June 4-5, 2016

Maggie Leigh and Roberto each attempt (unsuccessfully) to
balance an egg on a nail at the equator.

Bailey is the first to successfully balance the egg! Look
closely so you can see the perfectly balanced egg.  Mariah
and Mrs. Justice also managed to earn the coveted egg-master
certificate.

After visiting the equator, the team drove a short way to an old
volcanic crater.  After running through a sudden rainstorm,
Jesus, Matteo, Pancho and Danny pose for a photo. 

Maddy took this amazing picture of the walkway
to view the crater.  The sky was beautiful after the rain storm.

It is Sunday evening, around 10:30 pm, and all the students have gone up to bed after a spontaneous game of charades.  The home in which we are staying has been filled with laughter and fellowship since we arrived.  The Lord seems to be bonding the team and preparing us to serve the students at Amor y Esperanza this week.

We have spent the last two days preparing as a team, acclimating to the climate, and experiencing the culture of Ecuador.  Tomorrow morning we will rise early, have breakfast, and leave for the school and our first day of teaching.

It is exciting to see how the Lord has gifted the students and prepared them for this experience.  I am excited to see how Bailey's flying pterodactyls turn out and how the second graders receive the creation story taught by Emma.  The house is overflowing with hot glue, colored paper, beach balls, materials for stomp rockets, and even a bed of nails for a balloon pop experiment.

Yesterday, we realized that no one brought a hair dryer, and I heard William say, "But I really need a hair dryer!"  Looking at his closely cropped hair, I questioned him -- turns out it is for one of the science experiments that he and Daniel have planned for their class!


Pancho and Pity and their three children, Danny (almost 14), Matteo (12), and Maria Victoria (8), as well as the family's friend Jesus, have been excellent hosts!  I have enjoyed talking to Pity about La Fundacion Amor y Esperanza.  The Lord is in the midst of their work, but they also are facing many challenges and seeming road blocks, especially in regards to the new school building that they are working toward.

Please continue to pray for the team and to check back to see what the Lord brings for us each day!

This is a view looking down over the crater which is now mostly farmland.  

On Sunday, the team left after breakfast to travel to Otovalo to the market.  We stopped for a group photo along the road for a picture with one of Ecuador's many active volcanos in the background.  Notice that Jesus has adopted Nkosi's signature photo pose -- thumbs up!

After shopping in the market, eating a great lunch out at a
restaurant in Cotacachi, and visiting the leather market, we
travelled to this lake in the Cotacachi Cayapas Ecological
Preserve.  Here Maria Victoria and Maggie Leigh are
throwing rocks into the lake.

At Maria Victoria's suggestion, we took a boat ride around the lake.  Cuicocha Lake was formed after volcanic activity in the area many years ago.  The bottom of the lake is lava, and there are no fish in the water as the oxygen content is very low and the lake is isolated from all other bodies of water.  

We hiked up to this overlook over Lake Cuicocha.  Well, most of us walked up the trail slowly, gasping for breath in the high altitude.  Pancho and Pity's children, who are used to the altitude of course, ran ahead -- Adria's track and cross country training paid off and she sprinted ahead with the native Ecuadorians!  

The Lord's beauty was all around us, and we were blessed
with perfect weather for the day.  

Nkosi and Henry 

We managed to all ride the boat together!  The Lord is
truly multiplying our blessings so far -- our rest, our time,
and our fellowship with one another as we prepare to teach.

Danny and Matteo -- son's of Pancho and Pity.

Meet the 2016 Ecuador Mission Team

Nkosi Odeke
11th Grade
"My passion is soccer, especially playing goalie."
Nkosi will partner with Malcolm to teach both 7th and 8th grades.

The Whitefield team traveled today to La Mitad del Mundo -- the center of the world -- and walked on the equator.  Before heading out, the team had a powerful time with Pancho and Pity during which we talked about the Lord having first place in our lives.  We shared our passions with one another.  The Lord brought us full circle tonight when Hayley Davis shared from the parable of the talents, reminding us to invest our talents wisely.  Pray for each member of the team to allow Jesus to use his or her gifts, talents, and passions to express His love and His glory through them this week.

Henry Sanchez - 11th Grade
"I have a passion for soccer."
Henry is returning to Ecuador for the second time, and he will be
teaching 5th grade with Jared.

Malcolm Griffin - 11th Grade
"My passion is playing baseball."
This is Malcom's second trip with the EMT, and he will be
teaching 7th and 8th grades with Nkosi.

Moriah Cowan - 12th Grade
"I have a passion for volleyball and for photography."
This is the second time that Moriah has travelled to Quito with EMT,
and she will be teaching 1st grade with Adria.

Adria Stevens - 10th Grade
"I am passionate about running; I run a lot!"
Adria is teaching 1st grade with Mariah.

Emma Mixon - 12th Grade
"I have a passion for writing."
Emma is teaching the 2nd grade class.

Maddy Fry - 12th Grade
"I am passionate about writing."
This is Maddy's third trip with the EMT, and she is teaching
3rd grade with Maggie Leigh.

Maggie Leigh Faulk - 12th Grade
"I have a passion for music and for filming."
Maggie Leigh is partnering with Maddy to teach 3rd grade.

