How time has flown!!

Week 19

9th- 15th Jan 2012

This week was our last 'normal' week at the school as next week the children have exams. It has been a fun week with the children at the school and at the compassion project. Yet again we are slowly realising what life is like for the average Ecuadorian person. I was suprised to find out that Elizabeth the English teacher at the school only earns $250 a month she informed me that her rent is $100 a month. Leaving her and her son $150 to live of for the entire month!! In sterling that is 100 pounds. Perhaps then it is not so surprising that so many of the teachers don't indulge in christmas presents as they don't have enough money. Culturally Ecuadorians dont tend to practice saving as the majority of people don't go away on lavish holidays and houses are more reasonably priced instead the general trend is that people spend everything they earn each month on living and getting by.

In school we played a lot of hangman this week with 4th and 5th Basica and enjoyed helping the younger children with their writing. During break time Robin had fun playing football and  Basketball with all the small children. They in turn had lots of fun climbing all over us, sitting on our laps pretending to ride a horse and requesting to be dangled upside down! Two little girls in particular enjoyed standing on the bench behind Robin and flicking his ears!  

We where working with the teenagers at the compassion project who rather unsprisingly acted like teenagers. Blowing up a condom like a balloon whilst one of the leaders chased him round the court trying to get it off him! They are a very friendly bunch of teenagers and invite us to play football or hang out and listen to their music with them.

On thursday we took the school assembly which is a devotional time. We where up the front singing songs with actions and Robin read out his testimony. One of the teachers then read out the father's love letter (a collection of verses from the bible) to the children and we where amazed to see that the children actually stopped chattering away and listened to what was being said. For those of you who may not know 'The Fathers Love Letter' here it is:

You may not know me,
but I know everything about you.
Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up.
Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways.
Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered.
Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image.
Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being.
Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring.
Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived.
Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation.
Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake,
for all your days are written in my book.
Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth
and where you would live.
Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb.
Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born.
Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented
by those who don't know me.
John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry,
but am the complete expression of love.
1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you.
1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child
and I am your Father.
1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could.
Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father.
Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.
James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.
Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless
as the sand on the seashore.
Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you.
Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession.
Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you
with all my heart and all my soul.
Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things.
Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart,
you will find me.
Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you
the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires.
Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you
than you could possibly imagine.
Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you
in all your troubles.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted,
I am close to you.
Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb,
I have carried you close to my heart.
Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away
every tear from your eyes.
Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain
you have suffered on this earth.
Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you
even as I love my son, Jesus.
John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.
John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being.
Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you,
not against you.
Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression
of my love for you.
1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved
that I might gain your love.
Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus,
you receive me.
1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you
from my love again.
Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party
heaven has ever seen.
Luke 15:7

I have always been Father,
and will always be Father.
Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is…
Will you be my child?
John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you.
Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your Dad
Almighty God

We are both really enjoying our time out here and love spending time with this children so it is sad to think that next week will be our last at the school! How time has flown.

Please pray for our continued health and safety and for the lives of the children at the school and compassion project. As our return to England grows more imminent please pray that we will find the return jobs upon our return. Please also pray for Carlos as his son plans to leave soon taking his family with him to Belgium, please pray he wont be to lonely without them.

Take a look at this weeks photos by clicking on this LINK.

Other highlights this week:
-Joel a 4yr old with a serious case of sticky hands syndrome. Always picking up anything he can get his hands on and claiming it as his own! I found him using the teachers stanley knife to try and sharpen a pencil!
-The class getting locked out of the classroom as the headmaster took the wrong set of keys.
- Sat on the floor with the class watching the Barbie movie. I had a little girl on my lap called Valeria who farted on my leg and stunk both Robin and I out!
-Going to the cinema to watch the new Sherlock Holmes film in English!!
-Realising just how long it takes to feed small children. Robin was trying to feed Junior and Caleb  who barely finished their food before the end of break!

Enjoying the smiles of the little children....

