June 3rd & 4th
This was the heaviest day for me emotionally.
Me and my room mates woke early at 5am to the sound of rain outside to finish packing our backpacks. We had to pack everything we needed for the next couple days to travel to another foundation in El Coca (about 1.5 hours away). We had cereal and eggs and a roll for breakfast before heading out at 8:30am. It was still raining!
We sang worship songs and enjoyed ourselves on the bus. When we got to Toyuca, there were only 10 kids--more arrrived as time went on. It was so hard to see the poverty...lice, flies and gnats were in the kid's hair--flip flops falling apart. Some of the boys were wearing girl flip flops because that's all that was available that fit their feet. The children were very stoic and very reserved...they have such hard lives it is hard to get them to smile and open up.
I loved holding these kids! They stank and were dirty, but they loved being loved. Parents in these communities don't hold their children very much, so missionaries have to be careful with how much we hold them because we don't want the kids to go back to their parents and say "Why don't you hold me like the missionaries do?" and then the parents not let them come back to visit us.
I held little girls named Tina and Nicole and Molly..all so precious! We handed out juice and bread rolls and had a game of soccer/football: USA vs Ecuador! Not surprise, Ecuador won :)
We enjoyed some lunch at the missionary foundation in El Coca before heading to a school (San Bartolo). We did VBS with about 40 kids here. We played with them afterwards and helped clean out their 1 room school house while the men of our team cut grass around the building. I played mostly with the kids than cleaned, swinging a jump rope and holding a 2 year old little girl who was kinds of heavy but very adorable. I certainly got my kid fix in that day :)
It was hard to see the poverty because I don't want to see this generation of kids have to bear this...the holes and dirt and lice, I want it to be different for them. They live in shacks, barefoot, with no running water, no clothes washer, etc. I had to catch myself and ask God to help me understand this situation better.
I realize that the government and cultural decisions in Ecuador could be different, but that the people, especially here in the jungle have something USA doesn't have: contentment. We always want more and more as Americans, always wanting more things and things to be better materialistically; while these people are in extremely poverty and content in what they are given and ever so thankful for the smallest things. I had to realize I need to complain less and list some things that I am enjoying the most about the trip which included:
1. The jungle bus
2. Holding children
3. Rain
4. Building strong arms (lifting logs, etc)
5. Seeing how everyone has a Jesus sized hole in their heart, that it's universal
6. Eating meals with people every day (I mostly eat alone in my apartment)
7. Enjoying spontaneity
Because the missionary foundation could not fit all of us, the adults, the young men and a couple girls stayed in a hotel nearby. It was near the hotel that we found some cool leaf cutter ants and open chocolate nuts, which, to my surprise, looked like a vegetable inside!
This was the heaviest day for me emotionally.
Me and my room mates woke early at 5am to the sound of rain outside to finish packing our backpacks. We had to pack everything we needed for the next couple days to travel to another foundation in El Coca (about 1.5 hours away). We had cereal and eggs and a roll for breakfast before heading out at 8:30am. It was still raining!
We sang worship songs and enjoyed ourselves on the bus. When we got to Toyuca, there were only 10 kids--more arrrived as time went on. It was so hard to see the poverty...lice, flies and gnats were in the kid's hair--flip flops falling apart. Some of the boys were wearing girl flip flops because that's all that was available that fit their feet. The children were very stoic and very reserved...they have such hard lives it is hard to get them to smile and open up.
I loved holding these kids! They stank and were dirty, but they loved being loved. Parents in these communities don't hold their children very much, so missionaries have to be careful with how much we hold them because we don't want the kids to go back to their parents and say "Why don't you hold me like the missionaries do?" and then the parents not let them come back to visit us.
I held little girls named Tina and Nicole and Molly..all so precious! We handed out juice and bread rolls and had a game of soccer/football: USA vs Ecuador! Not surprise, Ecuador won :)
We enjoyed some lunch at the missionary foundation in El Coca before heading to a school (San Bartolo). We did VBS with about 40 kids here. We played with them afterwards and helped clean out their 1 room school house while the men of our team cut grass around the building. I played mostly with the kids than cleaned, swinging a jump rope and holding a 2 year old little girl who was kinds of heavy but very adorable. I certainly got my kid fix in that day :)
It was hard to see the poverty because I don't want to see this generation of kids have to bear this...the holes and dirt and lice, I want it to be different for them. They live in shacks, barefoot, with no running water, no clothes washer, etc. I had to catch myself and ask God to help me understand this situation better.
I realize that the government and cultural decisions in Ecuador could be different, but that the people, especially here in the jungle have something USA doesn't have: contentment. We always want more and more as Americans, always wanting more things and things to be better materialistically; while these people are in extremely poverty and content in what they are given and ever so thankful for the smallest things. I had to realize I need to complain less and list some things that I am enjoying the most about the trip which included:
1. The jungle bus
2. Holding children
3. Rain
4. Building strong arms (lifting logs, etc)
5. Seeing how everyone has a Jesus sized hole in their heart, that it's universal
6. Eating meals with people every day (I mostly eat alone in my apartment)
7. Enjoying spontaneity
Because the missionary foundation could not fit all of us, the adults, the young men and a couple girls stayed in a hotel nearby. It was near the hotel that we found some cool leaf cutter ants and open chocolate nuts, which, to my surprise, looked like a vegetable inside!
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