Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Loving Life!!!

Hey Everyone!! I am sorry that it has been so very long since I have written. I will not fill you in on all that has happened but it has been wonderful!! I am loving every second that I am able to spend here in Ecuador!!

I do want to tell you about my the new ministry that I am involved in. Inca Link has a house called Casa Elizabeth that is a place for pregnant teenagers, for a year it has been closed because of a paper from the government that we were waiting for.  About two weeks ago we got the paper so were able to open up and we have our first pregnant teen.  So, I have moved up to the house with Maria to be a big sister figure in her life.  I was told I was chosen for this position for my Spanish speaking ability, my love for others, and because I want to be a Social Worker.  It is very different from what I was doing before but I am excited to become closer with Maria and do all I can to help her while I am with her.  Maria is 16 years old and is about 4 months pregnant.  The very hard and sad thing is that she can neither read nor wright.  So we have began working on this.  On Monday, we spent about 2 hours learning M and A for Mama and Maria.  By the end she still could not 100% tell me which was which. She does not talk very much so that is also a hard thing.  She does love to dance though so when there is Music she loves it!! It has been great seeing in just the few days I have been with her how she has began to warm up to me and get closer. We know that she has suffered much abuse so this is very hard.  I ask that you please pray for Maria and that in the time she has at Casa Elizabeth that she will learn so much and hopefully even come to know Christ! I also ask for prayers for my relationship with her, that I may be able to make a good impact and help her in anyway I can! It is hard to not be with the other interns and teams but I am thankful that God is being able to use me to help Maria.

With this new work, I have free days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in which I can be with the other interns.  Because we had no teams here and needed to celebrate the 4th year anniversary of Inca Link Ecuador, Gustavo, the Director of Inca Link Ecuador, Lisa Merrit, co-founder who mainly works in the states, and the 6 of us interns went to Mindo.  This is like my favorite place ever!! I was able to go on my trip 2 years ago and it was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip! We left on Tuesday night, had pizza/pasta when we arrived and then found a place to stay.  It was so incredible and beautiful. I cost us $15 a person, we had 4 rooms, hammocks hanging outside them and then and open area with table and chairs, we played dutch Blitz and then had a crazy game of spoons!! It was so much fun!! I love these people so very much!! In the morning we had breakfast which was included with our stay, and then started on our crazy adventures.  First we did Zip-lining which I LOVE!! Flying through God's creation is incredible!! So much fun and again only $15 dollars for like 13 different lines!! Such a great experience. We then went to a butterfly farm where they have all kinds of beautiful butterfly's, we were even able to see some come right out of their cocoon!! Amazing!! Next we pulled ourselves across the river in a little box hooked to some pully's, and then we were able to go tubing down the river!! They have 6 inner tubes tied together and it is so crazy fun!! You bump all over the place, over rocks, down dips, its so awesome!! Loved it even though the water was so freezing! We finished out our time at a beatiful waterfall!! I love waterfalls and there are so many in Ecuador, it is so wonderful!! God's creations amaze me! I saw so many incredible things today I can not really believe it!! Another crazy things is that we did all of this before lunch! It was a crazy awesome packed morning!!  We then came back to Quito as we have 2 teams arriving tonight, actually the other interns are at the airport now picking them up!

So as you can see I am definitely Loving Life!! My time is begining to come to an end though and that is very sad! I have less then one month left in Ecuador!! I pray that God uses every second to use me to further His kingdom!! I am so thankful for all I have been able to do and see thus far on this trip!

Thank you for your support and prayers!!

God Bless you!!
Jen