3/1 Day 5 - Women's/Men's Day

Neele (Nigh-ell-ie) waving goodbye! "Chao!"

What a great day we had! There was more construction by the men in the morning, and by the end of the day, the floor of the church was almost done, and they added cement to a ceiling on the lower level. Despite the fatigue most of the men were feeling well, on both sides, there was never a shortage of energy and laughs.

The men were working on construction, while the ladies on the team prepared for Women's Day. Then the men had Men's Day in the afternoon. We prepared the room for the ladies, making sure there was enough seats. We had two tables down the middle of the room, ready for two preparation stations for the potato soup and the Ecuadorian bread - pristinos, then a station in the kitchen to make rice pudding.

Once we were all set up, we had a registration table where we collected their names and family information, and made them a nametag. They had a picture taken for their prayer sister in River Falls, and got washed up for lunch preparations. The Ecuadorian ladies showed us the way to make their bread (no measuring, just eyeballing it), let us help knead the bread, and even laughed when we were out of breath kneading this huge ball of dough! We were all helping to make the small dough circles. Tradition is that each cook should make a piece of dough that is in the shape of a lingua (tongue). The ladies had no idea why, but they just keep going with the tradition. The ladies were all working together preparing the soup and rice pudding, it was such a joyful time! While the ladies were making the bacon for the potato soup, we mentioned "the way to a man's heart is through bacon", and the Ecuadorian women replied "In Ecuador, the way to a man's heart is through cuy (guinea pig - a delicacy in Ecuador)!"

We fried up the Ecuadorian bread, and served the ladies the bread and the soup, followed by the men, and then we had some of our own. Rice pudding was also served, and was very delicious!

Helen had a moving testimony about how God has loved her, forgiven her, and given her a new life in Christ. Helen was nervous about presenting this in front of the group, but there were several women that seemed to resonate with this message - you could see it in their faces. What a blessing to overcome her fears to present this message!

We ended the session with a prayer by Sue. Despite the prayer not being in Spanish, we heard the women murmuring, each in their own language (Quichua or Spanish), a prayer to God. God broke down language barriers today, and we could feel the Spirit present in that room.

Such a wonderful ending to our day as well, with the team saying goodbyes. We were in a receiving line of sorts, and each woman there came around to say goodbye to us. There were tears on both sides while hugging us and saying "Dios le bendiga (God bless you). We truly felt that we were "hermanas en Cristo (sisters in Christ).

The Men's Day was equally impactful, with a fun activity to break the ice, a devotional from Mark on being a leader in the home, and cooking Rice Krispie bars together. The men seemed to really get a lot out of the day, and the men of our team felt really bonded to this group of men.

In between all these activities, there were so many small God-moments. The men, women and children of Lote Tres are genuine, warm and beautiful people, and through small conversations, smiles, and laughs, we are feeling that the world is a smaller place, because of our common bond in Christ.

One of those moments was when we were leaving. The children have usually helped us carry our things to the bus, and then there are lots of hugs and waves. We had Orrle (see photo below) sneak onto the bus behind Jim to see Nikki, and was so upset about having to get off the bus that he sat on the side of the road crying. Nikki got off the bus and hugged him more, but he was still crying when we drove away.

Rolando, from FACE, came to pick up the school supplies that were bought with the Sunday School offering money. He had lots of thanks and blessings to speak to us for this gift. Thank you Sunday School kids! Each of these boxes of supplies were blessed before they left, and they made it safely to Ecuador to be a blessing to the children of the school district.

After a team meeting and a prayer for our coordinators, Mandy, and her husband, Ricardo, we were ready for bed...

Enjoy the photos!

Some of the girls with Daniela, our interpreter. God has drawn us together with
our interpreters and coordinators, as well as the people of Lote Tres!

Some of the many beautiful little kids who played and talked with us.

Nikki and her new amigo - Orrle

The kids all loved Melissa!

This is only one of the tablefuls of bread...

Adding concrete to the ceiling - takes a lot of talent to do this!

Melissa and her prayer partner - Cynthia

Getting ready for Women's Day

Rosa - on her back is "pecuyena Angie", with "grande Angie"

Danielle and her prayer partner!

Women's Day

Sarah and Rosa

Men's Day - they are enjoying their Rice Krispie bars

Sarah meeting her prayer partner from 2 years ago

Sue and Mandy (our MERGE coordinator)

Angie and her prayer partner - Maria Hortensia

Susan and Mercedes

The kids are out of school and ready to play!

Sarah and her prayer partner were matched up! She is a teacher at the Lote Tres school

Everybody loves Jim!

Our view from the Lote Tres church

The excitement of the women to see who their American prayer partner was...

Our view for the week for breakfast and supper

Jim makes good Rice Krispie bars with the men for Men's Day

At the top of the "tower" at the pastor's house we are staying at

Our bus for the week

Thank you Sunday School kids for your generous offering!

Rolando came from FACE to accept the school supplies, on behalf of the Quichua School District

Team Member Impressions:

Krista was able to meet her prayer partner, Maria Lucia, at the beginning of our trip, and today, she was able to meet her daughter and talk to them both. Then Maria brought the picture of Krista from two years ago when they were matched as prayer sisters. She kept it all this time, and brought it with to show Krista. There was many, many tears watching this interaction that has grown all because of Christ! Maria Lucia had said "I never had a mother, but I feel like your prayers for me have been like a mother."

The trust by the men and women of the church has grown tremendously, since our first trip here in 2008. The openness and willingness of the community to greet us, work with us, show us things and talk to us.

Lanny was hauling sand up the stairs, he was followed by a woman carrying her baby as well as the sand. It is so impressive

There is no training or information that we could have gotten ahead of time that could have prepared us for what we are experiencing and encountering here.

Praises:
Sue requested 30 nametags before we left. Helen made a few extra, and we had just enough for every woman.
We had enough food for not just the women, but the men and the children as well, even though we only planned enough for the women.
We had enough prayer partner bags for all the women that came.

Prayer Requests
Continued health for the team members - fatigue, exhaustion and food/water issues could cause issues with nausea and GI illnesses
Prayers for all the women and men that participated in our Women's and Men's Days
Prayers for Mandy and Ricardo, who are trying to get a spousal Visa, so Ricardo and Mandy can move back to the States and continue God's work. They have hit some obstacles after over a year of trying to get this approved.