Catch Up

Hey everyone... WOW... it's been a long time! I don't even know where to start...

First, I've been teaching 2 English classes (one for beginners and one for advanced students) downtown for the last week. The most exciting thing happened when I got 2 packages... one from a very good friend from Switzerland (Debora!) and one from my mom. Debora sent tons of chocolate, which I'm so grateful for. My friends have been enjoying it too that's for sure! And I just couldn't wait for Christmas to open my mom's so I had an early Christmas! (hehe) I have put to good use everything she sent me and I'm so happy for it.

On Friday I went to Jessica's house (a missionary from the States)... I got super homesick for many reasons! We played a card game called Phase 10, but it's exactly like the game Frustration that me and my family would always play... then we made homemade chocolate chip cookies! (Mmmm)... and then the best part was watching the first Home Alone, which I've been wanting to watch for years!

That night, there was meeting at the Ark for the older kids where we prayed for a very long time... it was very intense and God showed me a lot of things. At first I saw a little bit of heaven... there was this little black boy that on earth lived in this little dirty shack, but in heaven he had this beautiful, clean, shining place to live... there was also this person just dancing with complete freedom... then there was this baby that had been aborted on earth, but in heaven he was in a different body and was hugging the doctor that had aborted him... the last thing was a bunch of Jews that had been gased in the concentration camps forgiving the Nazis that had killed them. It was so beautiful... the justice, reconciliation, forgiveness, and the joy.

Then God showed me a little bit of the pain he felt about the things that happen on earth... it was really horrible and I couldn't stop crying (more like bawling my eyes out!)... it was so bad and painful I don't even really want to share what I saw and experienced... things like a policeman beating a street child and kids hanging themselves with belts.

Also, Ron prayed for me about me being a courageous missionary.

On Saturday in the morning, I went to Guano (a little town close by) to this skateboard competition... there were a ton of us packed inside and in the back of the truck plus a ramp and a wheel chair. Since I don't skateboard I went exploring the town with a friend. We went by a bunch of touristy shops, then down this long deserted road, then to this little park and then up this mountain where they had all these cultural things. They had stone carvings from the the Indigenous along this path up the hill. At the top we just talked and enjoyed the view.

After we came down the hill and got some ice cream and Cholas to eat (kind of like a bun with cane sugar inside).

Then we came back to do the Radio show that they have every weekend. (haha) Last minute they asked me to say something and all I could think of was "Hola a todos... soy Anna!" haha... then we went back to Guano to go to a concert with a bunch of Hippies... we didn't stay long, but they had this tight rope thing, a climbing wall and some interesting music! After we returned to Riobamba to eat some supper on the street... we all got this huge plate of rice, lettuce, fried chicken and a potato for $1.60! And then we had some Cola too.

This morning I went to church with Naomi and a few kids, but they were having a free medical outreach thing so we just played in a park and came back. Now I'm here catching up... later I think I'm going to go to Calshi where Isaac teaches guitar lessons to do some hiking... and maybe I'll teach English to a few friends if we feel like it.

Chimborazo

On Sunday I went with Isaac to a nearby village to teach guitar lessons. I decided to go for a hike/exploration adventure to go see Chimborazo and take pictures. After climbing up a hill and having no oxygen I met some kids and Quichua farmers.

There were tons of sheep, pigs, donkeys and cows so I took a picture of some sheep.

This is a little forest I went into that reminded me of Canada. The trees are beautiful.

This is Chimborazo... the farthest point from the Earth's center (the bulge of the equator plus the height of the mountain). Around the mountain are farms where the Indigenous work and live simple lives washing laundry in streams and riding donkeys (which I have done in Haiti!)

This is a close up of Chimborazo, which looks even better with a clear sky and no clouds.

Saturday morning/afternoon was a girls seminar on Love/Relationships with one of the missionaries here. A bunch of the teenage girls from the Ark went and I really enjoyed it.

Saturday night I went to street church where we ended up handing out gospel tracts and telling people about Jesus. It was amazing even though I just listened most of the time and prayed. It was a little frustrating because I could understand most of what the people were saying, but I didn't have the Spanish to respond when I really wanted to say something. However, I really enjoyed it and am glad to have helped plant a seed in the hearts of the people.

