Back From the Jungle And Celebrating Kids Day

I just got in yesterday from the jungle village of Archidona where I was since Sunday. The team I was in charge of was of 8 people from NY and we worked in Walter's church out there. Being the rainforest, it rained every day we were there. The rain stopped us from being able to do our manual labor projects there, but we still had a very successful time doing VBS with the neighborhood kids. We had over 80 kids come out and had the program for over 4 hours a day. It was a great experience to interact with these kids and to spend time again with Pastor Walter. I also got to experience the jungle by eating grub worms and killing a chicken for dinner.
Today was Dia de Nino or Kids' Day, here in Ecuador. We spent the morning at a special needs center for children where we helped out with the kids there. For the special day, the kids put on plays, dances, and other shows for the whole center. It was a very fun time with the kids but at the same time took a lot of patience to work with some of the kids. Overall though it was an amazing experience that I really enjoyed.
We spent the rest of the day on top of Mt. Pichincha and going to the market with the group. The other group and the rest of the interns also came back today and it was great to catch up with them. I send my team off tomorrow and then I'm here in Quito until I leave for Peru on Thursday.
Here are some more pictures for now and I have more I'll put up soon. Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from all of you.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022337&l=c638b&id=67600728

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022344&l=70edd&id=67600728

The Amazing Race

I figured while I still have a short time with internet that I would do my best to fill everyone in. I spent last night out in the jungle with the team helping the Browns with doing a challenge race with the new interns. We had them taking buses to the jungle, eating worms, jumping off bridges, and plenty of other crazy adventures. To end our time in the jungle we stopped by the hot springs to relax before coming back to Quito.
Tonight I picked up my new group along with another group that will be down here at the same time. The team of 13 is going with Rich and the other interns out to a village in the coastal region and I will be in charge of the group of 8 going out to the jungle. We will head out to Archidona on Sunday and our plan is to be back on Thursday. Before we leave we will being going to help out in an old folks' home and also in the woman's prison. The group is really excited about everything and I think things will go great even if I have to take them out there without the missionaries.
So far I have been very lucky to have only been sick one morning really since I've been here, but that's not to say I am always in great health. Coming back here gives me a real sense of home and I feel extremely comfortable everywhere I go down here. Please keep me in your prayers as I continue on this summer. Each day holds something new for me and I look forward to see how God will use me with every new day.

A few pictures I got in during the amazing race:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022144&l=e19bb&id=67600728

Photos

I hope this works. This link should take you to my pictures from Bolivia. Just copy the full address and paste it in your browser. Please let me know if you have any problems with it.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022095&l=48669&id=67600728

Checking off Bolivia

I am currently in Ecuador back with the Browns and it feels great to see them all again.  I woke up in Bolivia where I was since I left Chicago.  My time in Bolivia was amazing and my team of 16 were incredible.  I would have to say that I have never seen a team come together like the Bolivia team did.  The most discouraging part of the trip was the fact that we had to split up the team a lot for the different projects, but it made our group even closer when we were together.  I spent most of my time working on an interior wall at one of the orphanages.  Other than that we spent time with the kids and visiting different places around Bolivia like the markets, childrens' hospital, and the jungle.  It was great to see all the kids and house parents again at the orphanages and I loved being able to spend time with them.  The Timmers are now working on building their 6th orphanage and plan on having 50 in the next 8 years.

Tomorrow I head to the jungle here in Ecuador so I'm going to get some sleep now because I am already tired from all my flights today.  Please keep me in your prayers as I continue on my journey and I will do my best to keep everyone updated, but my internet time is limited.  Also I will do my best to get some pictures up so you can all see what is going on as well.

This Time Tomorrow

Well, here is my first blog for my summer. I moved out of my apartment this morning and am now sitting at home trying to decided what comes and what stays for this summer. This time tomorrow I should be boarding for my flight. For those of you that don't know, tomorrow I leave for Bolivia to lead a group of 15 students from my school for 10 days. After that my team flies home without me while I head over to Ecuador to work with the missionaries I worked with two summers ago. After being in Ecuador for about 3 weeks I am heading down to Peru where I will be for the rest of the summer until school starts again. In Ecuador and Peru I will be hosting high school age teams as they come down on short term trips. It will involve me taking them to church work sites, orphanages, garbage dumps, leading devotions, and plenty of other tasks that will come up as the summer goes.
I would say at this point I am mostly just excited for everything and I know after I get all 15 people on my team down there I will feel even better. These last few days have been crazy just with finishing up school and to make everything else more crazy, my flights have all be changing times and even destinations very frequently. I have no answers to why my flights are doing some many different things, but I am calm and am ready to just get there whether I leave early tomorrow morning or late afternoon.
I am now going to try and fit the next 3+ months of my life into a backpack while making sure my team is taken care of. Please pray for me as I head out and I will do my best to keep everyone updated through this blog, but I know there will be plenty of times without internet. Thank you again to everyone who has supported me and my travels! I appreciate all of you in my life.