Highlight video

Here is the highlight video from the trip! Enjoy!

Flying Through the Clouds

Tucanopy. It's like Ecuador's version of Disney World. For adults.

Okay, well it's 6 zip lines totaling 7,053 ft. Tucanopy is a system of cables that run through the tree tops (canopy), this activity offers visitors, both adventurous and scientists, the chance to meet up close with the biodiversity of Andean Cloud Forests from a different perspective. Tucanopy is built under strict international safety regulations. All of their pulleys are built in hardened stainless steel, and they operate with professional/international recognize harnesses, and the cables support up to 11 000 pounds. The idea of creating Tucanopy is focus towards the developing of an economic alternative friendlier with nature, for this reason, while you 'fly' through the cloud forest you are also supporting its conservation. Fully bilingual guides with extensive knowledge in natural history and ecology of cloud forests.

This was our day yesterday. As our last  full day in Ecuador, we had a wonderful team building experience topped off with the most amazing pizza in the world.   In the middle of the Cloud Forest (about 2.5 hours from Quito), lies this amazing retreat that is fully sustainable. They grow all of their own fresh fruits, vegetables, coffee, livestock and more!  While I was a little apprehensive at first, I overcame my reservations and sped through the clouds with excitement. This is definitely a must do type of experience. Here are a few photos from our day compliments of our teammates:

On the way back from Tucanopy, we stopped at a tamale house and got fresh tamales for the group. They were delicious!!!  

Even though our last day was full of fun and excitement, saying goodbye to our new friend Bethany was so sad!  She is interning with SIFAT this month and became fast friends with our entire group. She has the biggest heart and is just amazing!  She will be missed. 

Above is Bethany, Tristen, Erin & friends. 

We are on our way home, but I hope to get a recap of the trip in tonight. Thank you all for your support this week!  We love you all!!!

Until We Meet Again

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV)

Today was our last day in Calderon. We finished up as much of the construction that we could and shopped for our adopted Ecuadorian family. 

Life is funny. How is it that time can pass so quickly yet you meet people and instantly feel like you have known them forever?  That is how this week can best be summed up. The people that we have worked with have become like family. The children whose lives we touched have stolen pieces of each of our hearts. Those are things you cannot put a price on. So if anyone has ever wondered why we would put all of this time and money into something that creates more work for us, that is your answer. Relationships. 

You cannot build a relationship by giving someone money. 

The best part of our day was seeing the looks on those kids' faces when the bus pulled up and we got off. Joel had tears as he saw the food and clothes being unloaded. Each child hugged us and was more excited about getting food than anything else. To see the excitement that we brought them rice, beans, milk, and many other things brought tears to our eyes. It was so very hard to tell them goodbye. Here are photos from our visit:

We are definitely going to miss everyone here, but rest assured that we will be back.

I am going to leave with this note tonight: children can make the best out of any situation. They have nothing and know no difference. The innocence of children is amazing. Hopefully we can help this family as much as we are able. Those people touched our hearts in the most amazing ways. We will pray for them every day. 

Tomorrow, we have fun!

Heavy Hearts

Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

Yesterday was hard. Really hard. 

We started our day with the usual construction and filled the last hole with concrete. One of the VBS kids, Joel, showed up to help us. This child is amazing. He picks up on English very quickly and steps in to help in any way he can. Here is a photo of our new friend:

Thanks Lee for taking such an amazing photo of this amazing child. 

The VBS crew went to serve children in a different location, but when they came back, we ate a wonderful lunch consisting of pork, plantains (we have them just about every meal) our favorite salsa aji, corn on the cob, and ice cream. Little Joel was sitting alone eating his lunch and we asked him to join us. I think it made his day, especially since it was his birthday. 

After lunch, we took a bus ride about 20 mins away to Joel's house. None of us were prepared for what was to come. As we stepped off of the bus, it was hard for many of us to hold our tears back. Living in the U.S., we see poor people living in what we call the slums. Homeless people are there, but our police and other law enforcement try to keep them off of the streets. They always have a place to find a hot meal due to our resources like the Salvation Army. Here, extreme poverty is a more fitting term and nothing in our country even remotely resembles this. 

Joel comes from a family of 5 other siblings and a mom and a dad. The dad works as a night watchman for a factory, but is only paid very little and there are times that he isn't needed. All of their money goes to paying rent and whatever bills they might have. Their "living room" is the size of a 5x5 square with walls that were put together with what appeared to be the sides of old boxes. The entire dwelling is put together this way and if it rains, they will get wet. There are no windows and no true doors. I know that my description is not the best, but maybe these photos will help:

The area behind Tristen is their play area. 

