truth #16: there and back again

I took a trip. I went home. If any of you are wondering why you didn't get previous notice of this whirlwind trip let me give a small explanation (that is really a bit longer than I intended). When asked by my mom the week before my trip back to the states "Tabitha are you ready to come home?" My response was "Home? Well I have only had the chance to think about it for approximately 30 seconds every two days." Busy, hmm that might be the word to describe it but it seems to fall short for my life here in Ecuador most recently. I began to get busy, I began to get stressed, and I also began to get sick. When all of these things occur, especially together, my response is to withdraw. So I did. For about three weeks before June 11, I began to withdraw from everything that was not my work. I quit emailing home, I quit updating my blog, I quit hanging out with friends. Yes, I know, not healthy. My parents finally emailed me saying "Tabitha, just send us an email and let us know that you are alive. We understand if you are busy but we are worried". Lets just say that this trip home was a life saver for me. I finally started packing for my 11 days home at 2am on the morning of the 11th. My plane was due to leave at 9:30am.

I arrived at the airport exhausted only to find out that my flight had been delayed 40 min which would mess up my layover in Miami. So I had to change my flight from Miami to Dallas to 6pm instead of 4pm. I was a little irritated, which the lady misunderstood for fear and uncertainty.. "Its ok dear there is nothing to worry about." Well, don't worry, I bit my tongue. :) After arriving to Miami I realized that the whole incident was a blessing rather than a trial as all the flights to Dallas had been canceled except the 6pm! There were over a hundred people waiting on standby!

I didn't go straight home when I got in Thursday night as on Saturday my cousin, Ethan Moore, was getting married to Sarah Shelton. So we went to Corsicana, TX. The next day my little brother arrived back to the USA from Mozambique. He was on a two week mission trip working with an orphanage. That night we had the rehearsal dinner in which all the family of Ethan cooked and served the meal. It was in a room full of stuffed animals that is why James and I are pretending to be animals...

The wedding was beautiful but a tiny bit warm. It was so nice to see family, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, siblings of grandparents.. I am also very happy to say that I have a new cousin Sarah Moore. She is a wonderful woman, bright, athletic, loves God and is a lot of fun to be around.

This is the family, my uncle Eddie (brother to my dad), my aunt Jeanette (sister to my mom), their son Ethan and his new wife Sarah, then their daughter Erin and her husband Jeremy Walker.
I also got to see my Papa and Earlene at the wedding. It always makes me happy to see them.

The first of the family photos is the Moore Family. The second is the Walker family.

After my adventures at the wedding, thankfully not similar to my cousin Erin's wedding two years ago when my skirt blew up to my chin... And strangely enough the parking attendant who witnessed that event was a friend of Ethan's and was at his wedding too. I made a sure to steer clear of him, recognition might have been embarrassing. My family took a vacation to the lake. It was a nice three days of rest and hanging out with them. I spent my final weekend catching up with a few friends (sorry I didn't have time to see you all!) and gave a short presentation in my church on Sunday morning about my work in Ecuador. My return to Ecuador came around rather quickly and I now find myself back in Guayaquil right back in the thick of things. I am about to move into a new apartment and will update you on the going ons of July.

PS. Thankfully no more robberies.... yet

truth #15: i had two kids

Yes, for one day I understood what it would be like to have an 8 AND 9 year old boy! The kids of the foundation for children that we have been working with does not sent their kids on field trips very often. So last Friday, Lennart (the director of all our work with the Foundation) planned an outing to the IMAX and a park for all 31 kids. In doing so he have around 18 volunteers. 15 of us were attached to two kids apiece for the entire day. My kids were Miguel and Joel (in the photo above). Before this trip I loved these kids, or I thought I did, but now I think I have a small understanding of how parents must feel towards their kids.

