accounting. Dont't worry I didn't do much with the accounting just EXACTLY what I was told. I don`t know much about Excel so I followed directions carefully. Sometimes I would understand what the people said when they called but when they had a question, I had to have some help. Monica, the receptionist, said her son is doing better, so that is good.

I think, in an earlier blog post, I mentioned that my aunt had cancer. Unfortunately she passed away Thursday morning. My family is doing ok as far as I can tell, but please pray for them. It`s really hard being so far away and not being able to see my family at this time.

I appreciate all of your prayers and support thus far and I will honestly try to be better about updating this blog. I miss all of you very much and can't wait to see you. This has been such a great trip and I look forward to seeing what the Lord will do in the next month.