more adventures with will

well, things have been going well! will has definately had some adventures that he will remember! on the left is a picture of him in riobamba, getting some local cuisine. he said it was the best fried chicken he has ever had....i say its because they probably killed the chicken literally a few hours prior to cooking it :)







below: picture of some local food..they scrape the skin off and put some salt on it!
so, we (me, will, and fiona) got to riobamba and walked to the train station to buy our tickets for the train ride in the morning....we didnt have a place to stay yet, but we knew we could get a place...while we were buying our tickets, a man asked us if we had a room yet, and we said that we didnt, so he showed us a brochure for his hostal and said he would take us there and bring us to the train in the morning. it would be 7 dollars a night for each person...so we said we would go and look at it before we made any decisions. we got there, and suprisingly..it was really nice! it was a room with 3 beds and a private bathroom..which is a good thing to have here....so we took it..and it was a great decision...a good deal, especially for 7 dollars in riobamba. that night, we walked around to find a place to eat and wound up at the smallest place i have ever eaten, called the Puro Cafe..which only had turkey and ham sandwiches, drinks, great coffee, and beer. it was so good and the man was extremely nice to us! we ended up returning there later for a coffee, because i love good coffee...especially when it is proper coffee...versus the worst thing that ever happened to coffee: instant.
here is a picture of us on the train in the early morning...6am. the train leaves at 7..so you need to get there early to ensure a great seat...on the best side of the train (the right). it is really quite annoying because the second you step on the train, there are atleast 3 different people mobbing you to buy a hat and gloves because it is "really cold"..which it actually wasnt even that cold that morning...but its fine..its like going to a game and buying all the souveniers...so of course, will got a hat and gloves. it was interesting this time, because it was raining! so, everyone was also selling plastics for 1 dollar to cover you up so you wouldnt get wet. so of course, we also needed to buy those too. i was kind of sad because i was hoping it would be nice because the whole point of the train ride is seeing the incredible mountains that God has painted and sculpted. but, God provided warm weather and we were able to see the mountains, as clear as ever.
one of the highlights of the train ride is throwing candy to the kids that live by the train. they know all the gringos throw candy off the side, so they run by the train and wave until candy is thrown. will especially enjoyed this. the kids are hardcore though! they were tackling eachother for one piece of candy...wow.


friday after school, one of the missionary families in shell wanted to take us to their land in shell. they have 16 acres of land that they have a vision to build a bible school for the locals..and they would take care of the land by tending vegetables, coffee plants, etc. to pay for their education. they have a great vision, but it will take a lot of time...so, will and i went, and it was great..we were able to wear the knee high rubber boots and all. its cool because its jungle. so, will was walking with dan in a small stream and watching where he was walking because the stream was mushy and you had to see where you were walking...but as he was doing this..he walked into something really sharp! he thought he got scraped by a tree branch, but he saw that it was barbed wire! he was kinda freaking out because he couldnt remember the last time he got a tetanus shot...so...we walked around a little longer, then went to the hospital to get a shot and some bandaids. here is will getting fixed up by an intern at the hospital.

here is a picture of one of the views we saw on the train. i loved seeing all the texture on the mountains...it is truly incredible

have a great week! i cant believe i will be home on wednesday! more adventures....

will esta aqui

well, will arrived on time on his flight on tuesday night, which was a blessing because the last 2 nights, the same flight had come in 2-2 1/2 hours late! when he got into quito, we got our stuff back to the guesthouse, then went to a nearby mall to get some sushi...it was good!

the next morning, we got up at 5:30 to catch a 6:45 bus to shell, because i needed to get back to shell for school..and at lunch, we were having our end of the year party and talent show! we arrived right on time..and the bus ride was beautiful! it seemed like a really long 5 hour ride...usually it doesent seem to take that long..but oh well.

the party was fun...and the talent show was really cute...there was guitar playing, donald duck impressions, magic tricks, jokes, and david doing the veggie tale's version of the hokey pokey. it was halarious!