So we arrived at the orphanage around 10am. I went into the kids main room where they were all everywhere trying to get ready for their mystery outing. I couldn't see my boys but I began saying hello to the kids. Evidently someone had already announced who belonged to who because the first set of kids where asking me "which kids are yours today?" or saying "I want to be with you today!". I would just smile and ask who they were with and then say something like "wow that is so cool you are going to have so much fun with them!" Then I saw a little head running around the corner at full speed. He came right up next to me and slid his little hand in mine with a little shy smile and said softly "I get to be with you today". It was 8 year old Miguel. He was happy for the next few minutes to stand quitely beside me just holding my hand. Then sure enough the word had got out that we were there and here came Joel. He headed straight to me and in almost the exact manner he slid his hand into mine and said "I get to be with you today!" I have never seen them so subdued! I don't know if it was the awe that someone specifically was theirs for the whole day or what. I told them that because they were mine for the day that they had to listen to everything that I said, the nodded very seriously and when I gave then their nametags they touched them with respect and awe.

We headed out to the bus and were going by 10:45. On the drive I would point out buildings like the airport and bus station, We even saw a plane (they found that so exciting). Lennart had his camera to take photos and my Joel would say "Professor Lennou, take a photo here!!" and it would just be a car intersection. He was so cute because he would be so serious about each picture. Miguel hardly spoke at all because his eyes were glued to the passing roadside. It made me wonder how often these kids actually get out of their little building! I learned on this trip that 9 year old Joel wanted to be a laywer when he grows up. He is so intelligent and cares deeply about little kids. Miguel is the youngest of 5 or 7 kids and none are with him at the foundation. We saw so many cars going by so I asked them if they could own a car what it would be and what color. I gathered by the way that they looked at me that no one had asked them this question before. They sat and thought for a while then as we were passing some cars Joel stated "I want a car like that one but white!" Miguel still being shy said he like the same car but wanted it to be red. While they would stare mesmorized by the outside world I would just watch them, praying that they would have a chance in their future to see their dreams come true. I am not normally a very emotional person but I had to fight to not cry then and there. How can people misuse kids like this? How do they tell them "I don't want you!" How can they not care?

We made it to the IMAX and the kids were in awe of the huge theater. Miguel calmly told me that he had been to one before. Joel said that he had been there too but only on the outside. The movie about fish started and we were zooming across the landscape of South Africa. Joel was holding tight to my hand the whole time. He said several times during the movies "ITS LIKE WE ARE FLYING!!" When the sharks showed up he jumped several inches and grabbed even tighter to my hand (ok yes I may have jumped to...). Miguel was just sitting there calmly and every now and then would lay his head on my arm. It was a nice movie.

So then we had an hour to explore the park that was a could of km long.. Ok, let me tell you something about my boys, they want to see everything! and they want to be the first ones there! So the second that they said we could go they took off running (with me handing on to their hands). Now, I will say that I am in enough shape that I can outrun an 8 and 9 year old so I was just running easily betweeen them. Another set of kids/their person was next to us so we began to sort of race (3 against 3). We just barely lost and I heard to my disbelief Joel saying "Well we would have won except for the girl" Haha the pride of guys shows even at a young age. It was funny whatever the case. Then came the tough job of keeping an eye on both of the kids. Miguel was fairly easy to watch (sort of) but Joel wanted to see EVERYTHING and figure out how it worked. Once I lost Miguel for a couple of minutes but someone pointed him out to me as he was laying on the walkway about 100 feet away. Then I lost Joel for a while! I was beginning to get nervous and started to think "Great, I am the first one to lose a kid." Then I saw him way off in the distance with another adult holding on to his shoulder and I ran up behind him grabbed him in a huge hug and said "WHERE WERE YOU!" He kind of did that shrug like "aww, I'm too cool for this" but I could also see that he was a bit taken aback that someone actually cared where he was.

Everytime we passed by water I had to keep a firm hand on each of them, several times if I was not hanging on the the back of their pants they would have gone headfirst into the water! As it was they were having so much fun dipping their whole heads into the water. One kid, went a bit far and as he was falling into the water his person grabbed the back of his pants, holding him mid air with the kid wildly waving his arms and legs. It was a funny sight. I decided that the next trip we make it should involve water in some shallow and fenced in place (to keep them from drowning or running off!!) as they loved the water so much!