Week 18

2nd - 8th January 2012

A rather quiet week this week as Robin is recovering from his illness but he is now completely better praise the Lord! PLEASE no more ilnesses!! School has been fun and the children have been very playful with Junior and the boys climbing all over Robin and the girls running around screaming. We have also been to the Compassion project which had changed a little bit. Usually on saturdays they have both the teenagers and young children at the project which can mean 300 children squished into a very small space. But the structure has changed so that the younger children come on mon- wed and older students come thurs-sat.

It is strange to think that we only have 2 weeks left at the school before it breaks for holidays until April. Reminding us that our time in Ecuador is slowly coming to an end. Having spent the last 3 - 4 months helping, playing and getting to know all the different little characters in the school it makes me feel sad to know that we wont get to see there smiley faces anymore. I wonder if they will be alright. What their lives hold in store for them and what they will grow up to be. At times like this you feel bad for leaving them but whilst we where sat watching them play at lunch break taking tumbles on concrete floors and just getting straight back up again and brushing themsemves off I knew that they would be alright becuase there are people here like the teachers in the school who will love them and look after them.

Please pray for our safety and continued good health. Also for the children in the school and compassion project to grow up knowing that there are people who love them and care about their futures. We would also like to thank God for the fantastic welcome and brilliant experience it has been and continues to be working at the school and compassion project. Finally please also pray about the right jobs becoming available for both Robin and I upon our return.

Take a look at this week's photos by clicking on this LINK.

Much love from Ecuador xxx

Other highlights this week:
-5 year old Valeria grabbing my hand as soon as I entered the classroom directing me to sit next to her.
-Valeria's very cute and slightly gross 3 year old sister who is always covered in dirt picking up an exceptionally dirty crisp from a extremely dirty floor and eating it.
-Ainoah playing with Peter the rochweiler sitting on him like a horse and trying to put his hair in bunches!
-One of the 3 year old boys in PE whilst trying to hola hoop exercises pretending to be a car and when people came to close started going 'beep beep'.
-Torrential rain all day and all night. There was so much water it was like a monsoon!

New Photos!

I have now managed to upload all the photos for week 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 please take a look at that by following the links on the blogs! Enjoy!

Cultural differences...

Week 17

27th December- 1st January 2012

Hola! This has been a bit of a mixed week as Robin has been poorly with a strange fever that wiped him out for a few days.  This has meant that we have both been stuck in our room going slightly crazy with cabin fever! But we did manage to go into school for a few days where we were greeted by a smiley happy child called Junior who wanted a hug. School this week has been interesting as we have both discovered that most of the children did not recieve christmas gifts. After asking a few children what they had got at christmas and recieving shrugs of the shoulders and shaking heads in the way of a reply we quickly learnt that quite a few of them had not recieved anything. Even when we asked the teachers if they had bought all their christmas presents yet for their children they replied they had not and would not be buying them anything as they can not afford christmas. Christmas in Ecuador is celebrated but it is not as big as the New Years Eve fiesta. Unlike New Years when the 1st and 2nd of January is a national holiday, christmas has no national holiday. The majority of people where working on christmas eve and on christmas day. The shops stayed open and even the fruit and veg market on our street didn't shut. Perhaps it is a mixture of poverty and christmas being less important than it is for us Brits that meant that the children did not recieve gifts. One little boy in particular (David 4/5 yrs old) made our hearts melt as he climbed up onto Robin's lap and started saying that Robin was Papa Noel (Santa Clause) as Robin had dressed up as him for the School Christmas fiesta. He sat there pulling at Robin's facial hair chatting away confused as to why his beard was so short now as last time he saw him it had been much bigger and white! David then asked Papa Noel (Robin) to please get him a medium sized red car as he had not recieved any gifts for christmas and then gave Robin a hug.

