At the end of February, we escaped to Quito. There had been a camp booked for the weekend, and when we heard it was cancelled, we turned to Lauren and asked her where in Ecuador she wanted to go . . . it was going to be her birthday on the weekend (Feb 26th). The Orellana family were headed to Guayaquil, and Lauren chose Quito. We've been to Quito once before, to get Don's driver's license. The mission guest house there is really nice, AND Lauren loves to shop: she wanted to go to a mall for her birthday. So we stuffed one backpack full, cleaned the house and left all the bedding draped all over doors and furniture to get air, and try to prevent mould, then we waited in Pallatanga for an hour before we caught the first of three busses headed toward Quito. Seven hours and three buses later, we were celebrating Lauren's birthday weekend in the capital of Ecuador.
We all needed to get away from camp for a bit. When it is not raining, the air is still so moist that the cookie you leave out for an hour gets soggy on its plate. Even our sandals try to get a layer of black fuzzy mould on them from one wearing to the next.
The milk on the stove top is getting frothy . . . I'm keeping an eye on it . . .
The weekend before we bussed off to Quito, we'd had a really busy four day camp. It was “Carnival” weekend here in Ecuador, and the camp managers were unable to find enough staff to work the camp. The Carnival long weekend here, coincides with our Family Day long weekend in Alberta. Everyone here looks forward to froshing each other and celebrating Carnival; some of our regular camp staff were even involved in Carnival parades in town.
We wished we could be in town, experiencing carnival! We'd heard so much about it . . . about the inescapable water and foam battles that go on as you try to do your weekly market shop. We drove into Pallatanga for an hour on Sunday to get our fruit and veggies. We did all get soggy and foamy! We saw three parade floats go by, then we rushed back to help at camp again.
Prior to a camp arriving, life here is extra busy, doing maintenance, cleaning, organizing, and purchasing in preparation for new campers. Without adequate camp staff over the Carnival weekend, we were up early, in the camp kitchen, helping with breakfast. Throughout each day, the Orellana family and our family were the dish-washers after every meal, we were the potato-peelers for the lunch's soups and supper's main meal, we were the lemon-squishers making juice for ninety campers, and we were the bean huskers for supper's soup.
It was wonderful to hear the youth-group singing worship songs late into the night. It was fun to see their camp activities throughout the long weekend, racing the carts down the hill, playing basketball in the gym, and having waterballoon fights outside. It was good to be part of such a wonderful weekend! But it was also discouraging, to not know from one day to the next, who would come to camp to work, how many extra campers would show-up (so we wouldn't always have the right amount of food), how late we had to keep the little camp snack shop open. It was a long four days of washing and drying hundreds and hundreds of plates, bowls, cups, cutlery, and cooking pots. And really, the difficult part is not the dishpan-hands, the difficult part is the spiritual battle: remaining optimistic and supportive . . . keeping that servant's heart beating strong, when you're tired of peeling muddy potatoes.
So our Quito excursion was a very good break for our little family. It was our first family adventure since we arrived in November. This past week, we've been back to work, and there is always endless work to do here at camp. The calendar says that March is completely full of camps, one camp running into the next, throughout weekends and weekdays, so its good that we're all feeling refreshed.
On March 14th thirteen women are scheduled to arrived from the US to take part in a quilting camp. On the weekend on the 17th over three dozen local women will come to Camp Pallatanga to participate in this cross cultural quilting camp. Please pray for the campers! Please pray for Kim as she leads this camp and translates all of the guest speaker's messages into Spanish throughout the weekend. I will be involved in cooking. This gives me lots of time to practice my spanish with Maria, the camp cook, and her children. I'm also scheduled to lead the women in daily prayer time. Don is always kept busy during camps, maintaining buildings and responding to campers needs, in addition to continuing to work on current building projects at camp. Our children get to help cook and wash dishes; they may get out of some of their homeschooling during this busy time.
We just had a hairy drive down the Andes to Pallatanga, from Riobamba. We went to Riobamba to meet with the Chimborazo soccer federation's head people. There is some concern that Ethan won't be able to play in the provincial qualifiers in June, because he is not a national, so the coach and our clan drove to Riobamba for a meeting about it. We still have to follow up with the Minister of Interior, in Guayaquil. Ethan should feel very complimented, as his coach really wants him to be able to play, and he said many many great things about Ethan. WOW!
At any rate, on the drive back, it turned dark, and there was the usual bad amount of dense fog, but then the clutch went. Don managed to jam the shifter into third at the top of the steepest pass, but we still had another 50 klms of winding mountain roads to go back to camp. Everytime we came up upon a slower moving vehicle, the truck chugged-chugged-chuuged in third, but it didn't stall, as Don fought with it to wait for the right moment, then try to pass when able (still in third gear).
The rain really let loose just as we got into the house. We couldn't believe that Don even managed to negotiate the turn into the camp driveway! God was so amazing, as Don had to dodge small landslides, and pass other vehicles, all along the winding road. Oh my! Don knew if he slowed too much, we'd stall, and there are no shoulders on those roads. We even made it up steep hills that the truck can't usually do in third gear.
Don still has to have a good look at the transmission in the daylight; evidently this has happened to the good ol' Toyota camp truck before. We can hardly believe we made it all that way, God is amazing. We prayed lots!!!!!! And that is really what God has been teaching us in our recent time at camp, to rely on Him, to commit everything to prayer, fervent needy prayer. Being needy about things, etc, is not something that Don and I are used to feeling. We are learning lots and praying lots through these challenges.
We're looking forward to bussing into the town the next time we go. =)
Well, the milk did manage to boil over a bit, but not enough to put out the gas flame, so we'll call that a success. I'm going to carry the milk over to the camp kitchen, to pop it into the freezer to cool. That's our pasteurization process: boil for five minutes, then cool quickly.
Thank you so very much for your support and prayers. We are all healthy and we praise God for that!!We pray for you too, for safe travels in your recent new snow, for peaceful moments with family and good friends, and for joy even before spring begins to bring you green.
=) Amanda and family
