Greetings beloved friends and family,
Thank you for your continued prayers. I am terribly sorry for not posting yesterday. I was partially afraid of catching Ebola (or whatever sickness my teammates my have), and also very much needing rest after a long day of work and soccer. It was a long day but a good day.
Mrs. Dreves, Nate, Wade, Rob, Isaac, and Ryan were all unable to come help due to their sickness. Despite our diminished forces, we had to split into two teams: one team went back to the job site at the house, the other team started working on some projects at Pan de Vida.
I was in the team at the job site, and our consisted primarily of hauling rocks/sand, and mixing concrete. It was encouraging to realize how much our help was benefiting the family. It was not an easy job, and it would have been much harder for the father and oldest son (who were both partially disabled) to do by themselves. It was truly a gift and a blessing for their family. The project continues!
The other team got to work back at Pan de Vida. Trent wasn't feeling 100%, so he stayed back to help at Pan de Vida to be close to the Alliance Academy in case things took a turn for the worse. Alec, Justin, Trent, and Brooks all sanded a huge wall surrounding the building. They sanded it again. And then they sanded it again, much to their dismay. Ecuadorians are somewhat perfectionistic, it seems. After they sanded it, they began to apply the first coat of paint.
At about this point, our team came back from the job site to have lunch at Pan de Vida. Their kitchen is amazing. Everything has a labeled place. The loyal and faithful staff is so good at cooking for large numbers of people. It astounded me that they could feed so many people in an organized fashion. We then met the 19 boys and girls aged 12-18 who were going to be in our soccer camp.
The camp began with a game, followed by a worship led by Cap in Spanish and English, and then a short Bible study on Romans 8 We then drove to a small 5v5 soccer field in the a beautiful complex. It rained on the way, but when Jeff (a staff member with Pan de Vida) prayed, it turned into a beautiful day for a soccer camp. Coach still had to unexpectedly adapt to the rain by doing a Simon-says warm-up. The kids seemed guys s a lot of fun, especially the girls. The guys seemed a little too-cool-for-school in my opinion, but I remember that age, and certainly wouldn't expect anything else from them. Some very memorable moments followed, particularly on the bus ride home when the girls started chanting our teams nicknames, and some new ones. Malcolm was Tomate, Justin = Leche (milk), Blake = Oso (Bear), Joe = Queso (cheese), Cap = dinosaur, etc. Most have no significance at all, some have a ton of significance in an inside-joke sort of way. Needless to say, it was an amazing time for all.
That night, we got to practice with a local Division 4 semi-professional soccer team, Cumbre Alta, that we have had connections with since we were last here 3 years ago. It was an incredible opportunity to be a part of their culture and to see how they ran things. We (I) learned a lot about specific applications for our Grove City culture.
I'm drawing a skeleton for you to see our day, but it is woefully short in fully capturing the details and the wholeness of the experience. I find that words are frustratingly impossible to illustrate an experience. By definition, an experience simply must be experienced in order to be understood. The same is certainly true with our trip to Ecuador. I hope that you will hear more stories first-hand, but I am unable to capture the fullness of our days, even if I could use 10,000 words.
Our team still is under the weather, so please continue to pray for wellness.
Thank you, and goodnight!
#31 on the field, #31 in your heart,
Blake Baer
No comments:
Post a Comment