Day 6 (June 15): From Pizza to Pim’s

Day 6 (June 15): From Pizza to Pim's


A lot of the students were really positive today about teaching. Today was the science fair preparation day. Tomorrow each class will demonstrate and explain their science projects and recite their Bible verses of the week in English. There are mouse trap cars, marshmallow catapults, pink slime, straw towers, and aluminum foil boats, among other things. 

Jolie told me a story about one of her students in the third grade (which she teaches along with Chase and Lucy) who has a learning disability that makes it difficult for him to pay attention and hard for him to connect with his classmates. His name is Samuel. He was always acting out, isolating himself from other students, difficult to teach because he wouldn’t listen. It wasn’t until Wednesday that he actually started participating. He’s really good at math and very proud of his good work. Jolie has seen a transformation in Samuel throughout the week. He has started participating in class and interacting with his classmates. Even his teacher at Amor y Esperanza told Jolie, Lucy, and Chase that he seems like a new person. Praise God for working in his life this week!





Today, Bailey started filming some of the children and taking photos of them with the cereal product that Pancho's business will sell as marketing material.

After lunch we had a party for the kids at Amor y Esperanza who are sponsored by Whitefield students or families. We gave them pizza, soda, cake, and ice cream. The joy on the kids faces when they were told they could have a SECOND cup of Coke — wow!  The way sponsorship works is someone signs up and commits to sponsor a child, paying $45 per month to cover tuition, health insurance, and meals (what a bargain)! Our students will have the option to take on a sponsored child or to sponsor a child with their family.  Encouraging a group of friends, a Bible study, or sports team to join together to sponsor a child is an awesome way to completely change a child’s life.   

Tonight we drove to downtown historic Quito to eat at a nicer restaurant called Pim’s. It’s located underneath a statue called El Panecillo, depicting the woman and dragon from the book of Revelation 12. The statue is high up on a hill overlooking Quito. What is amazing is that the lights of the city go on beyond what we can see. The city sprawls all over the valley and between the mountains. Most of the boys ordered the hamburger entitled “Her Majesty the Superqueen,” while many of the girls and chaperones followed my suit to eat something native to Ecuador: llampingachos, which are potato patties with cheese, pork, and fried egg on top. 

Susan chiming in here — giving Alice the chance to turn in a few minutes earlier tonight!  In looking at some of the photos of construction today, a song comes to mind, “There’s a house the Lord is building, one He’s always planned, there He’s laying out a table, so to feast with man …”  The Lord is building here in Ecuador.  He is working through our hands, now dry and for some even blistered from the work, through our backs, a little achy from bending and lifting, and through our arms as we carry heavy blocks and push wheelbarrows full of concrete.  But the real work is the building of God’s church, working through our hearts, to encourage Pancho and Pity, through our mouths as we teach, pray, and worship, and also through our hands and arms as we give lots and lots of hugs — to each other and to the students.  As we build the physical building here, we have a visual reminder of the Lord’s church — a firm foundation, Christ the cornerstone, on which we are now laying brick by brick, block by block, connecting with cement — just as the Lord is building us together into one Body, with the Holy Spirit as our “cement”!  We are learning to work together, play together, and worship together.  Sounds a little like that Whitefield motto, “Work hard, play hard, honor Him.” 









Mr. McCune impersonated the roosters near the construction site.

In the Lord’s house, there will be a table laid, a feast like none we have seen this side of eternity, but we have feasted here for sure!  We even have trouble getting to the bus on time in the mornings because of the delicious empanadas, hot chocolate, marmalade of various fruits to spread on the ample bread, yogurt, fresh fruit, and more.  But as we eat, we are also sharing ourselves.  We have all our tables arranged in one big square so that we are all facing in and can see everyone as we partake.  I, for one, know that I am also feasting on the Lord as He expresses Himself through the Whitefield students here — wonderful times of encouragement, hearts laid bare, and lots of laughter too.   

Cheers, peace, and grace to you all, 

Alice and Susan in Collaboration due to Brain Fatigue 

Day 5 (June 14): Teaching Away on Hump Day

Day 5 (June 14): Teaching Away on Hump Day

It's #workdaywednesday (courtesy of William). We are tired for sure, but powering through and keeping up the positive energy.

Here are some examples of some of the things we are teaching to the kids:

The second grade made passports. Only one of the kids in the entire class knew what a passport was. They talked about the things you need to bring when going on a trip to learn English vocabulary. They also did an activity with their verse of the week (Isaiah 40:31) in which they practiced writing it in English on their name folders and repeating it with motions. Fifth grade made domes out of straws in keeping with their theme of geographic shapes. Fourth grade and fifth grade learned about space and the planets. Incorrect information on space was corrected. Fourth grade played charades with their space words, so they practiced a lot of new English words. Eighth grade made catapults and mouse traps. Third grade had an art day today. For their music section they sang "You Are My Sunshine."

The students are getting more comfortable with teaching and becoming much more confident in their abilities, and still have a lot of their material left to work with.

It's really amazing to see how much work is getting accomplished during construction. You can see in some of the photos below how many walls we are working on and completing. Having such a large group really makes a difference in the amount of work we are able to do.

