Day 7: La Despedida | June 19th 2015

"Despedida" can be loosely translated as "farewell party" and is the perfect word to sum up our final day at the school.

As you'll see in the pictures, we leave this place with hearts full of love, arms full of kids, and in some cases eyes full of tears!

From the beginning we knew that this trip was just as much, if not more, about us than the kids we set out to serve. Today we felt it! We thank the Lord for "hearts opened wide" (2 Corinthians 6:13, 7:2). Our hearts are full not just knowing that a job was well done, but more that friendships bigger than this world were formed. Thank the Lord!

The 3rd graders practiced their verse of the week, Joshua 1:6 by popping in on the other classes. The verse is a theme of Amor y Esperanza, "Sea fuerte y valiente"...in English below.

After classes the school held an assembly for us. They went all out making us feel like the guests of honor, including plays, songs, and handmade cards for each of us.

There was a special and moving presentation for Jackie Tolford, for whom this is her 8th and final trip. Jackie is a truly beautiful soul and a blessing to ALL who have been grace to know her!

Los "decimos" (10th graders) take a bow after performing "La Bella Dormiente" (Sleeping Beauty) in English for us!

After the program we had a chance to get pictures and give LOTS of hugs to our new friends.

Now it was our turn to throw a Despedida, this time for the teachers and staff of Amor y Esperanza, all of whom work tirelessly (without much compensation) to create an world of light in a place often full of darkness.

Upon entering we serenaded them with worship songs and, er, Firework by Katy Perry. They loved it! A highlight was singing "Our God", a song AyE had sung twice for in Spanish. This time it was our turn to reciprocate in English, with our friends joining in their heart language. The mix of languages worshipping the same God was truly beautiful and powerful moment...a taste of heaven when all cultures worship in peace together.

After singing we lead our friends in, what else, a square dance! One appropriately titled "Marching Down in Georgia"! Smiles were big as were laughs.

A Whitefield tradition is to leave gifts for the teachers. Here, our beloved cook Bachita, poses with our girls and her new handbag.

We left full of love but completely exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I guess there is a cost to going deep and making an authentic connection. Well worth it though!

Thanks be to God for the strength this week. We pray for the "strength and courage" of our friends, as well as for ourselves, as we prepare to come home with a broadened perspective of the beautiful family of God worldwide.

Ok, now to sleep!

We love you all...Strength and Courage!

~EMT 2015~

Day 6: Vision for a New Amor y Esperanza! | June 18th 2015

Today started special with us waking up for a 7am (instead of 7:30am) breakfast to allow time to visit the site of the New Amor y Esperanza school.

What a vision! The new school is just down the hill from the present one and has an unbelievable 180º view of the city and mountains.

Currently AyE is BUSTING at the seams, and that is for a school running 1st-10th grade! There is zero space left to grow and each year another grade level is added.

The vision for the new building is bigger though - to not only make space for a complete 1st-12th education, but also to utilize its space as a two year career and skills school during the nights.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) a recent earth quake prompted building code changes meaning the initial funds raised for the school ($300,000 for the land and $350,000 for the building) is not enough to complete the project. They estimate they need $290,000 more.

Here we are praying for the future of the that school, for God's provision, and that AyE would continue to be bright light in Quito.

Here are some pics of class yesterday:

Alejandra and Valentina created this rocket using the design cycle process.

Kenneth, Josue and Steven proved that the volume of a cone is 1/3 the volume of cylinder with the same base and height using cut outs and marshmallows. Their brains definitely clicked with audible "ahas!"...and WAAAAYYY too many marshmallows got eaten!

Here is Josué's notes for volume of solids. Math geeky stuff :-)

EMT does EMT. After a tumble down a hill, Gabriel had a pretty decent bloody gash in his head. Fortunately, we had our med kit and got him cleaned up! Way to go Bailey using your Whitefield Sports Medicine training.

We've spent the past few afternoons losing our breath from altitude and dust playing soccer with the students. These kids have skills! Here's the crew.

One incredible thing about Quito is that EVERY house has a view of the mountains and valley. This is the view from an empty lot near the school. In the foreground is the local version of "value barbed wire" i.e., broken bottles cemented to the top of walls. They are at once glistening and terrifying!

Tomorrow is our final day teaching. We're praying to finish well!

Amor y Esperanza,

~EMT 2015~

Day 5: It's about the kids...and us! | June 17th 2015

We are now halfway through our trip and it's unbelievable how fast it has gone!

We're hitting a groove with our classes and gelling more and more as a team. As well as things have been, it's about this time when the exhaustion really catches up. Pancho and Pity know this from experience and delivered a powerful devotional aimed at OUR hearts and God's call on OUR lives here and beyond.