This is only the exterior as we didn't want to seem rude taking photos in their home. 

We visited with the family and prayed with them. It was one of those experiences that you can never erase from your memory. We wanted to take those precious children and give them good homes and food, but we know we cannot do that. Instead, today we are going to buy groceries and clothes for them and take them to the family before we head back to the city. There is so much more information we learned, but it would take hours to really describe it. 

We left with heavy hearts, to say the least.  

Last night was our night out on the town, and the SIFAT Ecuador group took us to a nice dinner overlooking the city and then, the party bus. Tourism at it's finest. It was so hard to go and do these things knowing that Joel and his family might not have even had dinner last night. Here are a few photos from the night:

Please pray for this precious family that God will provide for them. Today is our last day of work. Please pray that we accomplish all we set out to do. Until tonight...

Something in the Water

Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 NIV)

Water. It's something that we use every day and that most of us probably take for granted. The moment you step off of the plane in Ecuador, you are given bottled water. Every time you turn around, someone is telling you to drink water, but never drink it from the faucet... not even to brush your teeth. When you take a shower, don't let it get in your mouth. I have never stopped to think how difficult those things would be to do until this week.  The water in Ecuador has a distinct smell to it and has parasites in it that are very dangerous. Why is water the topic of today's blog you ask?  It has been a major part of our trip both physically and spiritually. 

This morning, before going to our site, we visited Little Seeds of God, a daycare facility a few of our team members worked on many years ago. I do not think I can adequately describe just how impoverished this area is and you grasp what I am talking about, so I will show you. 

Some of these "houses" have no windows, some have holes as windows but no glass to protect from the elements, and some have corrugated metal roofs being held down by whatever they can find with some weight to it. Prior to the daycare opening the women would leave their children, no matter the age, home alone to fend for themselves for the better part of 14 hours a day. Some children would be tied up like animals for the entire day so that they could not wander off. José really put it into perspective when we pulled up and saw a donkey tied up on the side of the road and he told us to imagine that was a child. Talk about a huge pill to swallow. 

You can see the donkey at the far left of the photo in the background. 

Once inside the daycare, it was such a blessing to hear all of the children so happy!  They have several areas for each age between one and three. When we arrived they were eating breakfast, and oh what a sight to see!  The sweet faces so innocent and vulnerable.  To think that they were not safe very long ago.  Now they sing, they laugh, they play. 

I took more video than anything because of the sounds we heard. Hopefully I will get to post those soon!

When the daycare was built it had a state of the art kitchen in it, but the government made the daycare remove it due to safety issues. So now, Lady, the director of the center, moved it next door and is also serving meals to people in the community. 

The biggest shallots ever!  

As we were leaving the daycare, Lee and I were talking and she said that the Carrie Underwood song "Something in the Water" has been in her head all week.  That is why I chose to title this blog the same. If you haven't heard the song, here are the lyrics:

He said, "I've been where you've been before.

Down every hallway's a slamming door.

No way out, no one to come and save me.

Wasting a life that the Good Lord gave me.

Then somebody said what I'm saying to you,

Opened my eyes and told me the truth."

They said, "Just a little faith, it'll all get better."

So I followed that preacher man down to the river and now I'm changed

And now I'm stronger

There must've been something in the water

Oh, there must've been something in the water

Well, I heard what he said and I went on my way

Didn't think about it for a couple of days

Then it hit me like a lightning late one night

I was all out of hope and all out of fight

Couldn't fight back the tears so I fell on my knees

Saying, "God, if you're there come and rescue me."

Felt love pouring down from above

Got washed in the water, washed in the blood and now I'm changed

And now I'm stronger

There must be something in the water

Oh, there must be something in the water

And now I'm singing along to amazing grace

Can't nobody wipe this smile off my face

Got joy in my heart, angels on my side

Thank God almighty, I saw the light

Gonna look ahead, no turning back

Live every day, give it all that I have

Trust in someone bigger than me

Ever since the day that I believed I am changed

And now I'm stronger

There must be something in the water (amazing grace)

Oh, there must be something in the water (how sweet the sound)

Oh, there must be something in the water (that saved a wretch)

Oh, there must be something in the water (like me)

Oh, yeah

I am changed (I once was lost)

Stronger (but now I'm found)

(was blind but now I see)

She is right. What a fitting song for the week.  Once you accept the Water of Christ, it changes everything. And better yet, once you realize that if you do all things in the name of the Lord, no one can take that joy away from you. 

