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How Was It?

In case you haven't been paying attention for a while, I was actually in Ecuador for a couple months recently.  Since returning to the US it looks like I've given myself plenty of time to recover and let things sink in.  Trying to summarize the experience is pretty much beyond me, which makes it difficult to answer the question, "How was it?"  It was challenging.  It was uncomfortable.  It was awesome.  It was a lot of things.

I'm a big fan of mountains

The obligatory straddling the equator photo...

 

 

One way to look at it is the difference between my two visits to the airport in Panama City - on the way to Ecuador and returning home.  The first time I didn't even have the confidence to venture out of the airport despite the lengthy layover time.  The second time I was able to speak Spanish with employees at the airport, find a taxi, travel around the city, visit the Panama Canal, get lost, find my way back, and still make my connecting flight.  All that time in Ecuador must have helped some.

As evidenced by my first few posts in Quito, language was one of the biggest challenges.  Not just because it's uncomfortable  and inconvenient not knowing how to communicate, but it makes working and connecting with people more difficult.  Having no other option, they say, is the best way to learn the language.  I greatly appreciated the patience my coworkers, host family, and strangers had when I was practicing on them.  While I still have a lot of Spanish to learn, I definitely saw some huge improvements in my ability in that short time.

My time in Ecuador was really shaped by the welcoming arms of HCJB staff and my hosts.  Bruce, the civil engineer in charge, put a real emphasis on my learning and growing while working with the Clean Water Projects team.  Along with the other staff members, he provided knowledge and wisdom while giving me about all the responsibility I could handle.  My Ecuadorian host family was a huge help as far as teaching me about the culture, developing my Spanish, and keeping me fed.

More Ecuador exploration

Normally I view stress as something negative, and do my best to keep it out of my life (I tend to be pretty laid back).  But then when I think about it, the stressful times in my life are sometimes what cause the most growth and learning.  I won't lie, I did have a few stressful moments in Ecuador.  The time when God told me to speak in Carabuela comes to mind.  So there's definitely a lot of good that can come out of a certain kind of stress from facing new challenges.  God tends to place burdens on me for a reason, but I usually don't appreciate it very much until after I come out the other side.  Having some major responsibility in a project showed me again just how much I need God's help, and also how much He can grow me by allowing me to experience some tough situations.  Basically I just love learning through life experience.  And the good news is there's always more to learn.

Through all the adjustments and challenges, I was constantly uplifted by support from back home - as was the case when I was in Indiana, Colorado, and Thailand.  That has been such a great blessing, to see how God provides for all my needs through other people.  I want to thank everyone for the prayer and financial support that made everything possible.  My prayer team really came through for me, it was great to connect and be praying for specific requests each week.  Some days a short note or an email would be just what I needed.  I even appreciated the occasional inquiries to whether or not I was still alive down there.  With the help of modern technology and the inter-webs, it's a small miracle how many people I can stay in touch with and be encouraged by.  I'm very grateful to my family, Haven Church, old friends, new friends, strangers, and everyone else that God used to help me with this ministry. Gracias a todos!

That's not me, in case you were wondering

Hermanos en Cristo

I've done a lot of walking in this community

My last visit to Carabuela happened this past week.  There were things to take care of, and I was the only one around from the office that was available to go.  This time though, it was different.  Before I was basically hoping to survive while finishing the tasks at hand.  This time I felt God asking more of me than just serving through my physical and mental labor.  He wanted me to speak, to encourage and share about His faithfulness.

Now as you probably are well aware, I am not exactly gifted when it comes to words coming out of my mouth.  Producing a perfectly logical argument, I explained to God why this was not a good idea: I'm no preacher, not to mention my Spanish is still pretty rough.  As far as I was concerned, I was better off keeping my mouth shut and sticking to working hard and being a servant.  The irony is that during this dialogue with God I had started reading through Exodus and the beginning of Moses' story, where he chickened out when God asked him to speak.  Interesting timing...  Anyway it didn't take long to figure that God thought it was a good idea after all.  Even so I had no idea what He wanted me to say, or who to say it to.

As I sat on the bus traveling by the winding mountain roads toward Carabuela, I asked God to give me some ideas for what to say.  Nothing came to me.  I flipped through my Spanish dictionary until I decided that He would work something out, probably at the last minute of course.

The chanchitos kept me company

When I arrived in the community I went about my work, doing the usual walk around with Luis and Alberto to check on things.  I needed to get an estimate for daily water usage, which meant I had to take measurements in a reservoir for 24 hours.  Basically I had to sit outside at this reservoir as long as people were awake and using water.  Staying up late with a dying flashlight at my side, getting a little sleep, and then waking up at four in the morning to start again made for some tedious work.  At least it gave me plenty of time to read some books.

