Well, this is Katie here and I have successfully managed to put off writing on this blog until now, but I actually was in Ecuador this past month. Surprise! It seems like only yesterday that we were boarding our plane in Calgary packed and ready to go. Since then we have had many new experiences and seen many new things. Some of these things were exciting like ziplining superman style through the cloudforest. Some things like doing lice checks for 8 hours seemed a little more teduious. Through all these experiences, we have gotten the chance in some small way, to put on someone else's shoes and walk around in them for a bit. Can you imagine being a tia at an orphanage in charge of caring for, cooking for and cleaning up after 50 kids? and on top of that haveing to do all of their laundry by hand!? I can't. But as I spent hours folding laundry that would never stay that way, I perhaps understood a little bit more. Many of the tasks we took part in seemed small and menial like the slow slow process of sifting sand to make concrete, but through all these things God has impacted each one of us in different ways and we trust that even things that seem to be merely a drop in the bucket may be transformed in His hands.

Being at Ganas (the first home we visited) I was saddened and even angered by a system that seemed so fraught with injustice and a cycle that would seem to leave little hope for the children growing up in to break free from. Marlo, one of the Youth World missionaries reminded me of how important it is to recognize that God is still at work in these places rather than simply, "getting bogged down in all the yuck." As we moved on to Shell and Casa de Fe I was inspired by the hope present there especially as I watched therapists work with disabled kids who had been rejected and abandoned because of their disability. It was beautiful to see these children being loved and cared for and being taught of God's love. And I was reminded through this that God is good even in the midst of great pain.

Thank you for praying for us this month and as we have been preparing. After about 25 hours of travelling yesterday we made it home to Camrose! I believe that God has taught us much through this experience and I pray that the lessons learned will not be forgotten, but will continue to be fostered and grown in us. Thank you for being such an important part of our missions experience and God go with you all!

Missionary Kids, Machetes and Ice Cream.

Tomorrow is our last full day here, in Ecuador and it seems like we just arrived last week. We have done so many cool things in these three weeks, and have met a lot of amazing people. Many of these people were in attendance at the Annual Youth World conference this past weekend. We got to meet everyone that works with Youth World, and learn more about the different ministry projects that Youth World is doing. The eight of us were responsible for all of the kids at this conference, so the adults could go to the sessions. The conference was held at El Refugio, a ministry site of Youth World an hour north of Quito. This camp has everything from a zip-line to a cuy (guinea pig) coop. .Unfortunately, we have not had the chance to try cuy yet, which is one thing that Rylee especially, has been hoping to do, but perhaps we will get to try it tomorrow at the market.

Today we traveled to Mindo, and went ZIP-LINING!!! We went on 13 different zip-lines over the cloud forest, which was an awesome experience that I won't soon forget. On the way back to Quito, we stopped at the equator, where we witnessed water draining in opposite directions on either side of the line, and learned the steps in shrinking a human head. It was a great learning experience indeed. The rest of our day has included us playing seemingly countless rounds of dutch blitz, buying machetes and going for ice cream at Corfu.

It is crazy to think of all of the different things we have seen, people we've met, and cool things that we have had the chance to be a part of. I am so thankful for being given the chance to come to Ecuador for my first mission "experience." God is definitely at work here, in Ecuador, and I certainly have been blessed in being able to join in with what He is doing, even if only for a short time.

Back to Quito

After a week of venturing through the jungle we are now back to home base Quito a.k.a the guys apartment from Youth World. During our time away we traveled to two different jungle towns called Shell and Misahualli (miss-sahwa-yee). So first we jumped on a bus and endured for a long trip which lasted about five hours before arriving at Shell. From there we helped out at an orphanage called Casa de fe by working on a construction site for a new school and also got to play with the kids which included checking for lice. While working there we got to know some of the work crew who were surprisingly our age group that was already fathers to young families. The one guy named Luis was 21 years old and had four kids! After the orphanage we got the chance to work at the Nate Saint house.
Following that Sunday we jumped on the next bus to Misahualli a small town thats about 20 degrees hotter than Quito and full of monkeys. When we got there we checked into a hostile and went tubing down the river where we got to see an amazing waterfall. while we stayed there we worked on a jungle house that two missionaries planned to live in with their family as well as six other kids that lived in the jungle possibly even more kids could live with them. When our work in the morning was finished we made our way to a school where about twenty kids showed u p and we did a vbs (vacation bible school) for them. This morning we traveled on the river to the village of Pasuno where we hung out with kids who seemed to be very shy so they didn't talk much. Then we had to rush back for lunch at the hostile and from there the bus station for our five hour journey back to Quito where we will be staying for the evening.
We'll keep you posted.
-Rylee

