Day 9 (June 18): El Fin (The End)

Day 9 (June 18): El Fin (The End)

Disclaimer: Because of the wifi issue and limited time, I will post a lot of photos from today and yesterday tomorrow (on Monday) (when there is good wifi and more time). 

Our last day allowed us to sleep in a little bit—8:30 breakfast! Truly a blessing from above. Afterwards we drove to the Centro Historico to visit La Basilica de Voto Nacional. It’s a huge basilica that took over a hundred years to build and has gargoyles on the outside that are in the form of animals native to Ecuador—jaguars, tortoises, iguanas, monkeys, etc. The group got to walk on the inside where the basilica holds mass and then climb up to the top of the towers and see all over the city. 

We went to lunch downtown at a sandwich shop, then returned to the seminary to pack and rest before our last devotional, which is about to happen/is happening as I write this/as I skip the first part to write this. After that we will have dinner and go to the airport. El fin, el fin.

We want to take some time here on the last day to thank all of the people in the Whitefield community who have supported us and helped make this trip possible:

Thank you to Dr. Bracher, Mr. Stevens, Dr. Farrar, and Mrs. Brostrand for encouraging parents and students to get involved, for praying for us, for sending us at all. Without you this could not have happened. 

Thank you to the Upper School, Middle School, and Lower School faculty for supporting us, for buying and selling chicken biscuits, for helping with Coins for Quito, Hasta la Pasta, the Chess Tournament, for encouraging the students to be involved, for praying for us. 

Thank you to Mrs. Bunny Webb, Mrs. Addie Cochran, Mrs. Cordie Swift, and Mrs. Debbie Breault for helping us with so much administrative work, for helping us with the financial side of the trip, helping us collect money from the kids, and for helping us stay organized. 

Thank you to Michelle Durrett, Kim Krebs, and Fran Banta for helping us with the financial side of the trip. It’s a lot to keep up with on top of the regular financial work that Whitefield requires, and we really appreciate your hard work. 

Thank you to Tom Wood and the Advancement Team for supporting us and our fundraising endeavors. It’s such an important part of what we do, and we don’t take it lightly. 

Thank you to Jason Bilotti and the Vinings Chick-fil-A for helping us with our chicken biscuit sales that raise money for the trip. I know that even all of the students who don’t go on the trip appreciate that morning meal too. 

Thank you to the EMT family members whose kids have already left Whitefield, those who were involved and gave to the trip in the past, those who keep up with the trip and pray for it. Thank you for being a blessing then because it enables us to be a blessing now. 

A huge, huge thank you to the EMT families of 2017 who bravely and kindly sent their kids down to Ecuador to serve God and others through their work. Thank you for sending letters down with us to encourage your kids, for praying for us, for keeping up with this blog, for being excited and supportive of your kids who chose to do something so big, different, and important. Thank you for parting with your kids for these ten days and entrusting them to our care. They are a blessing, and so are all of you.

Thank you to our hosts Pancho and Pity Sola, and their children Danny, Mateo, and Maria Victoria. You are possibly the most amazing part of this trip, and our partnership with you is an incredible act of God and wonderful picture of the church. Thank you for taking such good care of us and blessing our lives with your words and actions. May God bless you, your school, and our partnership for many more years to come.  

Thank you to Opal Anderson-Curling, Susan Justice, and David and little Hannah McCune for leading us. You are all very dear to me and to the students.

And a special thank you to all of the fathers who are on this thank you list, especially to the students’ fathers who let their kids be away from them today. Happy Father’s Day! 

It takes all sorts of believers to make up the church, and it takes all sorts of gifts within the church body to help the church grow and function, to make kingdom work happen. All of these people have contributed something vital to this trip. May God bless you and yours, and this trip, for many years to come. 

It’s been a joy, an honor, and a blessing to serve on this team and to get to know all of the students and leaders on this trip. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to come back, and I so appreciate the spirits of these people and of this trip. God has been good to us, and really encouraged me in so many ways while I’ve been down here. I pray that He will allow the EMT family to grow. 

Cheers, peace, and blessings, 

Alice