On saturday night we attended Carlos's family New Year celebrations. Robin and I had helped create some of the munyeka's (guys) for the midnight bonfire. The munyeka's where all supposed to be different members of the family and even Robin had one! Apparently the tradition is to set fire to the munyeka's at midnight as a symbol of getting rid of all the garbage in your life from last year and wiping the slate clean for the new year. We went to Sandra and Carlos Jnr house for a roast turkey and rice dinner before heading back to our house for a street party. It seemed everyone was out on the streets and there where tons of fireworks and explosions going off all the time!  Some of the munyeka's where very life like so when you saw them strapped to the bonnet of  cars it looked like somebody had just had a horrific accident. We mostly sat around and chatted and did a little bit of dancing until midnight when the munyeka's where set alight. Then came lots of hugging and kissing and the crazyness began as people began jumping over the burning munyeka's only just making it across, often landing with sparks of fire on their shoes! Even the local firefighter was joining in dragging his young son and daughter over the fire.

Check out the photos by clicking on this LINK.

Please pray for the end of sicknesses!! We are both bored of being ill. Please continue to pray for our safety, this week another person got robbed on our street and it is difficult always having to be alert in case of robbers. We only have a few more weeks working at the school before they shut for holidays so please pray that we can make good use of the time and bless them in anyway possible. Again please pray for jobs upon our return home.

Lots of love from Ecuador
xxxx

Other things that have amused us this week:
-Finding out that Peter the rockwheiler loves to eat ice.
-Having to stop the children fighting over being able to sharpen their own pencils after an outbreak of pencils needing sharpening!
-Trying to feed two 3 yr old girls. One of whom unfortunatly had chickens feet with rice. The other girl refused to eat hers and I only managed to get 4 spoon fulls in as the majority of the rice went on the floor!
-Singing 'row row row your boat' with 2nd Basica who loved the actions!
-Playing the 'Mathambero' game with Enoah.

Feliz Año! Happy New Year!

Week 16

20th- 26th December 2011

 This week has been full of Christmas fiesta´s and celebrations! The school had its christmas show complete with the selection of the school princess and prince and Carlos´s family partied through the night until 5:30am to loud music to celebrate christmas and ate the pig that we helped select (whilst still alive)! We even managed to have a english christmas dinner on christmas day with Katy, Gill, Victoria and Amy some other missionaries in Santo Domingo.

We where kindly invited along to the staff christmas meal at a parillada restaurant (mixed grill) where they served loads of meat including heart, kidneys and cows udder! Nothing goes to waste out here and whilst we grimace at the thought of eating a cows eye the other teachers on the table raved about how delicious it is and their particular favourite is ´patas´ feet!

Robin perfomed his role well at the school christmas show dressed up as Papa Noel (santa clause) with only one small incident when the teacher managed to glue gun the beard to his scalp! The children all got very excited to see Papa Noel and wanted to sit on his knee and get a sweet off him. The parents were equally delighted as they swrmed round the children like paparazzi blocking the stage off from view as their child came up to perform. Our performance with 5th Basica the oldest students in the school (aged 10-11yrs) singing Jingle Bells and We wish you a merry christmas went very well! All the children rememebered the words and sang loudly. The best bit was that Robin was handed a microphone so everyone could hear his beautiful singing voice. Each class performed a different song or dance and one class even did the nativity play it was chaos but absoloutly fantastic. Best of all where all the amazing and very cute costumes, christmas elves, mini mary´s and shepherds, angels, Bells and presents!

Check out the pictures by clicking on this LINK for our friends photos or this LINK for our photos. 

From each class there was one young boy and girl selected to take part in the schools selection of the princess and prince. It was very cute and slightly strange to watch a pair of 3 yr old´s dressed in big puffy dresses and suites try to strut down the aisle and pose, blowing little kisses to the crowd! But the selection thankfully wasnt by popular vote but by selecting a star of the christmas tree and when they opened it up it said whether they where the princess or not. As it happened Damarsis from 2nd Basica (very intelligent young girl) was eleted princess and Aerial from 5th Basica the prince.

