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.

Third Week So Far

So I am in my third week here and I have already learned so much. It is definitely overwhelming at times but God truly has been faithful. I haven`t been in any situations where I truly felt in danger or like I couldn't explain myself well enough to get where I needed to go, etc. One time I called to get a taxi and the lady had no idea what I was saying. Pretty interesting because I had no idea what she was saying either! Evidently the directions I had for where I lived were incorrect. That was super frustrating.

But about this week; it has been busy and quite interesting. Monday I felt a little sick because I think I ate something at the mall that made me feel nauseated-pizza of all things. Go figure. The Ecuadorian food=no problem, but Pizza Hut= problem. Anyway, all that to say that I didn't go to the office Monday. I pretty much ate and slept and stayed in the house all day. I had all the fun things that go with traveling-except for throwing up. Sorry I hope that wasn't too much.

Anyway, yesterday, Tuesday was a super busy day. I helped the receptionist answer the phones and didn't`t do that bad if I do say so myself. I took messages and even called my own taxi! (I had a little help). I left the office about 6:45 to go with the Tate's to church which started at 7:30. I was the second person there. Then about 15 minutes later this group of about 15 American students walked in. I asked the girl that sat beside me where she was from. You would not believe what she told me. Atlanta, GA! I could not believe my ears. I pretty much yelled, "ME TOO!" Well not Atlanta, but GA, you know. Then all of the students started looking at me and introducing themselves. They were working at a medical clinic in a nearby town called Duran. They were all either first or second year medical students. They all could kind of understand Spanish but not many of them spoke it. They were so much fun to talk to. That night at church we sang and had a prayer service and it lasted about 2 hours. It was such a great day. I was thanking the Lord for those American students. They were definitely an answered prayer. Just a little taste of home that I needed.

Second week

So this is the second week. There are a lot of things being planned for the clinic right now. A few ladies from LIFE are coming next month for a sexual purity conference and none of them speak Spanish. Caty also said that Jim wants me to help translate for a clinic or something, I`m not really sure.

I realized that I haven`t really said much about the "routine" at the office. It can vary depending on if there are any unexpected clients, as with any office I assume. Usually if there are no clients at the office when we get there we do a devotion from one of the books that Caty has. It is of course in Spanish and usually a couple of pages long. Someone will read the devotion-they say they are reading slower so that I can understand but it seems pretty fast-and then we will share prayer requests. When we have another person's prayer requests we will take turns praying for whatever we want and for the other person. This usually takes a total of 30-35 minutes.

I realize it's been a while since I posted anything. Sorry about that. This past week I have gone with Caty a couple times to different places looking for somewhere to have the conference and retreat coming up with LIFE, etc. Most of the places are Catholic and are really big and nice. We still haven't found a place so that is one thing you can pray for. We only have a little over a month to find a place and plan everything, which may seem like plenty of time except there are people coming from out of the country.

One interesting tidbit I learned was that whenever they send mail around the city they take it themselves because the mail system isnt very reliable here. I was helping Caty fold some letters and I asked her where the stamps were. She looked at me a little strangely and said "we don't use stamps we just take them to their houses". Wow. Another thing. The driving. I will try and record my next "experience" in a taxi here if I can. It really is ridiculous. I don't think I have used my horn but 10 times since I bought my car and they use theirs about 10 times per minute.

Ok think this is pretty long but I will try to post sooner than the last time. Oh yeah the pictures at the top are at a place called Malecon which is like a river walk in the center of the city. The little girl is the daughter of the Tates and the statue is of Simon Bolivar and some other guy I can't remember. OK hope you enjoy.

Saturday, June 6th

I left my bathing suit in Thomasville so I had to buy one. Caty and I went to quite a few places and I finally found a one piece that fits pretty good and it's pretty. So I went with Eli, Philip, and Jim to the neighborhood pool but didn't swim-that water was too cold!

In the neighborhood where the Tates live (called ciudadella) there are about 500 homes and some apartment complexes. Atleast 1,000 or 1,500 people who live in just one neighborhood.

Anyway at the pool the kids were swimming and I saw this HUGE iguana. I forgot that Guayaquil is known for having lots of iguanas and when I saw it I was shocked-the kids even asked what I was doing when I grabbed my camera. Oh yeah I took a picture-he was a monster! It was my first sighting so I was excited. Hope you like the picture...we'll call him Ivan (eeh-bahn...with accent on last syllable :)

My first full week

Wow what a week it's been. I think I will talk about the clinic first. There are 3 ladies who are there at all times: Caty (director), Monica Mite (asst. director), and Monica Diaz (receptionist). There are 2 other ladies that volunteer; one is named Carol and she is from Texas and she and her husband are mismissionaries here, the other is named Axa and she is from Guayaquil. All of the ladies are really nice. The receptionist is about my age and really likes talking to me-not boasting just telling the truth :) The other, Monica, just turned 40 Thursday and everybody was laughing in a joking way-I kind of sat and listened. My speaking skills aren't good enough yet to make jokes!

