Home Again

Today was a wonderful day of flying. The Quito plane was on time and the Houston plane to Birmingham was early. It is always wonderful to not change time zones.
Paula told me I need to explain about the Chinese internet guy. He lived at the hotel where we stayed and has a store/internet place that is built on to the hotel. It was a wonderful place to stay because we knew some of the employees from Galilee church. The man stayed at his store from about 6am until well after we went to bed. If we accidently locked the hotel outside doors he had a key. Often when there was no buisiness he would be sitting out in the sun working on something. It was just strange to see an oriental looking person speaking Spanish.

Goodbye Ecuador

It is hard to believe that we will be flying home tomorrow. I am sorry that I haven´t been able to post on Friday - Sunday. The internet Chinese man next door to the hotel had no service to speak of on those days. Today we made the beautiful ride from Otavalo to Quito. We stopped on the way at the old equator and the new equator. We could see both of the snow covered mountains. What a beautiful world we live in. Tonight we are at the Howard Johnson Quito. We will be going to the plane at about 4am and will arrive in Birmingham about 4:30 pm. Ms. Bobbie and I have the most beautiful view of the snow covered mountain that I don´t know the name of out our 9th floor window.
For those of you who prayed for me on Friday and Saturday thank you so much. As it turned out I was able to talk with a lady( and her daughter) on Thursday whose husband has cancer and is not going to take chemo. On Friday morning I volunteered to go to Chirihuasi with Donna and Sherri because they were having about 60 kids everyday in their camp. Cris said that she would do my ESL kids and the afternoon session at Galilee. It was great to be with the people of Chirihuasi. Since there were so few of us, I could not avoid eating Qwi ?, guinea pig. At least I didn´t have to see them chasing it around the pen before they killed it like the group did on Thursday. We did a clinic at a day care and saw lots of adorable children. Harry took some of us way up Imbubarra. The view was fantastic.
On Saturday the whole team went to Chirihuasi except for Ampirito and Pablo. Ampirito´s mom decided to go and was such a great help. Just as we were about to leave at 4 for the wedding at Galilee, Cayambe came out from under the clouds. It was breathtaking.
The wedding is a whole other story. I´ll write about it when I post pictures. Cris became the official photographer for the wedding when their photographer didn´t make it on time.
I´ll finish up all our adventures when I get home.

This is the day

Today at ESL was wonderful. I had 14 precious children by myself. Since I do not speak Spanish and they do not speak English we just talked outloud to ourselves. I did understand Mosis who wanted to go to the bano. The family of children Donna and I had 3 years ago were back. They appear to be practicing English. We are off shortly to complete the session Ms Bobbie started yesterday. One couple from the marriage conference got counseling today and are reconciling their marriage. Pablo and Amarito are doing a wonderful job.

God of the mountains of life

This morning as I looked out the window there was a huge bank of clouds covering the snow covered peak of Cotochoci. As Sherri and I walked, the cloud begin to lower and the snow covered peak was shining brightly overhead. I am so thankful that God makes himself shown even when the clouds of life cover our view of Him. What a blessing it is to be working here with these wonderful people. All clinics and camps and conferences are going strong. Please pray for our taxi driver as Charlie witnesses to him. Pray for the med clinic, ESL camps, and marriage conferences. God is using the conferences in a mighty way.

This is the day the Lord has made!

What a beautiful trip we had to Ecuador yesterday. We arrived at Casa Lily at about 2:30 am. The weather is fabulous. Today we visited Chirihuasi and saw friends from previous years. I have had a piece fall off my camera so I am not going to have alot of pictures to post. Thankfully the other team members are making lots. Hopefully they will share with me. We went to lunch at Cotacochi and had a feast. Tonight we spent sorting through the meds for the clinics. Thank you again for all of you who contributed. There is an internet place next to the place where we stay. I will be visiting and updating regularly.

Family MeatFest 2009

Saturday was the annual July MeatFest for our family at the Nicholson's house. This is the whole family plus some extras. The meat was plentiful and everyone had a good time. It just seems to get bigger and better every year.

Let's Go

Only one day left before I leave for Ecuador. So much to do and so little time. I should be an expert at this by now but every time I am getting ready to leave I certainly don't feel that way.