Anchayacu

We spent the last 3 days in the coastal jungle of Ecuador in the town of Anchayacu. We went with 25 youth to share Christmas gifts with the children there. Anchayacu is a small village population of blacks and Chachi Indians along the Onzole river in the province of Esmeraldas. From Quito, it took us 7 hours by bus and 1.5 hours by motorized canoes to reach our destination. Our hosts were a local pastor and his wife (see top left pic), who pastor a small Christian church (see white building with horse in front) in a community of about 400 people. Steve, our host in Quito, has made several medical and constructions trips to this area over the last several years, but this was the first youth trip. Most of the youth we went with have never been out of Quito so this was quite an adventure for them. While the youth slept in tents or bunk beds, Greg and I were graciously given the master bedroom of the house- a modest small bedroom with a double sized mattress mosquito net bed (see top right pic) while our hosts slept on the floor of the food closet. Anchayacu is everything you picture when you think of jungle....hot, humid rain forest, fresh fruits and coconuts, wide brown rivers that are used for washing clothes, bathing, swimming, food, and transportation; and people carrying machetes. It was a great trip- one that we will never forget!

Feliz Navidad

Gift Giving

This week leading up to Navidad has been a super fun one! Some of you donated extra money to us to buy gifts for the kids at the soup kitchen. We were able to give 30 presents to the kids we know best, which we delivered to their houses this week. In addition, some of the children's sponsors gave extra money for Christmas gifts such as bikes and dolls which we delivered the 24th, which is when most Ecuadorians celebrate Christmas.

Let the parties begin!

Here are some pictures of the first 3 Christmas parties hosted at Steve and Micki's for kids ages 4-11. The first thing the kids do when they come off the bus is walk through the outside Candyland into the house. Then they line up to sit on Santa's lap and get their picture taken. Next, its outside to eat lunch and play lots of fun games for prizes. Next, there is a Nativity play where 10 or so kids are dressed up and the story of Jesus' birth is told. At the end, each kid receives a gift bag filled with candy and toys and off they go!

Christmas is coming!

This week we've been decorating and preparing for the 8 Christmas parties we will have this month. Greg and I have been in charge of helping the kids at the soup kitchen make cards for their sponsors. There are two teams from the U.S. helping buy and wrap toys, make cookies and turn the front yard into a giant CandyLand. This weekend Micki and Steve will host the first three parties of over 240 kids! Pray for us!

OLE!

Yesterday, we attended our first (and probably our last) bullfight. We saw 5 rounds of fights- the first matador fought from his horse, but the rest fought on foot. Some of the horses were blindfolded and protected with mattresses to keep the bulls from injuring them. During the last fight, the matador was knocked down twice by the bull. We thought for sure that he would be either crushed or torn apart, but to our amazement he got up both times and continued to fight the bull. It was definitely a cultural experience but we witnessed more bloodshed than we ever care to see again. We only put the G rated pictures here. The fun part was dressing up in hats and eating good food. Next time maybe we'll check out a less violent sport such as futbol!