Before
After
I just got to know that I can buy tickets to the World Cup qualifier matches through a friend. I am excited because we are going to watch Brazil vs Ecuador on 28 March. Think this is going to be world class soccer and I am going ask more friends to come along. Soccer in Ecuador is a BIG thing.. I look forward to the electrifying atmosphere and the chants in the stadium and of course.. professional soccer moves, live! What’s more, the stadium is just within walking distance from our house. I used to support Argentina but I think I will support Ecuador from now on.
I am planning to make it a class outing so that I can build a closer bond with my students. Hope that I can outreach to them in the near future.
A closer look at our experiences in Latacunga the past Monday:
PR and I visited a number of families over the past few days as we had a long weekend of vacation (Saturday to Tuesday!) due to the festival Carnaval. All the visitations were very fruitful and we thank God for what He is doing in our church.
Last Sat, we had lunch with the young professionals in our church after service and watched a movie together in the cinema. It was PR’s and my first movie in Spanish without subtitles and we were glad to understand most of it. It was Jim Carrey’s comedy called “Si Senor”. We enjoyed the movie and had a good laugh. After the movie, we had coffee together and shared about different topics like finances, relationships and work.
On Sunday, we visited Lenin’s family and had some quality time together. PR played with Lenin’s daughter while I taught his son guitar. We watched some P&W DVDs together after that. At night, we discussed some family issues and how they can grow in God as a family. We talked until midnight and Lenin sent us home after that.
On Monday, we took a 2.5 hr bus journey to Latacunga and it was an adventure for PR and myself. There was a robber in the bus and he pointed a knife to someone behind me to get a handphone. We only knew about it when the robber got off the bus and the girl behind us shouted. Everyone in the bus was shocked and many of them tried to console the girl who was crying. It was our first time seeing this sort of things happening so near to us. Thank God for His protection in our lives. The rest of our trip was quite smooth and we spent some time with Beto, Rosa, Katty and Nilda in their house. They brought us around Latacunga and we visited Nilda’s handicraft shop too. We bought some things from her shop.
We also experienced a little of Carnaval (which is like Water-Splashing Festival, they splash water which might or might not be clean and spray foam, sometimes even eggs and flour!) Peiru, Beto and Katty got sprayed with foam by strangers in cars or trucks along the street. It was an interesting experience for Peiru because it was the first time… but generally, the people don’t like it because you can get real dirty suddenly when you are well-dressed for work or something. Imagine smelling like a fish because you were splashed with dirty water! or thrown with eggs! And these surprises can come from everywhere – people travelling in cars, people hiding on terraces, people from across the street, from within shops… It can also be dangerous because something they throw balloons of water at you, like water bombs right in your face. Could break your specs or cause an accident if they were thrown at cars along the road. That’s why they’ve banned the ‘throwing’ in Quito.. so there are not much Carnaval celebrations in Quito. Apparently in Latacunga, people can splash water and stuff at you for the entire February! It’s a dangerous season to go out on the streets…!
At night, we had video conference with their daughter, Betty who is in United States now. Betty is the first member of our church and she brought her whole family to church after that. We spoke to her for about 1-2 hrs and we stayed over in their house because it was too late at night.
On Tuesday, after returning to Quito, Santiago’s family visited us and we cooked lunch for them. It was a time of getting to know one another. His children are very cute, one 3 yr old boy and one 9 mths old baby girl, and we love their presence too. We also discussed about different issues in church and they gave suggestions on how the atmosphere in church can be improved. They also said that they will play their part by being more punctual for Sunday services. It was good to hear their thoughts and feelings towards the church.
All the visitations have brought us closer to the young professionals and families in church. We enjoyed the time spent together and I believe God is using us to bring His love and truth to the people. We look forward to other visitations in the near future.
Below is a link to an interesting speech. J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, spoke about the fringe benefits of failure and the importance of imagination at the Harvard Commencement :
http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination
I first saw this video on Hong Teck’s blog some time ago. Thought it was amazing how God transformed Speedo Guy’s life. Enjoy watching!
PR and I had a free day this week and we spent a few hours doing something we love to do in common – reading.
We spent some time shopping in the afternoon and after that found a cozy cafe to have a drink and do our reading. The sofa was comfortable and the scenery from the window was beautiful. PR sipped her coffee as she read a book sent by her friend from Singapore. I took out the 3 books I brought – 2 in English and 1 in Spanish. I started reading the Spanish book given by a brother in church. The book is about bringing out the best in us and it was an interesting read. I read a few chapters and I was glad to be able to understand most of the Spanish in the book. After that, I read the other 2 books, one on breakthrough prayers and the other one on marriage counseling. PR and I had a good time reading and enjoying the tranquil atmosphere in the cafe.
It was a long time since we spent some time reading. We felt nourished in our mind and spirit after receiving insights from the books we read. It is important to learn and develop ourselves by interacting with people who have more experiences than us through books. It is also good to feed ourselves even as we give to our people in church. Hope that we have more of such experiences in the near future.
This morning I was going to teach English as usual and I happened to bump into an Ecuadorian who spoke in Mandarin.
She asked me whether I was a Chinese and when I said yes, she passed me a book in Chinese about Jesus. I said that I am already a Christian but she said that I can keep the book. She seemed to be in a hurry to work and left immediately. I flipped through the book and it has interesting content like the character of Jesus. I felt the love of God even as I was flipping through the pages of the book.
It is rare for Ecuadorians to speak in English, not to mention Mandarin. God must have planned for our paths to cross at the divine time and place. Who knows, she could be an angel sent by God.
Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. “
Here are some pictures from the crazy bbq we had on Saturday!
Over 30 people came and it rained! Also, as usual, many pple were late so the preparations were also late.. So we had a crazy day… haha.. trying to find alternatives to the bbq, trying to buy disposible bbq pits, having lots of people in our house cutting tomatoes, making sauces. Because of the rain, we also started baking the meat in our oven instead. Thank God the rain stopped around 4pm and a few valient friends went off to start the bbq downstairs in the drizzle… wow! If not, how were we to hold 30+ pple in our house! It was a really hectic day.. haha.. but thank God for the many friends that came, the help that they gave us clearing up and also for the many different lessons learnt – such as punctuality, culture of bbq here in ecuador etc.
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