Sunday morning I went to church and the service was really good. Then in the afternoon I went to the village mentioned above to get some exercise. And at night I went to where the people from the Street church do their radio program. They play music and talk about the christain life as well. Then we all hung out at one of their houses and had some coffee and bread (a typical snack here).

And today I worked in the morning and wrapped lots of Christmas presents. Then I went to teach 3 English classes downtown and now I'm really tired. Hope you enjoyed the post...

Friday

Today I helped with the babies, then helped with pre school since Zoe is back and then I wrapped Christmas presents for a few hours. Then in the afternoon I went downtown because I was supposed to help hand out flyers for the new English classes I'll be teaching, but no one was there. Therefore, I left and found a salon where I got my nails done for only $2! Then as I was walking towards the bus stop I noticed an ice cream shop where the ice cream was only 50 cents so I had to get some! Then I saw some amazing silver earnings with diamonds (fake of course) in the middle and bought them too... only $2! So for $5 I got a lot... After supper I watched some kids on the trampoline and now I'm waiting to see if some friends will be going to the hospital tonight to pray for the people there.

PHOTOS!!!

This is one of the newborns named Sasha. She is all better now, but was in the hospital because she had pneumonia.

This is one of the older boys jumping on the trampoline they have. In the background is the elementary school and some rooms.

This is me and Georgina. She's very easy going and good natured almost all of the time. This is the girl I took to the hospital cuz she was pretty sick. I've been trying to teach her to call me "mama" but it hasn't been working very well. haha. She is orginally from the jungle.

This is where we eat.

This is me and my preschool class. There are 8 students and we classes during the week for 1 hour in the morning. It's funny cuz everyday the kids ask me when we're going to have classes and I tell them the same thing every day... at 9:00 or on Monday (when it's the weekend).

This is where the newborns sleep.

These are some of the "older" babies. One of the babies is blind, one is mentally disabled and one just went to the capital to get surgery on her skull.

This is one of the toddlers from the jungle children's home that just recently shut down. His name is Nacho and is incredibly cute.

This is me and 2 girls that I bond with really well.

This is me and one of the newborns named Alejandro. I'm in the baby room where we make bottles and feed the babies.

Here are some photos since I finally got around to it... actually I'm just editing this because the power went off the last time and now I don't have the rest of the pictures... but here are 2!

This is the outside of the main building, which contains the kitchen, office, living room, the Allan's place, the boy's room, the girl's room and the baby room.

This is the other building, which contains the laundry room, the older boy's rooms, my room and the older Allan kid's rooms.

This week has been very fun and very eventful (in comparison). I got to teach English Monday to Thursday for a hour and get Spanish lessons in return. The students are young and fun to be with and the director of the school really likes me and wants me to teach 3 more classes! I think I will cuz I like getting out and I end up speaking a lot more Spanish when I'm downtown cuz I have to.

Then on Friday a bunch of us went to a hospital with a church group that goes regularly. They talk to the people in the waiting room about Jesus and do programs for the kids in the children's ward and then give them bread and tea.

Then on Saturday I went to the house of another missionary's and just played cards and hung out. Then at night I went to Iglesia de la Calle where had church as usual. It's fun as I'm learning more Spanish so I can understand more of the jokes and what they are saying in general.

Then today I went to one of the churches that's close by in the morning and went to Sunday school for youth with a friend that I see often... she comes to the Ark lots. In the afternoon a bunch of people came over to help and just hang out... then we went to this little village where Isaac taught guitar lessons to a few students. A few of us went for a walk and the view was amazing... you could see the whole valley and then the huge snow capped mountain Chimborazo. This mountain is apparently the farthest from the center of the earth because of the bulge from the equator and how high it is.

Profesora - preschool and English

Hey everyone.

So, Saturday was Iglesia de la Calle (Street Church) where we had a really good time, especially with communion... it went really deep with a lot of us.

