We have been on the road a lot in the past few weeks!
On Boxing Day, our family travelled to Quito to apply for Ecuadorian driver's licenses. Don spent about fourteen hours over three days, visiting transportation offices, waiting in line-ups, and taking written, fine-motor, blood, eye, and reaction-time tests.
We were in Quito over New Years, so we turned the trip into a bit of a family adventure. We took a gondola up toward a volcano near Quito, then went horse-back riding for an hour. What an experience!
New Years Eve was also quite and experience! Leading up the New Years Eve, people sell fireworks and "old men dolls" on street corners. These all get lit throughout the night on New Years Eve, so that fireworks and smoke can be seen ALL over the city, in front yards, on street corners . . . fireworks coming from all directions, all night long! We watched in awe from the mission-guest-house garage roof into the wee hours of the morning. Quito smelled of gun powder by five minutes after midnight.
When we got back to camp, there was sooooooooo much to do!!!
The roof of our little house had been leaking, and our mattress was soggy . . .
The termites had been busy chomping on the rafters in Lauren's room, so we had to take measures to keep the termite dust from falling onto her bed . . .
The bamboo shoots had been shooting-up, and needed to be chopped before the grass could be mowed . . .
There are acres and acres and acres of grass to be cut. Ethan will be busy indefinitely!
Don has been working hard on wiring the new house. The electrical conduit is concreted into the walls, floor, and ceilings. Over the last three years, as volunteer teams and local workers have come onto the site, they have all added their expertise to the house, but there was no overall plan drawn out on paper for the house, and non of the conduit is mapped. Good thing Don is a man of un-ending patience and farm-like fix-anything skills . . .
Then we were off to the annual Ecuadorian One Mission Society Retreat at a camp near Cuenca. Three volunteers came from Ontario to cook for all of the missionaries during retreat. Our family was in charge of child care, while the adults had meetings and sermon/prayer sessions.
The three Canadian volunteers came back with us to Camp Pallatanga. Don did a fantastic job of driving in the dark and the fog, up and down the mountain roads, the six hours from Cuenca back to camp. The truck was loaded down with luggage for the thirteen of us headed back to camp. The passengers rode in the Orellanas new twelve passenger van that actually has seat-belts!
We got right to work, painting the new house's exterior, while we had three extra sets of hands to help us. We had a VERY busy week, fitting in house painting, on top of cooking for the volunteers, and homeschooling, and lawn-mowering . . .
At the moment, I am in Guayaquil dropping the three Canadian volunteers off at the airport. They've been so helpful their ten days here in Ecuador. While in the city, Kim and I will shop for ceramic tile for the new house's bathrooms.
Then we'll get down to settling back into camp rhythm. We were able to go into our nearest town for market day. We'd missed market day while we were in Quito and at retreat, so we hadn't been able to buy fresh fruit or vegetables in weeks. It was lovely to get to the market and visit the local farmers who travel into town to sell their fruit and vegetables. We love market day. Yeah fruit!!!!
We pray that 2012 has begun well for you! Thank you so much for your prayers for our family, for Camp Pallatanga's ministry, and for Ecuador. Please do continue to pray for health and safety for our little clan: Katelyn has been getting high fevers quite often; we have her booked to come in to see a doctor in Guayaquil next week. We've all recently taken de-worming medicine, and the amoebas have been cleared from our systems, so we're ready to keep working hard for God.
Blessing to you,
Amanda and family
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