Hello, this week has been a bit more relaxed than the last but has still been great. This week ive been living with a host family on The southside of Quito which is much poorer than the north side. They have been incredibly patient with me asking questions in rough Spanish. They have introduced me to a lot of traditional Ecuadorian foods like cuye (guinea pig), green plantain soup, and morocho (corn milk). They have also informed me of some of the problems hurting Ecuador especially in the south of Quito. There are a lot of tern pregnancies starting as young as 14. The girls drop out of school causing a lack of education for much of the work force as the men often don't continue to college as well. At the covenant church Santiago that my host family goes to, a woman in the congregation went in front of the church to confess and ask for forgiveness about a pregnancy out of wed lock. They have an incredibly real and authentic faith that doesn't stop at Bible studies or devotions. Here evangelicals are called radicals (or at least that's what I'm told) but I believe it. They are truly counter cultural here as they don't participate in some of the most popular things like dancing or a beer after work. My host family talks a lot about how Christians dance in the US in a "clean" manner. Its been fun getting to see how the church works in Ecuador. My host family has also brought me along for some cool adventures. We went to the panecillo which is a small hill in the middle of Quito where you can see the whole city clearly at night. We also went to a village just on the other side of the mountains to look at the artisan goods there. Last night, I went to play futbol with some of the guys from church. It was super fun playing in a barrios court with some really Good players. We played for awhile then challenged some college kids in the barrios to a game. We played valiently in the rain under the lights but lost 5-4. It was good then we went and got cokes after the game. I felt like I was actually part of the culture for once not the abnormally tall gringo trying to figure things out. This week I took Spanish lessons at a local school which will probably prove to be very useful. I took the bus everyday which was an adventure in itself. The bus costs 25¢ so pretty much everyone takes it. This means that the bus is almost always at full capacity at rush hour. Full capacity means that there is no more room to stand and its very difficult to move around. Many people get a running start to push their way into the bus. More than once I was elbowed in a bad place by short plump woman trying to get out. They are by far the most assertive and pushy. Anyway it made me certainly appreciate not having to compete every morning just for a spot on the bus so I'm not late to class or work. This also brings up an observation of mine. People here are typically very selfish looking to get ahead in traffic make a quick buck anyway possible but most obviously that cutiing in line is common and stopping in the middle of the road so their friend can buy an empanada. It wasn't something I was expecting. Buying general the people here have been wonderful and friendly although all of them stare at me. I'm just a little too tall for Ecuador. I often hit me head on things like store signs which I normally don't have to look out for. Anyway thanks for tuning in, loves and hugs Colin

This week has been a week of firsts. Lived with an Ecuadorian family, did a successful blood draw, climbed to about 17,000 ft, walked through. Field of crevasses, ran at 10,000+ ft, got altitude sickness, and visited a remote native village. There has been a lot to learn this week and have certainly felt a bit lonely and down. Something that has been really good for me though is learning to rely on God for strength at all times through the good and bad. I find that talking to God is a relief from the mental aspect of being always attentive to the language and the obstacles of a new environment. Its calming and reassuring to know that God is with me through all of this and a refuge when I feel exhausted. This week has surely been eventful as we started drawing blood and collecting stool and urine samples from the kids in cayambe on Monday. Cayambe is a smaller town that relies mostly on agriculture for its revenue. Many of the families cannot afford any sort of healthcare for their kids. That's where we were able to help out at a compassion international sponsored church. We saw over 220 kids in the two days in cayambe which felt good knowing that we were making a difference working with the local church to do so. I mostly did labeling and restocking but occasionally getting to learn a thing or two like blood drawing as we went along. The next day, we were working at the clinic which is part of the Santiago partnership. That day all we did was inventory of all the medical supplies that they had. This was actually really helpful because everything is in English so none of the ecuadorians knew what they actually had. We worked alongside one of the project workers and labeled the supplies with the Spanish name for future reference. That night I went to the supermarket and hung out with my host family the pastors family. The wife was a wonderful cook and probably now thinks I'm a food addict. I got to sleep in this really cool attic that they had above there main room in the house. The views here have been absolutely breath taking from river valleys to patchwork quilted farms on the mountainside to highland scrub brush, pristine waterfalls, lush cloud forests, and the raw mountain ridges. Thursday I headed up the road with two other Americans who were helping at the clinic and two Ecuadorian guys from the church. We drove about 20km to the refugio cayambe. The road was mostly washed out stone blocks with potholes big enough to swallow an end of the truck. After making it through all the switch backs, we started our hike from the refugio cayambe at about 15,100 ft. We then hiked up about 2,000 vertical feet through steep boulders, slick mud, and ice while being pelted by rain and snow. We then climbed up into a field of crevasses on the glacier before heading back down to see an awesome lake and waterfall. On the way back after all this I got altitude sickness and motion sickness at the same time. Slept it off to wake up early to travel to oyacachi. A small village of about a 1000 natives which live in a tight knit sharing community. We did a blood draw for these children as well in a church there. The village is situated basically in a hole surrounded on all sides by tall mountains. It is incredibly lush there With rivers and waterfalls and thermal hot springs. They are basically self sustaining and the drive to the nearest village is about 1.5 hrs. It was really cool to meet and talk with these native people who could really teach us how to live and work as a family and more braodly as the body of Christ. They share and look out for each other in a way that we simply don't understand. Its been really neat to see all the things God has been teaching and doing over this past week. Hope all is well back in the States. Toodles

el.primero.dia

Hola amigos I made to Quito last night with all my bags. Besides a man getting pulled off the plane by police, the ride was uneventful. I'm now with the Delps in their apartment on the northeast side of the city. On the plane ride, I was reading the book, Love does by Bob Goff, when I came across a chapter concerning invitation. He talks about how every morning we have an invitation to live life to the fullest for God. We can choose to accept or refuse. Love does love acts and that's something i want to emulate in my life. I think that goes much beyond physical work which I think is the part I'm most prepared for. I see it more as iniating conversation, forming relationships, and having the right attitude through it all. These are the things which don't come easily for me particularly with the Spanish language. I saw God presenting invitations even on my first day here in Quito. We were out looking at houses for sale and the realtor jumped in the car with us to ride over to the next house. I had the choice to sit quietly in the back and answer any questions with one word answers. I'm glad to say I answered all questions with a few sentences but looking back this was a time I could have reached out a bit further. I hope to take God up on as many of these invitations during my time here. On a lighter note, I tried pan de yuca con yogurt de guanbana which was delicious. Played lots of games with Simeon the 5 yr old son of the Delps and know a thing or two about the housing market in Quito. Toodles, Colin

Hello family and friends, This is my blog for the summer and hope to be posting as much as I can on this to keep everyone updated. This summer I'll be working down in Ecuador near Quito in a town called Cayambe. I am leaving this week on Wednesday to fly down from Chicago. Thanks again for all the prayers and donations that make this trip possible. I'll hopefully post soon from Quito.
Peace, Colin