Carlos´s family celebrated Christmas on christmas eve by cooking a big meal for everyone of roast pork and tortilla´s and then spent the rest of the evening dancing, drinking and playing cards. Ceasar had a particular fondness of the microphone and spent most of the evening talking or singing into it! At near midnight all the children bundled into the front room in order to open their christmas presents. Unlike England where adults get presents as well as children in Ecuador it is solely children who get presents and once they hit 15yrs old and are officially an adult they dont get anymore. Also unlike England not that many families can afford to buy christmas gifts for their children including some of the children at the school. But Enoah was absoloutly delighted at her presents and pranced around in her princess tiarra and fluffy shoes jabering away into her fake pink mobile! We received a lovely gift of a traditional idigenous indian wooden mini xylopohone.

Robin is slowly recovering from an overly acidic stomach and possibly amoebic dysantry as well so please continue to pray for his health and mine. Every day people tell us new things that could have caused us to get ill and there is no way of knowing what was the original cause so please pray for our safety whilst eating and drinking. Please also pray we dont get malaria as we have had to stop taking the tablets due to bad reactions to the pills. As we enter this new year please pray for the lives of all the children at the compassion project and school that they wont end up getting into drugs or becoming robbers but that they would be encouraged by the staff and volunteers to achieve the best they can and live God filled lives. Finally as 2012 comes creeping around the corner and our minds drift towards home and our return to old blighty please pray that God will help us find the right jobs upon our return.

Finally a Happy New Year to you all! Lots of love from Ecuador xxx

Other things that have amused us this week:
-  It doesnt sound right but I have to say avocado milkshakes are delicious! We shared one with Freddie this week.
- Eating cows udder and heart at the staff christmas meal. One was very hard and the other very soft!
- Robin pretending to be a ´lobo´ (werewolf) and roaring at the children as all the children from the entire school hid under the stage and screamed everytime he roared.
- Pastor Anibel, Carlos and Reuben barging into our bedroom on christmas eve to pray over Robin´s bad stomach.
- Enoah lying curled up in Robin´s lap sweetly, in her pyjamas until she kicked him in the face!
-Santa Clause coming to visit us all the way out here in Ecuador with some lovely gifts.

Feliz Navidad!! Merry Christmas!!

Week 15

12th -19th December 2011

To all back home in England we love and miss you lots and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! As I write this, Christmas is only 2 days away and looking out the window, sadly there is no snow instead its quite humid at about 25 degrees! This week has not been the greatest as I have been poorly with amoebic dysantry and high stomach acidity due to a reaction of the anti-malarial drug Ive been taking but thankfully it all cleared up by the weekend so that I could enjoy the Latin Link missionaries English Christmas dinner!

The meal was highly scrumptious complete with turkey and Danish pears. Robin and I contributed to desserts by creating some eton mess (hand whisking two bowls full of cream is no mean feat)! Much merryment was had with christmas games and carol singing in both English and Spanish (in particular a fantastic round of ´the 12 days of Christmas´ with indiviual solos). Robin donned a santa suite and gave out the secret santa presents much to the delight of 4 year old Philipe. Great practice for friday when he has to be santa for the school.

I didn´t spend that much time in school this week but we both enjoyed one of the little boys (David) singing to us a song which all students sing at the beginning of an English lesson. I have a video of it but the connection is very slow out here so I cant upload it, hopefully i´ll get to soon. Another highlight was helping to teach the 2nd inicial class 4-5 year olds how to count to 4 in English.

By thursday I accompanied Robin and Ceasar on a road trip to visit a local tennis club. Robin even got to hit some balls about! Ceasar also had the task of going to a pig farm and selecting a live pig to be roasted for the family christmas meal on the 24th. In Ecuador people celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and stay up till midnight to exchange gifts and eat a big meal. Thankfully I didn´t choose the pig and instead enjoyed looking at the newly born piglets instead.

On friday we travelled up to Quito for the Christmas meal on saturday. Whilst in Quito we managed to go to the artisiannia market full of beautiful Ecuadorian goods and book ourselves into a jungle trip for the 6th Feb! Very exciting. We have also recieved some post from Ros, Emma Scott, Graham Herbert, Grannibel and Ann Farmer which has been fantastic to read and the chocolate was very much enjoyed!

