Ecuador- Guitar sessions, diarrhea teaching, and boys cleaning the kitchen

6-14

This morning was supposed to be about meeting with a small group and doing some sort of work with them.  For some reason or other we ended up on some random street just a few blocks from the church with the plan to go door to door as we looped our way back to the church.

This idea didn't work at all. This  plan wasn't working out. People were at work, doors were not being answered and it was more of a business area. Andres then suggested  we go to the area where he lives and see people there. We decided that sounded like a perfect plan, so we split up and found taxis. One illegal and one legal. In Ecuador if you are standing on a sidewalk  waiting for a cab, a car may drive by and flash its lights to signal that they will pick you up.

I took the legal cab with Jen and our two other friends, Juan Carlos and Byron. Dr.Sheri and Manaal  went with Andres in a random taxi.

 We met up with the other half of the group once we got into Andres's neighborhood. They met arrived in a different car then we saw them leave in. They got ride a cross the neighborhood by Andres's mild man or something like that.  We then tried going door to door, but found that people were reluctant to let us into their homes. We then walked to the home of Andres's Grandmother and Aunt. We did check-ups on them and talked with them and setting up a clinic in their home the next day.

WE also asked them questions about what we should teach on in Nigeria, and about the Ecuadorian government. These women were so bright and expressive , it was so fun to hear them talk even if I only caught a few words here or there.

Our driver was then able to pick us up from the nieghborhood and drop off back at our home base.

Jen and I headed out right away with the boys to buy lunch.

 We went to a place to get rotiserrie chicken and all the fixings that go along with it. Upon arriving at the place we were not attended to quickly at all and were barely acknowledged for that matter.

The American in Jen and I got the best of us and we could not possibly wait any longer for food. We asked if any of our friends knew of another place in which we could get the food we were lusting after. We were assured that there was another place close by that we could go to. Little did we know that this close by place was actually a mile or so away. We walked on and on and our patience was being tested as our hungry tummies made us grouchy. Once we got there we were served right away and caught a cab back to the church. We had to persuade the boys to stay and eat lunch with us. We were so hungry that we served the meal to them AMerican style. We set out a plate and fork for everyone, then we just put the containers of food on the table and told everyone to help themselves. We didn't even realize how strange this must be for them. In Ecuador your plate is dished for you. The plate is filled to the brink with so much food and everyone at the table is served this same amount of food. If you want to build a friendship with someone I am convinced that sharing a meal with them is the best possible way.

The boys then offered to clean up the dishes after lunch. It was so cute to walk in the kitch and see 3 boys washing the dishes and cleaning up. (I can't help but smile just thinking about it.)

I then went to the music room with Andres to listen to Victor Wooten. Next thing I know there is a guitar in my arms and Marcel is teaching me some chords. I start playing the chords how he tells me, and then Marcel starts doing these solos along with me.

I cannot even begin to explain how awesome, yet nerve racking it was for me.

I am no guitarist so playing with Marcel, who is an amazing guitarist, was crazy.

Marcel and Checho are the best people. They have such wonderful spirits and they are always encouraging. They are the sort of friends that I cannot ever imagine myself getting sick of. Checho then played a song for me that he had just recorded for his girlfriend. It was the cutest song. I stayed in the music quite a while with them until Jen came and got me to see if I needed resources from her for my teaching in a few hours time. My topic to teach on, Diarrhea and dehydration.I wrote down some notes and some of the ladies at the church printed some stuff out for me. We then headed off to Nigeria.

We spent a few hours doing house visits in Nigeria. We had a house with a mother experiencing headaches and  a pregnant daughter  with acid reflux. THe next house was one of those houses where the people just kept coming out of no where. We first checked on the mother who had a very high BP and but felt fine otherwise, then her husband had a hernia and back pain, then there daughter was anemic and had vision loss with exercise. This house hold was so sweet though. They were beautiful people and even gave us some frozen yogurt which they make and sell out of their home. We scarfed it down excitedly.  Once it got dark we headed to la iglesia La Roca. We had an hour and a half to finish preparing our teachings. Dr.Sheri taught on exercise, Jen on germs, Manaal on Nutrition, and liek I said before, I taught on diarrhea and dehydration.

I was last to speak and only had time to teach on half of my topic. The group we were taching got so excited and into what we were saying. It was so great. The teachings went very well. I never imagined I would be doing something like this. 20 year old me, teaching these men and women who some of them are old enough to be my parents, others who were my age already had 1-4 children. God loves the inconceivable.

I was so surprised that I wasn't nervous. I just didn't plan out what to say, but rather just taught what I knew just like I would talk about it with a friend.  I didn't trip over my words, and I didn't fail. A special thanks to the translators that are great though.

After we were done teaching, I asked Pastor Caluca if he would have work for me if I came back to Ecuador in the future.  He got very excited and told me that he would have work for me at the church there. I told him that as I long as I have a place to sleep and food to eat, I would be happy.  At that he got excited and said "THANK YOU JESUS!" in English. (He doesn't speak much of any English.)

It is days like this that assure me that I could spend my entire life doing this. Being vulnerable and brave (not to mention dirty and smelly) and trusting wholly in God everyday.