Weigh-in Wednesday - My Ecuador Story

**Sigh** No change.
Of 'course I've been traveling the world over the last week so, I don't know why that would surprise me in the least.

***My Ecuador Story***
I must say I enjoyed Ecuador. Enough to plan more trips. Not enough to live on a permanent basis. At least that's not what I'm hearing at this time. I was so blessed through my experiences and trust me when I say, I was S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D beyond anything I thought I would be.

We started with a 3 hour drive to Jacksonville, a 1 hour flight to Miami, a 3 hour flight to Quito, Ecuador and then an overnight stay in a hotel. Our second day was an 8 hour bus ride to Sucua. It was the most scenic, scary, amusing, and eye-opening thing I've ever experienced. The houses went from posh to poverty in a blink of an eye. The mountains were enormous and the plants and waterfalls were eyecatching.

Our first full day of ministry was in 2 schools. Yes. Schools. We were able to go in, do puppet shows, bible stories, skits, songs, and games with the most loveable groups of children I've experienced in a long time. They truly just wanted us there. I left the country thinking I was going to pour into every person I met only to be shown how much I needed to be poured into myself. That evening the youth performed in an interpretive dance and human video for the all Spanish youth service that was happening over the next 3 days.

Our second day of ministry started with prayer and preparing for performances that evening. I danced. Yes----you did read that correctly. I participated in an interpretive dance with 3 other adults and 4 youth. It was AMAZING.... for me. I'm still waiting for the youtube posting before I can say how good I looked. I started learning the dance for exercise and it overflowed into a new form of worship for me. Not that I think I'll be "performing" in my future. We then did street ministry and invited children to a service that we gave in a small church on the corner. That evening I performed in my dance. The pictures are less than flattering but, I had a wonderful time!!!

Our third day of ministry we split into 3 different groups. I asked not to climb any mountains. So I was in the bus group. Hubby..on the other hand.... climbed the mountain. In the bus group, we drove about an hour away and had about a 15 minute walk -across a swinging bridge - with the puppet stage, boom box, and balloons. There my group of 8 performed for about 20+ children that climbed out of the mountain to attend this service. The smiles alone were worth it. I gave the bible story through an interpreter. That's an experience. Then we met up with the remainder of our groups and performed one last children's service. After the service.... we climbed down the mountain to the river for baptisms. Yes. Down the mountain....which means eventually back up the mountain to leave so... I ended up climbing a mountain anyways. On our trek down the mountain I discovered a byproduct of the RAIN forest. It's called mud. So much mud that I had it up to my knees at some points. Yes. ME. We made it down the mountain and watched most of our youth be baptized in the roaring river. Whether it was for the first time or to renew a commitment. The presence was amazing. Then the students braved swimming through the raging river to the sandbar where on the other side and "down a little bit" lived a 15 foot boa. (Notice - my name is not in the swimming) Then we made a mad rush back to the hotel for clean up and the final youth service of the week. Our students performed in a human video.

I can honestly say, I spent a good bit of my trip looking through the viewfinder of my camera. I took over 1000 pictures. But, in this over all experience.... I learned some AMAZING things about myself and my plan. I am continuously being stretched. I didn't realize how much I had sunk into a comfort zone. But, I tried new things. Dancing. Mud. Foods. Language. These things... some good, some bad pushed me out of my zone. There were so many other experiences I could type about....I'm sure that I'll be posting on this for quite some time.

Today's lesson though!?!? Get out there and be stretched. Be flexible. It's worth it. And the cool part... if you're stretched enough... you won't go back to the original state you were in.