Ecuador 2006 - Part VII

I woke up Sunday morning with a single line of a song running, repeatedly, through my head.

“And what was said to the rose to make it unfold, was said here in my chest.”

Beautiful words to my heart and such evidence of the inexplicable rightness I had felt since we stepped off the plane.

We arose Sunday morning to beautiful skies and a breakfast cooked by our new friend, Teresita. Teresita lives in Ambato, attends Jonhattan’s church and cooks for the American teams Dan brings to the area. Teresita was faithful in her commitment to our team. She always had hot water for coffee first thing in the early morning and hot meals when we pulled into the hacienda in the evening. What a blessing it was to be ministered to in such a way!

We were privileged that morning to attend the service at Jonhattan’s church. Rogelio delivered us to the Primera Bautista during their Sunday school hour. Because Dan wanted us to have an opportunity to interact with the youth of the church, he took Lana and I downstairs and pulled the youth girls out of their class for us to hang out with. It was so awkward! We spent some time with a few fourteen-year-olds who would not talk to us at all. They answered all of our questions with one-word answers and looked at us as if we were crazy. Eventually, a couple of older girls joined us and they livened up the conversation. The older girls had questions for us about life in the United States, our families and, of course, if we had boyfriends.

When it was time for the service to start, we moved up to the sanctuary and found places to sit. Because Danny had encouraged us that morning to spread ourselves around the church and sit among the congregation rather than in a big gringo group so that we could meet people and be a part of the congregation, Lana and I sat in a pew near the front…but nobody would sit with us. Eventually, though, the church began to fill and people sat in our pew…but they wouldn’t talk to us, choosing rather to stare at the two of us, one with beautiful blonde hair and one, an obvious out-of-a-bottle redhead.

The service began and Fabian led worship in both Spanish and English. He sang “Open the Eyes of My Heart” in Spanish, which had quickly become one of my favorite songs after I learned the Spanish version in Peru last year. I rarely sing it in English anymore, even in the U.S. When Fabian began to sing the same song in English without putting the words on the screen, I realized that I had sung it Spanish so often I didn’t know the words in English anymore. That made me laugh at myself. After a time of worship, Danny preached a message about the liberty and freedom we have in Christ and Dan translated for the Spanish-speaking congregation. Danny did a great job but the fun began when he sat down.

Jonhattan had received a number of boxes from Samaritan’s Purse and wanted us to help pass them out. Samaritan’s Purse is a ministry in the US and the UK, spearheaded by Franklin Graham. Throughout the year, Samaritan’s Purse encourages people to save shoe-boxes and, in the weeks before Christmas, fill them with items for children: small toys, dolls, toothpaste, toothbrushes, things children in privileged countries take for granted. Just before Christmas, Samaritan’s Purse collects the boxes and ships them around the world to areas with children whose parents are unable to provide them with much of the fun, or even health-conscious, parts of life. I was in a wedding last summer where the bride, rather than spending money on wedding favors and excessive decorations, instead purchased enough supplies (and collected enough shoeboxes) for each guest to put together a box before entering the reception. I also have friends who spend November and December in a warehouse in Atlanta every year helping with the receiving and shipping of Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes so to have the opportunity to hand out the shoeboxes was amazing.

The kids were so excited to get their boxes and play with their new toys. It was such a privilege and a blessing to be a part of putting smiles on those little faces, even if it was such a small part. This was also the first opportunity I had to really use my Spanish. I talked with some of the parents and a few of the kids and came away so encouraged both with their patience with me and with how much of the language I had retained. And, of course, the experience left me so ready to meet the people we would be working with all week and to begin building relationships with them.