I thought I would finally post some pictures and give you all an update about our recent trip to Ecuador, South America!
We have been back only a few days and I think I speak for both of us when I say our hearts are still there. It was such a whirlwind of a trip-only 3 full days, but we packed a lot of things into that time. After the first day our brains were a little over loaded with info that we needed to process. We met with 2 sets of couples each running their own orphanages. One has been there quite a long time-16 years. One of our friends adopted a precious girl Ana from them. One of the pictures you will see her. We found out that of course it is not easy to get an orphanage up and running-even harder in South America. There a lot of "hoops to jump through" as well as many restrictions with the government. We weren't discouraged about that because we know what God has called us to.
Another part of our trip was meeting with the Covenant missionaries in Ecuador. Our hosts, Carlos and Karen (I am an idiot and forgot to take a picture of them) (you can go here to see a little more what they do with HCJB.
http://www.hcjb.org/healthcare/hospital_vozandes_quito/missionary_personnel.htmlset up a dinner at their house with most of the missionaries from Ecuador that were in the area. We had such a great time meeting and visiting with them and just being able to share ourselves with fellow missionaries. It was so great to hear their words of wisdom and encouragement. We appreciate them very much. We also went and visited one of our former students from our youth group. It was great to see him and see what God has been doing in his life. On our previous trip-he was on it and that is where the idea of coming back to Ecuador came to him. God is working in him and we are SO excited to see what GOd is going to do through him.
Well, you may be wondering what became of our trip-our thoughts etc...
First priority is to figure out what I (Kim) am going to do about school. We are trying to figure out if it would be beneficial for me to finish, wait and go back later, or just not finish. I thought I would get a lightening bolt from Jesus about that, but just a little more confusion. So, any medical professions out there or nurse practioners who are practicing in Ecuador or South America who have advice--bring it my way.
Second, we are planning on going down for a year. WHen that is, we don't know. Of course we would have stayed. We are defintely feeling ancy(sp?) being in the states, but we know God's timing and plan will develop in His time, not ours. To develop that a little more, we really feel God calling us to partner with the national Covenant church of Ecuador. We met with a few of the ladies from the national church and got some great ideas. Basically they are a pretty tight knit group and sometimes cautious of outsiders wanting to come in. Our year when we go would hopefully be working with an established orphanage to "learn the ropes" as well as developing relationships and getting invloved with the national church of Ecuador. Our idea is that we don't want to be bringing our vision to Ecuador, we want to partner with Ecuadorians who feel that an orphanage and clinic are needed.
That is where we are. I will try to keep you updated as things develop. Until then, please continue to pray for us. We appreciate and covet your prayers.
Blessings and Peace
Dios le bendiga
Karen and Carlos's backyard
Carlos and Karen's view
Us and a former student in our youth group who is at CBC (Covenant Bible College)
http://www.covenantbiblecollege.com/index.cfm?objectid=CB78EF7D-B0D0-AAB7-5A2C5CF1865FAE45
One of the orphanages we visited. Sorry no pictures with the kids...
The Covenant missionaries of Ecuador...most of them anyway
We were lucky that we were able to experience a holiday while we were there. Dec 6 is Quito Day-the Independence. It's a HUGE party time. This is one of the ways they do so. People rent one of these and music and dancing go on. It was quite a site!! They were also having ACTUAL bull fighting in a huge arena-we didn't make that one though. Maybe someday. I'm sure the pictures would have been...interesting
We got to spend Christmas with Joel's side of the family. I had to work on Christmas day but was able to spend Christmas Eve and a few days after Christmas with the family. It was wonderful to be able to relax and not have to worry about anything. It was fun to be with family although we are missing some of the Delp's since they are in Japan. We were able to talk with them on our Christmas Eve, but we look forward to next year when we can all be together again. We miss you Eric, Fumiko, Sheena and Reenna!
