Dearest friends and family,
Last I wrote you I was about to head to the Ecuadorian coast for the Day of the Dead holiday weekend. After getting an hour and a half of sleep Friday night, the bus picked us up at our apartment (which was sweet) at 5:15 Saturday morning. It was a long, but gorgeous, drive to the beach, and though a lot of people slept most of the way, I couldn't because I didn't want to miss any of the scenery! ;) Ecuador is a very geographically-diverse country, with its Andes mountains, Amazon jungle, and Pacific coastline, and I feel blessed that I had the chance to witness much of its beauty during our drive. I know I will never be able to eat a banana or coconut again without the image of miles upon miles of tightly packed palm trees growing bananas and coconuts resurfacing in my mind.
My favorite part of the drive, however, was each small town and isolated house we passed by and the people that stopped to watch us. There is never a lack of people outside in Ecuadorian communities, whether it's the kids playing soccer barefoot in the dirt, the women with babies strapped to their backs hanging colorful laundry on clotheslines, or the men sitting on curbs and porches talking. The dark brown face of the indigenous Ecuadorian is indeed beautiful to behold.
After crossing a third of the country, (and crossing into the Northern Hemisphere,) we arrived at the beach around 12:30. The beach we went to, Same, is a small, locals-only type beach so it was pretty much completely deserted except for us. Our group included all of the short-termers and the Youth World staff that oversee us (Bryan, Christy, and the Jenson family), as well as Brad Miller, the Director of Youth World, his family, and a group of high schoolers they brought. This specific beach has been adopted by Youth World as their favorite holiday/spiritual retreat spot, and many of the families have been going there for years. I can totally see why, because it is an amazingly beautiful and peaceful place (with warm water and palm trees with coconuts on them). :) One of the key things that struck me was how wonderful it was to breath there. The fresh, sea-level air was such a relief from the severely polluted, high-altitude air of Quito. The still quietness was also a relief from the constant noise of urban city life.
During our stay at the beach we shared a few oceanfront wooden huts and one more modern condo-style room for 15 bucks a night. We held our Worldview class in the newer room. (Don't forget I wasn't on vacation!) The class was awesome. Spencer MacCuish is a professor at Eternity Bible College, a school he started with Francis Chan and a few other guys in Simi Valley. He took the week off teaching there to fly down to Ecuador to teach us our intensive class. He is also good friends with Matt, my director. I had thought the class was going to be about world religions, but the first day he told us that it would actually be about worldviews. Spencer was an incredibly wise and knowledgeable prof, and I can honestly say that my life will never be the same because I took his class. We began by learning about the American worldview, and then learning how, as American Christians, we have adopted much of that worldview into our faith without realizing it. Then we studied what a purely Christian worldview would look like, and how we can apply that to ALL aspects of our lives. Spencer gave us tools for understanding any culture/person's worldview, and how to relate the Gospel story to them in a way they can understand. That is seven days, six hours a day, in a nutshell. ;) I wrote abundant notes, so I cannot wait to share them with you in person once I am home. Books read include: Living at the Crossroads by Michael W. Goheen and Craig G. Bartholomew, and Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy.
The one bummer of the whole trip for me was that I got incredibly sick Monday night. We're not sure exactly what happened, but I can't remember ever being that sick before. It was most likely food poisoning, since it was so severe but only lasted til Wednesday. Every day we ate at a little shrimp and fish place, literally on the sand, that was soo good, but I may have ate something that wasn't cooked right. It's hard to tell. Needless to say, I've never thrown up more in my life, and I spent all day Tuesday in bed. At least I could see and hear the ocean from there!
Wednesday morning we packed up and left the beach by 11:00. I was thankful that I was feeling better since the drive was so long. We were all sad to leave and wished we had had more time to swim and lay out. But "it is what it is" (as Spencer has a habit of saying quite a bit). If I hadn't gotten sick, I would have said it was a great time of being rejuvenated and refreshed, but I'm sure everyone else would still say that. :)
Since being back in Quito we finished our class with Spencer. Last night we threw him a thank you/goodbye party, and he left for California this morning. It's crazy how quick he entered our lives, made an impact, and then left, but yet it was still such a profound impact. I am so thankful to God for him and the ministry he has to everyone he comes into contact with. We are definitely going to miss him here.
Though I healed from whatever bug I got at the beach, it weakened my immune system so that by Wednesday night I was feeling a cold coming on. (I know, sad day right? I hardly ever get sick in the States! Who do these Ecuadorian germs think they are?) The past couple days I've only been able to attend class and sleep the rest of the time, since my cold has gotten pretty bad. If you all could pray for my health, I would greatly appreciate it. :) If I'm not better by Monday I'll have to see a doctor.
If I AM better by Monday, then everything will go back to the usual, like it was before the beach. I'll go back to work at the orphanage, and Spanish, Spiritual Formation, and History classes resume. I loved the change we had for a week, but I'm excited to get back to the norm. We have three more weeks here in Quito and then it's off to the jungle! And after that, the only thing left is debrief! Can you believe it? So crazy. It's all downhill from here. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing! ;)
The last thing I want to say before going to work on my Spanish is...
Happy 50th Birthday to my wonderful Mom!! I hope you have a great day on Monday! ♥ Everyone, please make sure you give her lots of birthday hugs for me this week! Thanks! :)
I love you all! Have a great week!
With Joy,
Jenni
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