We said several times leading up that this trip is just as much, IF NOT MORE, about what happens in our hearts than about our mission to the students. This was confirmed last night as we were given the gift of time to process what we've been experiencing and how this might impact our engagement with mission, home or abroad, in years to come.

More, how loved each one of us are. How we are pursued by a God who loves us when we're on top of the world, and when we're a mess. We have permission to question why there is pain in the world but are reminded that we are loved by a God who experienced all the confusion, frustration, sorrow, joy, laughter, and celebration as we do. Thanks be to God! We pray you feel this as well.

And so afterward it was incredible to receive hand written letters from home. They were VERY well received and more than a few tears of joy were shed. THANK YOU!!

As I said, the exhaustion is catching up...so here is a peek in on our day yesterday!

Kristen and her precious 1st graders learning Philippians 4:13 

Maddie and Olivias 2nd Graders with their animal creations!

Mariah and her 3rd graders

Building towers with the 10th graders. These girls were on it with triangular design. Future engineers of Ecuador!...just, don't eat the tower!

Stomp Rockets with the 9th graders!

After class, we're back up the STEEEEEP hill for soccer and fun!

We love and miss you all. We feel your prayers for strength. Please keep them up as we hit the home stretch!

Paz y Amor (peace and love),

~EMT 2015~

Day 4: Settling In...and the legend of Perrito | June 16th 2015

It's Tuesday and we're settling in to a routine here now.

Thank the Lord!

Day one was stretching, challenging, tears enduring, and exhilarating all at once. So we were grateful for everyone to walk into a much more comfortable situation today.

Here are a couple pictures of our classes.

Mariah and Bailey are teaching third graders english via song, games and creating musical instruments!

Olivia and Maddie are doing an incredible job with the 2nd graders, teaching them English with animals.

Coby and Christina are teaching 7th graders about American Football and Cheerleading by making footballs and pompoms.

 How'd you like for this to be your view from school?! I wouldn't want to leave class!

Malcolm and Henry became our "Profeseros de Ciencias" (Science Teachers) today and lead students through the brainstorm-prototype-test-evaluate-repeat cycle of design by building the tallest marshmallow and straw tower. Here are the 9th grade boys with their creation.

Each day we have lunch in a room on the roof. It's a welcome respite from the sometime chaotic classroom and the constant "teacher teacher, please help!" Today we had the opportunity to hear the story of "Teach Dani", an American woman from Alaska who after graduating came to Ecuador to teach. She is now finishing her first year. We were inspired to see someone make such a bold decision to follow the call to be a on mission. 

In the afternoons we play outside with the students. Several of the team took part in a soccer game, and wow, was it humbling! If it wasn't the altitude, or their crazy skills, getting to us, it was the dust kicked up at every step. Again, check out the view!

"The Legend of Perrito"

During rec time Olivia and Mariah made friends with a local they named "Perrito". Ecuador is overrun with strays, which means lots of "awwwwww" moments from our compassionate dog loving team members. We all learned something from this dog though.

After rec time it followed us back to the school and lingered near our van as we loaded. The girls said their goodbyes (after I made sure they knew we would NOT be taking him home!) and we drove off.

Well, little Perrito would not be deterred. In an amazing display he sprinted up the hill (the same ones that get us winded WALKING up them) for a good two minutes, staying along side our van. Suddenly, a pack of strays jumped out and assaulted him! The cries from our came started, "Come ON Perrito! Don't hurt him! Run run run!"

He fought through the strays and stayed with us until we left the neighborhood, watching as we pulled away.

Now, I'm no dog person but it did make me realize:

That may have been the best day of his life! 

The dog just experienced love like never before!

No one pays attention to or appreciates or TOUCHES a stray!

I couldn't help but think of Jesus touching the Lepers and showing them...showing US a love we've never had before. I pray that we would run after that love just like Perrito. I pray we would share that love with ALL in our lives. If we can share with a dog, how much more with the students at Amor y Esperanza, with our friends and families, with the overlooked in our lives.

Lord we pray your grace to SHARE your grace!

Amor y Esperanza (Love and Hope) to you all,

~EMT 2015~

Day 3: First Day of Teaching | June 15th 2015

Buenas noches everyone!

I (Logan) am taking over the blog for the night because our wonderful chaperon Mr. McCune has been working so hard on it and deserves a good night's rest for once.

 Today was our first day of teaching. It was easier for some, more difficult for others, and an adventure for all. When we first arrived at Amor y Esperanza, we were welcomed by the enthusiastic students who made a poster for us and sang us two songs in Spanish. 

