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.

I started typing out more of my Ecuador story.

While you are waiting, I thought I would share some sketches with you. 

I did these this week.

This one was an idea I got while in worship last Sunday.

I would have liked it to have turned out better, but it is what it is.

This one really excites me. It is the first time I sketched something without a picture to look at, and I just imagined this instead. 

I gave it to Brenda. She saw it and was like "It's you Hanna!" haha

Oh man!!

I'll be post more Ecuador stories very very soon!

I'm sorry

I am very sorry to be taking so long to post more of my Ecuador story.
It is just becoming too hard emtionally to re-live it right now. I need a bit more time. I am very sorry.
Please be patient!

Ecuador- Salsa lessons, and the Malecon

6-13

This morning Manaal and I made breakfast for everyone. Eric called and

asked if he could come over for breakfast.  After eating a hearty

breakfast I taught Eric some salsa basics. I don't remember how it came up in the first place, but I was very happy it did. He caught on pretty well  but just wasn't very confident.

After some salsa dancing Eric went out with Sheri and Jen to visit

some hospitals in the hopes of making connections there. Manaal and

I sat around wasting time. At about 3pm Jen, Sheri and Eric returned. We

then met up with Andres and walked to the Malecon. 

We had been planning this for a while, and after sitting inside all day I was so excited to go out and explore.

The malecon is a long boardwalk with restaurants, shops and beautiful things scattered along it.

We walked down quite a ways taking in the view. 

It was beautiful with the water on one side and the buildings of Guayaquil on the other side of us.

(I'm not sure how in depth to get with this story.

Ok, I will tell you just because I feel that it will help you understand some things.)

As we were walking I could tell that something was bothering Andres. 

He wouldn't tell me what though and tried to look strong and fine.

I knew something was wrong though because he was way to quiet. At one point we

were atop of a look out and I got antsy and decided to walk on by

myself. Andres caught up with me and told me that he wanted to take me

to his favorite place. I walked on with him and he took me to this

garden area.

There were trees and flowers and fish ponds.- We sat down

on the edge of a pond and he finally told me what was going on.
(I don't feel comfortable typing this for the world to see. It is not my story alone to tell.)
I then asked to pray for him and his heart. He didn't understand why I would want to pray for his heart, and I

explained tohim that God had shown me a piece of his heart, and i really felt that I should pray for him
 .
When I finally got him to understand that I was serious he agreed.  I then prayed for him right there on a

bridge in this beautiful garden. It was so awesome.

We then walked on to meet up with the rest of the group. AS we were

walking he told me why he might not translate the last week.He said it

was because he knows I am leaving in a few weeks and he needs to be

prepared. Basically he was worried that if he translated the last week

he would get too attached and it would be very hard for me to leave. It

kind of broke my heart to hear him say that.I also had been thinking

about the future and how I was leaving. This talk caused me to tear up a

little bit which really concerned Andres.

 We finally met up with the rest of the group and got some frozen yogurt

and met a few more new friends.

 A little while later we found ourselves

standing at the top of some stairs. The topic of salsa dancing came up

as I mentioned that I had taught Eric some basics that morning. The next

thing I know, I am teaching a basic salsa class at the top of these

steps.

The whole group starts dancing with each other in spite of the

fact that we had no music.
I then find myself salsa dancing with Andres. After we salsa a few

minutes he starts teaching me a sort of ballroom dance. It was wonderful

thought at the same time I felt terrible for dancing with this guy that

is concerned he is getting too attached to me.

On the walk home Andres was terribly distracted and quiet. We all just

sort of walked on in silence. It wasn't until we were almost back to the

church that he and I talked again.

(sorry, this story is very sappy and you probably didn't want to hear

any of it. Feel free to stop reading.)

I told him the reasons I got teary eyed before was becauseI also hated the thought of leaving Ecuador, that I

had to go back to the states and to life there were I was alone, and  I liked him,

and the thought of not spending another two weeks getting to know him before I left

made me upset.

I couldn't handle being that open and vulnerable with him without

getting a bit emotional and embarrassed at my vapory eyes yet again.

I then composed myself and asked him what he had been thinking.

                              He said he had been thinking about what would happen if he just left Ecuador.

Ecuador- Dreams, family meals, and concerts

6-11

I did not sleep well at all last night. I  couldn't stay comfortable for long. My sunburn forced me to lay on my belly and face. I kept waking up every few hours and my pinky and ring fingers would be asleep from the way I was folding my arms.  Once I finally got going today, I was happy. We met up in Nigeria with Pastor Caluca (sp?). He told us that he would be out of town tomorrow and asked if one of us would preach. We assured him that one of us would teach.  We then went on for house visits. Sheri and I went with the pastor and  Eric. We took alot of blood pressures. We saw two pregnant women and were concerned to find that their blood pressures were very high for anyone let alone a pregnant woman. We also stopped by and visited the woman with the Conjestive heart failure. Her entire face lit up when she saw us.  She had been improving which was so encouraging to see. The pastor also took time to pray with her and encourage her.
After a few more houses the pastor decided a break was in order. We all headed back to the Nigeria church and sat around as he asked us questions about our families, or dreams, our thoughts. I have been so confused and torn since being here that my answer was not a very good one. All I could tell him was that I want to do what Jesus did.
  Then he told us his dreams, and the story of how he met his wife. It was so cute. He is a very energetic and expressive guy and his wife is very quiet and meek. It was cute to hear him talk about how he tried to win her over.
If you ever get the chance, it is worth listening to a Latino man talk about how he met his wife. The passion that these men have is crazy. it is always one of those "I saw her, had to have her, pursued her tirelessly until I got her." kind of stories.