After the daycare, we headed back to our site for more VBS and construction. We had older kids today, and they seemed to be just as appreciative and accepting as the younger ones. We let them make cross necklaces and bracelets and they loved it!

Then, the most simple thing to us, but fun to them... Cups. We played with cups the rest of the afternoon and they were perfectly content. 

In our group discussion tonight, we talked about being a team and using our gifts to glorify God. He couldn't have put together a better team for this trip. The gifts each person has contributes so much I can even begin to describe it.

After being here, you start to evaluate life a little different.  Things that you once took for granted are appreciated more, and things that once seemed important become trivial. You realize just how blessed we are to live the lives that we do.  It must be something in the water. 

Please pray that we reach the lost children of the community and help them to see that a life with Christ is wonderful no matter what your circumstances may be. 

Children of God

Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 ASV)

I know that I have said that every day has been special, but today may have been one of the best days of my life.  Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness make the biggest impact on a person.  I will explain later in this post...

First, I will start by saying that we have been blessed with the most amazing crew SIFAT could have provided. Our translators and helpers are truly gifts from God. I spent quite some time today getting to know Danny (sp?), the translator for VBS. She was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador and started learning English at a very young age, but continued throughout grade school and college and continuously watches American sitcoms to learn more about our language. She is one of the most kindhearted people I have ever met and loves the Lord with all her heart.  Here is a photo of her laughing at me while I tried a different species of lemon that is grown in Ecuador (please excuse the bad hair and lack of makeup 😳). 

The lemon was being used for a special salsa made in Ecuador called aji. We went to the market with the lady from the kitchen to buy the ingredients and then learned how to make it step by step. By far the most amazing salsa I've ever had!  

We switched posts today so I got the pleasure of working with the VBS kids.  What a blessing those children are! It is amazing to me how children who have never known what it is like to be loved are so open and willing to give you all the love they have. Jose, our SIFAT  representative for the week, explained to us tonight that the first time the children were approached by a group of Americans, most of them ran and hid.   Now, they run up to you and embrace you with open arms and open hearts.  

 We started off by reading them a story from the Biblia 😊 and then gave them a corresponding color sheet and craft.  The craft was to make their own crown decorated with jewels and beautiful colors. They loved getting to wear them after they were finished. 

The little boy in the above photo was mimicking the "duck face" he had just seen in a photo. He nailed it. 

After we finished up, it was play time. We brought the kids beach balls, kickballs, frisbees, and more!  Needless to say, they could play with those things all day and never get tired. Me, on the other hand, not so much. I was exhausted after a few minutes, but the smiles on their faces kept me going. I played volley (volleyball to us) with two little girls for quite some time. One of the little girls decided to go play with something else, but the other (Nicole) stayed and we kept playing. A few minutes into our game, a man showed up on the street corner with what appeared to be a container with peanuts or popcorn, but I really couldn't tell. Nicole motioned for me to hold on for just a minute and she walked over to the man. As I watched her, she pulled out some coins and gave them to the man. At this point, I'm thinking that this could be really bad because of the whole taking things from strangers mentality, but he reached into his container and pulled out a popsicle. After he cut the top off of it, he handed it to her and reached in and pulled out another and did the same thing.  She took them both, walked over to me, and handed me the other one. It may not seem like that big of a deal to you, but I had to hold back the tears as I took it from her.  The fact that this little girl would take what little money she had and buy me something with it made me realize how much she appreciated us being here and spending time with her. I should have been the one buying her the treat, but instead that simple act of kindness changed my world. As we went over to the sidewalk to eat our popsicles, I couldn't help but wonder what if everyone were just like her. We sat there, no words being spoken, and communicated on a level I never thought possible. Just because there is a major language barrier between us doesn't mean that we aren't making a difference and that we can't reach these children. God is working through us in the most wonderful ways. 

The construction team mixed concrete for the top layer of the holes that we filled and did an amazing job. Here are a few photos...

No trucks. No mixers. Just people, buckets, and hearts of gold. 

Tomorrow morning, we are going to visit a different site in the morning that some people from our team worked on previously. Each day things become more heart wrenching, but in a good way. I cannot wait to see what is in store for the rest of the week!

I will leave you with this photo of the sweetest little boy and Jaci. Please pray for these children and for us as we witness to them the rest of this week.