Kingdom Day and Canadian Thanksgiving

All of the kids at the Ark Children´s Home along with the Allan family and a few friends.

Everyone is dressed like royalty to symbolize how we´re sons and daughters of the King of kings.

A girl named Anahela that was originally from the jungle home they had in Macas.

Felipe: my former preschool student that no longer lives at the orphanage, but goes to school there and comes to visit.

First, we had a battle outside with swords and then we went inside to play balloon volleyball.

Another battle with Daniel. He lent me his Dagger of Time from the Prince of Persia so we could fight!

The amazing Thanksgiving dinner we had... nothing compares to mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing and gravy!

Riobamba, Baños, Ambato

View of Baños after a hike up a lot of stairs.

Baños has a ton of natural hot spring pools and a fountain that claims it has holy water... it really just tastes like Guitig (a carbonated water!)

Part of the Jesus Family that went to Ambato for a skateboard competition.

A lot of them are passionate about skateboarding and do it for Jesus.

One of them that didn´t have a skateboard won a free one that was thrown into the crowd... he definitely deserved it!

Main street in Riobamba... we walk down here all the time to go to Street Church or the jail.

The Saturday market in Riobamba.

Debora and I started going every week to buy our fresh produce. They sell stuff by $1 or 50 cents... The avacados and pineapples and are so good and farely cheap.

Our Apartment

Outside our apartment where we wash laundry.

Make sure you put clothes pins on your clothes becuase if they fall they might land in dog poop!

If you´re taking a shower and the water suddenly turns off you might have to tell your friend to go to your neighbour to explain that she can´t wash clothes right then... water issues are something we don´t deal with in Canada very much!

Our messy bunk bed right by the outside window.

We´ve had many strangers knock on our window at strange hours asking for someone I don´t even know... However, we´ve had many surprise visits as well from friends, which are always welcome!

Our dining table/counter for preparing food. It´s perfect for 2 people!

Our livng room and couch... you´d be surprised how many people can fit on that thing!

Our stove where we cook and our broken oven that we use as a refrigerator!

My 22nd Birthday Party in the apartment with the Jesus Family.

Debora and I were still feeling slightly sick from the food poisoning we got, but friends always make everything better!

Our little bathroom.

Our famous shower that likes to electricute (spelling?) us... it´s wise to use a hairbrush to turn it on!

Our mini kitchen. We wash dishes here and store a little food.

One Month Left :(

Hey Everyone. This might be the last blog update from South America. After arriving in Ecuador over a year ago it´s kind of sad to think I´ll be leaving so soon. I will definitely miss the people here that I´ve gotten to know and seen grow in their faith. However, the time hasn´t come so I´ll go ahead and tell you what´s new.

First, I want to share about Sunday at the Ark Children´s Home. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Kingdom Day together (everyone dresses up like princes and princesses to symbolize how we are sons and daughters of the King of kings). It was cool becuase I was able to celebrate it last year too.

My favorite memory from this day was playing with one of my former preschool students, Felipe. He doesn´t live at the orphanage anymore, but goes to school there and comes to visit. He pleaded with me to play fight with him (all the boys and some girls had play swords) and then to play volleyball with a balloon. I think I enjoyed it as much as Felipe did!

A few weeks ago I felt a strong desire and need to pray for the Jesus Family (what we call the members of the Street Church). Debora and I were able to go on some prayer walks and really intercede for the people. It´s such a blessing being able to know them individually. I find it more motivating to pray and easier to pray for specific needs.

This last week I was able to write encouraging notes to the majority of the Street Church. I may not be able to lead worship or preach in Spanish very well, but I believe God is using me in other ways.

This past month I´ve also been taking some Haitian Creole classes to prepare for my more long term dream of starting a ministry in the Dominican Republic. Even if my Creole is not even close to my level of Spanish I believe it will help build a small bridge between me and the Haitians I hope to work with.

The last thing I want to share is about a guy named Bienvenido. I talked about him a long time ago. He´s the one with a tattoo of 3 tears on his face and used to be in a gang and steal. He turned to Jesus, but still had some old habits left.

Well, just a few weeks ago some friends and I were in a church service and there were few seats left so some of us sat separately. As I was looking around for friends I saw this guy with this hands lifted and singing to God with all this heart. A couple minutes later Debora asks if that´s Bienvenido and I say ¨No¨right away because to me Bienvenido has shorter hair, is way skinnier and doesn´t act like that. Low and behold, the guy turns around and it is Bienvenido! I was so happy and excited that someone´s life could turn around so much because of Jesus. Praise God. Pray that Bienvenido will keep growing closer to the Lord and that he won´t fall back into his old way of life.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures I´m going to post soon.

Blessing.

Anna

Hospital, Street Church and Babies

Hello once again. How is everyone?

