It's 5:45 AM here in Quito. We loaded the big bags last night. Final showers have been taken, final make-up is being applied and we are almost ready to load the vans and say our final goodbyes to our home for the past week. It has been an awesome time of seeing God work but we are ready to see our families back in Fort Worth.
Please pray for us as we head home today. We leave Quito at 9:15 and arrive in Miami at 2:30. We only have one hour and 45 minutes to go through customs, collect our bags, recheck them, get to our gate and make our connecting flight home to DFW. Pray there are no hitches.
We are sad to leave this amazing country and city that God has created but, as we said earlier, eager to see all of you. Continue to to pray for the people of Quito and the country of Ecuador, as a whole. Thank you for all of your prayers this past week.
We love you all,
Debbie and Michele for the Quito 2010 team
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Speechless
Well, today has left us speechless…almost. ; ) We spent our last day in Ecuador seeing the beauty of His majesty in all that He has created here. What a sight!!! At 8:00am we headed into the mountains. Our first stop was Calacalì to see the cabins that the ’09 team renovated. We spent some sweet time in worship and prayer thanking God for all He is and all He has done during our time here.
Then we headed to Paraiso del Pescador (Fishing Paradise). Can we just say AMAZING?! We got to catch our own lunch with a bamboo fishing pole, watch them be beaten over the head with a rock, and gutted. : ) While we waited for them to cook, we did something you’ll never believe! We rode plastic patio chairs that were bolted to a metal cable up a HUGE mountain!! See pics. Words cannot describe the feeling created by this adventure. Once we reached the bottom again, we were presented with our fresh catch. Again….see pics. We asked them to cut off the heads but that request was lost in translation.
Our last stop was by far the most intense experience of MY LIFE! We went to Mindo to zip line through the cloud forest!! Nothing could have prepared us for the exhilarating and breath-taking thrill of flying through the air over the canopy of lush green foliage. What a great way to spend our last day in the beautiful country of Ecuador.
This week's experience can best be summarized by sharing with you what Debbie Guinn wrote during her time with the Lord yesterday morning.
-Sharon (CCP) and Jane
Father,
How refreshing it is to start my morning outdoors, relishing in the beauty you have created. Even in the midst of this city, filled with barking dogs, honking horns, all too close airplanes landing and departing, and the never-ending sirens, your majestic mountains rise amidst the low clouds and beaming sun. What a great reminder that you ARE grande, fuerte, poderoso and magnifico! You are more powerful than the corruption; stronger than the crime. You are magnificent and Lord of ALL! You are the creator of the universe-of these mountains and of every man, woman and child living here and you love them dearly.
p.s.
Some before and after pics of the teacher's lounge and patio (as promised)
Teacher's Lounge Before
Teacher's Lounge After
Patio Before
Patio After
Then we headed to Paraiso del Pescador (Fishing Paradise). Can we just say AMAZING?! We got to catch our own lunch with a bamboo fishing pole, watch them be beaten over the head with a rock, and gutted. : ) While we waited for them to cook, we did something you’ll never believe! We rode plastic patio chairs that were bolted to a metal cable up a HUGE mountain!! See pics. Words cannot describe the feeling created by this adventure. Once we reached the bottom again, we were presented with our fresh catch. Again….see pics. We asked them to cut off the heads but that request was lost in translation.
Our last stop was by far the most intense experience of MY LIFE! We went to Mindo to zip line through the cloud forest!! Nothing could have prepared us for the exhilarating and breath-taking thrill of flying through the air over the canopy of lush green foliage. What a great way to spend our last day in the beautiful country of Ecuador.
This week's experience can best be summarized by sharing with you what Debbie Guinn wrote during her time with the Lord yesterday morning.
-Sharon (CCP) and Jane
Father,
How refreshing it is to start my morning outdoors, relishing in the beauty you have created. Even in the midst of this city, filled with barking dogs, honking horns, all too close airplanes landing and departing, and the never-ending sirens, your majestic mountains rise amidst the low clouds and beaming sun. What a great reminder that you ARE grande, fuerte, poderoso and magnifico! You are more powerful than the corruption; stronger than the crime. You are magnificent and Lord of ALL! You are the creator of the universe-of these mountains and of every man, woman and child living here and you love them dearly.
p.s.
