Ecuador

The day started for the guys at 5am - not by choice, we had barking dogs in the street, people setting their alarm clocks for the wrong times, roosters crowing and an abundance of snoring.

Anyway, we woke refreshed, jumped in a shower with no hot water (because there is no need to heat it since it is so stinkin hot here...) and proceeded to breakfast. Breakfast was good. Freshly squeezed juice, scrambled eggs and some flaky bread item that somewhat resembles a croissant. The topping choices were butter or some jelly looking substance that could best be described as an apple butter with a fig/prune twist (sounds gross but it is really good, the younger girls even liked it). That is how the guys day started - BUT - the girls didn't have it as smooth.

They woke up to one of the guys pounding on the door because we were scheduled to leave in 5 minutes but still no traces of the girls. They opened the door frantically while trying to get all the needed supplies ready for departure as Carrie explained that her alarm got all jakked up. Her clock was set but unfortunately it was reading 2am even tho it was 7am... Some of the girls were able to woof down some eggs and then jump on the bus with awesome hair and a great attitude.

Off we went to the absolute worst part of town. I will save the word pictures but you will have to trust me that some of our pets lives better than some of these beautiful people. It is humbling to see the difference in lifestyles. We got to the spot where we will help build a church and it was SOOOOO HOT.

They were gathering in a place where the church will be - so they took some bamboo poles and called them seats. They set some poles in the holes and draped a tarp over it for some shade for the kids (and us extremely white foreigners). They had no sound system, no musical instrument and no coffee to serve but somehow - we had church. These people are amazing. Even through the language barrier, we were able to speak "love". We will have lots of pictures when we get back to share...

After we had church, we went to a mega church and enjoyed the praise and worship to the same God we serve. We couldn't participate in the songs (due to the language barrier) but there was such a presence of a loving God that again I have to use the word AMAZING.

After church we went to the "other" part of town. A great family hosted us & treated us like royalty. It was obviously the wealthy part of town and we enjoyed some cultural food and rituals. We ate, went swimming, ate dessert and then enjoyed some wonderful relaxation - some even napped. We were resting up for the rest of the week when we will push ourselves to our physical limits and do our best to leave this place better than when we came.

Now we are getting the food ready for tomorrow and oh yeah - since we are all about competition, we have a couple guys who will attempt to drink a half gallon of chocolate milk in under 5 minutes. This started as a joke (from our youth pastor days) and it evolved into an all out evening of entertainment. We have some people running to the store right now and we will definitely get it on video. We love and miss you all...