Guayaquil and Bethel - Kel

In Guayaquil now waiting for the English convention. Just after arriving in the bus terminal Mikayla and I of course sat down in the food court an decided what we were going to eat from several different restaurants. We both decided on some KFC. So I went to order. As I was ordering a woman who was clearly American came up and began ordering next to me. We finished ordering and at the same moment we looked at each other and said: "Where are you from?" Then dissolved into laughing before actually answering. Sure enough from the States. So I asked her why she was here, she responded that her and her husband were long term missionaries.....my mind instantly went to ??Witness??. "With who?"I asked (my eloquence failed me and I couldn't think of how else to figure out of she was a witness). "I'm a Jehovah's witness" she said. And here comes my over excitement..... "Me too!!" lol. Turns out she was there for the English convention with another sister. How cool! We will hopefully see them again tomorrow.

 After arriving to our accommodations Mikayla and I instantly passed out in the sisters house and when we woke up it was dark. We were hungry so we took a little walk to the Mall just to gawk like country folk at all the pretty clothes and eat ice cream... And part of a napkin..... This morning we woke up and got ready to tour the branch. Went down to the main house and Kary's mom made us coffee and patacones for breakfast. Super sweet sis! Tommy, a bro from South Carolina that serves in chili, was eating breakfast with us. I tried to have a conversation but he was much more interested in his food and phone so I eventually gave up and tried my hand at speaking Spanish with Gloria. Which then ended in my silence again because I didn't understand lol. We arrived at the branch about an hour early for our tour so we were released to basically wander around as we pleased. We went to the library, because thats were nerds like us go. After Guayaquil, the branch looks like a piece of paradise randomly placed in the middle of a well arranged dump. Everything is green, well manicured and clean. People smile and everything smells good. The library in the Ecuadorian bethel smells like vanilla :) in case anyone was wondering. Because Kary was working that day, she came and gave us a little pre-tour, showing us some things like the living room and the literature counter. We met a sister named Toni from South Carolina. She had us sign her book and have us a magnet she had hand painted. "If a parrot can speak Spanish she told us (lol) so can you!!" The magnet has parrots on it :)  Had a wonderful tour and met lots of people that will be at the English convention tomorrow. Love the brotherhood.

 Kel

Kel's Update from Machalilla

Went in service in Machalilla today and we drove about 20 minutes out of town to a territory I haven't been To yet. There is a one room schoolhouse and only about 15 family's that live out there but it was one of the coolest experiences I have had in the ministry, maybe ever. It was a small group of us just Steve, Carlos, Courtney, Mikayla, Jahida and me. Me and Jehida were working together and we went straight to the school because the teacher there is a return visit of hers. The teacher was in the middle of class but stopped everything to come and talk with us. After about 5 minutes she invited us in and about 10 boys and girls all stood up and shouted "buenos dias"!!! To us. The teacher then sat down and asked if Jehida would teach the children something. Is this really happening!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! In the states this would never even almost be ok!! Since Jehida is a teacher this was perfect for her. She went around the class asking each child to say their name and then introducing herself and me. Afterwards she explained that just like we have a name, God has a name as well. She then had one of the little girls read aloud to the class psalms 83:18 and afterward asked what is God's name? Some answered correct and some said Jesus. So she asked the girl to read it again. This time the teacher chimed in and asked all the children to listen more carefully for the answer. After the second time reading it Jehida asked the same question and they all shouted. Jehovah! I seriously almost cried. She then asked them how we know that Jehovah is real? She explained that we know because of all the wonderful creations including us and these things prove that there is a god even though we can't see him. I was so blown away by it all it was truly such an amazing experience. All the kids in that class now know Jehovah is God's name and that proof that he exist is all around us. She reviewed all the information so that they would remember it. Jehida placed a couple "Listen to God" brochures with the teacher and I took pictures of the kids. I then went around and showed them my camera because it always makes little kids laugh to see themselves in pictures. Jehovah is accomplishing his preaching work in ways that continue to surprise and amaze us every day. We left the school and walked a little farther down the road past two donkeys and couple goats that we're chilling by a house. Some pigs snuck up behind the goats and scared one of them so bad he tripped over his own hooves and got a face full of dirt. Afterwords he just stood there looking angry and defiant while the pigs took over his spot in the shade. I think I was the only one laughing. We started looking for Courtz and Mikayla.. Couldn't find them 'til I happened to glance back behind one of the houses. The two of them were sitting surrounded by 3 or 4 women both bibles passed out and open in the women's hands practically having a bible study on the initial visit. So we went to the next house where a woman was doing her washing (by hand). She stopped washing and let me go through my presentation and read a scripture, always listening attentively to my broken Spanish and smiling the whole time. Hopefully she understood something :). Not everyone was home but the people that were all listened attentively and were so hospitable and friendly each one of us had a wonderful experience in Jehovah's work today.
Kel

Hiking in Cajas

So the one thing that I really wanted to do when I came to Cuenca was to go hiking in the mountains. And the girls were awesome and made it happen. Even though they had already hiked it twice already and had sworn they wouldn't kill themselves like that again. They obliged and it was beautiful!