After our rest we headed to the house of the man who was our driver. He has such a sweet spirit and it was obvious that his heart was very wrapped up in working with us. Sometimes he would walk around Nigeria with us just because.
He had invited us to eat dinner with his family. So the large group of us all invaded his house, and naturally a bunch of his relatives showed up also to meet us.  We were served a huge plate of pollo, a huge helping of arroz, and an advacado which I passed on to someone else to eat.
I felt like I could pass out at the end of this meal.
We then did check ups on the family. The whole family, including the relatives who had stopped by. The whole family had such beautiful spirits. We then prayed with the family before leaving.
I was bordering on a food coma and fighting with everything in me just to stay awake.

There was a reggatone concert at the church tonight that one of our friends performances and he invited us. Not like it would be easy to miss considering we live there, but still he made it very clear that he wanted us there.  US girls sat in the blacony and watched the sanctuary fill up with students. Andres found us and I went downstairs with him to be with the excited youth.  He tried to get me to dance but I lack the confidence to completely let loose, not to mention I was still exhausted.

I did dance though, and talk with Andres. I was surprised to hear him tell me that he may not be able to translate for us the last week. I asked him why but he just said he would tell me later. He never did tell me that night.
I have a feeling my heart is going to break in more ways than one when I leave Ecuador.
Near the end of the concert I met a girl who was so excited to meet me. She said it has been her dream to meet an English speaking girl from the states. She was so excited and started introducing me to al of her friends. I cannot even begin to explain how excited she was,and her excitement made me very excited too! Why do I have to leave this place????

6-12

It is wonderful having our present home filled with people and noise on Sunday mornings. I went down for first service with the rest of the team. After worship I sat with Andres during the sermon while the other girls were doing some sort of preparing.  Right after service we headed out for Nigeria. Jen,Manaal and Andres led worship. They sand a few English songs that were translated to Spanish, then they asked the congregation to teach us some songs. Livre lead some songs and was so passionate about it. It was unbelievable, and way powerful. Jen then spoke. The topic was God using using our weakness to show His strength. Each member of the team also shared a story. I had a story planned, then  after hearing Jen speak I realized that my story needed to change, so I had to wing it. It went very well I think. Jen did a wonderful job and the team all had good things to say. After service we headed back to our Guayaquil home. We ate, took short naps and then returned to Nigeria for house to house visits.  We saw alot of high Blood Pressures. I feel so blessed to be here doing what I am doing.

After our Nigeria visit we prepared dinner and had some good heart to heart talks. In the middle of our talks the phone in the kitchen rings. It was a call telling us that Marlon was ready for us. Marlon was one of the guards who just so happened to have an infected bite on his knee that was full of pus. We, being caring motherlike medics, offered to drian it and dress it for him. We left our prepared food in the kitchen un-eaten and ran downstairs to the patient. Manaal was so sweet and gave Marlon a sucker to keep him calm during the procedure. haha! I'm surprised by how well my stomach did as I cut open the blister and cleaned the pus out. GAG!
When you are in those situations it is different. Like Manaal was explaining to a lady in Nigeria today about EMS work; when you see the injured person you almost don't look at them as a person but as more of a problem that needs to be solved. We drained, cleaned and dressed it nicely for him. We then ran back up the two flights of stairs to our waiting dinner.  Near the end of dinner our phone rings again. It was someone asking us to come down and play soccer.  We decided to go watch but concidering our full tummys none of us were eager to play. We met up with some of our friends at the soccer field next to the church. Checho, Sara, Andres, Marcel, and a handful of other familiar faces. We sat on the bench and watched the game. Manaal was asked to play with a girls team and being the brave girl she is, she played and well at that.  I sat on the bench enoying these wonderful people, thinking to myself that life could not get any better, but it did. A guitar was brought out and the whole group broke out in song. My heart was so happy that I couldn't even sing. My heart felt like it may explode. We sat there for a few hours until Manaal was done playing and people were getting tired.  

Once back in the church we checked on Marlon who had played a bit of soccer in spite of his infected knee. He was really feeling the pain. His knee was throbbing and his body had chills. We kicked back into medic mode and started telling him to ice and elivate his knee, then ran upstairs to get him ibuprofin and ice, then ran back up the stairs
again to get the guys some water.  Finally we got to go to bed and it was WONDEFUL!!!

