last day in el chaupi

Amid rainy weather, cold wind, and children hanging from all of our limbs at all times, I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to live in El Chaupi for the past 4 weeks. Today is our last full day here in the village. It has been quite sad to say goodbyes to all of the people we have gotten to know here (especially the children), and the worst is yet to come tomorrow when we say goodbye to the family that we have lived with for the past month. The Lord is doing an amazing work in them, and it has been a true blessing to witness. I pray that the Lord will continue to work through their family and that they will reach out to their community to share the Good News that they have come to know. They have been an incredible encouragement to us and have truly been a family away from home. It is bittersweet to know that this time is coming to an end. It feels like we arrived just last week. We will leave here at 9am tomorrow with tears in our eyes and joy in our hearts for what the Lord has done here and for what we are leaving behind. As we prepare to leave, I am humbled by the fact that the Lord is all-powerful and does not need us to accomplish his tasks, but still he chooses to use us. That is still amazing to me and I pray that I will never lose sight of how huge that is. He created the world that we live in, the air that fills our lungs, and our very bodies. Yet, still he wants to use us to further his kingdom. He wants to know us personally. He loves us beyond any other of his creations.

The past two weeks have been filled with many ministry opportunities and a lot of fun. We spent our usual Tuesday/Thursday mornings at the large elementary school teaching English and Bible Studies. We never quite knew what we were getting ourselves into when we walked through those gates at 8:40 on those mornings, but we were usually put into a class as a substitute teacher. That was nice because it gave us free reign of what we taught them (more opportunities to do Bible stories YAY!) but it also came with its frustrations when all that the students wanted to do was "jugar futbol" (play soccer) or "sacar photos" (take pictures). All in all, it was a great experience and these children now have more of a knowledge of Jesus Christ - and that's all that matters. We also got a visit from Ruby and Fletcher who were on their way to do some research in another area! What a blessing it was to get hugs from them!

As I mentioned before, we are leaving El Chaupi at 9am tomorrow. We will head to Quito for a couple of "jungle preparation days" before we head to the Oriente. We are excited to be reunited with the rest of the team and to spend this last week together in ministry to a people group in another area of Ecuador! Please pray for our travel on Monday and on Friday, as these are the days we will be driving to and coming back from the Oriente and for the people that we will come in contact with while we are there.

Since I did not have a chance to send out an update last week, there are some things that you should know.. The first being that the rooster that we so affectionately called "Dodo" because of his constant state of confusion was killed and fed to us for supper two Sunday nights ago. I did not believe it at first either, but it is true. Our Ecuadorian parents killed him and didn't tell us what we had eaten until after supper. They did it so that we could actually sleep. I told you that they are great! Haha they do have another rooster - a small one who has found his voice in the past few days. But thank goodness he is sane and only crows at sunrise.

This past Saturday, we went horseback riding for a few hours despite the fact that we were unaware of Spanish commands for horses. My horse started off being a wonderful creature, but halfway through our ride decided to take of sprinting down the country roads that we were walking down. I was not expecting it, but pulled back on the reigns as I yelled "PARE" which means STOP in Spanish. The horse eventually listened and slowed down to its usual trot, only to do the same thing a few more times before our ride was over. Despite my crazy horse, the ride was beautiful and we saw parts of the Ecuadorian countryside that we would not have otherwise seen.

On the same day, just a few hours after our return from riding, Mirian came upstairs and extended an invitation to eat CUY with her and her family. Cuy is Spanish for guinea pig. She and her family had cooked the cuy, chicken, and potatoes for us so that we could have this experience before leaving Ecuador. Although we were eating a strange food, we had a lot of great laughs and conversations with our precious family. (In case you were wondering, cuy tastes a lot like chicken.)

I am going to miss this place tremendously and the people that we have met here. I will miss milking cows, crazy roosters who end up as dinner, children hanging on to us all of the time, watching pigs get slaughtered, and most of all, being able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with these amazing people. I pray that the Lord will continue a great work in their lives long after we are gone.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Pictured above: Marcela, Peluchin(the dog), Boanerges, Mirian, Noami, and Peluchina (the other dog).