What I really really want

Nolan and I are in the states for a few weeks. I have had one Reuben,  went to Sonic once and had three baths.Normally that would be two baths a day. I haven't been to the thrift store yet. All the things that I thought I missed, hasn't given me a lot of joy. Well except the Reuben it was really good. 

The bath didn't turn out well because somehow I managed to do something to my sternum and it made it really difficult to get out of the tub. We went to Sonic and I ordered fries, mozzarella sticks and a strawberry shake. The fries were not like the Belgium fries back in Loja. They were not even salted. The shake was warm and a bit like tasting cardboard. I got really sick and we had to leave and quickly return home after the meal. 

I am a few miles from the Thrift Store and my desire to shop shop shop isn't there. The three pair of pants and four shirts I bought seem to be working out well. Not counting the one that lost a snap because I went from a twelve to a 14. I had left some clothes here at Nae's last year so I am fine in the clothes department.

I have been able to download all my music cds that were lost in my last computer crash episode. I have saved  worms from drying up on the sidewalk. I don't like handling worms, but what can you do when your granddaughter is bound and determined to save all the worms on the hot sidewalk but she won't touch them. There are still lots of Peppermint Patties in the freezer. Only one has been eaten by me. 

We will be going to Illinois soon and spending a few days with Seth and Carrie and to travel up to Chicago to get our visas renewed. From there we will head to Kansas City to visit Nolan's Brother and his family for a few days then head down to Arkansas to see family. Hoping to go thru Elvis Country and visit some friends there also. 

One of the things I have really missed were my lambs. I have been able to share long walks, listen to them share what has been going on in their lives and watch my oldest granddaughter dance at her recital. I have missed so much in the last year and it hasn't been the Sonic floats, Dr. Peppers, Reubens, and thrift stores. It has been the time with family and friends that I can't get back. It is the relationships that have changed because of distance, people who have gone to be with the Lord that I wasn't able to say goodbye too.

Continue to pray for Terry (Nolan) and I as we travel and visit with family. Pray for us as we share what we are doing in Ecuador. We are needing 500.00 more in monthly support. Pray that we are able to find prayer and financial advocates who will hold the ropes for us. 

Leaving for the States

In twelve days Nolan and I will be heading out the door, loading a taxi to Catamayo to board a plane on our first leg of our trip home to the States. We will spend the day at the Quito airport until our late flight to Houston than Tampa. We will than spend a few days in Tampa with Nolan's parents and drive back to Ohio with them. We will be making a stop in Phenix Alabama to visit with friends there and speak in the morning service. 

From Ohio we will go to Illinois to visit with family and make a trip to Chicago to have our visas renewed. From Illinois to Tennessee to pick up paperwork for our visas from Mid America Seminary and than to Little Rock to visit family. The six weeks will go by quickly.

I am planning on eating some good Ruben sandwiches and loving on my grandchildren. Pray for us as we finish off the school year and hand off our building responsibilities. We are looking forward to sharing with friends and family about what God is doing here in Loja.
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The Runaway Missionary

Ever since I was a teenager I wondered what it would be like to run away.There have been times in my life that I tried but always chickened out and went back. My children have some good stories about that. I guess insecurity was a good thing for me . But hey you need to run off sometime in your life and if you are going to be 61 in a few days and you never have, you better go for it.

I was having an I REALLY NEED TO GETAWAY for a couple of days feeling a few weeks ago.Sometimes on the mission field you have those days. Well if you let it build up it turns into I REALLY THINK I WILL RUNAWAY. 

I told Nolan  I needed to leave. I think he was thinking I was going out to the store. When he saw I was a little crazy he tried to comfort me by saying" let's go out to lunch" nope I wanted no lunch. He asked a friend to ask me to go to lunch with her. Nope I didn't want lunch with her. I already had my backpack packed and I was going away.  Kissing my husband goodbye I walked out the door. As I shut the main building door I thought "what am I doing". I kept walking and the further I got the more empowered I felt. I made it across the big scary street and to where I thought the Ruta Taxis were. 

Some how I managed to miss the street that the Ruta Taxis were located. I thought, how am I going to do this when I can't even find the Ruta Taxi. Walking several blocks I found it and remembered I had not packed my passport and I didn't even know my phone number. What I am going to say when they ask me for my phone number and passport number? What am I going to do if there is a police check. I could be put in jail and no one will know because I don't know my phone number.  I did have my phone with me but I don't know how to use it. Now I was going to have to go back home for the passport and than I would change my mind about running away.I took a deep breath, walked into the the Ruta Taxi office, gave them my name and destination and I was on my way.

 I than remembered I had not even contacted the place I was heading too. What if they were full and than I would have to turn around and go back.  When I arrived I went on into the office and asked if they took walk-ins.

 I felt like such a big girl. I got my very own room key which I was able to lock into my room. They are keeping my keys at the front desk when I leave the room now. I found that I could climb into the window if I need to.

I met another lady who also decided to run away. She is a teacher in a town about five hours away from Loja. Together we headed out to find honeycomb. My Spanish skills are not good, hers were better. We hopped into a taxi with some guys name on a piece of paper and headed out to some little town to find honeycomb. We found the honeycomb location she purchased a bucket full to take back to Cuenca to make candles. 

Last night I was treated to a Madre Tierra Jamboree. Three guitars, an accordian and a plastic bucket. I Got to bed late and woke up late. I have eaten plates of wonderful fries and had the best batidos around. I had decided I was staying away for as long as my money lasted. I checked the front desk to see if  today was the day I had to go home.  

I will be home soon, just not today. 

It has been over three months since my last posting. I think life has become so normal that I think no one wants to hear my normal. At home in the states I didn't write about doing dishes, putting out the trash, going to work or writing about the dogs or birds we saw outside our window. I didn't write about what I saw in the market or what kind of treatment we got at the doctors. Well maybe I did write about that. I didn't write about the dumb things I said, or about going to church and the service that we sat through.

Here in Loja I didn't write about having to run to the bathroom to turn on the hot water in the sink in order to get hot water to come on in the kitchen. Nothing on not eating dinner until the trash man comes so we can run down and get our trash cans before someone claims it  as their own. It doesn't matter that the trash man will come anywhere from 6 to 9pm. I wrote nothing on the parrots that sometimes sit outside our window and the cows that can be seen eating on the hillsides or the neighbors roosters that try to out do all the other roosters in Loja.

 I didn't write about saying pescado instead of pecado. Everyone needs to have their fish forgiven. I still am not able to understand all the pastor is saying but than again there were times I didn't understand what the pastor was saying in the States. In the market chickens hanging up for purchase some with eggs still in them, pig heads staring at you and  all the innards  you would ever want to see just waiting for you to buy it and take it home to cook.

I forget that some of you would like to know what my normal is like so that you will know how to pray for us. I need to share so that you can see that there are other normals besides yours. They may seem exotic, strange and sometimes just plain crazy but they are our normals. I will try to do a better job at posting the normal things that are happening here in our ministry.