5 week summary, in pictures :)

As I promised "hundreds of pictures" in my support letter, the time has come to upload some choice pictures (out of hundreds) that truly express my trip to Ecuador! Here it goes... :)

Me in front of the famous colored houses of Guayaquil :)

The view from Las Peñas

"Family bed:" Me and my three roommates pushed our beds together every night :)

My roommates Hannah, Jenna, and Jess!

Our first day in Ecuador we went to a Emelec vs. Barcelona soccer game!!

Iguana park!

                                                                Well, hey there.

Climbing the tree at the Malecon

Our "grupo" on campus... we met with them every day to study the Bible! Here Jenna is helping them with English homework.

My friends Gisela and Daniela

Jocelyn, Mirim, Andrea, Jose Luis, Me, and Cynthia

(Jocelyn, Mirim and Cynthia are leaders of Vida Estudiantil at UG, Jose Luis works for CRU in Rio Bamba, and Andrea is one of our project directors)

CJ and Oliver having a follow-up

Jenna, Courtney, Enrique, CJ

Lots of our friends at UG

Courtney and our friends

Worshipping at the Vida Estudiantil meeting

We went to the beach! This is how I spent most of the days...

Paradise!

Team photo :) Ashley, Jeremy, Helen, Hannah, Jenna, CJ, Jason, Linsey, Andrea, Chris, (front) Courtney, Me, Jess, Megan

Later we went to the mountains in Cuenca!

Me and Jenna :)

How our group REALLY is :)

Llama sweaters team photo!!!!

For the love of llama sweaters...

... also known as "the recap blog post."

I realize that it's been weeks since I've written. I could offer a variety of spiritual excuses (such as, "I've been so busy talking about my relationship with God with Ecuadorians"... which is true), or practical excuses (such as, "I don't have a computer here, and I have to bum it off my sweet roommate"... also true). But the long and short of it is... I still spend ALL of my afternoon free time napping. I figured that by week 4 the shock to the brain of a new culture and language would wear off. Wrong. I still take naps and fall into bed exhausted every night.

Last weekend we traveled to a beach, and spent 3 days reading in hammocks in the sunshine and tropical breezes. Whaaat. It was so quiet and restful, and definitely the most gorgeous place I've ever visited! Last week so many conversations, meetings, follow-ups, etc. took place, and I wish that I had time to explain them all to you. What it really comes  down to though is that God is moving in Guayaquil. Some days, even when I have a bad attitude and an inability to speak Spanish, God still uses me at the Universidad de Guayaquil. Seeing how hard everyone works to start a Cru movement down here is SO motivating! I no longer take our group at Bowling Green for granted... I'm so blessed by the staff and students there and I can't wait to go back. Please be praying that Ecuadorian students will be able to experience this great blessing as well :)

This afternoon we got home from a weekend in Cuenca, an absolutely GORGEOUS city in the mountains. Although we stayed in a loud party hostal (bumping music until 3am! ... good thing I can literally sleep through anything!), it was still restful and the mountains were so breathtaking. Check out my roommate Jenna's blog for more details about our trip.
However, the most EXCITING part about our trip was ... drumroll please... our project gifts... LLAMA SWEATERS. We have been talking about llama sweaters since day #1 of our trip, when we barely knew each other. I honestly don't have words to explain how much we love llamas, and how much we anticipated these sweaters. As we strolled through the art market in Cuenca, it was determined that the process of choosing a llama sweater was similar to the wand-choosing process in Harry Potter. The sweater chooses the person. It's true. The minute my rainbow alpaca sweater (with a hood and llamas on it) was pulled out from the stand, I knew it was mine. It called to me. I heard the hallelujah chorus. Needless to say, there were 14 gringos strolling around the cool, breezy streets of Cuenca clad in a variety of llama sweaters--some bright colors, some natural tones. Some have zippers, some are pull overs. Some are made of llama and some of alpaca. But all fit the wearer's personality and all are equally AWESOME.