Now I will talk about the food. Everything here is so fresh and there are so many kinds of fruits it's crazy. Papayas the size of a cantaloupe or larger, pitaya (I think it's dragon fruit), 3 kinds of bananas. I usually have orange or blackberry juice for breakfast with either cereal (like coco puffs), thick bread toasted with pineapple jam, and coffee with milk and sugar. I may have said some of this before but oh well. The fish is good. I think I had sea bass the other day in the food court. Corbina it's called I think.

Nathalie is the daughter of the family I live with and she works at a German school here in Guayaquil. They had a concert for the students who are in the orchestra and we went. It was really good. They played "All the Way" by Frank Sinatra and "Orange Colored Sky" but don't remember who sings it. Maybe Natalie Cole. A lot of American songs and a lot of solos: trumpet, saxophone, trombone, flugel horn (sp?). I really enjoyed it.

So about pictures. I will put some on my posts but I think I am going to try and put all of them on my facebook if anyone wants to check them out there. One is the view from my bathroom, one the view from Jim and Catys patio, and the other the street I live on.

The past couple of days...

OK I have a lot to catch up on. I will try not to make it too long. Sunday I went to church with the Tates and Jim preached...in Spanish. I understood about 90% of what was said but I don't have my notes so I can´t remember very well.

The people are very welcoming and whenever you greet someone new the females always kiss on the cheek. Sometimes this is awkward because I think they assume that since I am from the US I don´t know this and they don't try but I do...kinda awkward.

Anyway, you will never believe what I agreed to...sing in church. I want to help out and I think that is the only way I can...and yes I am a little afraid. I did meet a really nice girl my age named Lady and she wants to learn English so maybe we will be able to hang out.

So my first day at the clinic with Caty was crazy. Every Monday is a special program for moms and food is donated from the local supermarket. They watch different types of videos on parenthood or nutrition, etc and answer questions about it later.

Oh yeah and yesterday was Kid´s day..and it is a holiday. Kind of like mothers and fathers day but for the kids! I laughed out loud and somone looked at me like I was crazy. That´s why we have birthdays!! oh well .

I bought a cell phone yesterday but it is only able to do local calls. I am going to see if I can add calls to the states to it. It´s really cute.

The food here is really good to me. I get 3 meals a day at the house I am staying at and it´s good. Muy rica as they say here. Yesterday I had brown rice, 2 really big shrimp, salad, and some crab, and then ice cream with chocolate sauce and strawberries. mmmmmmmmm.... Ok that is all for now hope everyone likes reading this.

The concert

Everything except the weather is totally different from home. There is no central heating and air but I am cold natured so it's no big deal.

About time: "on time" doesn't seem to exist. I went to a Christian concert with the Tates' last night which was about sexual purity. There were musicians, skits, and a pastor who spoke. this concert was supposed to start at 6pm but didn't until about 8pm. I couldn't believe it! This concert was held at a soccer stadium and there were thousands upon thousands of Ecuadorians. This was the epitome of culture shock.

I'm not sure what time the concert was over but we left about 10:30 and it was still going on strong! I understood most of what was said by the pastor and the actors who did the skits but only if I was looking at them and paying close attention. If I turned my head and looked in a different direction, all understanding was lost! It is pretty frustrating.

When I talk to native speakers for the most part they are very understanding and slow down when I give them "the look". I'm sure you all know what "the look" is. Eyes glazed over with blank stare. Yeah I have gotten used to wearing this look.

All in all I have had a great couple days here and I can't wait to post more and read your responses. And as they say in Ecuador "Que el Dios te bendiga".

Finally here!

I know it has been a while since I wrote something but it has been a busy couple of days. I will try not to make this too long. Friday was a busy day. It started out in North Carolina, then to Atlanta, on the plane and to Miami, and then to Ecuador. Getting through customs was fine but going through security was another story. They stopped me when they scanned the ultrasound machine and about three different security guards asked me what I had and why. So I had to explain my story atleast that many times and multiple times to the same person. It was so frustrating because I could see Jim and Caty (missionaries who picked me up) right past the gates and waving but I couldn't get to them! I was surprisingly patient during all of this.

We finally got home and I went straight to bed. I stayed in the daughter's room whose name is Eliana. Jim and Caty Tate also have a son names Philip and he is 13. Eliana (Eli) is 11. They are so much fun . They remind me of me and Jeremy when were were younger-they are really close but fight a lot. That's all for now but there will be more soon.

2nd Day Prefield Training

Today was pretty much the same schedule as yesterday with breakfast and devotion at the same times but we had different skits. We played a card game with 5 different groups and each group had a different set of rules but we didn't know that. No one was allowed to talk and the loser of each round had to move to a different table. So without being able to talk and having a different set of rules was incredibly frustrating. But this was to help teach us that just because we have a way to do things doesn't mean that anyone doing it differently is wrong, just different. Basically we were learning about diversity.


