September Timeline

Friday, September 4: We went to the jungle to visit a few small churches. It is about a 3 hour drive. We stayed in this town Gualicisa. It is hot and humid there. The church was about 20 minutes outside of this town in the country. Everyone who live in this area were farmers or lumbermen. Lacey got to give her testimony at the church service in Spanish. Other than calling God a potato, she did great!

Saturday, September 5: Lacey and I got to walk through the local market and check out the town. We saw a hog the size of a cow at a local restaurant. It was a beautiful town. We went to do some sports ministry for one of the churches, but the rain was too strong. At night, we went to another church and I got to share my testimony in Spanish while our friend Erica led worship and mentor Danny Beasley preached. The church members made us a snack after the service.

Sunday, September 6: We headed back to Loja and stopped at a few waterfalls on the way. There were about a total of 23. We actually got to climb one of them. We also got to see a house that was caught in a mud slide. Mud slides are very common  and dangerous here. All of the roads we travel on have serious construction due to big rocks falling and mudslides. It is common for people and their houses to be taken away by these slides. It is also common for people traveling to get caught in the middle of one.

Wednesday, September 9: We traveled all day to and from Machala working on our visas. We left our apartment at 6 am and got home around 9:30 pm. These long trips are starting to take a toll on us. Sophie has played on her IPAD more in a month than she has all together in the states. Ministry is fun, but the logistics is exhausting.

Thursday, September 10: We got a day off and spent it getting back to the basics with Sophie. Due to all of the travel and unbalanced schedules, it has been tough on us. 

Friday, September 11: Our team spent some time in prayer and remembering the events on 9/11 and how God was working through that time. I also had lunch with my mentor. We had a family date night at a nice restaurant called Mama Lola’s. We had our first taste of cuy (guinea pig) and got the whole pig. They did not take anything out. The meat was actually tender and tasty. Sophie enjoyed it the most and we (not Lacey) agreed to get a pet guinea pig and eat it before we leave next year. We spent the rest of the evening at Jiperro Park. We also had a fun ride home with our taxi. He thought he was a professional race car driver.

Saturday, September 12: We spent the day in Catayamo helping some missionary friends on the house they will be renting. I got to do some construction for the first time in months. It was great. I can honestly say that I miss construction work. I was sick of it the last few months before coming here and thought that I would be comfortable with never doing it again. However, I dearly miss it and all the relationships that came from it. It was also nice to help out our friends and fellowship with them.

Wednesday and Thursday, September 16,17:  Tom Stiles and I went to Balsas to look at some things we will need for our apartment. I stayed the night there and headed to Machala early Thursday morning to finally get our visas! We also saw the news of the earthquake in Chile. Earthquakes are common here and we normally experience a tremor about once a month.

I spent the next 8 hours on a bus back to Loja. 

Tuesday, September 22: Our last day living in Loja: It has been a wonderful experience and we will miss it. We have enjoyed the church that we have been able to attend for the last two weeks. It is exciting, but frightening. Our team prayed over us today and we packed all of our things away.

Wednesday, September 23: We got on a bus at 7am and headed to Balsas. We spent the day cleaning our apartment and unpacking our things. We spent some time in the evening walking through town.

Thursday, September 24: The apartment has a lot of mold and there is still a lot of cleaning to do today. We ate breakfast at a nice little place and spent some time talking with the owner. Then we went for a walk around town and ended up on a dirt road heading up the mountain. We want to take frequent day hikes up these roads so that we can share with these people as well. We also saw a lot of opportunities where we could help the community through service projects. We would like to do at least one service project a month. In the evening, our neighbor's kids came over and we spent time learning Spanish and we helped them with their English. Sophie had a great time playing with them!

Friday, September 25: We hand washed our clothes for the first time with a bucket and plunger. It was an interesting experience. We also went out at night and talked with some people in the park. We went to the top of our building and could see the whole town from up there.

Saturday, September 26: We went to breakfast at our new friends place. The normal breakfast consist of eggs, rice, and chicken or a sweat treat from one of the Panderias. At breakfast, we get to look out the window and see the chickens playing. We then went on a long walk around the community talking with people and learning all the roads and places in the community.     

Sunday, September 27: No Church to go to and no internet to listen to a church service. Luckily, I downloaded a lot of old sermons from some of my favorite pastors. Today we listened to John Piper. We went down to the market today to buy some fruits and vegetables. Our clothes are almost dry!

Monday, September 28: I had my whole day planned and as I was walking out the door and then the repair man showed up to work on our hot water. It ended up being a great day as I got to spend some quality time with him establishing a new relationship. We still do not have hot water, but do have a new friend. Lacey and Sophie got serious about Home School. It has been inconsistent at times due to the traveling, and moving from place to place. We cooked our first big meal at this apartment: rice, garbanzo beans(chick peas), and carrots. We have to soak the beans for 24 hours and then cook them for almost 2 hours.

Tuesday, September 29: We went to Esperanza’s today for breakfast. Then we went to Machala for the day. We cannot buy some of the things that we need here in Balsas so we have to travel for 2 hours to the coast. It is nice and kind of like a vacation. We pass the banana fields on the way.

Great month and we can’t wait to see what God has planned for us this month.