Some before and after pics of the teacher's lounge and patio (as promised)
Teacher's Lounge Before
Teacher's Lounge After
Patio Before
Patio After
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Victorious Finish
What a week! The combination of teachers' lounge, patio refurbishing, and the end of VBS all in one day was fast, furious, and fabulous. There were 5 of us who worked in the teachers' lounge, and 8 on the patio. Today finishing up consisted of cleaning up and painting in both project areas. The result was a spruced up area to bless the teachers when they return this Fall. We want to say happy birthday to Amy, the brains behind the teacher lounge makeover. Amy... we miss you and hope you had a great birthday. The patio looks like a picture from Better Homes and Gardens. We'll post before and after pictures of our work projects tomorrow. The Lord has blessed us all with the results that we see.
The last day of VBS was filled with laughter, love, and tears from all of us and the children as well. The children very much enjoyed all the crafts from the t-shirts to the picture frames with their pictures in them. Their favorite craft was making the cross necklaces for themselves and one to give to a friend. The moms of the children arrived today and heard the gospel proclaimed through Johanna's testimony and decorated tote bags with decorative ribbons. The amount of gratitude that was shown by both the children and the moms was overwhelming to all of us. The director of the school gathered us all up at the end and prayed over us and thanked us for the week with the children. He mentioned how much the children would talk about us and what we presented to them in the mornings before the VBS started. The Lord is having an impact here through us with these little ones.
Our evening consisted of blessing the Tutens, but they started it off with a salsa lesson. Let's just say, what happens in Quito, stays in Quito. =) We then finished off our game of Catch Phrase since we had ended in a tie between Team 1 and Team 2. For the record, Team 1 pulled it out in the end. Team 1 consisted of Kim, Michele, Johanna, Cindy, Sharon, Jane, Barbara, and Asha. =) Kelly taught us all how to play "What If". Apparently, if Mari was as tall as Ben, their baby would be a pencil. You'll have to find someone to explain that... but, suffice it to say, it was hilarious to us. After much laughter, we presented the gifts that the 09 team sent for the Tutens and each of us shared what God had taught us through the trip.
Tomorrow will be a day of prayer and thanksgiving as well as a day of rest for the team. We are all looking forward to sharing in person with all of you our experiences here in Quito, Ecuador. Love to all. - Jane and Asha
The last day of VBS was filled with laughter, love, and tears from all of us and the children as well. The children very much enjoyed all the crafts from the t-shirts to the picture frames with their pictures in them. Their favorite craft was making the cross necklaces for themselves and one to give to a friend. The moms of the children arrived today and heard the gospel proclaimed through Johanna's testimony and decorated tote bags with decorative ribbons. The amount of gratitude that was shown by both the children and the moms was overwhelming to all of us. The director of the school gathered us all up at the end and prayed over us and thanked us for the week with the children. He mentioned how much the children would talk about us and what we presented to them in the mornings before the VBS started. The Lord is having an impact here through us with these little ones.
Our evening consisted of blessing the Tutens, but they started it off with a salsa lesson. Let's just say, what happens in Quito, stays in Quito. =) We then finished off our game of Catch Phrase since we had ended in a tie between Team 1 and Team 2. For the record, Team 1 pulled it out in the end. Team 1 consisted of Kim, Michele, Johanna, Cindy, Sharon, Jane, Barbara, and Asha. =) Kelly taught us all how to play "What If". Apparently, if Mari was as tall as Ben, their baby would be a pencil. You'll have to find someone to explain that... but, suffice it to say, it was hilarious to us. After much laughter, we presented the gifts that the 09 team sent for the Tutens and each of us shared what God had taught us through the trip.
Tomorrow will be a day of prayer and thanksgiving as well as a day of rest for the team. We are all looking forward to sharing in person with all of you our experiences here in Quito, Ecuador. Love to all. - Jane and Asha
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Si Señor
Johanna and Debby are writing this blog and it is now very late at night! Please forgive us for writing such a short blog but we feel that we need to get to bed quickly as there is another full day planned for us tomorrow. We have been “roomies” during this Quito Mission trip and have developed a wonderful friendship which we both treasure immensely.
