25 Things I Learned in Ecuador

25. The proper “bus stance”   (i.e. one that keeps me from falling into some else’s lap)

24. Some natural medicines are totally legit, I’ll be keeping oregano and jello on hand for tea when my stomach hurts. (No, one does not put those two together)

23. Its really easy to accidentally say bad words while learning a second language…and no one will ever let you live down something really embarrassing you've said… (learning another language always makes for good stories)

22. Anything goes with rice--lasagna, noodles, mashed potatoes…anything…and I am truthfully going to miss it.

21. Tuna is a fruit not a fish.

20. Taking too much pepto turns your tongue black.

19. There are proper techniques for eating certain foods…seminary students enjoy waiting until after the first try to explain them…I love my friends (…I may also be guilty of doing this to our new students :)

18. The tooth fairy is actually a mouse (Raton Perez)

17. It’s possible to get sun burnt when it’s cloudy

16. How to play “Settlers of Catan” …I think I’m better at it in Spanish than English, and for all of you skeptics… we've started a nerd revolution in Ecuador.

15. Bartering techniques: Step 1: Ask an Ecuadorian friend what a good price is. Step 2: Offer a price lower that what you’re willing to pay. Step 3: Buy in bulk or go in with a friend if possible. Step 4: Know when to stand your ground and walk away if necessary. Step 5: Enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you just bought what you wanted for half the price of the last tourist :)

14. Often you learn the most about your own culture while living in a different one.

13. Just because you literally live 20 minutes away from the Equator does not mean you shouldn’t bring a winter coat…and a scarf.

12. What American foods are “weird” for other cultures…raw vegetables, peanut butter, broccoli and cheese, cereal and cold milk, sugar packed deserts…I’ve also learned how to get my Latino friends to try them…hehe.

11. There are some things about living at 9,000 ft. that just don’t make sense. Although I’ve ran a 10K at that altitude, the stairs up to the NILI office still get me.

10. How to ask for directions in Spanish…I’ve been lost a time or two.

9. The closest I can get to scoring a goal in Ecuador is in Foosball.

8. Not all sermon illustrations are culturally relevant…even ones about chocolate chip cookies, darn.

7. Some cultures are better at sharing than us.

6. I have not outgrown pajama parties…

5. Often the things that change our lives most are the things we never saw coming…

4. Church services are way cooler in three languages…particularly if those three languages are Spanish, English and Quichua

3. Sometimes watching someone else experience something new for the first time is almost as good as experiencing it for the first time yourself.  

2. NILI is the best Spanish-immersion program in the world!...and I have no problem shamelessly plugging it.

1. I’ve fallen in love with Ecuador, its culture and its people.  What started off as a crazy adventure became “home”.  I made some incredible friends who will probably never truly know how much they impacted my life. I will miss you Ecuador, Seminaristas, NILI staff and Students. Que Dios les bendiga. 

 

Catching Up: New Experiences and Old Traditions

I hope you all are doing well. I’m over half way through my year in Ecuador…and I’m loving it! I’d like to briefly share a few of the new experiences I’ve had this year.

Galapagos Islands: I never went as a student because the trip was too expensive. This year our director decided to send me along as a member of the staff…talk about some job benefits. It was amazing! I went snorkeling for the first time (I almost drowned because I didn't know how to swim with flippers, haha--ironic considering I was technically on the Swimming and Diving Team in high school) Luckily I got the hang of it and now its one of my new favorite things and the best part was I got to swam with seals, sea turtles and sharks! 

Incan Ruins: Although the center of the Incan Empire was located in Peru (which borders us on the south), the Incan’s also controlled parts of Ecuador and I got to visit some of the ruins! (I'm a history nerd, so it was pretty awesome)

Easter Eggs: Another really fun thing about my time here has been the opportunities I’ve had to share about my own culture.  One Easter tradition we shared with our Ecuadorian and Colombian friends was dying eggs. Everyone found it really amusing.  Some of them were a little skeptical about whether it was really okay to eat a purple egg.    

