A little Bit of Texas in Ecuador

 Mrs. Calva brought a little bit of Texas with her to our class. She told us a little bit about cowboys in Texas and than the children rounded up little doggies.

What's a roundup without horseshoes

 And a little lasso work

The new Sheriff in Town

A Little Taste of Loja on a Sunday Afternoon

Cecina is a large flat piece of meat that is very popular here in Loja. Under the meat is some really good yuca and a small salad.                   

Many meals come with mote. It is like hominy in the states only better. The beans are like limas with a stripe on the edge. The cubes are queso or cheese. This plate was brought out as an appetizer.

Terry ordered un tamal. These are nothing like the tamales we have in the States. I shared my cicina and he shared his tamal.

Is it Monday yet

Saturday was a busy day for us. Terry had worship practice in the morning and I met Becca at her house to go to the grocery store. We all met at our apartment for lunch as Becca had a get together for El Sendero here in the building at 4. We had a good time fellow-shipping with the team at El Sendero. Our pastor brought their little one over so they could have some time to themselves. By the time 8:00 rolled around I thought it was twelve and went to bed. 

I really thought about staying in bed this morning and skipping church. I know, bad missionary.  It was 8:30 and Terry needs to be at church at 9 for worship practice. I can get dressed quickly and we were out the door by 8:45 to catch the taxi. After we got to church I studied my Spanish homework and waited for the music practice to finish. Needless to say I was TIRED.

During first part of worship our pastor tells the people that we are going out to share, pray and encourage people on the street. Wow that’s catching the people who don’t show up to visitation! Rebecca is in one of the groups that are going so that leaves me with a class of five. She shows me the story and says they are making Super Heroes capes today and out the door she goes. 

I was thinking bad thoughts and grumbling to myself, almost in tears and wanted to quit. I really needed a super hero cape. I know again bad missionary.  I did my usual ad-libbing and the class went ok. Thanks to one of the boys who tries to help me out with my really bad Spanish. 

After church Terry and I went to the market with some friends to look at plants. On the way there I saw Dustan and Angel sharing with a man. We were already out of church and they were still out sharing. It was such a good sight to see. 

We came home with another plant that I hope I don’t kill. Because we were so tired and I didn’t want to fix lunch, we went out to eat. Walked five blocks, ate too much, and upon leaving found that it was raining. We spent a least a half hour waiting for a taxi than decided to walk home. This Sunday we took a nap. We woke up in time for Terry to meet with the English Club and for me to put the classroom back in order. Looking forward to the work week.

A Little Piece of Our School Day

The school has a wonderful art teacher. Jenny is very gifted and we are blessed to have her come on Wednesdays. She is also a missionary with
OMS.


















The children are so imaginative at break. They love playing baseball with a small soft ball and empty coke bottle at times they will just use their hand to hit the ball. Watching them play is such a joy and many times a great laugh.


The game with the chairs started off being bomb the villagers. When I intervened and told them that wasn't such a good name, they changed it. Now it's Hit the Villagers. Last week Marcus had all the students running bases while he timed them with his watch. I went out and had to run bases. They thought it was great that I got one second higher than my first run. Which was the slowest of all of them.

















There is a school across the street from us and also one behind our building. Looking out of the front window of our building I saw these girls hanging over the wall. Not sure if they are waving flags of surrender.

This last week has been Easter break for us. We had planned on going for a few days to the jungle but was afraid the rain would cause landslides and we would either not get there by bus or get there and not be able to get back. So we did nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is a good thing. I had not realized how tired I was, and just doing nothing was nice. Now I have to get my five days of Spanish homework done and plan out the school week.

This was our first Easter here and we found that it is celebrated a little differently than in the states.In Ecuador there are no Easter eggs, new clothes bought or ham cooked. Good Friday is an important holiday here. On Thursday you get all the shopping and cooking done for Friday because it is a day that families gather to reflect on the death of Christ. There is nothing open during that day. As I stood out on the back patio looking out over the city, not a car or person could be seen. It was like a ghost town. I thought it was like Christ had come back for us and the whole city went with Him. Then I thought wouldn't that be a great thing to happen. The whole city going to be with Christ.

One of the important meals during Passion week is Fanesca. It is a soup with 12 different grains, squash, beans and fish. The grains represent the 12 apostles and the fish represents Christ.



Friday night all the bars and Karaoke places were closed so we had a very quiet night.
Saturday we had a cookout with Becca's family and cooked the meat I had planned on cooking Friday. I was told that it would not be a good idea to cookout on Good Friday as no meat is eaten that day.The smell might make some angry neighbors. In the churches there are no special activities that happen on Easter Sunday. Most of the emphasis is placed on Good Friday. The children in the church we attend did put on a short program.