So, now that I explained the title, it's now time for the sad part of the blog... :(. We only have ONE week left  in Ecuador! I'm not really sure where the time went, but it's a bittersweet thought. Our team is trusting God for the final week to connect even more students to the movement.

Tonight, we sang this, at the top of our lungs (all wearing llama sweaters, of course):
"You are more, You are more, than my words can ever say.
You are Lord, You are Lord, all creation will proclaim.
You are here, You are here, in your presence I'm made whole.
You are God, You are God, of all else I'm letting go."

Buenas noches, sweet readers :)
Ann

Mid way...

Hi sweet family and friends. 


We are almost halfway done with this amazing adventure, and honestly I can't believe it. Every part of me wants to be here longer, to continue on in the work that God is doing on these campuses. Even here, life is busy, and lots is happening! We have lovely free time in the afternoon, but often I am napping away the stupor that overcomes my brain when I try to speak Spanish. I no longer take my ability to speak English for granted, because now I CAN'T speak it either! ... words no salen de mi boca and sometimes I pienso en dos languages and I am awfully messed up in the cabeza. "Code switching" (or using two languages in the same sentence) is a common occurence here! It allows me to feel success in expressing myself, when it's a struggle everyday to communicate.


I have absolutely loved this week because besides sharing with people, we've also gotten to do some follow ups and build some really fun relationships. Follow ups could include a short bible study, and questions to make sure that the person truly understands their relationship to and with God. The hope is that then, the students we meet with will then be able to share their faith, and disciple others. And so a Cru movement is built in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It's an incredibly exciting prospect!!! 


This verse from Philippians keeps popping up, in my time with the Lord and in discipleship today. It's so encouraging that we are not alone, and that God is constantly working in and through us:


For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. -Philippians 1:6 (NASB)


Well, my bed is calling and I still have some follow up emails to compose (in Spanish...)!


Besos,
Ann

Dos Semanas

So today marks the 2 week friend-a-versary of me and our amazing Ecuador team. I can't believe that I've already known them for 2 weeks, and yet I can't believe I've only known them for two weeks. You know, it's just one of those weird life things. We constantly share life and laughter together, building each other up and working through things together.

To catch up a bit, on Thursday our team had a break from going to campus so we had a free morning and afternoon. We were told that at 3:00 we were going to make sandwiches to take to a children's hospital, and I thought: Wonderful. What a lovely day off. My Spanish brain gets to rest, and we get to hug small children a a hospital. Wrong. God had much bigger plans for us that day. After assembling hundreds of sandwiches, we were told that our group was going to split up, and we were all going to take turns preaching the gospel in all of the rooms at the children's hospital!! US. Preaching. In Spanish. What?!

Now I know what you might be thinking: Ann, you know Spanish. You know the gospel. What's the big deal? No, preaching and translating and trying to speak love and hope into the lives of these families seemed to be a HUGE undertaking, perhaps even an impossible one. However, God proved to us ever so gently that He was in charge, and there was nothing to fear. I ended up being a translator for our Project Leader, Chris, as we went around to 5 different rooms and shared the hope of God's love with dozens of sick children and their families.

Translating would have been hard under any circumstances, but doing it in front of extremely sick children (from a range of ages and with a range of sicknesses) and their sad-eyed parents was heart-wrenching and scary. Somehow, Spanish words flowed from my mouth even when I was terrified, and although I knew I wasn't always correct- I think they understood me. After we shared, we invited all of the families down to the chapel for sandwiches and tea, and we graced them with several songs in Spanish and English (which we sang rather badly). The guys even got to share their favorite song, "Con Poder," which they have been practicing for the whole trip. Their hearty version of this Salvador song brought a lady to tears, as they sang about the powerful hand of God. I am thankful that we have a God who even cares about details like that! 

