almost...

a missed opportunity.

coming back from arizona for Christmas i had to fly to houston. From houston i flew 5 hours to quito. for some reason i wasn't that tired once the plane got in the air. (which i was really upset about bc i wanted the flight to go by fast). I was sitting in an aisle seat and there was a lady sitting in the same row by the window, with no one in between us. I usually don't talk to people on the planes... i like to sleep or just zone out and watch a movie.

So about an hour into the flight, i decided to get out my ipod (thanks gma) and my nintendo ds (thanks luke) and just waste time and try to get a few more stars on mario 64... i was getting a piece of gum out of my back pack, and i just felt something in me telling me that i needed to ask this lady, whom i haven't talked to yet, if she wanted a piece of gum. So i asked her if she wanted a piece of gum, expecting her to say yes or no, and then get back to my game and music.

well, little did i know but that little action of me asking her if she wanted some gum, opened her up and we talked for the rest of the flight. We talked for at least 3 hours or so about anything and everything. Her name was patricia and she was from colorado, but is now living in quito working with some sort of ngo type of company.

I was able to share with her the truth. We read the bible and talked about a lot of spiritual things. she had a lot of questions. it was a great conversation. i was able to tell her about what im doing here in ecuador, and my passion and my hope to reach the youth here for Christ.

Even though she didn't receive Christ, i knew it was a divine moment planned by God. I was able to plant the seed. It's funny.. i didn't even want to talk to her. i just wanted to sit there and zone out and pass the time with me ipod. And to think.. all it took was offering a total stranger a piece of gum. And to think..

it was almost a missed opportunity.

nanegelito...

Hey guys. I just got back from a team retreat. There are 3 other families that make up the team i am on.. Monday morning all of us went to a little area called Nanegelito, which is about an hour and a half north of quito. It is really the beginning of the rain forest.

It was a nice and relaxing time. We stayed at a place that is run by another missionary couple.. the couple was very nice. here is a quick video of what this place looked like.

super bowl sunday...

Hey guys.. man.. i am getting out of control with my blog now. My dad is probably happy...

Well, i am about to head over to some of my friend's home to watch the super bowl. I'm pretty excited to watch it, even though it will be in spanish. I am kinda bummed that i won't be able to see the same commercials as back home..oh well! My family always has people over and we have a ton of food for the super bowl. but this year most of my family is gone, so it will just be my mom and grandma...all alone... ahh.. my grandma just told me she's gonna be pulling for the giants. I should have made a bet with her...

Anyways.. i wanted to upload a couple of short videos from when my family was here back in october. the videos are from the museum at the center of the world. i think they are pretty much self explanatory. one of them is side-ways..sorry.. ginger likes to take pictures and video like that...

my saturday...

Here are a few videos from where i was at this morning. This bario is called santa rosa, it is in north quito... about a 25-30 minute bus ride from my house. My pastor friend invited me to come check it out. usually there are a lot more kids that come, but this weekend is a big holiday in all of south america. This could become a regular thing for me saturday mornings...

i feel like...

i could go home.

I guess i should restate that. i don't want to go home. I just mean that if i were to leave now, if my term would be ending tomorrow, i would go home on cloud nine knowing that God used me to impact someone's life...

I just got back from bible study with my neighbors. it is usually just myself and a married couple. Susanna, the wife, has an absolute heart for the Lord. she's been saved for quite some time, but i think never really knew what that meant. it's been such an honor and a joy to see her actually apply and take to heart the things that i have been leading/teaching. I guess coming from a teaching background i can really appreciate when "students" get to that point where the light turns on and it all starts to make sense, and they in turn use that knowledge.

One day a few weeks ago i went to their house for bible study and susanna was on the phone (with one of her daughters come to find out). Susanna didn't know i was waiting downstairs and that i could hear her, but what she was saying... was such an affirmation that what i was doing was exactly what i needed to be doing. I remember her saying, "no tengas meido" "Dios siempre es contigo"... she was telling her daughter what we have been reading and studying for the past two months or so.. "do not fear!" God is always with you."

Today Susanna told me that she is so excited bc her daughter is changing her work schedule...and that means that the two of them will be able to study on saturdays. she plans on studying with her daughter what i lead with them on fridays..

It truly is an amazing feeling. knowing that i am able to be apart of something like this. i think a lot of time, christians/missionaries in general, get so caught up with witnessing and evangelizing, and thats all we focus on. We foucs on the numbers. but its not always about that. what it always is about...is investing in people. pouring out your heart to people.

I feel like i could go home.. man.. and to think.. i still have at least a year left of opportunities like these...

a newfound...

respect for my cleaning lady (nadege).

Yes i said it. I do have a cleaning lady, for those that didn't know that. she just had a baby this past weekend so i will be on my own for about a month or so. so this morning i decided to do some laundry and wash some dishes that were piling up.

It took me about 20 minutes to wash all the dishes, and it took me forever to figure out how to use the washing machine! I even had to call the family who's house this is and ask for help. But to my defense, this washing machine is really old and i thought i was going to break it if i "pulled up" on the button to start the water... needless to say... i have clean clothes now and clean dishes...and also a newfound respect for Nadege who does this twice a week for me..

i'm back!

hey everyone. I know it's been quite some time since i've been on here. I apologize.. so much has happened since the last time i've blogged, which was way before Christmas. A lot of cool stuff has happened that i will try to catch you all up on in the future. but for this first one, i just feel like sharing just a bunch of random things that you may or may not care about!

Rain: It has been raining non stop the last few days. i mean literally non stop. today was the first day in a while where it has only rained in the evening. i woke up tuesday morning to a flooded back room where the family who lives here keeps all their ministry stuff. there's a big crack in the ceiling and water was coming in all day, and i hardly ever go back there so i didn't even know. let me tell you.. boy was it fun trying to soak all of the water up with towels, and then rinsing it into a bucket. apparently a worker is supposed to come tomorrow to fix the ceiling.. but who knows if that will happen.

Cereal: I thank God for cereal. i just recently started eating cereal. I didn't eat cereal for the first 8 months here bc i thought the milk here was nasty... but it's growing on me, and now that's all i want to eat is cereal. I'm able to get some kellog's brands like back home...but still haven't found any cinnamon toast crunch!

mi amigo ronaldo: I have been hanging out a lot lately with my friend ronnie and his family. i go over to his house to eat dinner at least 3-4 times a week. i am getting more and more comfortable with his family, and it is also great practice speaking spanish with them. he also has cable so i am able to watch tv... in english too!