Everyone was exhausted by the end of the day including the kids! This is the first time in the last 4 months of working with them that i have seen them fight so little. I think it was because there were tons of other things to do other than fight. They acted like normal kids for a day! For those of you who know me, you know that I don't just love kids. I have never been very sure if I would ever have kids but I think that day changed my mind. It is hard to explain but sometime considering the lives of these kids is overwhelming. I try to take in just one of the stories of these kids then I realize that each of the 27 kids has a story equal or worse, then I realize that there are thousands of more kids like this in Guayaquil, then in Ecuador so many more then in the whole world! It is overwhelming to see how I can help when the problem seems so big. ADOPT KIDS! LOVE KIDS! We can't do enough. How many kids are going to go to sleep tonight knowing in their head that no one wants them, no one cares? Pray for peopel who will commit full time to work with kids like these. They need people, good people who will not abuse them and who will love them to show long term commitment.

Standing in line once we made it to the park/IMAX

My boys

truth #14: I am fine

I am fine.


I have repeated this to myself hundreds of times since 6:30pm. I think I can honestly say now, I am ok. This morning I asked God to speak His truth into my life, little did I know how that would come about.

I am not afraid.

Today at 6:30pm, I was robbed.

I was just walking home as always, maybe a little bit later but that was only because I had a meeting in the office that lasted longer than I thought it would. On my way home I passed my friend Lennart, who was going grocery shopping in the little tienda (shop) down the street. I said hello and asked him what he was cooking for dinner. Then I turned the corner onto my street. The street where I have lived for almost 8 months now, the street that feels a little like home now. Sitting on the curb were two guys. One had his pant leg rolled up and what hanging on to his knee like it was scraped and hurting. His friend leaned over him very concerned. In the back of my mind I thought how weird it was that he got hurt there as there was nothing to trip over. I just figured he must be a clutz like me. I just ignored them as I tend to to do all ecuadorian guys on the street. But as soon as I walked past them, just five steps from my front gate, the guy jumped up and ran up behind me. He stuck something in the small of my back like a gun and grabbed at the strap of my mini backpack. I had just taken the keys out of my bag to unlock my gate so only one strap of my backpack was on. I knew as soon as the guys got up that they were robbers but it was too late. I was rather clear headed and had absolutely no fear... but then again these two scrawny guys didn't really have what it takes to strike fear into the hearts of people. So I just pushed the guy behind me away and turned to face him and take my backpack away from him. I saw that he had something in his hand but it was not a gun like he hoped I would think. It was one of the folded knives with other gagets on it, and it was folded not opened. I kept asking them to just let me take my identification papers out, I just wanted my id card! But they wouldn't listen to me. I eventually let go of my backpack when he began to open the knife and the voice of reason won in my head. So off they ran with my little backpack, my cell phone, my wallet with my id papers and the huge sum of money ($10), my pin drive, my sunglasses that are falling apart, my favorite lipgloss and.... most depressing.... my camera.

One friend said to me "Tabitha you are suppose to be trying to stay safe." I immediately replied " I was being safe because I didn't follow my immediate desire to kick him in the.. shins and then break his nose." But I didn't do that only because there were two of them and I was one. They really were scrawny... After they ran off, I walked to the little store where Lennart was buying some potatoes. He was ready to tear off after them but they had already gone, he was a policeman in Holland before becoming a missionary in Ecuador. My field leader sent a text message to the stolen cell phone saying something like "Shame on you, you stole from a missionary!" The funny thing is that someone replied! We don't know if guy who replied really is an innocent bystander who just happened to find the sim card of a cell phone on a well traveled bridge after dark or if he is the robber who actually felt bad for stealing the stuff of a missionary OR if he is the robber who wants to find out where I am and steal more or worse.. He ended up calling my house phone but I said that he would need to talk with and meet with Roberto to give back the stuff because I was trying to be cautious. Whew. I guess we will see what happens.

At the beginning of my blog I said that I had prayed that God would speak truth into my life. Here is the truth that He has taught me if you haven't already guessed it.. I am fine. What happens to me doesn't matter, I am His responsibility. I don't belong to me. I don't have to worry or be afraid, even when bad things happen because He is still there, He always will be. I just need to look to His face always, nothing else matters. I think that we normally use another word for this concept:

Trust

I am fine.