Sunday they were short 2 workers so I did a morning shift with the toddlers/preschoolers and then a couple hours in the afternoon with the babies. I'm still learning to renounce my rights (to free time, for example) which is a continuation of my DTS where I had to renounce my right to lots of things!

Today I prepared the preschool lesson, but Zoe wasn't leaving until 11 so she was my helper... tomorrow Jemimah will help me. They're going to learn about the letter N, how to use scissors, hoiw to count and how to glue balls of tissue paper on a fish.

In Spanish lessons I learned that since Ecuador has been getting very little rain, the government decided to turn off the power every so often for a few hours to save energy. Therefore, we were using candles in English class and had a very dark Spanish class. Teaching English was a lot of fun since there were only 3 students and they were around my age. Apparently the directors rarely have native English speakers teach so they convinced me to teach another class... so I'll be teaching from 3:30-4:30 and 6:30 -7:30 Monday to Thursday with a Spanish lesson at 5:30 - 6:30... in betwen I think I might go and buy ice cream or something... Hopefully I'll be able to get another lesson for free or some sort of "reward." Today I had time so I bought ice cream and ended up seeing one of the guys from Street Church so we talked (in Spanish of course) and then I bought a phone card so I officially have minutes on my new cell!

Abandoned Baby and Spanish Lessons

So today was a pretty full day. After feeding babies and helping with preschool, me and Zoe went to wrap Christmas presents for 80 kids... well, we ended up having to go to town to buy 200 sheets of wrapping paper and 3 pairs of shoes. After lunch Jemimah joined us to wrap gifts. Then I went downtown again to check out the Spanish/English school... apparently on Monday I'm going to start teaching English Monday to Thursday 6:30 to 7:30 and get free Spanish lessons in exchange from 5:30 to 6:30. We'll see how that goes... Then when I got back I found out we have a new baby. Leonardo was abandoned on a porch so the police brought him here. He's of course very cute and looks a lot like one of the other babies.

Quito and Halloween

So on Monday at 4:30 in the morning I woke up to begin my journey to Quito. I needed to register my visa since it was the 29th day and after 30 days you have to pay a $200 fine! So we took a taxi to the bus station and took another bus to Quito... then we took the trolley to where we had to go. I made sure to have my passport and money in a very safe place because apparently lots of people have been pick pocketed on the trolley. It's extremely squishy, but only 25 cents for a 1/2 ride.

Then we took a taxi to where we thought we had to go, but of course we were sent somewhere else... this is after the first trip to Quito where we went to 2 places, both of which were not the right place. And after finally arriving we had to get photocopies and deposit money in a bank (meaning more time and effort), but finally I got it registered... However, they told me I'd have to come back in 3 days to pick up my passport because the director needed to sign something. Good thing, Neomi (who went with me) asked if we could see the director right away and it turns out the director had studied in Canada and was more than happy to sign it right away... thank you Lord!

After we got to eat some amazing burgers/fries/pop for only $1.50 and we could barely finish them because they were so huge! We also got to talk to the workers for a bit... they were siblings from Cuba and were really nice. Apparently, most people want to leave Cuba because of the political situation there.

On the ride home we (Neomi and I) were dying of thirst, but good thing about Ecuador is that there are always people getting on the bus to sell you something so you will never go thirsty or hungry for very long!

During the week, I got to work with the toddlers and newborns... and it made me really want to have kids! They are so cute. I also had the opportunity to take one of the toddlers to the hospital. Lots of the kids have been getting fevers and they were really young so we took them to emergency. That was fun getting to pretend I had my own kid (and it turns out the kid I took was my favourite girl! haha... she's just so cute and content all the time)

On Saturday night I was going to street church and witnessed only a small taste of Halloween... it's not that big here. However, I got to taste my first Colada Morada, which is this purple fruit drink that's amazing (and very Ecuadorian) and eat fries with a bunch of friends.

Sunday morning I went to church, which ended up lasting 3.5 hours! However, that included a program and concert... there were skits/songs/dances and the band for the concert was from Quito and was really good. Then I got to drink more Colada Morada and eat bread (which is a big part of the diet here... but the bread is so tasty). And that's the week in a nutshell!