truth #4: Row, row, row your boat

In the couple of weeks that I have not posted, many things have happened. First, I was sick with a cold, then I had stomach problems, then headaches - and all during the two weeks of being sick (with one thing or another) I kept having my low blood pressure spells. I must admit that it is really frustrating to be sick just are you are entering a new country and work environment. Thankfully that seems to have all passed. I have now been in Ecuador officially for one month and one day. It seems like the time has flown. This week our whole office is at a Mentoring Clinic. This is a four day clinic where we learn about... yes, mentoring. Unfortunately for me - the squirmy kid - we are at this conference area from 9am to 9:30pm cada dia (each day). It has been two days already and I am dying of having to sit still!! On Friday, I will leave directly from the conference and go to PERU! I am joining a one week medical mission group that is flying in from the States. My uncle and aunt (Eddie and Jeanette), Heather Noga and Carolyn Butcher will all be in this group as well. I am excited about ministering in Peru again and also to work with these amazing people. I wish that I could say that my Español is good enough for me to be a translator there but unfortunately I am still in the beginning phases of speaking. ¡Yo quiro a hablar español rapido! Soon, hopefully.

There are two sets of pictures below that I wanted to share with you. The first is from a local attraction in Guayaquil. It is a very nice, 4km long. riverside park/tourist attraction. In this trip we were saying goodbye to Giuliano as he was returning back to Belgium.

Here is the whole gang, Darren, Lennart, me, Giuliano, Vibeke, & Daniel

Vibeke, me and Sarita - we are sporting the new style


The boys had lots of fun playing on the playground equipment..

The following is my first trip to the Island of Santay.

The trip really began once we entered the fish market on the side of the river opposite Santay. We needed to rent a boat to carry us to the island. I cannot say that I am very fond of fish markets but it was an interesting experience. Then we boarded a tiny boat (even smaller than the one in Peru) and slowly crossed the river. I have been rather curious about this project since early this summer and finally I was approaching the real thing! As we landed, several children came running to greet us with bare feet and huge smiles. The island has limited electricity (as we would see that evening) and no running water. The buildings and houses for these 200 people are built out of bamboo with tin roofs. Everything is built up on stilts as it floods quite often. This year is bound to be at its worse since El Niño is coming again. The children were much more shy with me than I expected but as the night came they began to warm up. We first split into groups and visited almost every house on the island inviting them to the adult service and youth services. The last house that we visited was quite fun to find as we had to walk across a narrow bridge made only of bamboo to get there. In the afternoon we had the adult and children services. Around a dozen adults came to sing and listen to Darren (or Dario as he is called here) speak. I help with the children. I have been contemplating for several days exactly how to explain the children here. They remind me of the lost boys from Peter Pan - completely lovable yet 100% wild. There was not 5 seconds that they could sit still to listen, and believe me, I even counted!! At one point five of the little boys attacked Lennart and he had quite a bit of fun holding them all down with one hand. Mostly I just played the games with the children, held their hands and let them sit in my lap - once they quit staring that is. It is sometimes frustrating to me how little I understand in Spanish and this weekend had me the most frustrated yet. Five Ecuadorian girls joined Darren, Lennart and myself to work on the island this weekend, Betsi, Vivian, Maria José, Ruth, and Diann. I love them but to be honest none of them speak English very well, so that left me to try and understand with my small knowledge of Spanish. So you might be thinking 'well this is great, Tabitha can practise her Spanish as well as minister' but then you probably forgot to take in account the fact that they are girls and speak quite quickly, not only do they speak fast but they NEVER stop speaking! Literally! One would pause for a breath and another would pop right in with something else. My head was spinning by Saturday morning! We had the youth service that evening but the electricity was broken in the school so we had the service outside in the soccer field by moonlight. It was quite fun. Afterwards we went to bed, more so I went to bed and the girls stayed up past 2 talking. I also woke up in the morning to the same speed and consistency as they were at the night before. If any of you remember what a wonderful morning person I am, you can only imagine my response... I also learned that the mosquitoes are a totally different breed on Santay! I still have the scars to prove it! I have added a few pictures so that you will get an idea of what I am talking about.

This is the playground to the school on Santay, in the back are the nice toilets...