To start off I want to share about an answered prayer. Friday afternoon while I was doing my devotional I just prayed that God would direct my path and show me how I can be a blessing to others. Then that night just as me and Debora were leaving our house to go for a walk we ran into 2 friends from Street Church. I asked if they wanted to do something and one of them suggested going to the hospital. Every Friday night a group of Christians meet to worship God and read from the Bible and then go to the hospital to preach. I had gone once before, but that was months and months ago. So we headed off to the hospital where we helped hand out bread, tea, and Bible tracts to the people in the waiting rooms and people visiting loved ones. There were also some people that preached and did a puppet show for the children. It´s cool how God uses our willingness and answers our prayers.

When I went to the Ark this week I heard an interesting and sad story about a new baby that arrived. Many of you may already know the story from the Ark´s newsletter. The 2 week old baby was found buried alive just outside of Riobamba. A lady had been walking by and heard crying from the ground. She went over and un-covered the baby, which now has health issues with her lungs.

I also want to share about Street Church this week. There was quite a lot happening with a decision to follow Christ, a desire to change, new Christians rapping for the glory of God and everyone coming over to our house for some coffee and oranges. It´s nice because a lady I met back in Kelowna at the Spanish church a few years ago has come back to Riobamba to help with Street Church. Her name is Maria and it will be good having someone wiser and more mature in the faith with us.

That´s all for now. God bless.

Life in Riobamba

Hi again. I hope you guys are all doing well.

This last week has been quite a blessing. I have been able to do more and enjoy my time here in Ecuador. To start off Debora and I have been able to bring some sort of food to the people in the little jail. This last time we went there was a whole bunch of people standing outside and one lady asked me who I knew that was in the jail. I told her no one and that we were just bringing bread for everyone. I think that kind of surprised her...

We also went to the Ark Children´s Home 2 days to volunteer. The first day we helped with babies and toddlers because there was a no show. The second day I was able to help with Christmas presents... pretty much we just sorted through old donations to see which were fit for giving. It was nice to be back there and I can´t wait for February when the family (the Allans) that run the orphanage will be in my city (Kelowna) so I can visit them there.

We had a prayer meeting on Wednesday night and were able to offer our house again. We´re learning more and more about hospitality in a Latino culture, which I believe is preparation for the future. It´s a lot more formal than I´m used to and you are expected to serve people the food or drink. There´s no buffets or helping yourself. The host serves the plates, hands around the dish of chips and makes the coffee for their guests. Compared to me and my friends this is a big step! Only my friends back home feel comfortable enough to go into my fridge and dig around for something to eat or cut themselves a piece of cake without asking! haha.

I also have been blessed with the opportunity to learn Haitian Creole. I´ve been praying for this for a long time and my prayer has been answered. Ever since my trip to Haiti in 2008 I´ve had a passion for learning Creole (a mix of French and African) and have hoped to go back. I randomly met a Haitian French professor that works at a university here at a restuarant that was willing to teach me Creole. I had one lesson already and loved it. It´s hard to find resources to learn this language and especially anyone who knows it and is a language professor (unless you´re in Haiti!).

Well, until next time. God bless and may His peace be with you. Chao.

God´s Way of Teaching Me

Hey again.

So the last couple of weeks Debora and I have had our house pretty full with company. It was my hope to start being able to practice hospitality, but soon after I was tired of people always coming over! It sounds bad, but it was true. However, God had a little chat with me and is teaching me to share.

Just a few days ago I was complaining to Debora and my brother-in-law about people leaving messes in my house and eating my food and expecting to be entertained. I was frustrated and knew I needed an attitude change. I knew God wanted to use me to bless others that don´t have food to eat or a place to stay or anything to do. However, I was too focused on me and ´my´money and my schedule.

Then yesterday God started by reminding me that it´s all His money anyways. And yesterday, I decided to flip open my Bible and I began to read Hebrews 13. First, I saw verse 5: ¨Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have.¨ If God tells me to lend a few dollars to someone I should do it with a happy heart. Whatever it costs to make a meal for a few hungry people is worth it. My money is really just lent to me from the Lord.

Then I saw 3 more verses that really struck my attention and spoke into my heart. Verse 16 says, ¨And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.¨ I should be happy to share my food and house. I have the resources to buy more food while others do not.

I also liked verse 2. It says, ¨Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.¨ I was getting annoyed because if I invited just a few friends over a whole bunch more people they knew would come. And with certain people you have to be more aware of your belongings and more messes are made. However, we are told to practice hospitality to people we don´t know.

And lastly, verse 3 caught my eye. It says, ¨Remember those in prison as if you were their prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.¨ Sometimes we would use our leftovers to give to the people in the little jail here. At times I would think about how I could have ate the leftovers the next day and how the people in the jail are bad because they obviously did something they shouldn´t have. This might be true, but the Bible says to remember those in prison... remember the people who aren´t perfect. This gave me the idea to cook more food more often to bring to the people in the jail and show them the love of Jesus through this.

Well, that´s all I have to say for now... pray that God would keep teaching me and working on my character. Peace.