Orientation

Orientation

The waiting is over! As you all know, I left for Ecuador on Tuesday. It was a long plane ride, but I got to meet one of the girls on the layover which was great and calmed my nerves! But sadly, the entertainment system didn’t work until half the plane ride was over but I got to watch “The Lucky One” and some Phineas and Ferb to waste the time. 

Anyway, we got the airport and got through immigration very easily, met up with our leader and drove to the apartment! The apartment is in the nicer part of the city, close to the airport. I got to meet some of the girls that night before unpacking and getting to bed.

The girls here are amazing. They all have an incredible passion for the Lord as well as an incredible passion to have fun! Orientation was so much fun with them. The guys are awesome as well. There are only two guys, and nine girls. The guys are hilarious but know how to be gentleman and I can’t wait to get to know everyone more!

I’m still pretty nervous about getting around the city, but I’m getting more comfortable as we walk around. We walk a lot! The "trole" is also an important part of getting around and it’s only twenty-five cents to go as long as you want! Taxis are pretty cheap to which we use to get around at night and it mostly costs between 1 and 5 dollars! I just have to start paying attention more and keep up my motivation to learn the language. I’m super excited to see what God has in store for me this semester!

Trolleys are absolutely crazy. You literally are smashed. Like, you can’t fall because you’re completely surrounded by people. You have to smash yourself inside or you’ll be left behind. We also have to keep an eye out for pick pocketers… Mackenzie already got her camera swiped! But yes, we took the trolley to Old Quito, which was so cool. There were mimes walking around and we had delicious empanados and giant hot chocolate that we all shared.

Being here has really shown me that learning the culture isn’t as important for me, as it is for them. Learning the language and their culture show them that you care. That’s how you show them love and that’s how they become comfortable to accept it. Jesus came down and became like us to show us His love. That’s what being here is about. Learning to be like them so that I can show them love to the best of my ability.

Anyway, I’m going to be all over the place… we went on a scavenger hunt to go all around the city which was amazing! It was the perfect day to see some sights in Quito. I was on a team with Aimee and Chris and had so much fun! It was really funny because both of them are super competitive unlike me, but I loved it! We got to explore Old Quito and we went to the Plaza Grande where we grabbed some French fries and took a picture in front of the Presidential Palace which is beautiful! We also went to the Basilica which is absolutely amazing and totally worth the awful stair climb to get to the top! We were able to explore neat places that we could eat or go shopping.

I absolutely love this beautiful city, though the altitude is still getting some used to! Being 10,000 up makes it kinda hard to breathe sometimes! There’s a lot still to learn but I feel like I know how to get money out, get to the grocery store, and get around… as long as I’m with other people I’m ok! I feel like I’ll appreciate the city even more when I learn the language! Right now, I’m just lifting up my fears to God and really praying that I will not lose my motivation to learn the language and the culture so I can truly love these people to the best of my ability.

Going to the equator was AWESOME as well. We got to do all kinds of cool things like balance an egg on a nail, and try to walk on the equator line. We learned all kinds of things about the tribes that used to live there and traditions… it was a pretty cool place. We also went zip-lining which was SWEET. There were about thirteen zip-lines over the mountains with trees and it was breath-taking. Literally. For dinner, we went to the amazing place with the most wonderful view of the city at night. There was delicious food (I had hot chocolate with cheese in it!!) and there was live music which was so much fun because we got to dance! The guys even got dressed up!

Finally, today, we were able to choose a church to go to, so a bunch of us decided to go to the Spanish speaking church. That was really difficult. I couldn’t understand anything that was said, but luckily, there were slides that I could read so that I could get the gist of the message. It was about the silence of God. Why is He silent and how do you deal with it? I met nice people, but I may try the English speaking church next week. I feel like church is a time to grow spiritually and trying to understand the language takes away from that. My friend Jasmyn mentioned that there’s just something about having the Word of God spoken in your native tongue that makes it special. I think there’s truth to that. I still may try another Spanish speaking church, but I think I need to wait until I can understand it more.

Also, today was milestone moment. I went grocery shopping for myself for the first time ever. I made a grocery list and everything. It was pretty legit. I’m excited. I still can’t really cook, so I just bought like chicken nuggets and pasta and lunchmeat and stuff, but hey, baby steps!

Anyway, continue praying for me when you think of it. Living in a community like this is AWESOME right now, but I don’t think I’ve hit the “culture shock” part yet. So, just pray that I’ll handle it well when it comes. Also, we start classes tomorrow… three hour Spanish class! I really want to get rid of all my selfish desires and lay down everything before God. I have such a desire to love these people and I know I can’t do it alone. I need God. I want Him to use me. I want the  joy of the Lord to be so clear to these people.

I’m having so much fun here so far, but my purpose here is to be a follower of God. To learn all I can and try to make a difference. Whether I see any results, or if I’m just planting seeds, whether it’s for the people here in Ecuador or even the people on my team, I need to put aside any sign of selfishness and learn to love with all my being. After all, love is the greatest commandment. It’s time to put that in motion.