Four Months!

Today marks our 4th month of being in Ecuador! Time has passed quickly as we've been able to see and do so much. We continue to visit the soup kitchen during the week, helping out with homework and hanging with the kids. We have been trying to deepen our relationships with the children and their families so we frequently visit their houses and continue having sleepovers of massive proportions. We still help out with the youth church that meets on Sunday afternoons. In the mornings before the soup kitchen, we are helping with administrative work. Friday is our day off and we usually spend those days exploring new parts of Quito. We continue to study our Spanish daily to better communicate with the people we work closest with.
This year will be a busy one for us as March-July we have many medical and Happy Feet teams coming from the U.S. We will be travelling with them to various parts of Ecuador to minister to the people there. We are also prayerfully awaiting the funds to complete the second soup kitchen- currently it is 50% complete. If it is completed before we leave, Greg and I will be helping to get it up and running. On a personal note, we are looking forward to our first visitors; our friend, Vasanti, from AZ is coming in Feb., and both sets of our parents are coming in May! We may have to bust out the guinea pig in celebration!

Tuesday nights

Since September I've been a part of a Tuesday night women's group at the soup kitchen. This year Micki and I are taking turns teaching a short Bible study each week, while Katty translates for us. We've also been teaching & working on a different craft project each month (for those of you that know me well, you know this is a stretch for me! :) We've had many new women attend from the community. Since many of them are single moms, this night is a respite from the hard work at home and a time to form new friendships.

So much fun....

This past Saturday we hosted another sleepover for 19 girls ages 10 and 11. We had a blast! Here are some pics...

An Ark full of Children

This weekend, Greg and I had the privilege of visiting an orphanage in Rio Bamaba, Ecuador (about 3 hours South from Quito). "The Ark" is run by a Canadian couple, Ron and Glenda, that moved to Ecuador 10 years ago and have 10 children of their own. These guys are the real deal. Along with hired workers, they house and care for 60 children, the majority of which are 4 and under. It was so obvious to us that all of their children are loved and cared for. We were especially impressed with the care of the 7 children who have disabilities or special needs. Please visit their website to learn more about this great ministry: http://www.arkchildrenshomes.com/

We spent our days hanging out with the kids and helping out wherever needed. We brought a huge bin full of shoes and socks for the children there from the Happy Feet ministry that Steve and Micki run. Amy spent some time with Sammy, one of the little boys with Cerebral Palsy, showing his caregivers good positioning and stretching techniques. The place really made an impact on our minds and hearts and we hope to return there soon!