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Education Equals Hope and Vision Team:
Each winter,
EEH invites people to come and see our ministries, and especially the focus on our micro-scholarship program. In mid-Febriary, ten people came in for almost a week and visited eight EEH sites.
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| EEH team doing a home visit. Tricky steps leading to the front door. |
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Geovanni and me; he is growing so fast!
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Emily Caldwell was one of those team members. She is our newly hired Executive Director for EEH and it is wonderful to have someone with her skill set helping to run the day-to-day activities in the US (think fun things like databases and spreadsheets). She lived in the Galapagos for several years and speaks Spanish, making her exceptionally valuable to the program here in Ecuador.
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Finance and EEH staff: Grace, Juan Carlos, Cameron, Nancy, Emily, Evelyn
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Roberto continues to produce videos to promote EEH. He had the chance to capture one young man's story who is now in University(!), and here is another
video he did with a student at Dios Es Amor.
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| Filming a student's story at Carmen Bajo |
We hosted a second EEH vision team in late March from one of our partner ministries in the US,
Fashion and Compassion. They sell handmade jewelry and scarves made at ministry sites and then the proceeds go back into EEH (it makes for a great Mother's Day gift!). Roberto was the host and driver for this small team's four-day vision trip which focused on the ministries at Casa Adalia, a home for young women coming out of sex trafficking.
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| Celesty Bundy, one of the founders of Fashion and Compassion at the sewing workshop at Carmen Bajo. F&C supports the single moms program there too. |
Happening #7:
Preparation for the Happening weekend continued with several meetings, and then the big weekend itself was Feb. 24- 27. Roberto led the music team and gave a talk while I was support for the weekend with supplies, and behind the scenes.
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| Happening Staff meeting in January |
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| Liam, Francis and Brenda sharing warm fuzzies during the weekend. |
I cannot describe the joy and satisfaction in standing in the Gopher Hole listening to words like 'Warm Fuzzies' and 'Caritas' rolling off tongues in Spanish, and knowing that we got to be the connection point between the Diocese of Upper SC and Ecuador that brought this life-giving program here. It has truly transformed hundreds of lives; thank you EDUSC!!
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| Staff and Candidates of Happening #7 |
Gedeon and Music Ministry:
The Gedeon ministry is moving forward nicely with the band meeting twice a week for practice, prayer and study. Recently they dedicated two weekends to the filming process of their new video.
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| Roberto and crew during a rehearsal for the video |
Of course the Sunday morning music ministry is a mainstay in Roberto's week. The team of musicians has grown to 15, and Roberto now requires each of them to be involved in another ministry in the church as a way to facilitate their spiritual growth. Each Sunday morning the team meets an hour and half before the service to pray together before rehearsing. Roberto also continues on the Elder's Board, which means meetings at 6:15AM most Wednesdays and a retreat this past January.
SAMS Bridger:
The first week of January we welcomed our second intern through SAMS, Leah Darling. She served in Carmen Bajo for almost eight weeks, teaching micro-enterprise sewing and upholstery classes, as she is a small business owner of the same in Ohio. What a privilege it is to connect her gifts and skills with the community here, and to walk with her as she discovers what God is doing in her as He works through her.
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| Doing some final debrief with Leah |
Spring Teams:
Though my role has changed, I am still very involved with QuitoQuest teams and was thrilled to work with all three of the teams that were here in March: Creekside, Gordon College, and my alma mater Sewanee (for the 13th year!). I gave orientations, was a liaison to ministry sites, counseled, advised, and even got to be part of some of the debriefs. A huge thank you to Caroline (Williams) Allen and Danny Peck for again coming to town to help run the Sewanee team!
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| Up in the rafters at Cristo Liberador with a Gordon College Student |
The Gordon College team was an unanticipated joy as it was one of the most engaged and thoughtful teams I have seen in my 15 years. Six weeks before they came, the president of Gordon College arrived in Quito to check Youth World out personally. I was able to share our vision and philosophy with him, and as it turns out, he and his wife are friends with the current US ambassador to Ecuador and his wife, and so we all went to lunch together.
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| With President Lindsay and Ambassador Chapman |
In preparation for the March Sewanee team, we hosted their team leader in January, Forbes Mann, for his own personal vision team. In three days we introduced him to all he needed to know to lead his team!
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| Hitting the equator monument with Forbes and the QQ team |
Youth World:
January brought our Annual Team Conference. It is a joy to get to spend a weekend with our co-laborers and celebrate all that God is doing in and through Youth World. Roberto led some of the musical worship time, and he and Graham sang together at the Talent Show.
Part of the program is always to pray for the Youth World kids which is very special to this mama's heart.
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| Roberto and Graham singing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey at the Talent Show |
My responsibilities as part of the leadership team of Youth World of course continue. Also, I have started a Bible Study at our house for some of friends and co-workers at an Episcopal church. Whatever the context, it is always refreshing to study together.
Liam has grown almost four inches this year, and his vocabulary is expanding daily. He took swimming lessons for a while, and it now thoroughly enjoying going to Gymboree. It makes me feel like a better parent getting to be with him as he climbs and jumps and sings and dances. Here he is giving a nebulization breathing treatment to one of his toys (that is how much sickness we have had!)
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| Nebulization breathing treatment for the toys! |
Francis is crawling and laughing and fluent in gibberish. She had a bit of a rough go with a bout of croup, which landed her in the ER for a night, then asthma, and then a double ear infection. She is a trooper and (knock-on-wood) is healthy now. She also went with me for a four day trip to Canada for Sarah Marr's wedding!
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| Even in the hospital she is still a cutie. |
Graham is still enjoying school, most days, and has just gotten over his own bout of something. We still don't know what it was exactly. He is smart as a whip. Yesterday he asked me what heaven looked like, and I allowed as to the fact that I didn't quite know, and he asked if we could "ask the woman on your phone who answers our questions, (aka Siri)". I have yet to do that, but am interested in the answer. He also enjoyed 'playing carnaval' -an Ecua custom of a water/shaving cream fight- with his daddy.
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| Playing 'Carnaval' on Shrove Tuesday |
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