Ecuador- New places, more food, and google translate

6-10
(I am so sorry about the lack of photos. Manaal was our photographer at this point)

Can I love my life more?? This morning we headed out to a new area, Ceraceta. This place was such a huge contrast from Nigeria and ever Guayaquil. This was more rain forest like rather than the slums or the city. we arrived to find a huge group of children assembled and waiting for us. We did not expect to find this. We brainstormed and quickly came up with some skit ideas. We did a skit about  how  germs are spread. Then Jen narrated a skit while she had kids volunteer to act out the different parts.
We had only a small amount of time with the children so we did the two skits and before the children left and we set up a small clinic.
Manaal and I saw patients at one station (with Andres translating), Sheri had a station (with Eric translating) and Jen ran pharmacy and anything else that needed doing. Manaal and I made a great team. I took the lead with some of the patients and was very relieved to find that I really did know what I was talking about. We saw many patients of many different ages. Again, most people had a simple flu or needed to drink more water but meeting with them was so special, if for no other reason than to simply meet and connect with them.

We were served a huge meal in the middle of our clinic time. A huge plate of rice, potatoes and tuna. I ate everything on my plate
but regretted my overfull tummy right after. We took a short walk to see the area right after lunch. I really loved this area.
The houses were built on stilts and I wanted to move into one right away.

After our walk, it was back to the clinic.
We met  a man from the area who was 105 years old.  He laughed and joked with us and told us some of the history of the plantation.
We were welcomed so warmly into this community.

*This story is about to become more interesting*

On the drive back to the church I was able to talk with Andres again.
I really like talking to him. He has such a good heart (and a nice face).
He told me I should move to Ecuador, but I just couldn't see how that would work.
He then told me that he would come to Ethiopia with me and be my bodyguard. He then offered to help me pay to go there. I just told him to save his money  and move to the states. We talked more about our families and just different ideas on things until we got back to the church.

Once we get back to the church Manaal starts making some pasta.We gave two HUGE helpings to the guards downstairs. Then we ate a huge amount of of the pasta ourselves. We were so stuffed and ready to clean up the kitchen when in walks Christian and Victor with a whole rotisserie chicken, plantain chips, a salad, and a doughnut. We told them to call the other two boys up and we would eat then. We all sat around the table eating our second dinner of the night. Us girls were trying to force enough chicken into our bodies to not appear rude. (the chicken tasted wonderful though).
We started feeling the language barrier so Jen and Manaal pull out their laptops and pull up Google translator. With the help of google translate we were able to communicate with each other. We laughed so hard. The translations are obviously not perfect which just added to the humor of it all. It was beautiful.

(I wrote this right before bed so the tenses are going to change)

My tummy is beyond full now. We are winding down now and I am looking forward to tomorrow. I never want to leave this place.
Thank you Jesus for how much you bless me.

Ecuador- Frozen yogurt, sunburns, and long talks on the beach *sorry I have no photos of these days*

6-8

WE had this morning off. We slept in and then did some needed things. We walked off in search of a lavanderia to have our clothes cleaned. We had to do some exploring to find it, and somehow we managed to communicate  with the owners to have our clothes cleaned. We walked to the mercado and did a shopping. We hauled our bags of groceries back to the church then walked off again in search of something frozen.

We had to spot at one point and, in our very broken Spanish, ask for directions. Our search was a success in the end. I got a fruitilla frozen yogurt and 2 pan de yuka. Best treat ever.

On the way home, we stopped for empanadas and bought some chocolate ice-cream for the church security guard.

Our evening in Nigeria went so fast. I worked with Sheri and Andres. It was a really wonderful evening in Nigeria. (I'm not sure why I didn't journal more today. I must have been tired.)

6-9

Today was our free day. We headed out nice and early for the beach.

We left the church at quarter to 8. We got a ride to the central bus station where we met up with Eric. (Andres met us at the church)

The bus ride to the beach was about two hours long. The beach was beautiful!!
We rented a little cabana and sat about enjoying ourselves.
I have never before been to a beach like this where vendors come right up to you and try to sell you things.
We were served a lunch on the beach and even had a man with a guitar play and sing for us.
There were pelicans flying around and swooping to catch fish.
Every now and again the fishermen would pull in the HUGE fishing net and bring back hundreds of perfect fish with it.

I also got to spend some time really talking to Andres and getting to know his story. We sat on the sand looking out over the waves. He is a pretty quiet and mysterious guy, so to have him open up to me so easily about things that were tough in his past was really a cool thing. It was great to see how much Jesus has really changed his life too. SO great!

I wish I could have stayed at the beach forever. It is a good thing we didn't. I got so burnt!
My face turned all pink, and my back and shoulders were so red.
This happens everytime I go to the beach no matter how hard I tryto keep up with the sunblock.
The bus ride home was difficult. It was so long and myhead was spinning with so many thoughts.
I was so happy to  to be back to the church and about to go to bed.