truth #12: La Concordia

My first real trip out of Guayaquil! I was so excited to go this last weekend to La Concordia! It took us about 7 hours to get there from the city. It is north of Guayaquil, almost to the city of Esmeraldes. It is number 3 on my map at the bottom. So after spending almost the whole day of Valentines in the car we arrived! Oh and Valentines Day is a little different here than in the states, it is really a day of love and friendship, just as much for friends as for lovers. I explained the joke of 'Singles Awareness Day' to my friends here and they thought it was quite funny. Well back to la Concordia. Five of us from OM went on this trip, Darren, Johanna, Carmen, Maria Jose and me. We lead two church services on Sunday about missiones, and also had christian books for sell at cost at the back. Christian literature is not so abundant here as it is in the States. I got to stay with a real ecuadorian family during our time in the town. Each of us was sent off to a host home for two nights. I must confess at first I was really nervous. Well, the pastor walked with me down the street to the house where I would be staying. It was very dark that night and just as we got to the door all the electricity in town went off. The pastor still knocked on the door and eventually a lady opened it. She was holding up her cell phone for just a little bit of light but it was held at an angle where she could kind of see me but I could see her at all! So the pastor just introduced me to Jenny and then he left. I think at that moment all my Glowing Heart training utterly left me and I was just about speechless. In a home, in a strange town, in the dark with a lady who I had never seen and who could not speak any English... You get the picture. Well finally I got my tongue and the lights came back on. She began to tell me about her daughters, one who was studying in Canada and the other who I was going to share a room with that night. Shortly the daughter, Karlita, arrived with her boyfriend and several cousins. We sat around and talked until after midnight. It was very fun and also very interesting for me to see what lengths of conversation that my spanish could stretch to! My grammar was not at all perfect but we understood one another. I spent most of my time in la concordia with Karlita and her cousins.

Now let me share a little about my ecuadorian family. I stayed in Jenny's house with her, her daughter, son and husband. However we did not eat in her house but instead walked across the patio in the back into the back door of another house (Jenny's mother, the Grandmother). She had a large table that could seat about eight people. Then the cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, nephews, nieces, daughters, sons, grandchildren, brothers and spouses started showing up. I used practically every word I could think of to describe this family because whenever I was getting introduced it was always a different person introducing, at one time they would say this is my sister, but to someone else it was the aunt or the cousin... So confusing! After the whole weekend I still cannot quite separate the family into sub-families but I can say that I love my family from la concordia! During meals we would eat in shifts as the whole family eats at the Grandmother's house and there are far too many people to sit at the table all at once. I was always put in the first shift as I was the guest.

I would stay up at night chatting with Karlita about her future, her desire to go into missions and about what mission life is like. She is a very sweet girl. Also, the grandmother confided in me that she is sure that another one of her granddaughters, Miriam, would be going into missions too one day! I am not sure what Miriam actually things of missions at the moment but it was sweet to hear that from her grandmothers!

We made it home from our trip on Monday evening without any problems... unless you call the car driving itself at one point a problem.. I did pick up some sort of stomach problem from this trip as the rest of the week I had trouble. I am finally better now. My 25th birthday on Thursday February 19, was a wonderful day. I got tons of notes and e-cards that were so fun to get. Also I received so many presents from my Ecuadorian friends, it was a pleasant surprise. Also some close friends here in Guayaquil, Dave and Lolly Erdel, made me supper and a cake that was shared by half a dozen friends.

Here is a list of my trips in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Peru (see map below)

1. Salinas (1 day in November 2008 - this is where I got burned)

2. Playas (1 day 7 Feb 2009)

3. La Concordia (3 days 14-16 Feb 2009)

4. Saraguro (2 days 24-25 Feb 2009)

5. Baños (2 days 27 -28 Feb 2009)

6. Macas (9 days 28 feb - 9 March 2009)

7. Quito (2 days 10 - 11 March 2009)

8. Costa Rica (9 days 21-29 March 2009)

9. Peru (9 days 4 - 12 April 2009)