I am not afriad.

truth #13:thieves sunsets and broken hearts

THIEVES:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." John 10:10

Macas, Ecuador - March 2009
During the first part of March I took a short trip to see a bit more of the country and diverse culture of Ecuador. Basically up until this time I had only seen Guayaquil, in other words - concrete and cars... Two good friends, also missionaries in Guayaquil invited me to go with them, Dave and Lolly Erdel. Dave was speaking at a church in Macas (a good 12 hours bus ride from Guayaquil) in the evenings for a week. We took a day on the trip to Macas to stop in Baños and see the hot springs and waterfalls and during our time in Macas we had many opportunities to see parts of the jungle. I have many pictures on my Picasa Web Albums which I will post the address to at the end of this blog. During our stay in Macas, the church took very good care of us. Every lunch and dinner we went to a the house of a family from the church. I must admit that I had some problems at first with some of the traditional Ecuadorian food and for about four days straight I had a stomach ache.. I began praying about two hours before each meal that I would be able to keep it down. God definitely answered my prayers and I also got a taste of some traditional jungle foods! It was amazing to meet so many people in this small town in the jungle. They were so hospitable and when I left I truly felt sad, almost as though leaving my own church back in the States. This is one area that I would appreciate your prayers in as I have not found a church like this here in Guayaquil and I am currently looking for a new church that I can join as family! This trip was very encouraging to me and I grew so much in my understanding of Ecuadorian culture and in my love for the people here. As to the references to thieves... Yes, I had my first personal encounter with crime in Ecuador during this trip. We were almost robbed at our hostel! For those of you who are interested in hearing more I can write you the story but honestly this is one that makes a great story in person :)


SUNSETS:

"Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise
to God" Romans 15:7

Costa Rica - HIV and AIDS Facilitator Training - March 21-29 2009

I embarked on a training expedition that when I began had no idea how this would affect my life. Honestly, I think I must have had very simplistic and shallow motivations for going to this training, however, God used this week in my life to change my thinking and my heart. I will not be the same. I will endeavor to impart this change but as it is still growing in me, I am not certain how well I will do. This week was basically to teach me how to facilitate workshops and presentations on HIV and AIDS. This is an area of huge need where it seems many times the Church fails to show the love of Christ to those in desperate need. This is only one area though, and I see ideal and stereotypes in my own life that does not reflect the love of Christ. During this week we talked about how we are to love those who are HIV positive - no matter how they might have contracted the virus. To love those who are different. To love all people including those from other religions, homosexuals, drunks, criminals, etc... All, to accept and not to pass judgment. This does not mean that we condone sin but since when were christians, saved from the death of sin, to pass judgment on someone else? Have I forgotten from where I came? Where Jesus saved me from? Even though I have been a follower of Christ since I was 6 years old - my importance and status it at the exact same level of the evilest sinner who is just saved from their sin! Can I pass judgment on those who don't claim to be Christians, when they are still in their sins? Why is it that I expect those who are lost to keep the same values as followers of Christ? Since when did it become my job to give out love, grace and acceptance only when I think that the person is significantly worthy of it? What would happen if I loved freely every person, even those who abuse, hate, drink, are with the other political party, have sexual diseases, lesbians, homosexuals, and those who are just different from me? What would happen if I gave grace not depending on the level of sin of the person but according to the incredible grace that God gave me? What would happen if I accepted people as they are without requiring them to become something worthy of my acceptance? Jesus himself said

>

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not
sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners" Matthew 9:12-13

What would happen if I really examined my stereotypes and how I really view other different from myself? What would happen? I hope to find out. It is my goal everyday to think of me less and Him more. It sounds so nice here in words but I think the actions are much harder. Please pray with me in this and walk with me. I would love to hear how God is teaching you lately.

BROKEN HEARTS:

"Dear children, let us not love with words of tongue but with actions and in
truth" 1 John 3:18