We feel like we need to digress back to Sunday when our team went to church at Dios es Fiel (God is Faithful). It was an amazing service for all of us on the team. Because she is from Colombia, Johanna understood every single word and song during this 2 hour service. “Si Señor” were about the only words that Debby recognized during the church service; this phrase was repeated a number of times. In English that phrase is translated as “yes sir” but Johanna explained that in the Latin culture it is understood as Yes Lord! That was quite profound for me (Debby) as those two words are so powerful in Spanish and as believers in Jesus it should be our response to God. So Si Señor!
All of us continue to work on our two projects at the school in the mornings with much enthusiasm. The teacher’s lounge had major progress today; we finished painting the walls and the results were very exciting. Not only was it satisfying to see the results but the four women in that room enjoyed a sweet fellowship and a time of getting to know each other better. The change in the patio was dramatic also. At the beginning of the week, it was a little overwhelming to see the amount of landscaping that needed to be accomplished in just four days but with so many eager hands it tends to help make the work easy. It is such a privilege and joy to do this for the school and for the Lord. SO Si Señor!
Everyday during Vacation Bible School the Lord continues to touch our hearts through the children. We don’t see just the physical necessities of the children but we also see the spiritual hunger. Today the story was about how Jesus is the only way to have a relationship with God. John 3:16 was the verse used for the story lesson. There were several responses from the children that our team shared tonight with one another. A sweet little girl named Genesis told Cindy that today she understood the meaning of having Jesus in her heart. Another little girl named Ashley requested a Spanish Bible. During our Team Time tonight the ladies prayed for individual children by name and for different situations and responses that occurred during the VBS time. It was very apparent to us that God is at work in these precious little lives. Si Señor! Si Señor!
We are wondering if any of our family members are keeping track of this blog. If so, we would love for you to write a post and let us hear from you!
To end this blog our whole team wants to tell Debbie Guinn’s daughter, Rachel to have a great big Happy Birthday (Feliz Cumpleaños)today. Si Señor!
We serve a great and mighty God! It's the same God that is Fort Worth and is in Quito!
Praise God! Buenos Noches! And Si Señor!
We feel like we need to digress back to Sunday when our team went to church at Dios es Fiel (God is Faithful). It was an amazing service for all of us on the team. Because she is from Colombia, Johanna understood every single word and song during this 2 hour service. “Si Señor” were about the only words that Debby recognized during the church service; this phrase was repeated a number of times. In English that phrase is translated as “yes sir” but Johanna explained that in the Latin culture it is understood as Yes Lord! That was quite profound for me (Debby) as those two words are so powerful in Spanish and as believers in Jesus it should be our response to God. So Si Señor!
All of us continue to work on our two projects at the school in the mornings with much enthusiasm. The teacher’s lounge had major progress today; we finished painting the walls and the results were very exciting. Not only was it satisfying to see the results but the four women in that room enjoyed a sweet fellowship and a time of getting to know each other better. The change in the patio was dramatic also. At the beginning of the week, it was a little overwhelming to see the amount of landscaping that needed to be accomplished in just four days but with so many eager hands it tends to help make the work easy. It is such a privilege and joy to do this for the school and for the Lord. SO Si Señor!
Everyday during Vacation Bible School the Lord continues to touch our hearts through the children. We don’t see just the physical necessities of the children but we also see the spiritual hunger. Today the story was about how Jesus is the only way to have a relationship with God. John 3:16 was the verse used for the story lesson. There were several responses from the children that our team shared tonight with one another. A sweet little girl named Genesis told Cindy that today she understood the meaning of having Jesus in her heart. Another little girl named Ashley requested a Spanish Bible. During our Team Time tonight the ladies prayed for individual children by name and for different situations and responses that occurred during the VBS time. It was very apparent to us that God is at work in these precious little lives. Si Señor! Si Señor!
We are wondering if any of our family members are keeping track of this blog. If so, we would love for you to write a post and let us hear from you!
To end this blog our whole team wants to tell Debbie Guinn’s daughter, Rachel to have a great big Happy Birthday (Feliz Cumpleaños)today. Si Señor!
We serve a great and mighty God! It's the same God that is Fort Worth and is in Quito!
Praise God! Buenos Noches! And Si Señor!
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