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