after school, we went to Karen's - the local grocery store- to get some essentials for the next couple of days, then we went to the produce market, that i rave so much about to get some great things for about 5 dollars...will was blown away by the cheap prices! considering, we got 4 large bananas, 10 oranges, 2 peppers, a cucumber, a head of lettuce, and 4 stalks of swiss chard for 2 dollars!

after the market, we went to the gym to pump some iron...will is really wanting to get buff and build some muscle mass....so we were there for awhile, but i do have to say, his arms are getting bigger!

to end the night, we went to the best restaurant around, El Jardin. it was nice. we were both really tired by the end...but i think we are going to have a great visit. it might almost be impossible for someone to come to Ecuador and have a bad visit, especially in Shell with the great community that is here.

canyoning and baptism

well, i woke up today, not knowing what God would have in store, but He sure did. I woke up, had some oatmeal, then started organizing and cleaning out my place, since Im going to be leaving soon. I got a call around 9:30 from mary wolfram asking me if i wanted to go canyoning with her husband, her son, and 2 friends...so i said, why not! so, we went...and the day started off by raining, but we were going to be wet anyways, so it didnt matter. there were a total of 5 of us. we all got on wetsuits, and headed to the other side of the road and walked into a bunch of jungle...then we came to a waterfall/river. we walked for a while upstream and then would come to waterfalls that we had to climb up with a rope. it was really fun, scary, and exciting. i fell atleast 5 times...but after the first time you get used to it. i was a little slower than everyone else because i just take it slow on water and rocks...i was afraid of falling, spraining my ankle...i was basically walking on all fours the whole time. when we got to a part where we had to use the rope to go up the waterfall, don, the "leader" and husband of mary would climb to the top and tie the rope around his waist...then he would coach us up. somtimes, jordon, his 15 yr old son would go up with the rope around his waist, and don would go up behind us, and we would step on his feet and knees as support bc most of the time, there were no footholds..and it was slippery with water coming down fast and in your face. a lot of the time, you had to step in the crevase that the waterfall had made. pretty exciting.

so we got to the top and there is a waterfall and a small pool of water, pretty beautiful! and it was starting to get a lot nicer out, the sun was shining, it was nice! except now, we had to go back down the waterfalls we came up..which i was not looking forward to. once, as don was helping me down one of the toughest falls to go down, i saw 3 small rainbows and it made me think of God and somehow the idea of getting baptized popped into my head. don is a pastor, and does some pastoring for a church here, so i know he had done it before. i finally got the courage to ask him if there were any more pools of water...and then asked him if he would baptize me and if there was anywhere to do it...then what do you know :) there was a pool of water just a few steps ahead (God's perfect timing) and as i was sliding into the pool of water, i saw another rainbow. so the other 3 sit down on the log that was perfectly placed there, and Don baptized me! it was so great.

its so amazing how God prepares you for those things...because the other day, i spoke with marc on the phone, which was a great convo, and he mentioned to me about Rob Bell's website and how all of his sermons are online. so that night, i listened to his sermon about baptism--which is God too because i didnt think that i clicked on that sermon, and i was hoping to listen to another one...:)--so i listened to it ...and it was great and i felt like God was telling me to get baptized and i just prayed for a right time, his timing. so today, i woke up, not knowing what God would have in store, but he had in mind for me to get baptized today. it was really beautiful. just the waterfalls and in God's creation, where my spirit really feels connected with God. Praise God for leading me into His good and ABSOLUTELY perfect will.

"So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If weve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didnt you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace--a new life in a new land!

Thats what baptism into the life of Jesus means. WHen we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where were going in our new grace-sovereign country." romans 6:1-5 the message

thoughts

this is what happens when every one of my students is awful, i tape their mouths shut with tape. sometimes, i cant stand it and really just need some peace and quiet! just kidding :) heheeheh...some day in may is celebrating the day when Scotch tape was patented, so we did some necessary celebrating :) one activity was taping thier mouths shut, and they had to say a movie title, and the others would try to guess it. this is reminds me of one of my favorite games that i used to play in the water at my cousin's pool. we would both go under water and say a movie and we would try to guess it. i loved it and would still play it today. :)i guess thats why im a teacher.

