Alive and Well

Easter sunrise service in the mountains.

Every time it’s been months since my last post, I apologize profusely and swear I will be more diligent in updating my blog more frequently. But since I fail consistently at keeping up with that resolution, I’m not going to bother this time around. Instead I’m just going to dive right in!

Late March was a bit frustrating this time around because I actually had a number of classes fall through, due to scheduling problems for my students. While I was away for three months in the States, people got jobs, their children’s school schedules changed (here in Ecuador kids may have classes that either start in the morning and go until the afternoon or start in the afternoon and go until seven pm at night.) It’s always amazing how quickly and suddenly things can change, but it doesn’t always feel amazing. Personally I was feeling a little more than disappointed. My disappointment was then compounded by being mugged by two guys with a box cutter as I walked home one afternoon from the metro. Any violent altercation where your personal safety and liberty is violated in any way is shaking, but I was more angry than anything. Regardless, I was unharmed, minus the loss of personal effects (a bag of art supplies, my keys, my mace, my ipod, and my umbrella- in the rain no less!) But the Lord was watching after me even then- because I did put up a bit of a fight and would not relinquish my death grip hold on my cel phone (it is sooooo inconvenient to have to replace all those phone numbers!) and plenty of people are injured if they resist being mugged here. My community was very supportive and caring and checking in on me and my roommate who came running to my aid as soon as she heard. One person, our team coordinator, even came up with a replacement ipod (not as nice as the one I lost but free of charge!) And then, just a week later, late at night I got a sketchy call from someone who had “found” my ipod/phone at a market on the street. Thanks to the Apple Icloud lock/ find my iphone feature, I was able to disable my phone and prevent any future owner from using it. So when said unfortunate person purchased my stolen iphone and tried to use it- all that came up was my number and my “stolen” message. After some haggling and passing the affair over to my team leader to handle in case it was the thieves trying to rob me again, against all odds- I had my own iphone, undamaged and back in my hand for a minor exchange of $25’s! Who could have called that one? The Lord definitely had my back!

(And let’s be honest, it’s a miracle I hadn’t been mugged before now given all the places I travel to alone.)

Mugging and all that aside, after a week or so of discouragement over my classes a new opportunity arose from the chaos that was my unresolved schedule.

One of the girls from Casa Adhalia (rescue home for girls who have been or are at risk of being trafficked) was forced to move out due to conflicts with another girl living there who was antagonizing her to the point of wanting to run away. Though it might seem backwards, the instigator could not be removed from the house out of concern for her four children. Instead, the other girl (we’ll call her Caitlin) was brought to live in the home of the administrators who run Casa Adhalia. Although I cannot tell you her real name or too many personal details about her for safety reasons, I can say that despite having been through a horrific ordeal (she was sold into prostitution by her own mother at the age of eight) she is an amazingly sweet and sensitive girl (now twenty years old and just recently rescued.) As providence would have it, she loves art and working with her hands, which she can do easily- all day long. (Just like me…) So thanks to my unexpected extra free time I have been able to spend two full days a week with her, painting, cooking, and doing other art projects, ministering to both her and the couple she is staying with (who cannot leave her alone but somehow must figure out how to maintain their own busy ministry schedules while she is staying in their home.)

Caitlin’s first painting.

Caitlin’s second painting.

It just goes to show you, that just because things don’t go according to our plans and preferences doesn’t mean that Gods’ plan isn’t right on track. If none of my classes had been canceled, I would not have had the time to dedicate to this small but very important and unexpected ministry.

Meanwhile my other, remaining classes (no I didn’t lose them all, just a few) are back on and going well, particularly my Friday afternoon Art Club with the youth out at Carmen Bajo.

Just this weekend I returned to Puyo out in the jungle and reunited with my friends and almost-family there who I haven’t seen in quite a few months since traveling to the States, and was able to help out with the monthly mission trip into the Amazon by preparing a craft to go with the kids lesson about Esther.

We made neon paper crowns with the verse Esther 4:14.

An excellent and inspiring verse, because who of us ever knows if we are not, at this moment, in just the time and place for which we too were created? A thought for the day.