When it came time for me to leave, to my dismay it seemed that I had missed any opportunities to say whatever I was supposed to say to whoever I was supposed to say it to.  As I headed for the bus station I felt like a failure.  Then Luis asked if I would eat lunch with him before I left.  Here was another chance.  He took me to the nearby city and we sat down in a little restaurant.  Still no inspirational words came to mind.  So I just started talking.  I let him know that I enjoyed working with him, and I appreciated his strong work ethic.  The most important thing though was that we shared our faith in Jesus.  He patiently listened to my broken Spanish as I talked about our differences in culture, background, language, skin color, and lifestyle.  But with all the differences we are still of equal value to God, and part of the same family.  We are ''hermanos en Cristo'' (brothers in Christ).  Luis' eyes lit up as he smiled and nodded.  He told me the next time I come to Ecuador I am welcome to come visit and stay in his house again.  I said if God takes me back again I would gladly do that.

After we finished our lunch Luis shook my hand, and then gave me a hug.  Even though it was just a short conversation, I felt that it was just as important as all the work we did on the water system.  God continues to teach me through experiences that are uncomfortable, exciting, boring, painful, rewarding, and sometimes awkward.  Through all of it I am reassured of His faithfulness to guide my steps and my words, even if it's at the last minute.

Another World

The community of Wayuzentza

Last week I survived my first trip to the Amazon Jungle.  After traveling to the town of Shell, about a six hour bus ride from Quito, I met up with the team on Monday.  Alfredo, Wim, Eric, and I represented HCJB and Jonas, who has been working in the community already with Compassion International, came with us.  A one hour flight with an MAF pilot brought us to the community of Wayuzentza, near the border of Peru.  At that point we had entered a whole different world.

Wayuzentza is a small community of about 20 families located next to a winding river.  The village has a large airstrip, thatched roof houses, a dirt soccer field, and lots of chickens.  They are part of the Achuar people, who have their own language and culture apart from other indigenous groups.  The majority speak Spanish as a second language.  With no electricity, running water, or proper bathrooms there are many needs for improved water and sanitation.  Two springs provide water to the people for drinking, washing, and bathing.  The problem is they are unprotected from contamination and the people have to haul the water by buckets to their homes.  They requested help in developing a water system to provide clean water to the community.

The community leader talking with Jonas

Landing on the gravel airstrip

Obviously this village is somewhat isolated, so we had a curious crowd of people gathering to see the big gringos coming out of the plane.  To start out we needed to have a meeting with the community members.  Meetings in the jungle tend to be a bit unorganized and inefficient by Western standards.  But that's just how things work.  Alfredo first explained a little about the team and what our objective was.  He informed them that HCJB would complete the designs, but the community would be responsible for the manual labor for their water system.  In response there were some complaints about having to dig trenches, the people had to talk some more and decide among themselves, and it went on and on like this.  Eventually they decided to continue the meeting the next day.  After they came to the conclusion that they did indeed want to work on the project, we began doing our work.

Wim and I working on the survey

With the equipment we brought on the plane, we completed a survey of the land and mapped out the locations of houses and community areas.  A few of the leaders in the community helped clear out sight lines by hacking through the jungle with machetes.  Kids watched curiously to see what we were doing.  The whole process only took about a two days, but the extra time spent with the community was just as important to build trust and familiarity with the people.  A social survey was also completed to get some information on habits related to water usage.

Like I said, being in this community was like experiencing a different world.  Life is much simpler and slower.  It definitely made me appreciate having a faucet and a bathroom whenever I need them.  Carrying buckets of water up muddy slopes over long distances is hard work.  After four days of eating nothing but boiled chicken, yuca, and plantains three meals a day I was starting to lose my appetite.  One time I saw a little boy reach inside a hollowed out log, pull out a yellow grub as big as the palm of his hand, and chomp down as it wriggled around.  I sort of wanted one, just for the variety.

Some of the kids after a community futbol game

It wouldn't have been a proper trip to the jungle without a little bit of adventure.  On a particularly hot afternoon a few of us decided to cool off in the river.  We came across a hand carved canoe tied along the bank.  Wim wanted to take it for a spin, so I agreed to go with him.  How hard could it be?  Well the current ended up being a bit stronger than it looked, and our casual paddle along the river turned into a desperate attempt to get back to land.  That attempt resulted in swamping the canoe, being carried downstream, eventually getting caught in some tree branches, and pulling the canoe out of the water.  After that we decided canoeing was not our thing.

