Time in the Jungle, Teaching

As I posted recently, 2 weeks ago or so, we tried to make a trip to the jungle, specifically a village called Guagua Sumaco for me (Kim) to do teaching about disabilities to the youth of this area. On the way though, we were stopped because a bridge was out.
This previous Saturday (the 18th) we tried the trip again and MADE IT! My friend and fellow missionary, Mandy Hjelm went with us to help translate. I think for my first real teaching experience, it went pretty well. I tried to incorporate a lot of activities to break up the mound of information I gave which I think was good for the kids. You can see some of the above pictures. The activities were supposed to simulate different types of disabilities and how that would effect doing simple activities such as opening a piece of candy with a motor disability, trying to work together in a team with multiple disabilities such as being blind or not being able to use a hand or talk. Another activity was having the kids try to write their names with a piece of paper on their forehead. This would simulate how the brain may confuse letters. Overall, it was a great experience!
I asked a question during the lesson about disabilities and how it might effect the students. One in the class responded with "it's kind of like you and not being able to speak Spanish well". She didn't mean this is an insult, but it was very, very true. Not speaking the language fluently yet is a bit of a disability, but I KNOW that God can still use me, in SPITE of me and in SPITE of my limitations with the language. AMEN!

Visit from Mom and Dad Carter

Grandma and Grandpa Carter came to visit last week. We visited a lot of sites around Ecuador. Here are some of the sites around Ecuador that we visited.

Updates, Updates, Updates

For some of out Spanish learning and cultural development, we went to the Basilica and other parts of Quito to learn more about the place we are living and its history! We had the unique opportunity to climb the Basilica, yes climb it, to the Belfry and BEYOND! We admit, but was scary, but there was a beautiful view and it was well worth it. When you come visit us, we will take you there! Here are some other updates from the last month!

Beautiful!

At the top of the Basilica. We were smiling, but we were kind of scared! It's REALLY high!

The Sunday we were in Guayaquil, Cheryll and Moises's church had a Sunday School program. The kids were SO cute!

Moises with a HUGE Iguana. Simeon wasn't too sure about it!

Cute feet!

Simeon had his first experience in the ocean. He started out smiling, but didn't like the splashing too much!

Our apologies for the lack of posting on this blog. Between facebook and our other blog, I think this one gets neglected. Who knows if people read it, but we should be posting nonetheless. Over the last month, we have had some good experiences. We visited Guayaquil (the largest city in Ecuador). We visited our fellow (long-term) missionary and her husband (Cheryll and Moises). They were wonderful hosts to us and it was great to see a different party of the country and ministries there. One of the other short-termers, Josh went with us.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SPANISH LEARNING!

We have been a bit discouraged in this area recently and covet your prayers to continue our learning and become more proficient!