On the Road Again

Make yourself comfortable...it is going to be a long one!

First things first, the pictures.

From bottom to top (not sure why they posted in reverse order but hey I'll take what I can get! It only took 4 hours to post ten pictures!)

1. At the Sambisa Dump Ministry in Quito, Ecuador - We had the opportunity to visit the amazing work that is going on here. We are standing in the day care that is offered for the children whose parent's work in the dump. The workers are called 'miners' and sort through the trash (sometimes containing medical and human waste) for any recyclable material so they can sell it for cash. They average $50 a week or less.
2. A tarantula that Alexis (the house parent's son) found and brought back to the orphanage for us to see. Amanda and Christian stayed well away!
3. Anita, one of the oldest kids, sitting at Allan and Pearl's house reading her bible. She is an amazing young woman whose faith is so strong in spite of her circumstances. She is definitely an encouragement to us.
4. A bunch of the kids as we hiked through the jungle behind Allan and Pearl's house. This was the easy part before we got to the crazy down hill section. Notice the smiles still!
5. The entire group (less Marlon and Jan Carlos - the inured two) who made the grueling trek that day. We were extremely proud of Luisito ant Justin (Tuti) the two six year olds of the group who did the entire thing without complaining! Such a special group of kids!
6. Luisito enjoying his time in the pool. After the hike we all got to go fool around in the pool; not something the kids get to do very often!
7. Christian teaching some of the kids some different chords on the guitar. The little guy in the front looking stunned is Jan Carlos, the young man who needed to get the stiches.
8. The whole lot of us ready to head out on a lake, Poza Honda, that we drove to for some fun. We had 30+ people piled into that thing! I was a little nervouse at first but once it got going it got alot more stable. Again this was the first time any of the kids were able to do something like this.
9. Out on the lake enjoying the beautiful day!
10. Several of the kids, Carlos and Leo pictured here, spent the rest of the day fishing with nets. They didn't catch anything here but later on were able to get a few fresh water shrimp.

O.k. so now onto the blog from yesterday. Most of it was already explained through the pictures so I will be brief.

We were up early and ready to leave by 7:30 a.m. Once in Manta we joined the kids on the old bus they use for transportation. For us this is probably one of the best parts as we get to hang out with the kids as we journey to our destination. Yesterday's journey was a long one, over 2 hours on the road! And let me tell you this was no nicely paved highway (some of it was) but most of it was pretty rough...but you know, with these kids it was a lot of fun!

Once we got to the lake we piled into the canoe and went for a wee tour around. It was great to see the smiles on these kids faces. Afterwards we walked to the edge of the dam and swam around for an hour or so. It was great fooling around thowing the kids into the water. They absolutely loved it and so did we!

Then we all piled into the bus and headed to a park where we had sandwiches and drinks. Most of us fell asleep in the bus on the way home as the sun was wicked hot and drained us of any available energy!

Then we came back to La Cueva and headed to bed super early. Most of us got burnt once again by the sun. We have discovered that a lot of it has to do with the Malaria medicine we have been taking (that and super trippy nightmares). Amanda and I have decided to stop taking it especially for me because I cannot keep burning! So definetly something to pray about. But no worries, everyone we talk to says there is no Malaria in this part of Ecuador.

We are so thankful for every day out here. I am constantly amazed by these kids! There love for God and there love for us is overwhelming at times. So many of these children have had things happen to them in their past that would make us all sick to our stomach's but the joy that we see in there faces every day is so refreshing.

Please be in prayer for each one of them as so much depends on the support of others. Please be in prayer for us as well as we begin to question what our ongoing role here at Montanita Verde will be.

Thank you for sharing this journey with us! We will continue to keep you posted over the next few days. Today we are doing work projects (Amanda and Danielle are painting, Christian is building a work bench, and I am hanging bathroom accessories in House #2 and doing the blog) and then around 3:00 p.m. we going to spend some more time with the kids. Tomorrow we are going to do a jungle hike with the kids and Alexis! We are hoping to see some howler monkeys and get to run through the bat caves! And Sunday, after church, we are going to take all the kids to the beach to play around in the waves and play soccer. We are probably going to play "Horses, Knights and Cavaliers" a game we taught them two days ago!

Thanks again! And hello to all the kids in Dad's class who are taking this journey with us as well!

Blessings,

J (for the rest of the team)

Again I am too lazy to spell check...just enjoy the mistakes!