Bailey Koenig - 12th Grade
"My passion is for teaching and helping others."
This is Bailey's third trip with the EMT, and she will
be teaching 4th grade.  

William Hellier - 12th Grade
"I have a passion for connecting with people from other cultures."
William and Daniel will be teaching 9th and 10th grades.

Jared Jones - 11th Grade
"I have a passion for books -- for reading and for the stories I find there."
Jared is teaching 5th grade with Henry.

Daniel Justice - 12th Grade
"My passion is music."
Daniel is teaching 9th and 10th grades with William.

Kyle and Susan Justice, chaperones
"My passion is the church of Jesus Christ." - Kyle
"I have a passion for people." - Susan

Haley Davis, chaperone and Middle School English teacher
"My passion is story."
Mrs. Davis is teaching the 6th grade class.

June 3, 2016

It's that time of the year again ... time for a group of Whitefield students to embark on a journey.  2016 marks the 13th year of the Whitefield Academy Ecuador Mission Team which travels to Quito, Ecuador, to serve alongside Fundación Amor y Esperanza.  

The 15 members of the EMT met at Hartsfield-Jackson at 3:00 today, and after a couple of hiccups with getting checked in and managing security, the team boarded the five hour flight.  Whitefield Upper School students will be teaching classes to Ecuadorian children in first through tenth grades with a focus on English language and science.  The plan is to cap off the week with a science fair on Friday morning where each grade will present a science project or experiment that they worked on during the week. 

The team will also have a chance to minister to a family that has just relocated to Quito from the coast of Ecuador where they lost everything in the earthquake last month.  You can be praying for the family as they transition to a new city and new school:  Norma (grandmother), Ysbeth (mom), Santiago and Alfredo (brothers age 8 and 6).  

This year's team includes five students who served with the EMT last year, which is a great blessing since all three chaperones are new to the trip!  We will be looking to these returning students for their leadership and experience, knowing that the Lord will also be at work in the new members of the team.  

We did not have much time at all for pictures while at the airport, but we did manage to squeeze in a visit to Starbucks just before boarding (yes parents, I know you want pics -- but the kids wanted Starbucks!!)  I promise more pictures to come after we land and begin to acclimate.  Weather predictions are 50-70 degrees and rainy all week!

Signing off for now from 39,010 feet up!

--Susan (for the team!)

PS We did arrive safely and have had a wonderful breakfast and time of fellowship together this morning!  More to follow ...

Day 8: Filling Our Cups in Nono | June 20th 2015

Just like a car has gauges telling us speed, engine temp (we learned this one day one!), and fuel level, so we ALL have gauges telling us our level of fullness or exhaustion.

The three gauges we all have are PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, and SPIRITUAL. For those who have been on a trip like this, you know this well.

And suffice to say, by the end of the week, our gauges were reading in the red. We were like cups with holes poked in them. We once held water but that water has flowed out to give someone else a drink. It is time for us to refill.

Our amazing hosts, Pancho and Pity, have been around enough trips to anticipate our low gauges and had an incredible day of refilling the heart, body, and soul in store.

And so it was off to Nono, a rural mountain town about an hour outside of Quito where Pity's friends and and family have farmhouses.

The nimble cows of Nono.

The headmaster of Alliance International School , the "Whitefield of Quito", was kind enough to host us during the morning at his house. We enjoyed stunning views, horse back rides, and fresh air.

Olivia and Bailey wrangle "Chocolat"

Christina takes a ride!

Malcolm saddles up for the first time!

Olivia and others hiked to a spot where we fed horses carrots, the Spanish for which, "zanahoria", is fun to say because it sounds like the title of a bad sic-fi movie. Also, it probably has way to many syllables (5) for a basic orange vegetable.

We left the The Wells' house and several of us biked the windy paths to Pity's parents. It was exhilarating, but again, ALTITUDE, WHY YOU KNOW LIKE MY LUNGS?!

We rode...

We walked...

And filled our cups!

After lunch it was on to a USA vs Ecuador soccer match, this time (thankfully) on grass!

While some filled their gauges through soccer, other were filled connecting to their artsy side.

Though the US went up early, the game ended in a tie. Thankfully, too, as our bodies were WORN! Something told us though that Pancho wouldn't let this game end any other way!

Nono is dairy country...here is a typical road block!

Back at the farmhouse we played games, sang worship songs, listened to a devotional, and reflected on our experience. A gift Pancho gave each of us was 10 minutes of silence. It's amazing, in our world of screen and insta-everything, just how challenging this is.

But the gift was received and the result was evidence of our cups filling back up. The specifics of our time will stay within the group but know that words of new healing of deep wounds were offered - that tears were shed, hugs given, and hearts clearly changed.

It seems like cup-emptying experiences are often the most memorable - we will certainly remember this one! And the solace of Nono was the perfect host to help us see the growth that's begun.

Thanks be to God for this wonderful time, this wonderful place, for open hearts, and and for unlooked for healing of hurts. And thanks TO YOU for supporting us!

Tomorrow is our final day! Amazing that we will finally be coming back down the mountain.

Until then, Amor y Esperanza to all!

~EMT 2015~

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~