Another Week Flown By.

Well, well, well, we are back again. 

Welcome back to another blog, another day, another week absolutely flown by. 

Now when I tell you this week was adventure week, im not joking at all. Oh my goodness was this a week of exploring and bonding with my fellow interns. We only have one week left together which will be sad because of the amazing community, how quickly I have learned so much spanish being around them so much, lessons for life, growing in faith, and all of the above. They have been such a blessing to be around and I am so glad that God blessed me with these amazing new friends who I can hopefully stay connected to. This is also a new season though, I have been telling people. God has a plan and since I have been isolated here and been able to have a lot of alone time(which is completely different from the immense friends and community I had at home) which I have enjoyed very much and have continued to seek God in those moments learned that sometimes its good to be alone. Anyways lets get to the adventure fun week. 

Tuesday was truly a day to remember from last week. We had been practicing as I mentioned the week before different ways to rock climb and correctly do things. Well this time we drove about an hour and a half to a natural rock climbing wall(literally just a mountain lol). Because when you are here in Ecuador there are mountains as far as the eye can see. This was such a fun experience, Tyler the leader of the interns was there with us and was able to set up all the paths for us to climb on, we got to guide each other, encourage, climb, share stories at lunch and it was such a great time. Sadly our time got short but honestly we made the most of it. It poured the hardest ive ever seen rain fall ever. Not only that but about 10 mins in it just completely started to hail. But not just any hail like pouring, falling hard, nice decent sized hail. We made the most of it though we started rolling down the hail rolling on the ground, eating our snacks, very fun times. I was telling all of them though about the power of God the bible says Gods voice is like the sound of thunder which it was thundering a lot so it was cool to notice that and the power that the Lord has. 

Anyways, Wednesday and Thursday was a good refresher for the day we were going to have Friday. Wednesday was our day off kind of weird since it usually isnt in the middle of the week but you know per usual got to talk to my beautiful, amazing, wonderful, joyful, and kind girlfriend so that was refreshing as well. Thursday was another class day lots of reflection and how these past weeks have gone some workshops and looking forward to the remaining time we have together. 

Friday was probably the most fun, draining, amazing, hard day ever. I mean seriously. We went on a hike to heights I have never been before, like literally and not. The mountain was called Ruco Pinchicha freakin cool name right?? Anyways the summit was 15,800 feet in the air you know pretty much nothing for people from Illinois where the highest altitude we get is from taking an elevator up a building in Chicago or sledding down Johnsons mound. Not only that but the climb was a 3,000 foot elevation gain which you know easy, and the path we were taking was not the normal path but the "pass of death". So… sounds super insane but i promise it was actually so much fun. First of all it was just hard in general because being from anywhere in the United States when you are that high up in the air you cant breathe let alone hiking at that altitude it was crazy. The hike in total was like 6-7 hours long. I will say once we got to the pass of death part it was not necessarily hard but you pretty much cant mess up or fall otherwise you fall 16,000 feet on either side and you probably wouldnt survive but you know you never know. We were all corded up in groups of 4 and 5 to make sure we have even more security. We learned the correct way to climb in order to be the most safe. Before we started a lot of people were scared and Byron (our guide) asked us "Do you believe in Jesus?" Yes. "Do you trust him to guide you?" Yes. "Do you know where you go when you die if you believe in him?" Heaven. So he noted that we shouldnt have fear. He said the rock in which he hold on to to climb and trust it wont break under us is the same as Jesus. Jesus is our rock in our life we can hold on to it as tight as possible and he will make sure we dont fall because he loves us and wants to protect us. Anways it was the most beautiful hike I have ever done, i suprisingly had zero fear the entire time I prayed before for God to go before me and guide me and throughout the entire hike absolutely zero fear which was all Him. It was so beautiful so may amazing views climbing with the rest of the interns was something I will always remember I will attach some pics below and post more on instagram. Throughout the entirety of the hike you were able to see the entire city of the quito which was such a sight to behold to be that high up. The way down however was the hard part. Most of the hike was the way up and now it was getting down which was the easiest part but so painful. My knees were in a lot of pain by the end of the hike we ran most of the way down to try and get down as fast as possible and my legs were regretting it a little after 6:30 hours of hiking. We finally made it to the bottom and some people from El Refugio were there to greet us. We have to take a lift car up to the spot to hike from because of how high the mountain is. The ride in the lift is about 20 minutes so we had to go to be able to get back in time for dinner. Turns out it starter pouring rain, thunderstorming like absolutely crazy and for the second time of the week it started to hail crazy. The lift is connected to the climate so they told us that the wait is usually and will be 2-2:30 hours for it to be running and back up. The storm was finally calming down so we went out and got in the line to wait. We really had to go now very badly so we all decided we would pray together in our group of almost 20. We all prayed and Byron our guide asked the Lord to cut the wait down to 3-5 minutes because that is about the only time we had left. Literally I kid you not instantly the man comes out and says it will be back up in 5 minutes. Shows you how much God can work even in the little things truly an insane showing of his power and what he can do. All in all made it back safe lots of sleeping in the car talking about the day and pain in the legs. 

Now, onward towards Saturday. This was another great day. My weekend truly was one of the best we have had here so far. Saturday was super fruitful for my faith journey but I will admit it was very hard. We fasted for 24 hours and did a 12 hour day of solitude. We left the house at 7 with the things we needed and started out to be in nature and with God the whole day till sundown. Just me my bible, journal, pen, and my notebook and book I have been reading that I talk about a lot. This truly was a hard thing for me because at first I did not know how I was going to be able to do this for 12 hours but it turned out to be very good. I had some very good time in the word as I am going through the book of psalms right now. It has been very refreshing for my brain to be constantly praising and thanking God because he blessed me with such an amazing life. Amazing and blessed family with parents who love me so much sacrifice so much, do so much for my future, and life in general. A brother who is one of my best buddies, a beautiful Jesus showing love girlfriend who always brings me joy and light, friends who check up on me and care that i am always growing and doing good. Just very blessed. I read the next chapter of my book as well which was so good. It was on practices we can impliment into our life to be able to have God in most the areas of our life very good. And for the remaining 7 ish (probably more) I spent praying and just being in His presence. This was the most insane part of this day. It was long yes and hard for me because of the time yes. But it was also so good to be in silence just me and God. I split up my prayer day into three parts. I prayed for things im grateful for and thankful for, I prayed for others, specific things, things i would pray for myself for them, etc. Then I finished with things for myself. Thankful for the things i prayed before the people God blessed me with in my life and so many other things. This was the bulk of the time. I realized how much more I can be praying regularly if I can spend this much time praying. I was walking the property after i finished these three things and I have realized lately that prayer is like having a conversation with God. In a conversation you do not just say what you need and leave, you listen for a response from the other person. So i have learned to ask for God to get rid of all distractions in your mind and ask for him to speak to you and just sit in his presence. This is how I connect with my Lord the best. He was speaking to me in many different ways and sometimes he wont and thats ok. Just know that he loves you so much and wants to talk to you too. This was a great day and a great day of prayer. It was good to eat after too hahah. 

Finally Sunday, was a great bonding day. Not too much church was so fun the worship was amazing per usual. After though we did something different and went into town to go get chinese food it was actually so good. I ate so much. We then cane back and debriefed about the week which was very nice to see how God was working through everyone. 

Alrighty folks packed week sorry it was so long but i love you all❤️❤️