Settling In

Hello my people again,

I know you all have been eagerly sitting at your phone waiting for a new blog (everyone say thank you to mrs cooper shes pretty awesome) so here it is. 

Much different from before definitely way more settled into a routine and life with the other interns. Thank you to the Lord for that without your help and prayer would have never been the case so thank you. 

Anyways, starting from where we left off. Im going to try and do this more often like possibly once a week because I really want to remember fully what happened and share with you guys without going back into my photos 300 times lol. Well after I did my last blog I did something which we call here descalzo time. Which just means shoeless time. It is an extended period of time that we take to spend with God by ourselves in nature. This has been worked into our schedule a lot lately and have been so impactful for me. After my blog I went and did this time and man did it really hit me hard. I found myself praying for about 30-45 mins of my 2 hrs of alloted time before my classes. Asking for guidance trust in him, I have found in prayer it is so important to follow something like this (not saying this is exactly what you need to do just a suggestion) but i pray and thank the Lord for things I have, he has given me, etc. Then I ask for the things we normally do Lord help me in this, guide me, I miss my family and lovely girlfriend hopefully they are doing good, etc :). Anyways I always make sure I ask the Lord to completely clear my mind of distractions and ask for him to just speak to me. Now, not all the time should u expect to hear him but I find it more fulfilling when you are seeking him. This particular time he did. He told me to grab my things and go for a walk with my airpods in. So I said ok Lord now what, "shuffle your worship playlist", and so I did and man oh man is the Lord real. Exactly what i needed to hear, first song that came on was "I trust in God”, I kid you not instantaneously started bawling my eyes out. Keep walking and the next two songs are also exactly what i needed "Your bigger than I thought" and "Yes I will". All great songs you guys should listen to but exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. If you dont believe in God just know that he seeks us out, he believes in us before we believe in him, he wants to talk to us all we have to do is seek him back. I also started a book which calls us to a really good perspective in calling us to not just believe Jesus died for our sins and we are good, but apprenticeship under him and how important it is to Be with Him, Become like Him, and finally Do as he did. Just a good reminder how much he truly cares and loves us and calls whoever to follow him. It doesnt matter where you are, what you have done, good, bad, etc. God calls us all because he loves us and wants to just have a relationship with us. Kenzie made a very good point in that "he meets us where we are". No matter where we are he finds us and is the light in our darkness. (Thanks Kenz).

So, Obviously this was a great way to start off the week super strong. The next day was so fun we had a school come and experience some team building and trust exercises and at the end we all went to the climbing wall in which i got to facilitate for the first time. Despues eso, they all made a huge circle and invited just me into the middle to learn salsa choke. Long story short it turned into a gringo and ecuadorian school dance battle (i hope i won) but it was so fun. And ultimately in the process learned some new dance moves added to the vault.

The next couple days were very chill we were supposed to have more schools and I was actually supposed to host a team because they wanted to have them only speak english, but the protests in the city against the government have not been great. So they wanted to protect the kids and we didnt get teams for the rest of the week. 

Saturday we started our day with breakfast and a nice hike. I say nice hike but you dont realize how un acclimated you are to the altitude until you start hiking a mountain like that. It was good though, we were attached to two other people to learn the importance of working at the pace of the team around you and that we need to work together. This was very good and the view over a town called San Antonio was absolutely stunning.

Sunday i got to go to a church here for the first time. That was such a great experience. I woke up in a sad mood, just was missing home and my girlfriend again (if you couldnt tell God really blessed me with her). God really showed up that service. The worship here is one of a kind. The passion in that room was something behold. So much love for Jesus everyone singing from their heart screaming their heart out hands in the air just absolutely amazing, and yet again exactly what i needed that day. And I also started crying again because God is so amazing.  

Monday and tuesday were very chill, class days and more training, although we acted like we forgot this interns birthday and then suprised him when he came back very fun times and plenty more dancing. 

Wednesday was a fun day :). Reintroduced myself with machetes again (dont tell my parents). Suprisingly i was doing the same thing chopping down trees. I had to teach others how to use it correctly because they looked like they were going to hurt themselves (very ironic i know). Came back no ears chopped off this time thank the Lord. Very good experience though helped me get over that fear and ptsd that was remaining in the front of my mind the whole time. Just the ting ting ting sound brings back some wild memories but we made it through. 

Last two days we went on a little camping trip. That was very fun, packed up our huge backpacks and headed up the mountain to the campsite. Lots of bonding with each other and with God in nature per usual. We made some hobo dinner(will attach a picture below) and some smores. We played a crap ton of rumy at night and if you dont know that card game you need to get on it very popular here. And then we went to sleep. In the morning we woke up at 5 to head on another hike which is still the hardest hike ive ever done and ive done it three times. It’s practically like 1,500-2,000 feet elevation in less than a mile. Crazy on my heart, especially because im not acclimated. All in all the view is still the most beautiful creation my eyes have seen God is so good.

Thats a great way to end these last two weeks. God is good. Thanks for tuning in again Love you all will definitely update more regularly. ❤️

P.S. setenta y nueve días mas, you know who you are.