At our devotional tonight we took some time to get into our family animal groups to encourage each other. We went around the circle and said something positive, kind, or encouraging about each team member. It was special and encouraging to see everyone lifting up their teammates.

Pancho and Pity shared with us tonight about how much God loves us, how he is always with us, and how he wants us to open the doors of our hearts to let him move in us. He keeps encouraging us to let go of what's holding us back from God, something that we all need to be reminded of everyday.

We were able to decompress for a while tonight, playing card games, spoons, and chatting before an early lights out.  



























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Cheers, peace and grace to you all,

Alice

Day 4 (June 13): Gifts, Mountains, and a Tournament

Today started out rainy, misty, and cold—unusual in my experience here, especially since it’s technically the dry season right now (the summer). The sun came out and some of the clouds cleared towards the end of our construction work, which enabled us to have an incredible view of the city.

Today I saw how God is allowing us to exercise our specific gifts to help Amor y Esperanza. I was able to work in the office all day writing some website content for Pancho and Pity’s new business venture: they are working to start a healthy foods business that will help local farmers and provide funds for the school. I also edited a powerpoint presentation that they want to send to churches in the States. They want to create a short promotional video to show to churches as well, and Bailey has volunteered to use her camera and video skills to film it this week. Once Chase heard about that, he volunteered to help edit the video! So many specific gifts are being used! 

There were two men visiting the school from a volunteer organization called Teacher to Teacher, which brings educators from the States to other countries to observe the teaching techniques in other cultures, and to be immersed in another culture for a short period of time over the summer. They offer advice to the teachers they meet and work with, and workshop different teaching techniques in them. They worked with three teachers from Amor y Esperanza this week. It was really interesting to talk with them, to see how other people outside of our group are sharing their gifts and helping the school. While I sat in the office writing, I saw so many photos of other mission teams that come to serve at the school. We are a part of a big family.

But the most amazing and exciting thing that happened today was accomplished through Susan’s gift: she is a physical therapist for children, and there is a student at the school who needed her. 

Susan will tell Abel’s story:  “Abel is a five year old student in the “primero grado” which is similar to our kindergarten in the States.  He came to Amor y Esperanza at the beginning of this school year with his mom and his brother, hoping beyond hope to be allowed to attend the school because no other school would take him.  He has an infectious smile, a persistent spirit, and a great sense of humor — at least, that is the child I experienced today upon meeting him.  Pancho tells me that before school started, he was sad, even despondent.  Abel also has legs that don’t work right; he has cerebral palsy.  He cannot walk on his own.  He has never taken independent steps before.  He has attempted to use a walker that he keeps in the classroom, but has always needed help to use it.  Today, I was able to give Abel (love the name!) a new walker (actually a gait trainer) that one of my patients in the States no longer needed. After a couple of tweaks, he walked across the room to Annie and gave her a high five.  Turning to Pity, he said (in Spanish), “she congratulated me!”  His joy was radiant.  He took his “grand coche” (big car) to his classroom where he was able to walk by himself across the classroom and play with his classmates.  All of his classmates chanted his name excitedly as he walked around the room. The Lord has much more in store for Abel.  It will be exciting to see him grow with the family of Amor y Esperanza.”

Our construction work is coming along splendidly. Everyone is enthusiastic, hardworking, and complaining is at an all-time low (basically non-existent). We unloaded 800 bricks today and got to see our walls grow taller and taller. After we finished, we went up to the second story of the building to take in the incredible view of the city crawling up the mountains and snow-capped volcanoes that surround Quito. We could see the airport far below us, and watched one blue and one white airplane take off and fly away out of the valley. We took a few minutes to take in the view in silence and then came together to pray and sing, to praise God for his stunning creation. Looking at those mountains and that sprawling city can either make you feel very small or as if you had become swallowed up by it, that you had become a part of it.

After dinner we had a short time of prayer and praise where we shared what we are thankful for, and then got to sing some silly songs with hand motions followed by a tournament. The tournament was a series of games in which each family group (Llamas, Jaguars, Squirrel Monkeys, and Tortugas) played against the other for points. Our first challenge was to come up with a team chant. Then we had a game where we had to balance a tomato between two people’s faces and walk across the gym without dropping it; a game in which one person acted as the shoulder angel and guided their blindfolded teammate across the gym and back, while another team’s member acted as the shoulder devil and tried to confuse the blindfolded person. Annie had a rough go of it, for she confidently ran straight into a table, not listening to anything her angel Jolie said! (She’s not hurt.) The tournament culminated in a soccer tournament (first team to score wins). The two winning teams, the Jaguars and the Tortugas faced off at the end in a match that included a fierce battle of brothers (Danny Sola and William for the Jaguars against Mateo Sola and Stephen for the Tortugas). Keep in mind this was an older brother team versus younger brother team. And the younger brothers came our victorious! I’m proud to say that my team, the Tortugas, won the soccer tournament and the whole game tournament. 

We laughed a lot tonight, and it was good for the soul. 

Cheers, peace, and grace to you all, 

Alice