Those canoes are not meant for large, unbalanced people

The pilot put on a little show for the village after he dropped us off...




More pictures here!

Unexpected Jungle Trip

Working with a mission organization requires some flexibility.  You never know for sure what's going to happen next.  For example, yesterday I was asked to help on a water project in the jungle,  and leave on Sunday.  Even with the short notice, it didn't take too much convincing for me to decide to go.  While it's not the best timing for me, at least things in Carabuela are stable right now.  I will need to go back there when I return to Quito though.

This may or may not be what I look like by the end of the week

This is pretty exciting for me because I haven't been in the real jungle here in Ecuador yet.  We are working with Compassion International to do a study on a community.  This includes a survey and taking a look at their current water source.  Alfredo, Wim, a Compassion worker, and I will be working out there for a week.  So once I'm packed tomorrow I will hop on a bus and head to Shell, about a five hour ride.  From there we will fly out Monday morning on a small plane deep into the jungle to work and live with the community for five days.  It will definitely be a unique experience, as it's a different world out there.

Getting out of the city can be nice, since I don't have to breathe all the exhaust fumes and listen to car alarms.  Also being without electricity for a week might be somewhat freeing.  I'm looking forward to this next adventure, while trying to stay flexible.

HCJB Water Projects Video

This video summarizes what HCJB Water Projects does in communities in the different regions of Ecuador.  It gives a good idea of the vision and biblical motivations for this work.  Besides that I just like the narrator's accent.

Answered Prayer in Carabuela

Last night I returned to Quito after spending three days in the community of Carabuela.  This was the first time that I had been in the community by myself so it was a little bit intimidating.  The language barrier is always a huge challenge, but combining that with a culture that is even more different than Ecuadorians here was a pretty big step for me.  To be honest, I knew taking the responsibility would be good for me, but man I was dreading it.  While I was feeling a lack of confidence God definitely came through for me, and that ended up being an awesome experience.

Where I spent my nights in Luis' house

Carabuela is a community of Quichuas, indigenous people who live in the Andes of South America.  Their culture, language, and appearance, is different than other Ecuadorians.  The majority speak Spanish as a second language.  So when I say there's a language barrier, I mean when I'm trying to communicate, neither of us are speaking our native language.  They have been very hospitable and generous, which is great.  I stayed in a house with Luis and his family, where they gave up one of their two bedrooms for me.  That meant Luis and his wife had to sleep in one room with both their baby boy and little girl.  They also kept me well fed with plenty of chicken, potatoes, and bread.

The ceilings in Luis' house were not
built for anyone over 6 feet tall

Basically I needed to work with a couple guys from the Junta de Agua Potable, Luis and Alberto, to get the chlorine disinfection system up and running.  I realize that the work I have been doing is probably not the most interesting reading for some, especially those who are less technical minded.  But to summarize, there was testing done that showed harmful bacteria in the water source, which means treatment is needed to provide a healthy supply.  We were having some frustrating problems with the chlorine injection pumps, and I needed help to fix them.

Luis and Alberto transporting some chlorine

After the first day we were still having problems, and I was getting very discouraged.  It was pretty difficult to explain the process to Luis and Alberto, since my technical Spanish vocabulary is lacking.  The morning of the second day, I had little desire or motivation to continue the work.  Fortunately Luis had some thing to do first, so as often happens I had to wait for a while.  It turned out to be a perfect time to spend reading my Bible and asking God for some help.  In that hour and a half I prayed that God would give me wisdom and strength to keep going.  I was pretty desperate.  After I finished praying, nothing changed.  I still felt the same.  But I went out and got to work anyway.

What surprised me is that after I made that first move, God started answering all those prayers.  Suddenly it seemed I was able to communicate more easily, and my mind was operating more clearly.  We finally got the pumps working smoothly, after a few hours of work.  We were pumped!  Ok, bad joke I know.  I knew God had been working, it was an amazing feeling.  But while that was pretty exciting, it was even better to see Luis and Alberto start to be more enthusiastic about things.  My relationship with them was also starting to be more personal as we talked about our families and backgrounds.  When you work with someone for long periods of time, it opens the door to get to know them.  I was able to share some of my motivation for coming to Ecuador, and how God was working in all of that.

Alberto tests chlorine on the water 

The next day we spent monitoring the system and testing for chlorine in the water.  I taught them how to use the testing equipment so that they can continue to record data while I am gone.  It's encouraging to see the willingness of the community to work and put in the effort needed to maintain things.  There is a lot of potential for Carabuela, and I feel blessed that God could use me to be even just a small part of their growth as a community.

Luis' two kids, who were very entertained by the sight of me