Day Eight, The final goodbyes

The final goodbyes

Emily Gabriel
Kasey Manche
Kelsey and Nikki Ekstrom

Today was our last official day in Ecuador bonding with the people at Lote Tres. We had our Sunday school program for the children that went very well, however; it didn’t go as we had thought it would. We had planned for about 200 kids and we probably only had about 50, so there were a lot of extra bags of cross supplies and extra candy. :) There was a church service after and it was filled with singing, “praising the Lord with our hands”, and praying. Sue Kimball, Kasey Manche, Jim Harsdorf and Nikki Ekstrom gave their personal testimonies in front of the whole congregation which was translated by the amazing Ruben. We gave the banner made by the banner ladies to the people of Paz de Dioz and they were overjoyed. They, in return, gave each of us a handmade hat and/or scarf. They had prepared a meal for us, which was either eaten or picked at (or neither). After the meal we said our final goodbyes and got on the bus to go back to Quito for our last night in South America. Dinner was at Crepes and Waffles which is the new favorite restaurant for many people in the group. Ryan finished the desserts for five different people besides himself, and then an extra hot chocolate of Steve’s.
Tell us about your experience today…

Kasey: Wow…. I think that my day today can be summed up in the fact that I am in a Life and God high! The children’s bible school was incredible, yet I find the most moving thing for me was the church service (The very long 2 hour church service  ). In the praising, those who did not know the words clapped and praised God in the only way they knew how at the time. There were three churches there, yet the sole purpose of the room was to praise the Lord Almighty. The testimonies were also truly moving for they came from the heart. But one of the most incredible sights was looking around the room as someone told their testimony. The people who it affected were nodding their heads as though they knew exactly what the experience in the testimony was like. God truly spoke to me this day and made me realize something… Though these people live in a whole other life, they are still my family in Christ. I was surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ today. I believe that was what made the goodbyes so difficult. But the one assurance God gave many people as they boarded the bus is this… though we may never see these people again in our earthly lives, we will be reunited in heaven for eternity. I am leaving part of my heart in Ecuador when I board that plane tomorrow; part of my heart, but most importantly, part of my family that I have in the Lord.

Emily: Today was probably the most difficult day of our trip. I mean sure we had those days where we were so tired we thought we could never go on or couldn’t breathe because of the altitude. But today was different. We had to say goodbye to our new friends or as Kasey said our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was kind of like finding your long lost brother or sister and then leaving. Some of us had really gotten to know some of the kids up at Lote Tres. And we may never see these hermanas (sisters) and hermanos (brothers) ever again here on earth. But we had another goodbye which was also very difficult. Mario, one of our amazing translators, left. He had “business” in Colombia. Mario had become part of our family, another hermano. Mario was the one who was always willing to sit on the ground with the kids, to play soccer with them, and to do whatever we needed him to. He was always ready and willing to translate for whatever reason. Mario also always had a ready smile and a helping hand. He was truly a blessing to have with us on our trip. It was also difficult knowing that our time here in Ecuador is running short. I know that I could stay at least another week. I’ve definitely come to appreciate the simple things of life. Such as: the flowers along the road, or the scenery out the window. We were in a place where you could see for miles, something I’ll definitely miss. And the mountains, I can’t even begin to describe the longing I’ll feel for them. But it’s the people I’ll miss the most. Alex’s smile, Efrain’s mischievous look, Jessica’s shy glance, or Edwin’s openness. They have all showed me that just because someone lives in a different country or is a different nationality it doesn’t mean they’re not your brother or sister. And that Jesus’ family truly does include everyone, Ecuadorians and Gringos (Americans) alike.

Kelsey: Ok. So, me and Nikki have a pet guinea pig. Well, he was my brothers, but when he moved down to Florida he couldn’t take the guinea pig, so Leonid was left back in Wisconsin for me and Nikki to take care of. The meal that they people of Lote Tres served us was… guinea pig. I know right: yum, only not so much. Not when I got the head and could still see the eye sockets, its little fried ears the nose with the whiskers practically still intact, and when I flipped it over, I could see its little teeth lined up along its jaw. This wasn’t exactly my idea of a meal. Not when I have what is laying fried on my plate, back home running around in his spacious 3 foot by 2 foot cage with I purple hidey hut. I probably could of sucked it up and tried a little piece of the poor little fellah, but when I looked at it, all I saw was Leonid running around his cage; breathing; not dead. I just couldn’t eat it. Yeah, Kasey and Emily talked about the mountains and the people. And yes, the things like being 3 miles up in the air was amazing (and the lack of air made crying or anything that required breathing difficult), but the thing that stuck out to me the most was having what I consider a pet, dead, fried and set on rice with potatoes for me to eat. No thank you. Nikki told me it was God’s sense of humor, but I’m not laughing (actually I did for a second). Actually, it was kinda funny how ironic it was. I was the one with the pet back home, and I’m the one that has the biggest piece, and a head set out to eat right in front of me. And yes, the people were so accepting. Even after minutes of staring at us because of our light skin, and some of ours light curly hair and light eyes. I’m sure we looked like aliens to them. No matter what our differences it was amazing to work side by side with brothers and sisters of the Lord. There was this one man, Manuel, I remember him because he was helping with bending rebar which I did a little of. Friday, when I was sick and stayed back at the hotel with Mark Kimball, Manuel saw us walking on the sidewalk and cornered us to say hello. He recognized us from the previous day and even though he spoke no English, and Mark and I spoke limited Spanish we still got the point across that we had worked together and share a common love: that of Jesus Christ. These people have so little, yet we have so much in common with them.

Nikki: I came to Ecuador thinking it would be fun to go to a different country and meet new people. I had in mind that I would be meeting new friends. Over this week and especially this last day with them, I learned that they were not only my friends but they were my family. Though we only knew each other for a short week, I felt so close to them. The first couple of days I was a little homesick and a bit scared to be so far away, but these people welcomed me with smiles and outstretched hands. From day one they were calling us brothers and sisters. I began to feel more at home here in Ecuador then I have ever felt back at River Falls. When I come home, I will be more Ecuador-sick than I was homesick when I was in Ecuador. As Kelsey mentioned before, we were served guinea pig. Ha...ha...yea…. that was something I will definitely not forget. During the amazing church service today, I got up and shared my testimony. I was shaking but I had an unusually sense of peace as I shared my story. Afterwards, many people came and thanked me and shook my hand. I have a lot more I want to say but I’m running out of time. God really showed himself to me this week and gave me this courage that I did not know I had. (That’s how I knew it had to be from God) I knew that there were other people around the world who were Christians (obviously), but to come to Ecuador and actually see these people and interact with them was just... I can’t even describe the feeling. It’s a really good feeling.
Even though I could not speak the language very well, it was somehow (most of the time) easy to understand each other. We would teach each other our languages; it was fun. But I gotta go now, toodles.