Foundation for Children - Guayaquil, Ecuador

I wrote once before about this children's home. I have now been many times and know most of the children. This photo is of Joel. He is three years old and is the youngest of four siblings, who are also at the home. Their father killed their mother and now he is in jail. We are not sure if the children witnessed the murder or if they only saw the aftermath, however, both are horrible. He is smiling his cute smile in this photo, the one that makes you want to take him home and drown him in the love that every three year old should feel. But the orphanage is understaffed, there are so many children and so little time to spend with each of them. We are trying to teach them concepts like love, forgiveness, respect, sharing, and encouraging. These are fairly new ideas to them. Also the spiritual warfare over these children is intense. Let me tell you more about Joel. Who like many children without supervision does not try to behave or act obedient. One day when Lennart was working at the foundation, he was sitting at the table with Joel and another little boy. Joel stole one of the beads from this boy for a craft that they were doing. Lennart told him that he had to give it back. Immediately, Joel stuck the bead in his mouth. Lennart said once more "Give the bead back to Anthony" Then Joel took something out of him mouth and threw it across the room. Lennart then said that Joel would have to help him look for it until they found it to give it back. So they found something that Lennart thought was the missing bead. He then told Joel to give it back and say he was sorry. Joel very loudly and firmly said "NO" Then Lennart doing something that is not so normal for him said "In the name of Jesus apologize and give back the bead" Immediately without talking back or protesting further, Joel removed the real bead out of his mouth gave it to Anthony and said contritely "Perdoname". This shock Lennart and began to show us some of the realities of the spiritual warfare that is going on in this place. Many children have also complained about the nights in the foundation and claim that there is something or someone that walk around their rooms. Then the last trip to the foundation, Cira shared this story with me about Joel, the three year old. He told Cira that he sees the devil. That the devil carries a big knife. They kept telling him about God's love and how God is stronger than the devil but this little child is convinced that he belongs to the devil. He told Cira that the devil wants to hurt him. Pray for these children! We are not fighting again flesh and blood here! This is only one of the 30 stories.

More Photos, lots more!

http://picasaweb.google.com/tabk219/

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)

truth #11: grace is amazing

Fundacion Jesus Por Los Niños... This is the orphanage that I went to on Wednesday. This is now Friday and I am still not sure what I think of my time there. Here is what I wrote in my journal after coming home:

We went to the orphanage today, Lennart, Maria Jose, Marina and I. 10am to 5pm. I must confess it was a LONG 7 hours! 30 children live in this orphanage.. that honestly feels more like a jail. All the children are locked in the building that consists of 2 large bedrooms (one for the boys and one for the girls), a bathroom for each, a large closet with clothes thrown all over making it almost impossible to find the right sizes for each child, a dining area and a kitchen that is kept locked. There is a 'jail keeper' who keeps the keys for the door between the children's living area and the office. While we were there the lady in charge didn't come in for more than five minutes. I get the feeling that the children spend most of their time alone. I have started to get to know the girls and a few of the boys. My heart hurts for them. They are hurting and lonely and yet because they don't know now to express it, it comes out in anger! They are soo angry. They don't listen to any instructions, the only look to you to see how they can use you. One of the girls around 7 years old asked me, "Are you a Christian?" I replied "Yes." Then she goes on to ask me the question that Lennart said they asked him the first week he went. "Did Jesus come in the spirit or in the flesh?" I believe the answer is both, however I didn't respond like this as I knew they were looking for the 'right' answer (which to them was 'in the flesh') and would say that you are not really a Christian if you cannot give them the answer that they want. Instead of appeasing them or getting caught in the trap, I simply asked "Why would you ask such a question? Don't you know what matters is that you know God and have a relationship with Him?" They couldn't argue with that and then went on to another subject. Hopefully we can help them to see it is
about a relationship not about religion or 'right' answers.

We plan to go to the orphanage each Wednesday to help with the children. As we get more people to help hopefully we can go other days as well. There are so many opportunities to help and to minister to people in a real way. We also are going in the evenings to work with the children in the streets, those who sell things on the corners and who basically have a sad and lonely life. We will also continue working with the Island Santay, teaching, playing, and discipling the people there. We have several economic projects beginning on the island. My dad is helping with one, a garden on the island that floods a 60-80% of the time in this season. The people don't get much to eat and go without when the fishing is bad. I will post more about that later.

As for the title of this truth... I am currently reading a book by Philip Yancy called "What's so amazing about grace?" Wow, I am only just in the first couple of chapters but already it has been speaking to me. Some of you know how much of the 'middle child syndrome' that I have (well mostly my family...) and from some of you I have hidden it quite well... I want things to be fair, for each to get what they deserve. But that is completely opposite of what grace is. I think before I read this book I would have said that I understood grace but some how I think I separated it in the spiritual sense and in how I see life each day. How can I say that I understand grace and yet become impatient with each thing that is so unfair, like having to wash someone else's dishes or clean up their mess or even do these things but with irritation in my mind... I cannot say that all these things will be fixed overnight but hopefully during this journey I will understand the grace that God has for me and be able to show the same grace everyday!

truth #10: visas, languages, and headaches are not impossible for God.

