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