Yes! We hear you!

It's Thursday morning in Ecuador, a little after 10am. I'm sitting in the kitchen at the visitor's housing, where Paul and Susan are now living, typing this blog. Out the window in front of me, some children are playing on the play scape. Kelly is getting ready to continue building her wall with Mike while John and Isabel are mixing up the mortar down the way. Teresa and Joey are on their way down to the "Prayer Chair" where they will be praying for the next hour. Tonia, Becky, Lesley, Bethany, Stephanie, Nicole and Donna are setting up the stations for today's brick work. Beyond the orphanage property, several miles away, I can see the ocean. It is an awesome view! Diana is upstairs working on the team's laundry today. She needs to stay out of the sun after several days of sunburn. Patricia is meeting with the children of the orphanage today as they visit with the psychologist. Some of the older children are beginning to make their way down to the work site to see what is going on with the retaining wall. They don't have school today (there is some obscure holiday today), and I expect that they'll be helping out with the work today as they have done in years past. It's a great opportunity for our team and the children to work together and form relationships. We are hopeful that the section of wall we have been working on the past two days will be completed today. Nathan is hopping across the yard in his pajamas squealing a bit as I think he just hurt his foot. Sarah Fay just came into the house. She's three years old, and talking now!

I am supposed to tell you all about yesterday, as we are a day behind in our blogging. Wednesday started out very much like Tuesday. Some of the team, although a smaller group, headed up to the lighthouse for a morning workout, while the rest of the group opted for the shorter route to the local school. The children were there a bit earlier, and ready to play with the team. They all assume that we are fluent in Spanish and regularly run up to us and ramble off several sentences that most of us do not understand. Despite the language barrier, we have no problem playing! Ann and Raquel, an Extreme Response volunteer living at the orphanage for about four months, have been visiting the school several times a week to teach the children English. We have in turn been practicing a bit with them. Nicole is very passionate about the song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes!" Teresa is all about teaching the children "Baa says the lamb!" After an hour or so of laughter and smiles, we headed back to La Cueva for devotions and breakfast.

Today's devotion asked the question, "What is your enduring passion?", a question that I think all of us need to ask ourselves. We also discussed John 9 and the message many of us heard just before leaving for the trip, given by Craig Mayes at Kensington's New Community. We all were reminded of the opportunities that are there for us when we take the time to "see" throughout our day. Breakfast was delicious as usual. Paul Fernane, one of the missionaries we are working with, and Nick Carnhill, who is also with Extreme Response and working at the orphanage for the next year or so, came down in a truck to pick up our team and take us to the orphanage. When we arrived, we took a few moments to read the blog as well as your comments, which everyone loved! Becky turned many shades of red as all of the comments were read aloud to the team. That is the plan for this year's blog as there is very limited access to computers in this area. So please know, we do read your comments each morning before we begin our day!

We continued our work on the retaining wall throughout the day. Several sections have been completed (there are 10 sections for our first project). The sun was shining brightly, and the sunblock is being used up quickly. Lunch at house 1, for half of the team consisted of pork plantains, a potato, tomato, celery, and rice as well as pea soup which is traditionally eaten after you fill your bowl full with fresh popped popcorn. Our beverage was apple pop. It tastes like you are drinking a jolly rancher. When the work day was complete we had a birthday party for Alex, who is living in house 2. This was the first birthday party he had ever had despite the fact that he was turning seven years old! It was complete with games and crafts, balloons, a birthday hat and cake! For those of you who know the tradition around here, yes, Juanita smashed his face into the cake! After playing for a bit, it was time to head back down the mountain to La Cueva.

When we arrived some of the team decided it was time to take our first trip into town. Ten of us headed out on foot to check out the local scene. On our way we spotted our first whale of the trip. It was spouting and flapping it's tail. Such an amazing site! We hope to see one jumping soon! We made our way to the local "stores" where we were hoping to find our favorite cookies, Amor (a wafer type cookie with a creme center ina variety of flavors), or some Poosh gum for Kelly. We visited several stores and found a few packages of cookies. I expect they'll be stocking up soon now that they know that we're looking for them. We found that one "store" had ice cream which ranges in price from 10 cents to about 75 cents. Of course we're more than happy to buy for the children who are nearby, but within minutes, we could have the entire town show up hoping that we'll buy them all ice cream. Things got a little crazy for a minute, but we avoided any major chaos, and were able to give 15 or so kids a yummy treat of ice cream. At the last store, Bethany was excited to find that they were selling Pepsi! It's too bad we can't post the picture of Bethany with her 3 liter.

We made it back in time for dinner, which was excellent as always! Patricia and I shared our life tokens after dinner. I'm not sure how to describe a life token...but it is more a process of giving than recieving. It is a way that each of us shares a piece of our life and who we are with the team. The night wrapped up for the team with some singing! We are practicing several Spanish songs that are coming along nicely. By 8pm, most of us are ready to shower and get to bed. Our days are long, but full of joy and love! This is an amazing place to be!

Well, it's time for me to get down to the worksite. We're wrapping up a bit early today to play with the kids who are home due to the holiday. Tonight we are having dinner at La Cueva with Flores and Pablo and their families! There will be over thirty of us at Jorge's for dinner! It will be wonderful! Please pray for our continued safety and strength!

On behalf of the team,
~Jennifer

P.S. Paul just popped in the door to say "Hi to Paula!"

P.S.S. Donna asks that you, Mom, email Shannon the blog. Thanks!