Then yesterday we got to spend the day in a nearby town with our friend Daniel, who took us to center where we played soccer and got to swim, then eat at his uncle's AMAZING restaurant! It was a lovely day off :)

Tomorrow we're back on campus, and we're making lots of connections with students, having lots of follow up appointments this week, and just generally loving our time with the people there! As for getting accustomed to the culture, I think our team is doing great. Occasionally we hint about wanting things that are particularly "United States-ian" (dark chocolate, clean tap water, starbucks, diet mountain dew, etc.) and get exasperated about some things that are particularly Ecuadorian (cat calls, staring, buying bottled water, the insane humidity, etc.)... but all-in-all, the beans and rice of Ecuador and the lovely people here suit me just fine :)

Besos,

Ana

Palabras?

Hmmmm. Day number 8 and so much has happened. I'm really struggling to find words to accurately express myself because God has been doing so much!

We've gone sharing on campus for two days, and talking to people about their beliefs is SO scary but everyone here is so gracious and very willing to talk :) we've had dozens of amazing conversations already! (And speaking Spanish has been sweet :). And last night we had our girls Bible study and we were blown away by the truth from Ephesians 1:1-14: we are redeemed by God, adopted as sons and daughters, and get to share in Christ's inheritance -and none of it by our own strength!! Beautiful.

Today we have a free morning (dropped off our laundry to this little hole in the wall place were they dump your dirty underwear into a laundry basket in front of everyone, then we cone back in 6 hours and hope everything is still in that basket, but nice and clean!). This afternoon we're going to help this church with some outreach project and tomorrow I'm helping with an English class on campus, because everyone wants to talk to a "real American" (Whatever that is!)

To finish, i just wanted to share a quick excerpt from Comforts of the Cross, by Elyse Fitzpatrick:

"Draw near (to God);know that you have needed cleansing but have been cleansed. Know that you have deserved wrath but have been fully loved... run now, to the Lover of your soul."

Besos y abrazos,
Ann

(Sorry about the serious post... I promise a funny one soon :)

¡Cuan grande es Èl!

"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How 

awesome is the Lord most high, the great King over all the earth!" Psalm 47:1, 2 

 Today we went to church and every time I worship in Spanish I am totally moved to some combination of goosebumps and tears because our God is not some local, small god from only our minuscule part of the globe. He is the same great, worthy God in any and every language. Realizing that yet again today was beautiful!!

I decided that we need to learn a lesson from the ladies who greet at the church here... they kiss everyone coming in, telling them how beautiful and lovely we are, and say "God bless you"! It made me so happy that I've been walking with an extra spring in my step today :)

So after a few hours of clapping, trying to sing, and trying to follow the spanish sermon, we went to a mall to buy peanut butter (Jif is expensive here, but TOTALLY worth it!) and tonight we get to have a night of prayer and praise and plan for the week ahead. Our team is splitting up between the two campuses, and this upcoming week is our first week of sharing on campus. People willingly share their views on spirituality, and are very welcoming to hear your's. Hopefully this week I will be able to meet lots of sweet ladies and begin hanging out with them during their breaks between classes. Also, they have this AMAZING fresh squeezed orange juice for only 50 cents! Mmmm.

Speaking of food, no one has gotten too sick yet, which is good new :). We've starting taking a few mores risks in where we eat (Tres P!), and sometimes I forget we can't eat what everyone else does. But it's only a matter of time before we try some food from street vendors :) Last night all 14 of us went to Pizza Hut, and all of the locals got a good show. How stereotypical, right? 14 gringos and some pizzas. Totally delish.
At breakfast every morning at the hotel they give us a different kind of "jugo" (juice)... we've had mango, pineapple, watermelon, blackberry, naranjilla, and others. Maybe my favorite part about Ecuador so far ;)

Well, that's all for now. Feliz Dia de Padre (Happy Fathers Day) to everyone!

Un Besito,
Ann

Otra vez :)

Buenas noches, from Ecuador :) Just wanted to share a few pics from my friend Megan, so you all can see a few things that we've done :) http://megwalters21.tumblr.com/ Besos, xoxo