This truth will definitely take some explaining.



I will start with the visa... As many of you know, we have been praying like crazy for my visa situation. I think now that I have all the details I can give you the complete story. Here it goes. Laws changed in Ecuador right around the time that I entered Ecuador in September with my tourist visa. Which before the laws changed would not have been a problem. However, now the person entering the country cannot change visa types except in their home country. In more simple words, I could not change my three month tourist visa to a two year missionary visa in Ecuador... Then came the words from my field leader in October when we became aware of the situation, "Tabitha, I hate to tell you this but you are going to HAVE to go home for Christmas." My three month tourist visa would end in mid-December. Well, I was not too sad as honestly the holidays are the hardest time for me to be away from the states. Having to return home for a short period of time, however, was not the biggest problem that we faced. To obtain a missionary visa in Ecuador you have to fulfill about 8 or 9 requirements. One of the biggest was to have letter and documents of the supporting missionary organization. Well, when the laws changed concerning the visas, they also changed concerning what makes an organization a legal organization in Ecuador... Making it next to impossible for me to get the necessary documents because my supporting organization no longer qualified as a legal organization in Ecuador. So I came home in December having no idea when or if I would get the documents. Finally, five days before I left I got the documents. So my dad and I drove down to Houston on Monday, January 5, 2009 to apply for the visa. After the office worker in the consulate looks at all my papers, it seemed that he had problems with two of them. What was slightly irritating was that I had called the office three times before coming to make sure exactly what they wanted in the documents and they wouldn't give anything more than general things. Yet the problems that this guy had was specific things, one of my papers was not a date within the last 15 days, and another paper didn't have a signature or seal (did I mention that he did not tell me about either of these necessary things on the phone?). Well after about 3 hours and a fax later, I had my visa! Amazing, right? Now it is over and I could go back to Ecuador.... Ha, the fun had only just begun. On arriving back to Ecuador with my new visa I had 30 days to register my visa and to get my censo (a governmental id). At the visa registration office, it became apparent that there was a problem with my visa, instead of the beginning date being 5 January 2009 for my two years it said 5 January 2008. A whole year different! So, I then with the help of a very patient friend began a week long process of getting the year corrected (with one document having to be changed and resigned three times because they could not get the name right). I finally got my visa registered on Friday morning (yes this last Friday morning). We then decided to stop by the immigration office and see if they had any openings to get the censo (governmental id). With the past foreigners it has taken around three days of standing in lines and correcting of documents before they received their censo. We walked in around 10:15, went straight to the counter, he looked at my papers, took my picture, printed out my id card, had me sign it, laminated it and gave it to me. We were out of the door by 10:30. I was stunned! With all the other problems that I had faced I never imagined that I would get this card so quickly... So now, as of January 30, 2009 I am finished with visa things for the next two year!!!! PRAISE THE LORD! Maybe this will give you a little more insight to the Ecuadorian processes.



Language, I struggled so much at the beginning of my time with miscommunications and the inability to really talk with people. I took classes three to four times a week and would listen to Spanish during our meetings, church services, prayer meetings, outings with friends, movies, and in the office. I am not at the moment by any means fluent but I am able to communicate and I even am writing daily emails to people interested in missions in Spanish! Of course I always get someone to check it over before I send it... :) God has been so good in helping me in this area and I need to make sure that I continue to study and learn to be better able to work and minister here in South America.



Headaches. I don't understand them. I don't like them. I had at first a great struggle when I returned to Ecuador with a consistent headache that just kept getting worse. After about a month and a half of this headache, it is finally getting a bit better. But even more importantly I am beginning to trust God more in this time. Please keep praying that I will find joy and strength each day no matter what comes my way. I had a long talk with some friends last night that really helped to to gain perspective on my situation and gave me great encouragement.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which
surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7

My goal this week is to be constantly giving thanks and praying.