4^th of July:We had fireworks, patriotic music, and typical campfire food.  For many of the seminary students it was the first time they had ever eaten a s’more... I had to explain how to do it. 

Mom’s Visit: This was definitely one of the highlights of my summer. It was so much fun to show her all the cool things about where I live and introduce her to my friends here.  She got to try a bunch of new foods, travel all over the country and we even went zip lining! (Yay, Mom!)

While I’ve told you about some of the fun stuff…don’t worry, I’ve being working too. Actually, the first few months here where quite a challenge as I learned my position while I continued to improve my Spanish.  However, I feel like I’ve grown more in these past six months as a leader, spiritual mentor, and administrator than maybe all my years in college.  Although NILI is a Spanish immersion program, two of our core purposes are to promote the on-going spiritual development of our students and to equip our students to serve God in intercultural contexts.  A number of our former students are now serving in ministry inside and outside of the States.  While they're here our students are involved in childcare for underprivileged children, nursing home ministries, Compassion International as well as involvement in various Nazarene churches all around Ecuador.  

We start off every semester by telling our students that they are here to serve, but what many of them don’t anticipate is the extent to which God uses this experience to change their own lives.  The majority of our students are in college one of the prime times in a person’s life when they are seeking direction for the future.  All of our students have to leave many things behind in order to come to Ecuador: their culture, their family, their friends, basically everything that is familiar to them. Every student also faces challenges during the semester whether that is culture shock, the language barrier or homesickness.  However, they are no longer able to deal with these challenges in the same way they did in the States.  Their closest friends/family are not here to comfort them.  Many times they can’t even depend on their own intelligence to get them out of a jam because they lack the ability to communicate.  This is the time that we really encourage the NILI students to reach out to God.  I have seen time and time again how much easier it is for our students to hear God’s voice among unfamiliar circumstances than while in their comfort-zone.  That’s why I think it’s so important to expose college students to experiences like NILI. The encounters they have with God can radically re-shape their futures, and we’ve seen this to be true on many occasions. 

Another exciting thing that God has been doing in NILI, is opening doors so that we can get further involved in training missionaries.  I’m so excited about what God is doing in Ecuador and how he is incorporating NILI into His plans. I would appreciate it if you would join me in praying that God will continue to send university students and missionaries to NILI and that He will use this program to impact the lives of our students and the people of Ecuador. 

Highlights: Jungle Trip--Ambushed

Jungle Trip: I’ve been to the jungle a couple of times, but it’s always an adventure. Although we do similar activities, this trip is never the same.

Chimborazo—made it to 17,000 ft.:  I finally figured out that the highest I’ve climbed to is probably around 17,000 ft. that’s 2,000 ft. higher than Mt. Rainer…crazy. Also, I discovered it’s really difficult, make that impossible, to light a match at that altitude. We tried to celebrate one of the girl’s birthdays on Chimborazo, but we couldn’t get the stinking candles to light because of the lack of oxygen. Haha, who would of thought?

Monkey!!

Monkey Ambush: As we were getting out of the van just outside the monkey reserve, we got ambushed. A few of the monkeys had escaped from the reserve and one decided to take refuge in our van…and he did NOT want to come out. We quickly discovered that monkeys like Doritos, Gatorade, and Bubble Gum…he left a few wet spots and sticky strings of bubble gum on the seats…we finally coxed him out with a bag of bread.  However, he outsmarted us in the end because when we finally got him out of the van and tried to toss the bread back in…we tossed; he jumped, snatched the bread out of midair with his tail and was 30 yards away, scarfing down our bread before we knew what’d happened.

