The Sabbath

June 22th

Ambato, Ecuador

Today was a rest day here at the camp, at least in a working sense. There was a lot of playing, planning, and a little sleeping mixed in, but an excellent day to relax before the week starts up tomorrow. Following the same schedule as last week, I traveled with part of the M-Fuge group to First Baptist of Ambato. The service was excellent and Ester’s (one of the camp staffers) brother, Jonhattan Constante, preached an excellent sermon. They even had a special children’s program mixed into the service. Afterwards, everyone traveled to First Baptist of Ficoa, just down the road, to eat pizza and ice cream. Helping organize lunch for 190 hungry American students isn’t easy either. Somehow, everyone had enough to eat and then some.

After returning to camp, I was able to sneak in a much needed nap as the M-Fuge teams broke up into their small groups so that they could plan the upcoming week at their worksites. I’ll be returning to Artezon and Gamboa with a group of 11 fresh faces, more paint, and lots of energy. Knowing what to expect certainly takes a load of the mind for this week. Later in the afternoon I got to meet those I’ll be working with and was able to give them a few helpful hints about what would work and not work in terms of recreation and Bible school. I was glad to see them take initiative though and develop new games and new ideas that we’ll try out at our worksite in Artezon.

Today marked the first day of helping my friend Dennis get back into soccer shape for the upcoming school year. A little limited with actual weights we can use, we got creative with the soccer goalpost and one dumbbell we do have in our possession. It was also the second day of the three-mile run down the road leading to the camp.

After dinner tonight, I decided to stretch my horizons a bit and learn some steps to a few of the dances they have here in South America. At first, my dance teachers described me as a ‘stiff gringo.’ But after a while I got the hang of the Meringue and Salsa. I’m definitely not a pro, but learning a bit of the culture while I’m here never hurts. It was a blast to learn, but let’s just say I still need lots of practice.

With this new group, I’ve got to meet a lot of people that know part of my family in Blairsville, GA. I’ve also had the pleasure to meet a few people that have read my blog and got a little bit better idea of what happens here at Camp Chacauco. That’s why I write. Whether your part of my family, a friend, or someone I’ve never met before, I hope that you’re encouraged by what you read and that you get a better idea of what mission work is like here in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. I often wondered what I’d encounter when I arrived here and now I get to experience it first hand. Regardless of your reason for reading this, I hope you take away with you what life is like here and how God is moving in Ecuador.