Enjoy! :) We for sure are going to post more later.
Be sure to check the Youtube channel for more sweet vids!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
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!
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!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
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
Monday, November 21, 2011
How time flys by!
We are very sorry that we have not been the best at updating you readers on everything that has been happening so far. A lot has happen since our last enter, as you all know there is meatballs for mission coming up this weekend! and not only that we now only have 7 weeks till we fly out!! Craz how time goes by eh? We thank-you all for who are checking up on this blog site and keeping us in your prayers. As the weeks go by there are many prayer request to still keep in mind.
Prayer:
1) Traveling\Safety over christmas break and traveling to Ecuador
2) Meat Balls for missions
3) Team Unity
4) The country of Ecuador\people of Ecuador
5) Youth World ( The mission that we are going to be working with)
6) To be used in ways that well challenge us and to rely on Him!
7) To have a positive attitude
8) To have everything done that needs to be done before we go
9) To have our hearts,and minds prepared for what ever God as in store for us
10) To HAVE FUN!!
Thank-you once again for all of you who are coming along side of us through this crazy adventure that we are going on. Your prayers are truly needed for the people of Ecuador and for the country.
Prayer:
1) Traveling\Safety over christmas break and traveling to Ecuador
2) Meat Balls for missions
3) Team Unity
4) The country of Ecuador\people of Ecuador
5) Youth World ( The mission that we are going to be working with)
6) To be used in ways that well challenge us and to rely on Him!
7) To have a positive attitude
8) To have everything done that needs to be done before we go
9) To have our hearts,and minds prepared for what ever God as in store for us
10) To HAVE FUN!!
Thank-you once again for all of you who are coming along side of us through this crazy adventure that we are going on. Your prayers are truly needed for the people of Ecuador and for the country.
Meatballs for Missions
So this Sunday (November 27) is meatballs for missions. If you don't know what that is; every year the CLBI impact teams host a fundraising event. The money raised goes towards whichever teams need it. It is hosted at CLBI and will be a lot of fun. We hope to see you there!
For more information on the our missions visit here.
Fun Fact: Ecuador has three major geographical regions: the Costa (the coast), the Sierra (the highlands) and el oriente (the amazon).
Friday, September 30, 2011
Buenos Dias!
Hola! Welcome to the blog of impact team Ecuador, we are are group of students from CLBI. Doing a cross cultural missions experience. Our trip will actually happen this January from the 3rd to the 25th.
We are actually two impact teams going to the same place, so you will see posts from both teams. The first team consists of Sted Christenson, Rylee Evans, Natasha Schlein, and Jenna Tysdal, and the other team consist of Katie Tompkins, Amanda Van Horn, Feyan Mellsen, and Rosalee Rohde.
We are traveling to Quito Ecuador and visiting the surrounding areas; including some jungle cities of the Amazon.
Fun fact: Ecuador translates from Spanish into equator, because it is right on the equator.
Stick around because we will try and keep you posted on what is happening.
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