Please pray for our continuing health (as Robin has now got the stomach acidity reaction as well) and safety. Also please pray for all the children at the compassion project and school who this christmas may not be recieving gifts due to poverty within their families please pray that they will get something to eat and be able to enjoy the day.

Check out the photos by clicking this LINK.

Much festive love to all from Ecuador xxx

Things that have made us chuckle this week:
- Me having to do a poo sample to be tested by a laboratory!
- The joys of living in Ecuador, nits, mosquito bites and intestinal amoebas!
- Robin qualifying from beginner to intermediate level in Spanish.
-Robin attempting to order pizza over the phone in Quito which took 5 attempts as the man on the phone couldn´t get our mobile number right or the cost of the pizza!

An Ecuadorian Wedding!

Week 14

5th- 11th December 2011

This week school has been a mixed bag I managed to make a child cry and we where mauled by thirty children who where extremely over excited to have stylophome in their hands. They mobbed us and took great delight in rubbing our heads with it. On monday I was both greeted and farewelled by one boy´s burps, which was delightful! We are pleased that we are getting to know more of the children´s attitudes and nature´s, they are really quite hardy and often fall over on the concrete floor and pick themselves up and carry on as if nothing happened. Observing PE lessons have often proved hilarious and this week was no exception as the small ones where trying to learn how to do a roley poley through a hoop and all ended up landing on each other and kicking each other!

Robin bumped into an old friend called Freddie this week who use to play football with him and helped construct the Rosa de Sharon Church with the Step team in 2006. Freddie owns a shoes stall at the market and also sells christmas trees (which we where lured in by) he very kindly gave us a christmas tree for the price of a hug such was his delight in seeing Robin!

On thursday I had a very festive day going christmas shopping with Jenny (Carlos´s son Christian´s girlfriend) who helped me haggle and pay the correct prices for things rather than Gringo prices. In the evening I met up with Amy, Victoria and Claire (other missionaries) and we listened to christmas carols, drunk mulled wine and decorated christmas cookies!

We where both very excited about the marriage of Monica and Ricardo on Saturday. It was amazing complete with a Mariachi band and police escort for the bridal party! There were lots of beautiful ´mini bride´ flower girls and Monica´s sisters all looked stunning as well as herself of course! Being an Ecuadorian wedding everyone was crying and very emotional. The bride and grooms first dance turned into a dance remix, there were games involving Ricardo taking a garter off of Monica´s leg and giving it to another single man who had to put it on another single girls leg as the crowd shouted higher higher! But by far the best moment of the evening (other than seeing Monica and Ricardo so happy) was Crazy hour! Crazy hour consists of insane dancing led by a group of scantily clad 15 year olds dragging people up to the floor! No one escaped including Robin and I who deftly tried to follow the dance and ended up bumping into people and facing the wrong way quite alot of the time.

On Sunday we went for another trip to the rio with Carlos´s family but this time we had rubber rings to go down the rapids. Needless to say some of us came home with quite a few bumps and bruises from the pretuding rocks on the rio. Robin enjoyed playing with Enoah in the Rio and we all watched as she fell in head first off of his back! Outside Sandra and Carlos´s house the road was blocked off as the locals where sat out on the street playing street Bingo.

A very fun and eventful week!

Please continue to pray for our health and safety as I am currently unwell with numerous stomach issues and would like to enjoy the Latin Link christmas dinner in Quito on Saturday.

Check out the photos for this week by clicking on this LINK and LINK 2.

Lots of love from Ecuador xxx

Other moments which have made us laugh this week:
-Robin throwing Aerial in the Rio for splashing me and then realising he can´t swim.
- Watching Robin help out with a PE lesson as the children raced in pairs and got upsetwhen they lost.
-Carlos Jnr´s car getting written off as he fell asleep and somehow collided with a horse. (Apologise all animal lovers)