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