i honestly cant believe in a week i will be able to say that i have taught for one year! wow. its weird because i feel like it would feel different, like i would be this totally different, mature, professional teacher. but, i dont feel different, i mean, yeah i have learned so much about teaching in a year, but i am still me, i am still silly, i still do crazy voices for my students and dance around. yesterday, i was in a great mood, so i was singing and just doing weird things, and they were asking me why i was so happy. it was humorous. david always says, "silly teacher"...but thats the way i do things i guess. im glad i feel comfortable enough to be myself and they see how much i love to teach too. one of my students said that he wants to be a teacher when he grows up because he has a great teacher now. and its one of those kids that you dont know if you are reaching them or not. God is great.

im excited about this last week of school, even though it will be crazy! there are so many things happening, plus, will, my brother, is coming on tuesday night! it will be fun though. i want to try to get everything done i can before he gets here so i dont have to worry about it when he is here.

going home soon, what an adventure. so many things have happened this year, so many adventures, lessons learned, lesons learning. i was listening to a sermon by donald miller and he was saying how our God is like our Father in that he disciplines and teaches us toward maturity. i never thought about it like that. when we were growing up, our real dads would tell us not to do things, even though we didnt understand why, but they kept on insisting for us not to do those things...they saw the bigger picture, they knew it would help us when we got older. same as God, he tells us in the bible not to do things, its black and white, some of it we dont understand, but why do we need to understand anyways? what would be the point of faith then? heres a part of Matthew 25:6-12 from the Message:

" Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you wont be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need."

have a great weekend!

los fotos...and will is coming!

i just found out that my brother is coming here on may 16th! im really excited!! i love visitors, and it will be fun for all of my family to have been able to see and be where i live! cool :)



this is a picture of david who is so much fun and such a blessing in the classroom! the class would not be the same without him...I will really miss him this summer! hopefully, we will be able to see each other in chi town this summer because his parents are going on furlough and will be in chicago!








here are the girls that i do a little friday morning bible study with...from left to right...hannah, abbie, and mara...they are all in 6th grade
this picture is taken in a cab because usually on friday mornings we are running late to school...and as we were walking, hannah saw that she knew the cab driver, so he gave us a free ride :) the girls really loved it!
















this is philip and timmy, on hat day. i love timmy's hat...he always comes up with the most unique things to wear for special dress up days...he won a chocolate bar because his hat was so creative :) its a fish net that was used to hold marbles and pipe cleaners! heehe









this is a picture of my new classroom, taken from the doorway...you dont get the full effect, but oh well :)







below is a picture of my class on monday...they did a performance with "boom whackers"...which are basically PVC pipes cut into different lengths that make the musical note sounds...it was cute!

the other day, we were doing a phonics lesson on how sometimes ch makes the sh sound...like in Chicago...so, i took the opportunity to show the class pictures of chicago, while playing kurt elling's, "going to chicago" song in the background. i also told them that chi town was the knickname of chicago...they thought that chi town sounded really silly as a knickname for a city :)

only 2 more weeks of school!

life in shell continues to go well. only about 2 more weeks left of school! i really cant believe it! i fly back to chicago on may 24. it will be interesting to see how it will be in a "real city" again. things are so different...here, the pace of life is slower, relationships tend to come first, prices, people, community, etc. its weird, bc even though i cant communicate with the people, i still like it here. i think because i have time to think and enjoy living on my own in a great community. there isnt something to do every night, so it forces me to be creative and read a book that i normally wouldnt have time for in the states, or learn more about God and His incredible Word, or make some food from scratch! I know i could do all these things in the states too...but being here has "set the foundation" for me to do so...i guess.

last weekend, i switched my classroom with the old spanish classroom! it was a lot of work...but it had to be done because im going to arrive to school a little late next year- so my room has to be ready to go for next year! i really love it though! rachel helped me move furniture...and it looks great! the kids really like it too.

this week at our school is "spirit week" where each day has a theme to dress up or wear something, and then this friday, we will have a field/olympics day. it has been fun to create different things to do...today im gonna dress up like Johnny Appleseed :) yesterday, i made a hat out of toilet paper...pretty funny. it takes me back to ol' Perry spirit days :) pictures later...
have a great weekend!