Once we lead our classes into their classrooms, the real adventure began. Some of my brave teammates who don't speak Spanish are trying to teach English in a foreign country, and for that they have my utmost respect. Kristen wants me to mention that she is currently struggling trying to coral 29 first graders who don't speak any English AT ALL. (And neither does the teacher). Everyone designed their own lesson plans, some taking a crafty route and others using sports or music to teach their students.  Mrs. Tolford taught her class how to make robots out of simple materials like string and old CDs.

Although teaching can be stressful because of the language barrier, pretty much everyone loves recess. The kids are so adorable and affectionate and they always enjoy playing their games with us (even though we sometimes don't know exactly what the objective of the game is). 

After teaching until 12:30 and tutoring for an hour after that, we led a sports camp. Mr. McCune had his kids snapping the football, throwing it, and even running routes. The other members of the team taught the kids soccer, basketball, cheers, and how to jump rope. After that, we went back to the house and were understandably exhausted. We relaxed for a bit to recover. Mr. McCune made model rockets to use in his class tomorrow. He used paper to make the rocket, and a piece of a tire and a Fanta bottle to launch it. Maddie and I helped make some prototypes and we even got to launch them outside. 

(Speaking of which, I, being the non-crafty person that I am, must say that I am very impressed by the ingenious crafts my teammates are making. I really enjoyed making and launching prototype model rockets with Maddie and Mr. McCune. Bailey and Mariah are using balloons and plastic cups to launch pom pom balls across their room into makeshift goals. Christina and Coby are making footballs out of fabric, stuffing, and hot glue. I can only hope that perhaps their creativity will someday rub off on me.)

Mariah, Bailey, and I enjoying the beautiful sunset after playing hackey-sack volleyball versus Mr. McCune, Henry, and Malcolm. 

 We had an absolutely delicious dinner of carrot soup with popcorn for our appetizer, chicken, rice, and mac'n'cheese for our entree, and tres leeches (three milk) cake for dessert. Then we talked with Pancho and Pity and described our experiences of our first day of teaching. Pancho gave us an inspirational message about how we must recognize that all of the obstacles in our life are opportunities to grow and to trust God more. The couple also told us about the miraculous births of their two sons Daniel and Mateo. I can't go into detail because both are long stories, but it was truly amazing and both their lives are gifts from God. Doctors said that they wouldn't survive, but here they are thirteen and twelve years later, respectively. 

Anyways,  I am exhausted and I don't know how Mr. McCune does this every night. I am going to head on to bed and I look forward to another great day tomorrow! 

Day 2: The Equator and Teaching Prep | June 14th 2015

¡Buenas noches amigos y familia!

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers - today we continued getting to know Ecuador, ate VERY well, and finalized our prep for tomorrow.

Sunday morning began with a wonderful devotional time led by Pancho y Pity. After singing together  (thank be to God He doesn't judge morning voices!) we received a wonderful teaching from Ephesians 6:10-18, the Armor of God. In a visceral example, we wrote down our fears on paper airplanes which Pancho hurled at us, after giving us the shield (aka "lunch tray") of faith! We are blessed hearing their stories of faith and are greatly encouraged.

After worship, we piled in our vans and drove off to "La mitad del mundo" - the "Middle of the Earth" - not to be confused with "Middle-Earth" - though we did learn that the local indigenous peoples grow to a Hobbit-ish 5 feet.

After learning about the ancient culture of the area, we stood on the equator itself, attempting to walk with eyes closed and struggling to balance an egg on end. Congrats to Mariah, Maddie, and Mr. McCune for balancing the egg and earning "Egg Master Certificates"!

You may know them as Guinea Pigs, but the locals call them "Cuy"...and yes, the rumors are true...they are a delicacy in these parts. Beyond this though the locals thought the cuy contained the ability to sense "positive energy" people. They would be calm around the positive ones and raucous around, well, the others. I'm pleased to report that the cuy were very content with us looking in...a testament to the bonding happening in the group!

In a big "whoopsadasie", Ecuador built a large and impressive monument and park on the Equator. Well, turns out they didn't have GPS back then and the original park is actually south. Ya, whoops! So after visiting the "real" equator above, we visited the original park below. It's more local and less touristy and had these colorful dancers. A good reminder to us going in to teaching that things don't always go as planned...but you've just got to make the best of it! Ecuador certainly has.

After another day traveling we returned for dinner...steak wrapped in bacon...I mean Ecuadorian hospitality is ALL OUT!! Here are our cozy dining arrangements...

The afternoon also consisted of prep for teaching tomorrow. This group has put A LOT of time in to this and is loose and relaxed going in to Amor y Esperanza.

We're reminded in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that "His grace is sufficient for us". We pray we remember this as we enter a new challenge tomorrow, putting on the Armor of God. Thanks for continued prayers!

Amor y Paz (love and peace),

~EMT 2015~