One of the NILIs with Dewey

Amazon--Meeting Dewey: I had the privilege of flying back into the jungle with this group to visit the Waorani tribe.  The Waorani tribe is famous for having killed several missionaries but later being led to Christ by two women--a wife and a sister of the missionaries who were killed.  This time when I went I got to visit a different community. When we landed, we were met by Dewey.  Dewey was a part of the group of Waorani men who killed the missionaries. The first thing he did was pray for us in Waorani, his native language  As I spent time with him and his community I couldn’t help but be struck by the power God has to change a man’s heart.  Now, he’s people live in the peace and joy of Christ.  One of the local missionaries shared a stat with us that hit me hard.  Before the two women entered the Waorani tribe 70-80% of adult deaths were homicides. The Waorani people had literally been wiping themselves out. However, after just two years of living with the Waorani that number dropped to 5%.  The death of five men brought life to a whole people.

Carnaval—soaking the NILIs: This year I was on-campus during Carnaval…and I had a BLAST!  In Ecuador, Carnaval is a public free-for-all.  Any stranger has the right to drench you with water or cover you in floor.  People often start “playing” Carnaval weeks in advance.  By the time we reached the actually holiday I was wearing my swimsuit underneath my clothes.  I’m pretty sure I went through more changes of clothes than anyone else.   

We made sure the NILIs “enjoyed” this tradition to the fullest...aka we ambushed them.  We gathered together a group of seminary students and staff.  Several of the guys climbed up onto the roof of the building where they were having class and the rest of us hid around the outdoor stairwell that they have to use to leave.  As soon as they made it to the stairs, the guys on the roof started drenching them with buckets of water, while we pelted them with water balloons and flour. They got soaked, and as a result a seminary-wide water fight broke out and lasted for the next two hours….almost everyone on campus got involved seminary students, missionaries, and NILIs.  Definitely one of my favorite days so far...

 Next Up: Ministry Trip…off to the Coast!

I'm Back!!!

Well, I’m back in Ecuador and this time I’m staying for a whole year!  I guess I better fill you in on how I ended up back here…

Hiking Chimborazo

As you know last year I decided to go to Ecuador in order to study in a Spanish immersion program called NILI.  When I first arrived in Ecuador it was very clear to me that God had called me to NILI but for what purpose, I was still unsure.  I had a desire to learn Spanish, however, devoting an entire year of my life (between earning the money and the program itself) seemed a little extreme.  

My first few weeks in Ecuador were really difficult.  I knew very little Spanish and could barely communicate with my roommate. I ended most days with a headache and I just couldn’t understand what God was doing. On the way back from one of our first trips, God began talking to me about coming back to Ecuador.  It dawned on me that maybe the issue wasn’t that my circumstances were too difficult but that my expectations about God’s purpose for this trip were too small.   

As the semester went on I fell in love with Ecuador and luckily my Spanish improved.  However, I still couldn't imagine how I would ever end up back in Ecuador.  Over the summer a position opened up with the NILI program and I was asked to come back as a member of the staff. It's crazy how things worked out and when the time came I knew that God had been preparing me to make the decision for months.  What’s funny is that what I’m doing right now with NILI is a dream I’ve had for years but could never fully articulate.  God knows the desires of our hearts even when we don’t and he’s willing to lead us along that path amidst our own protests. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Israelites and God’s promises. This years’ experience has taught me two things: 1) How easy it is to stand just outside the Promise Land trembling in fear.  2) God is a God of abundance and He always fulfills He’s promises.     

What I’m Doing:

I am the Residential Life Director for NILI.  This semester we have a group of seven girls which has been great.  I’m really enjoying getting to know them. One of my main responsibilities is to coordinate between the NILI program and the seminary were we live.  It’s such a privilege to be a part of this community.  I love sharing life with the seminary students and the NILIs and I'm looking forward to getting involved in ministry in one of the local Nazarene churches as well. 

In my next blog a post some of the highlights so far for this semester.  Even though I lived here for 6 months last year. I’ve already had several “firsts”. 

I’ll be updating soon…