Apple Picking!

Ecuador Part II

As you all know, we have been in the process of moving to our new home in Westlake, Ohio.  It has been a crazy few weeks and I think this week may be the first "normal" week for us all.  Most of the unpacking is finished for now and activities begin.  I'm trying to get the kids into a good schedule so that we can all begin our new normal.  I'm not going to lie, this is one of the hardest things that I have had to do in a long time.  I miss my Texas friends and St. Peter's terribly and it's hard being the mom and taking care of everyone else's needs on top of losing the little free time I had last year.  Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning, but then... 

Ecuador was on my heart today and so I wanted to continue our story.  As I was looking back in my journal, I read Compassion's "Three Guarantees" for our trip:
1.  You're not here by accident, you were chosen by God.
2.  You will never be the same - after this journey with God and with others.
3.  You are blessed to be a blessing...to the country staff, center workers, children, each other and those you will return to back home.

I'm so thankful to have read these today.  It was a good reminder.

...and so I continue on...

We stayed Tuesday night in Guayquil and woke up the next morning and drove to a Child Development Sponsorship Program (CDSP).  Children attend these church-based projects where they receive life-changing opportunities that would otherwise have been out of their reach.  Through monthly gifts, prayer and letter writing, sponsors can invest in the lives of these poverty stricken children. This was a special day for one of the trip members, Pam, because she was going to be visiting her sponsor child Melani's home, and spend a lot of the day with her.  We arrived at the CDSP and were once again greeted by a group of children very happy to see us.  There was a little boy named Oscar that greetest us with the biggest smile.  I found out later, using the little Spanish that I know, that him and his brother Ismael, who are 10 and 8, both attend the project.  This was a FUN day!  We pretty much were able to play and hang out with the kids as they arrived from their schools.  It was a happy and well kept project.  The staff were wonderful and were very excited to walk us through their files and show us the programs that they use.

Oscar and Ismael.

One of the neatest moments of the trip, a true testimony for Compassion, was when Pam asked one of the office staff if they knew whether or not her sponsor child Melani had received her $25 gift.  Pam had not heard whether or not she had, and she wanted to be sure.  IMMEDIATELY they began to look through their records and within 10 minutes, produced documentation and a detailed receipt with Pam and Melani's names on it, along with the exact items, costs of items, and date that they were purchased.  They also showed us a book of pictures of sponsored children with new items that were purchased with sponsor donations.  If you gift $50 or more to your child, you receive a picture of them with their purchase.  The purchase is made with the help of the program workers.  It was jaw dropping.  We were all very impressed.

After some more playing and hanging out, we went on a home visit.  This visit took our group to the home of a little boy named Jeremias.  His mother and father were there and it was awesome to see the relationship that existed between Jeremias and his father.  All too often in Ecuador, the fathers are non existent, but it was evident in this particular household that this father was very involved, loved his children dearly, and wanted them to work hard and be the best that they could be.  He made Jeremias stand up in front of us, write his name, and solve some arithmetic problems on a white board.  Jeremias did fantastic and wrote his name in cursive, which by the way, most five year olds cannot do!  This particular father was a fisherman and a hard worker.  He traveled five hours to and from work several times a week to make about $100 a month for his family.

Prayer request:  The sweet mother of this family wanted us to pray for her family's health and for her oldest daughter, who was 20, because she was pregnant by a man that was leaving her for another woman.

Jeremias and one of his sisters road back to the CDSP with us.  There was more playing, lunch serving, apron wearing :-), dish washing, worshiping, singing, dancing, and just having fun.  As the project leader was telling the kids that we had to leave, the kids just kept yelling "NO!"  It was so funny and I think we all felt that way.  Rick, a member from our team, at one point was being silly with the kids during lunch and was having them chant "cuchara" which is spoon in Spanish.  He started the chant again as we were heading out to leave the program for the day, which all the kids thought was hilarious and really silly.  It was a fantastic day!




  

Jeremias and his sister.

Oscar and Ismael.

On Wednesday night we flew out of Guayaquil and back to Quito.  Thursday morning we headed out to another CDSP.  This particular CDSP in Quito served 235 students.  The main concerns in this particular area of Quito were alcohol and drugs.  This CDSP seemed to have a larger number of older children than the one we visited the day before.  The Figueroa family, Joey, and Scott were able to meet their sponsor children and visit their homes. 

Once again, we were warmly greeted upon arrival at the project.  There were kids, and dogs I might add, everywhere!  We immediately went inside their main gathering room where the three sponsor children, Diego, Steeven, and Ruben, were anxiously waiting.  It was an interesting next several minutes.  Ruben, the little boy that Scott was meeting, actually is sponsored by and corresponds with Ethan, Scott's son.  Therefore, Ruben thought that he was actually meeting Ethan, a little boy his own age.  Well, you can imagine an eight year old's response to something different ;).  It ended up working out fine, but it was a funny initial reaction.

Joey sponsors a special needs little boy named Steeven that stole all of our hearts.  He was precious.  The moment that they shared was touching and tearful.  Joey and Steeven's mother sat and talked for a long time while Joey held and loved on sweet Steeven.