Kel and Mechaela were smart and started out by stretching. I was super nervous and bundling up as best I could. That's me and Kaitlyn preparing to go. I had just rolled up my pants to expose my gorgeous new boots! lol!
 We were just about to head on our way. But then the park officials stopped us and told us we had to record our passport information. Just in case we went missing. But John (the one that had gone Karaoke-ing with us) was our guide. He knows those mountains amazingly well. There were a couple of times I doubted he actually knew where he was taking us because of how dense the woods were. The contortions we had to do to get through it all were impressive if I do say so myself, lol. But back to the original story, we cooperated and wrote our names and "passport numbers" down.
 And we grouped up for a photo. Some of us quickly realized that we were a  little too warmly dressed. And quickly started to peel off the layers. I sadly was not able to take pictures because my camera started acting up as soon as we got there. But thankfully Kaitlyn's camera was functioning and Kel had her Ipod.

So we headed out onto the trail. Everything was going smoothly. Everyone was scattered and lost and Kaitlyn was complaining. It was perfect! Nobody ever really got lost. But there were times that it was a close call. Kaitlyn ended up falling about twelve times. But nothing could beat Mechaela's epic fall. She landed in the mud so deep that it soaked her pants.

None of us had eaten properly before we left. So hunger pains came on very rapidly. But our guide (who did seem to enjoy leaving us all behind) was refusing to stop until we were officially at the half way point. Kaitlyn asked every five minutes what time it was, thinking that it had to have been at least a thirty minutes since the last time she had asked. Only to be severely disappointed. Which then brought on much complaining and yelling. LOL! Great times!
 We did end up stopping for lunch about an hour before our hike was finished. We had a beautiful view to appreciate as we re-energized. Me and Kaitlyn sat on a rock that was completely covered in some sort of strange stiff green plant. It was pretty neat!

 We ended up walking down hill beside a stream. And when we reached the bottom we washed off our boots and posed for a picture! We stopped to grabbed a couple bags of "Cana" aka sugar cane. You chew on it 'til all the flavor is gone, then you spit out the wood bits. It's super delicious! Everyone was happy to head back to the house after the long tiresome hike. It was well worth the energy spent though. It was gorgeous!









More photos will be added later. The internet has been on the fritz... sorry people!





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From the Beginning of this Month

So I totally overslept one day while we were here in Ecuador. But Kel and Mechaela went to work out in service with Kaitlyn. Here are some pictures from the day.

Cuenca Tourism

So the second day after we arrived in Cuenca we went out to lunch with the girls. It was so delicious! We took a tour of the city on a double decker bus. That was my first double decker bus tour ever! It was so cool! I loved it. So the tour was in Spanish and English, thankfully, so that we could understand. The main thing that they talked about was the different churches and when the Pope had come to visit, yadda yadda... But there were some neat facts and such. Like there is a bridge in the middle of town that was washed away in a flood. But instead of rebuilding it to the other side, they just built up the end so that no one could fall off. They use it for displaying artwork and such on certain days of the year now.

The Main Square of Town

No, me and Mechaela don't hate each other, lol. We just wanted to get good views. So we split up to the edges. Right side isn't so good though because the trees aren't trimmed and you get whacked in the face a'lot if you aren't careful enough. So the tour took us around town and then up to a shopping mall. We could have stayed on the bus, but decided to go shopping. So we went into the mall. It was just like any other mall. Except that the prices were even more ridiculously high! We didn't end up buying anything other than a hot chocolate on our way out to catch the next bus. Apparently, though, we had missed out on a part of the tour that was suppose to take us up into the mountains and provide an adult beverage. But oh well. It was still cool.

The city here is absolutely beautiful. Kel kept saying that it looked just like a European city. I can believe it. Just check out the pictures. There were a'lot of different influences in this city though. There was a gorgeous building that had Arabic arches. Unfortunately the photo for that one didn't turn out.

We passed some kids standing by one of the statues in town that were adorable. They were waving and acting all shy because all of the tourists on the bus were taking pictures of the statue and they were obviously in them all. Afterwards we went out to try and find some good clothing stores. We weren't successful that day. It's not easy finding cheap clothes in this city though. Scarves, hats, gloves, blankets, ponchos are pretty reasonably priced. But pants and nice dress sweaters and such are astronomically priced. And forget trying to buy a dress. The dress are typically $80 or more. If you get a dress made, though, then you typically only spend about $30. But it takes about four weeks until its completed.



