My update letter

Buenas!!
It is taking me many days to truly organize my thoughts enough to write this letter to you. Even as I type my head is flooded with memories and thoughts and dreams.
Be forewarned that this is going to be a very long letter.
It seems that I go through these times in my life were nothing seems to happen and I am just floating along with the daily tasks that lead into the un-eventful weeks. Then life picks up very fast and leaves me hanging on for dear life to anything I can seem to get my hands on as the world around me spins faster.
 
  I left for Ecuador June 2nd with a pharmacist/ Mission Medic teacher, one other medic who I have known since moving to Idaho and even went through EMT with, and a physician who we met up with in LA.
 I expected this trip to be nothing more than a good way to get Medic experience. I thought I would pick up a little Spanish, get close to my team, and maybe hug a few children. My sights were set on Ethiopia in the upcoming months. God had other plans. Other HUGE PLANS!

For those of you that have had a chance to read any of my Ecuador posts on my blog, you can probably see big things unfolding within those stories. My heart was touched in a way I had not expected.

Lets see, where do I begin?
The first two weeks of this adventure we were living in an upstairs classroom of La Roca church. We had 4 cots, our own little kitchen and a very cold shower. We spent our days working in a slum area called Nigeria (Ni-hair-ee-ah). Nigeria is known to be a dangerous area that people are afraid of. There is a VERY high black population there compared to the rest of the area.
We spent many evening walking around house to house offering these people free medical check-ups and advice. We didn't have much medication to hand out, but we always offered to pray for them and encourage them before leaving the house.
For many of them it was a very touching thing for them to have these white women stop by and just visit with them.
  We also spent time at the church in Nigeria which included preaching one Sunday, doing a health teaching, and even running a clinic within the church during the last week.
We built such strong relationships with some of the people in this community. We made friends with women and men regardless of the language barrier.


After spending a few days in this community, building relationships and visiting people's homes we no longer saw this place as a dangerous place. We began to see it through familiar eyes. We would pass a house and remember the faces of those who live inside. As we would pass these people on the streets later they would remember us and greet us like good friends.
We began to love the place so much that I would get so excited to go back after spending a few days away. 

We also worked in a plantation area where we ran a clinic one day and worked at a school another day teaching and doing some skits.
The children were so excited to have us there and welcomed us so warmly. at the end of the day I was hugged by hundreds of students who swarmed around me, almost knocking me over at times.

Staying in the church also gave us opportunities to make many new friends and work on our Spanish speaking skills. We built great relationships with the young men that were hired to guard the church while we were there. The best part about being in Ecuador was how quickly you were plugged into the network. Once you met one person, you were introduced to all of their friends and became fast friends with them regardless of language, hobbies, style of dress, past, or family.



The third week had a very different feel from the first 2 weeks.
The third week it was just Jen (the pharmacist) and I. We were joined by a huge team of about 20 people from the states. The team came with the sole purpose of running a clinic in Nigeria.
We were no longer sleeping in the church but rather in a nice hotel.
We had hot showers and pillows.
We were surrounded by English speaking Americans who made the same jokes that I had been so used to hearing my entire life.
We ate at nicer restaurants instead of hole-in-the-wall places and empanada stands.
We no longer went door to door but rather people came to us.
We saw many faces that we knew and were so excited to greet and kiss them when we saw them.
The clinic ran very smoothly.
I was very grateful for my training that allowed me to run from job to job without a second though. One moment I would be checking patients in using my very broken Spanish. The next minute I am weighing someone, then I am running to the pharmacy for answers on something, then I am doing a urine test or a glucose reading, then I find myself listening to a child with a heart murmur or taking blood pressures on 20 people in  a row.
As I was running around from place to place feeling like a ferret, I knew that this is what I was meant to do. I would be happy to spend the rest of my life in these dirty places with these beautiful people running around like a crazy person. This is where my heart lies. In using the knowledge I have,no matter how little it may be, not for my benefit but as a tool to love. If loving these people looks like doing urine tests then urine tests I will do.

 I fell in love with Ecuador. It took me only a matter of days for my heart to completely break for it. The thought of going back to the states broke me. I didn't care that I wore my most ragged clothes and smelt most of the time.  I didn't care that I slept on a cot, or wore nasty sandals that were covered in probably an equal amount of dog waste and mud.

The day I had to get on a plane for the states I felt that my heart was still in Ecuador. I had left little pieces of it with so many different people in Nigeria, Cerecita, and Guayaquil. I felt numb. I sat on the plane and as we took off into the sky I felt the frustration of leaving behind something very important to me. I remembered all the faces I kissed. All the people I hugged. All the names I learned. All the children I played with. All the smiles. All the memories.

My favorite personal memory took place the last Wednesday in Ecuador. Jen and I had gone to a mid-week service at La Roca. We went to see our friends, to see that beloved church, and really just for some God time.
It was terribly exciting to see our friends again and join the congregation as they excitedly worshiped God.
Though my favorite part of the evening comes after church. We are standing outside on the sidewalk. I am talking with a number of locals  there through a translator that I had met just days before. They were asking me about going home and what sort of things I would be doing back in Boise. I told them that I really didn't want to go home. I have no job, no house, and no family there. I would love to stay in Ecuador forever. I tell them this and they immediately ask to pray for me. They gather up the whole group of people outside. There must have been close to 20 young adults, many were familiar faces yet some were not, they were just meeting me and hearing my story yet they prayed without thinking twice about it. I was so touched by this. These people were joining me in praying about that one thing I had been praying about since half way through the first week.


I would be lying to you if I didn't admit that there is another part to this story. As I am falling in love with Ecuador, and falling in love with the work I am doing, another relationship is being formed.
Another small piece of my heart was left in Ecuador. A friendship was formed between me and one of our translators. A sort of trusting friendship began in the first week. The team became close with both of our translators, Eric and Andres. We would spend time with them even on our days off. I personally became very close with Andres. He began to open up to me about things that he typically doesn't tell people. He began to tell me about past hurts, past failings, and past histories.
Seeing the person he is now, you would never expect past stories of such heart break and hurt.  From these talks a trust was formed between us. We began to spend more and more time together. By the end of the 2nd week it became very clear that our hearts would break when I left for the states. I couldn't stop thinking about how devastated I would be already to leave Ecuador, and now I am getting attached to this guy. We both sought counsel from the wise people around us. We knew that I would have to go back to the states, but we couldn't deny the truth that God brought this about for a reason. At the end of the 2nd week we decided that we would try making it official and see how it went. It has been a very frustrating time for us over the last few days since I arrived back in the states. We skype and email, but it is a poor substitute.
 It hurts my heart so much to hear from Andres that people there are missing me and asking about me. It takes every ounce of self control in my body not to hop on a plane to Ecuador everyday.

 If you are thinking this story is over, then you are very wrong. God started moving as soon as I got to Ecuador, and now days after being back He is still moving. I would really encourage you to read my blog entries about the trip and once I am done posting those I will update you on what happened the days after I returned home.
 It will make much more sense if you read about the whole trip.
Just know that this is not the last that you will hear of Ecuador.
Big changes are coming in my life and I want to keep you updated every step of the way.

Thank for all of your support and encouragement over the years.
You have touched me in ways that you probably didn't even realize.
You have also in turn touched hundreds of lives in Ecuador.
Please continue to check my blog, and email me from time to time.
Thank for everything. Dios te bengida! (God bless you)

Ciao!
-Hanna