All six of the Figueroa family met Diego and his mother.  The relationship that developed among this family and Diego over Thursday and Friday was beautiful to see.  I think the kids felt like siblings after spending two full days together.

It was a busy, full, and personally overwhelming day at this project.  I think the impact of the week fully took hold of my emotions that day.  

Ruben, Scott (Ethan's) sponsor child lives in a very small, two room, cement home with his mother and 3 year old little sister.  Mom works from 7 to 7 everyday, so Ruben is in charge of his little sister.  The relationship between them was very sweet.  Ruben looked out for her the way that Rylan does with Callie Jae.  But as the day progressed, we also noticed that his sister kind of just had the run of the project.  We saw her EVERYWHERE, walking around in her little puppy dog slippers kind of doing whatever she chose.  It was funny, yet sad, all at the same time.

While Scott and Ruben were getting to know each other a little bit, Jason and I, with the help of some of the staff at the project, decorated Ruben's house for a birthday party.  Ruben never had experienced a birthday party before, and the project went all out with decorations, a pinata, and a beautiful cake.  Ruben, his sister, and some friends, entered his house with huge smiles.  He was beyond thrilled and at one point, broke down with tears of happiness over the fact that it was all happening.  The moments shared between Scott and Ruben from the birthday party, the face-to-the-cake smashing tradition :), and playing soccer outside, among other things, was heart warming to witness.  Jason befriended one of Ruben's little friends Mateo and when I looked for J throughout the day, Mateo would often be at his side.  We were so glad to be apart of it all.

The older kids at these projects really look out for the younger ones.

After the birthday festivities, we headed back to the project to serve lunch.  The "cuchara" chant came to mind as the chaos of trying to serve hundreds of kids overwhelmed me.  The kitchen was very small and there weren't enough of us to keep up with the number of dishes versus the number of children that needed to be fed.  As quickly as the dirty dishes and spoons came back, they needed to be washed to be reused by another hungry mouth to feed.  The darn spoons, I tell you.  It got to me and I needed to step out and have a moment.  A simple item.  A spoon.  Cuchara.  Something we take for granted.  Something that we don't think twice about.  Yet something that so many hungry mouths were waiting on.  I know what I am bringing with me the next time I go back to Ecuador.

We held a Vacation Bible School after lunch for the little ones.  Our theme was Jesus is a Superhero.  Thank you to Whitney and Kelli for arranging it all state side.  It went smoothly for the most part and the kids enjoyed the activities of making a superhero mask and a craft depicting Jesus calming the storm.  The only thing that we did not consider was the older kids.  Therefore, I told Scott that he needed to put his Youth Pastor hat on and take the big kids to the playground for activities.  Rick and Scott managed to keep them entertained with bowls, eggs, spoons, and chocolate syrup.  Don't ask me how, but you might want to ask them!  Scott and Rick were very proud of themselves!

Thursday ended with entertainment, gift giving, and goodbyes.  It was a full and emotional day and I think we all were exhausted.

The last day of the trip was dedicated to our sponsor children.  All of the sponsor children were brought to us at the hotel in Quito.  This is the day that we met Juan.  There are not many words that describe this moment because it was one filled with nervous anticipation.  Would he know who we were?  Who was there with him?  Would he be nervous, shy, sweet, scared?  Would we get along?  All of these questions and fears quickly dissipated upon our hug.  The hours to follow at the Volqano Amusement Park, McDonalds, and hotel speak for themselves through the pictures.  Jason, myself, Juan, his mother, his tutor, and our interpreter Javier, had a great day together.  We learned that Juan attends his CDSP twice a week for five hours at a time.  He is one of four siblings (12 year old boy, 10 year old girl, Juan at 6, and a 4 year old sister).  There is not a father in the picture.  His mother works/farms in the fields and most of what she brings home is for her family.  She sells a little of it for income.  Juan's tutor was also a Compassion sponsor child and now works at his CDSP to help other children.  I could go on and on.  I am just so thankful to know more about him and his world after meeting him.  I didn't want to see him go and wished that we were the ones that would have been fortunate enough to spend more than one day with our sponsor child.  However, I promised that we would be back one day, all of us, and I will keep that promise.  We left on a red eye, back to our reality, that evening.

 

Debrief time.

It was a lot to take in.  It was hard to return.  It took several days to process.  I'll be honest and tell you that there were many tears shed upon returning.  Tears for the children that deal with poverty on a daily basis.  Tears for the mothers and the babies of the young mothers that are suffering.  Tears for the millions of children around the world that don't have Compassion International to intervene in their lives.  On the flip side of that however, there was a hope that I saw on so many children's faces while we were there.  There also was joy.  Hope and joy in faces of children that have so little and need so much.  It's kind of ironic.  I dare say that there might have been several people that we met that experience more joy than some of us that are not in poverty.  And then I remember, ah, yes, they have accepted Jesus Christ in their lives.  Life changing.  It doesn't matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you have.  Having Him in your life is all you need to experience hope and joy.  And then when you pair up these children with God loving sponsors through Compassion International, the possibilities are endless.

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you...and his incomparable great power for us who believe."

Ephesians 1:18-19     

Sponsor a child today:

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=133499

...and one more video of Nicole