Our Last Post (at least for a while since we're going to the jungle n' all)

Hola! Mi Amigos! Amanda here, typing to you from the great land of Quito, Ecuador. Today was our final day in Quito because tomorrow we head off into the jungle! How exciting! Along with this excitement, some of us are feeling a little down because we had our last day at Ganas, the orphanage we have worked at for the past 4 out of 5 days that we have been here. We were able to accomplish a lot in our short time; we painted their dining hall and clothing room (and organized all the clothes and bought some new shelves) cleaned the boys and girls rooms a couple of times (think of 2 giant rooms, one for girls, one for boys and these 2 rooms house at least 40 children. Yeah, it get’s messy fast!) and most importantly we got to know some of the children. I have to say it has been quite the experience. Some of the children we have gotten to know are Anna-ye (3), Valentin (3), Israel (4 and my stole my heart and the one in the picture with me), Steven (4 and loud), Wendy (5 and a bit of a trouble maker), Antony (5 with the biggest smile), Daniel (6 whom Feyan mentioned in our last post), Paulo (6), Andy (7), amongst a few others. It was a whirlwind adventure getting to hang out with these kids and attempting to understand their Spanish. And because it was so great, it made it even harder to leave them today. In my short time here, my opinion on whether or not working at an orphanage, short-term, is truly beneficial has been challenged. Yes, we were able to accomplish some things and love on those children but does the good outweigh the bad? How healthy is it for the children to get attached to us just in time for us to leave? We have been wrestling with this concept however, we have found encouragement in seeing God’s work at Ganas; the tia’s (Spanish for Auntie: the caretakers at Ganas) who are not Christian, have told us that they have seen a change in the children after interacting with mission’s groups and therefore love it when Christian groups come in. Though it has been hard, wondering if our visits have been beneficial since these children already come from unstable environments, we are still able to see God's hand at work in this orphanage.

Please pray for the children named above, as well as the other children at Ganas, that the right people would come into their lives and that they can see God’s love in the missionaries that come to see them. Also for us as we wrestle with the concept of working at these orphanages for a short period of time (especially since we still have 2 more we are going to be working at) and for safe travels as we head into the jungle tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to check up on us and for all your prayers. And Mom and Dad if you’re reading this, I love ya J

Sunday Morning

Good morning world! Here I sit on a comfy couch at 6:24 A.M your time in our nice little house that we have been staying in.. It's Sunday morning and I'm waiting for people to get up so I thought eh why I don't just blog and tell you what has been on going on with us.

Alright to be honest it seems like for me time has been going by pretty fast... we just got here and it's been over a once week already!! Tomorrow we finish our work at the orphanage then we have one more Spanish class then it's off to the jungle. We come back on the 19th have two days to get everything together for the youth world conference then we come home! I know your probably wondering why are you figuring out how many days till you come? You just got there!To be honest last night Rylee and I where trying to figure out when we could plan things for the teen's at the youth world conference and when we could just sit down and getting everything organized and that's when it hit me! 23 days it not a lot but I can see God's hand at work in this wonderful country.

When were sitting around and sharing what stuck out to us the most about the day (Yesterday) I could see that Gana's (The orphanage we have been working at) has effected each one of us in some way... and that is where I can see God's work at hand. Changing each one of us as we go day after day and pour love out on these kids! There is one little boy that sticks out to me the most and clings on to our team every time we are there.. he always welcomes us with a hug or a big smile and says "HOLA!!" he's name is Daniel.. I found out that he is always at Ganas and he has no one! unlike some kids there they still have parents ( but they are in jail) struggling at the age 7 having no parents.. I could not imange that! This would also explain why he clings to us so much! though it also makes it harder for us to say goodbye to him.. and not only him but all the kids that we have come across since we have been there.. Please keep Gana's in your prayers! Monday is going to be out last day there and it well be very hard to say goodbye to those wonderful kids that we have grown attach to so much!

God is doing amazing things through our team and this has only been once place that we have been helping with So far! Thank again for all our prayers again!

Better be getting ready for church .. Adios!

Houston Airport Video Update

Meant to put this up earlier.

Video Documentary

A video documentary of the team

Enjoy! :) We for sure are going to post more later.

Be sure to check the Youtube channel for more sweet vids!

Tiempo por un poco Espanol!