For our activity today we did the high ropes and that was a lot of fun. I thought the zip line we did at the end was going to be the easiest but it turned out to be the hardest for me. I was a lot more scared than I thought I was going to be. There was a lot of balancing yourself and weight transfer. Oh yeah and it rained almost the entire time, so that made it a little more difficult.

Overall it was a really fun but an incredibly tiring day and on the way back to the cabin to pack I saw this beautiful rainbow. Above is the picture I took of it but it really doesn't do it justice.

First Day of Prefield Training

During our first full day of training we started off with a group devotion. The theme for the day was about team work and being able to get through differences while on the field so the devotion addressed what to do when we "mess up" or do something wrong. The natural tendency is to try and fix the problem through behavior modification or try to hide what we have done. The devotion leader explained that the best way to work together and work through differences can be
illustrated by the waltz. That's right, the three step dance.

1. Repent of our self righteousness.
2. Believe-preach the gospel to yourselves everyday.
3. Fight-fight the tendency to to be prideful and
work towards obedience.

Now, I may have missed a few things somewhere in there, but I think I covered the main point.

The next half of the day was spent doing team building activities. Today my team did the low ropes courses which is mainly working on the communication and tomorrow we do the high ropes. Today was a lot of fun but I am super tired. I'm looking forward to doing the high ropes tomorrow.

Brevard, North Carolina

So I just made it to Brevard (Ridge Haven is the name of the camp) where we will be having prefield training. It really is beautiful up here. I will try to upload to some pictures. In about 15 minutes we will be having dinner and I hope it's good! The road up to the cabins did wind a lot so I'm still a little nauseated. The only other thing scheduled for tonight is a picture with all of the summer interns. I will be here until Friday morning and then headed back to Atlanta to get on the plane and go south! Thanks for all your prayers thus far and I hope this blog can give a little taste of what my trip is like.

Packing

I hate packing. When doing it for a long period of time makes me a little stressed because I don't want to forget anything. I had to go to Walmart for some last minute things and if I were ever unsure before I am certain now that I hate Walmart too! I actually appreciate Walmart but when I am in a hurry everyone seems to be in my way! When I got back home I realized I had forgotten something. But that's ok because my excitement about being able to successfully pack the ultrasound printer into the same case with the ultrasound machine made up for it :) They are both pretty heavy so pray that it won't be over 5o lbs, because if it is I will have to pay $50. I will be leaving in an hour or so to go to Macon and spend the night with my brother and sister-in-law and then in the morning it's off to Atlanta!

My Last Week in Valdosta

My last week in Valdosta has been a very busy one. The beginning of the week I did work but the latter half of it was spent getting everything ready for leaving. Until this week I didn't know if I was going to get all of my support for the trip. I was praying about it and many people at MTW were as well, but not knowing is a little scary. The Pregnancy Support Clinic that I have been volunteering at met and decided to support my trip with $1,000!! That really was the highlight of this week.

My least favorite part was getting a recommended Typhoid shot, which by the way hurts about as much as a Tetanus shot for those of you who have had one. My last day at the Pregnancy Clinic, which was Thursday, was a busy day because I had to pick up the portable ultrasound machine the PSC is gifting the clinic in Guayaquil, Ecuador, "Fundación Lluvia de Gracia", or Showers of Grace Foundation. It was kind of a last minute decision but when I asked the director of the clinic in Guayaquil she said it would be a huge blessing to have the machine. The whole week has been full of emailing back and forth with MTW and the clinic in Ecuador and getting everything ready for being there for 2 months!! That's a long time.

Friday afternoon my brother and sister-in-law came into town and were able to hang out for a little while. I got a phone call from a family member and found out that my aunt whom I knew had cancer is fatally ill and may not make it through the end of the month. So we went to see her in the hospital and the thought of leaving the country and knowing that when I return she may not be alive has been really hard. So when you read this please pray not only for the success of this trip but for my aunt and her family. She is a believer, so that is comforting, but she is in a lot of pain. Today is Saturday and John and I just created this blog. Tomorrow is my last Sunday in Valdosta and I will be singing at church and then going with John to his church. On Monday I will pack all of my things and spend the night with my brother and sister-in-law in Macon and then Tuesday morning I will go to the Atlanta airport where I will take a bus to North Carolina for prefield training. I don't actually leave the country until next Friday the 29th, less the a week away!

Where is Guayaquil??

I will be going to Guayaquil, Ecuador, which is located on the Pacific Coast of South America. Guayaquil is the largest and most populated city in the country. It is a port town of approximately 3 million people where fishing is the dominant industry. Here is a link to the current conditions in Guayaquil. As I learn more about the local customs and culture I will update this blog with my discoveries and photos. Please keep reading as I hope I can bring some of my experiences to you folks back home.

Thanks for all of your support,

Love, Jen