July 27th
Patate,
It seems that I’ve been writing a lot about lasts the past few days. I’m sentimental I guess. That’s what makes leaving a place so difficult for me, especially one in which I’ve grown so much as a person during the past two months. So that’s why today’s worship at First Baptist of the Valley (Patate) was so special to me. One last church service with all of my Ecuadorian brothers and sisters this summer. Pastor Angel even put me in the program to do the prayer before the offering and with it I shared a little with the people about this summer. It was my first real public speaking moment in Spanish and thankfully I didn’t have any huge mess ups with pronunciations or words…at least I hope so.
The service came to an end around 12:30pm and we loaded the bus to return to the camp, only to get stopped by the Rally car race in the mountains, going from Banos to Pelileo (through Patate). Therefore, our trip was delayed for a good hour as we watched the cars whiz through the hairpin turn from the mountain road on the way to Pelileo.
Lunch at the camp came and went quickly and we found ourselves on the road again to Banos, this time to see Pailon del Diablo (the Devil’s Cauldron), the Basket ride, and to shop and eat in downtown Banos for dinner. We were blessed with great weather in which to explore God’s creation at both places. Ending the night, we ate like Ecuadorian kings at Dusseldorf Steakhouse in Banos, thus ending our tourist day in the
Tomorrow, our group will work on the staff housing here on camp that is still being constructed and then in the afternoon travel up the mountain to do a Bible School in San Jorge for approximately 100-120 children. Daylight will bring about another opportunity for us to offer all that we are to God in the form of construction, serving others, and in loving the Ecuadorian children.
1 comment:
Andrew,
I bet you could have jumped in the truck and held your own against those racers on the mountain roads. And this time you wouldn't have five people and VBS supplies to weigh you down. For the road race do they clear the cows and donkeys and dogs and chickens out of the way before they come through or is dodging them part of the race?
Enjoy your last week in Ecuador. I have enjoyed reading about your experiences, you bring Ecuador to life with your writing. It was a great pleasure to get to know you and to work with you at Artezon. I look forward to when our paths will cross again.
Jason Johnson
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