Hola, buenas noches!! Este es Natasha hablando y estoy muy emocionado para decirles acerca de nuestro dia!
As I'm sure you can tell, today we had our first Spanish lesson! Our grammar and pronunciation are definitely far from perfect but we are on our way to having some great conversations with the people of Ecuador.
We've been in Quito for two full days now and it is already starting to feel like home. Our first day here we went on a little tour lead by Matt and Marlo our host couple here in Quito. It included a trip to the Basilica, a cathedral modeled after Notre Dame, the governors building, and a couple rides on the lovely, and always overstuffed, trolley. Our team is staying in an apartment, owned by the Youth World organization, complete with a roof deck and a beautiful view of Quito where we spent some time yesterday relaxing, jamming and soaking up the sun.

Today was our first real work day. Following our Spanish lesson we headed off to an orphanage in Quito called Ganas. Ganas is an orphanage that takes in kids whose parents are in prison, so as you can imagine most of these kids come from rough and often abusive homes. Ganas is not a Christian based orphanage however a couple, who are also Youth World workers, named Renee and Casi are extremely involved, bringing in lots of Christian volunteer groups. The children and the other workers at the orphanage are constantly seeing God's love shine through these people and it is making a huge impression on all of them and leading to some awesome questions and conversations.
While most of the kids were in school we helped out by painting the dining hall of the orphanage. After a couple of hours of painting we were able to go and play with some of the kids. What started out as a little awkward and uncomfortable for us quickly ended in a room of little boys and our team running around in a small room, screaming and laughing with Amanda standing in a makeshift fort, wrestling boys left right and center screaming "MI CASTILLO, MI CASTILLO!"(my castle). Safe to say it was a great experience full of joy to end off a busy day full of flying emotions.
With a relaxing evening ahead we have nothing to do but finish our spanish homework, play a couple card games and look forward to all of the adventures and blessings tomorrow holds!

Thank you for all of the prayers, they really are fueling us! One prayer request we have is for two of the kids who actually left the orphanage to return to their mother in prison. It was a very emotional time for Casi and Renee so if you could pray for them as well as safety for these two kids that would be wonderful.

Hasta luego!

Hola from Ecuador!!!

Heyo world!! This is Jenna speaking. I got the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan for Christmas and I started reading it on the plane yesterday between Houston, Texas and Quito, Ecuador. I wasn't bouncing off the walls about this trip until we got to the airport, which was at 5 AM but i'm pretty sure i was annoying my team and everyone in the Calgary airport because I was so loud and excited! Anyways, back to the book, the first chapter began with this, "An appropriate way to begin the first chapter is to stand in awed silence before a mighty, fearsome God, whose tremendous worth becomes even more apparent as we see our own puny selves in comparison." So since I was on the plane headed to Ecuador i couldn't help but replace the word chapter with trip. An appropriate way to begin this trip would be to stand in awed silence before a mighty and fearsome God, whose tremendous worth becomes even more apparent as we see our own puny selves in comparison. The excitement of being in another country is immense and I don't think it's wrong to be excited, but I don't want to lose focus on why I am here. I want to calm myself and focus in on Gods tremendous worth and how I can learn to step out of my bubble of comfort and let him work through me in this next 3 and a half weeks. It would be a shame to have come and gone and put on a face of helping others and doing good things and doing things for God but not having my heart aligned with my actions. So! We are here! We ran into a little bit of passport trouble in Texas with the threat of one of our team members being put in jail, which was a little sketchy, but we got that all squared away and we all made it on the plane. As excited as I personally am and I know my team is as well, we will pray for wisdom and committed hearts. (And also have a wicked fun time doing it!:)

We have spent the day exploring the city of Quito and getting to know the area, it's been an insane fun day full of walking, super crammed trollys, fun food and good people! Thanks for checkin' out our blog. This is JT, stay classy.

23 days 8 people Ecuador here we come!

Happy new years to everyone from team Ecuador!

what's a better way to start off the new year than heading to ecuador in 2 days!! that's right 2 days and well be getting our hands dirty, being used in ways that God well be putting use as a team to test and also as individuals. We have told you where we are going to be working and what mission we are going to be with but we never have gone in detail with all the work that we are going to be doing. So here is the lay down:

The first week that we there we are going to be taking spanish lessons and working with people who are on the streets. After that we are going to be going into small villages and doing VBS work with kids\teens and also going to be working at an orphanage. Our last week that we are there we are going to be at M.K camp ( Missionary Kid camp) doing VBS and working with teens and helping out where ever is needed. This is only the rough out line of what we are going to be doing, you must remember in the mission field life is always an adventure it's never boring!

We are all very excited to head off to ecuador and see what God has in store for us. Thank-you again for all prayers for us and all the money that is still coming in for our team! a ton of stories and a lot of adventures are a head of us! please keep us in your prayer :D

Much love

Team Ecuador