Kaitlyn's got her bargain face on

So day two is when we actually went out and bought our souvenirs and gifts and such. The girls took us to their favorite shop. It's through a closed off hallway, up two flights of stairs, in a secret room. It was really neat. We spent almost an hour and a half in there. As you can see the place was packed with stuff! So it took quite a bit of sorting to find what we wanted. But it was so much fun!

On Our Way to Cuenca!

On Tuesday the 3rd we made our way to Cuenca to see our girls there! We were slightly nervous, but definitely excited as we headed out. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous. We tried to take some pictures to capture it, but a camera cant hold how amazing it truly is. I did take video as well. So there's a little bit of the on Youtube. We, of course, had to get McDonald's on our way through Guayaquil. It is a requirement. There was talk of Pizza Hut... but McDonald's won out. So we were happily full and on our way. To get to Cuenca we had to travel through a rainforest in the mountains. I kept my window open as long as I possibly could. My ear almost got frostbite it was so cold and wet though. So the window eventually did have to be shut. Going through the mountains is a bit scary in the bus. There are sheer drop offs where there have been mudslides and such. And then on the other side of that, there are towering walls off rock that could fall at any moment. And then there was the fog. Tight winding corners and the bus driver wants to pass a car on a blind curve in the dense fog... It got my adrenaline pumping a few times. But I was the one that wanted to sit in the very front so that I could see everything that was going on, lol. Despite our near-death experiences, it was still worth it to stay up front.
 So we survived the trip to Cuenca! The Cuenca girls met us at the terminal. And we headed to Fabiano's for Italian pizza. They actually import the cheese from Italy. It was amazing! And we met with some brothers and sisters there. Falsto, Jasmin, Anita Munoz. John Lopez and Kah-mei... don't know her last name. lol! They were all very sweet and nice. After the pizza, which was around 8pm, we headed down the street to a Karaoke bar. We all got really into it and had a blast! Kel and Mechaela belted their heart out to "We Are the Champions". And then everyone in the group got up and sang "Dancing Queen". Stefanie sang some Spanish songs that totally blew my mind. The worst was "Ojos Asi" by Shakira. It's so fast!! And there was an attempt at singing "Jenny From the Block" that definitely didn't go too well, lol! But was still super fun to try. Many more songs were sung, since we didn't get out of there until midnight. There is a video of Stefanie and Ariel singing, with a special wave from Kaitlyn.

Los Frailes

Los Frailes is a beach in the national park of Machalilla. It's so gorgeous! The first day we were with Anna, Jenny, Stefania, and Courtz. Carlos was nice enough to give us a ride in. Otherwise we would have had quite a bit of a hike back there. It's about a mile or mile and a half to get back to the beach from the main road. But thankfully Carlos had time to drive us.

So all of us girls hung out on the beach for about an hour. We had been a bit slack and had taken our time getting there. It only stays open 'til about 4pm. There was an exchange of stories. Animal attacks and nasty things you've accidentally eaten... Good times!

Then we headed back to Jenny and Carlos house that they have been working on. After a berry battle in the front yard, Carlos drove us home. And we had a big dinner of alfredo, chicken, and spaghetti. Then later on we watched one of my favorite movies, Despicable Me. "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" The favorite quote that has been used to describe a countless number of things :) Including the pancakes that we ate this morning. Thanks Kel!

The next day we went back. This time we went early enough to go hiking around and see the other beaches. You're not allowed to swim at the other ones. But they were still pretty to hike all around. There was one specially preserved for sea turtles! Didn't get to see any. But it was still neat. We hiked up the top of one hill and there was this beautiful overlook of Machalilla. We could see our house from there! lol. We found quite a few interesting little sea creatures as we were climbing all over the rocks. Some sort of hat/octopus looking thing. I wanted to touch it, but I refrained. And we also saw a sea slug. I took video of it. It looked so cool. Like it had coral growing from its eyeballs.

Then we hiked up to the highest point where there's a little lookout hut. I thought at that point that my lungs were going to shrivel up into nothing and that my legs were going to split in half. I had been in bed sick for a couple of weeks before we did this. So muscle mass was seriously lessened at this point. But I made it to the top and got my picture taken.

Then we had lunch. What did it consist of you ask? Snickers, a couple Ecuador specialty candy bars (kind of gross), Doritos, and animal crackers. The perfect combo to get yourself moving again! After that we hiked all the way back down and spent the rest of the time swimming. Cartwheeling through the water, front hand springs, hugging the waves... yes we did, lol! Don't be jealous. Ended the day with a picnic on the floor of our kitchen. A lantern covered with a red scarf as our fake fire. It's great that we can be so silly and just have fun here.