Living hope

The Ecuadorian teachers, Cheralyn, and I!

It's CARNIVAL! I got an extra early start on the day in order to have a peaceful time of prayer before the event began. My day started with reading 1 Peter, the heading for today's verses is "Praise to God for a Living Hope". 1 Peter 1:3-9 reads, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." Our faith is worth more than gold!

We joined the oldest kids in a
muddy tug-of-war type game!

  Do I have faith the Lord can move the mountains? Do I believe God will heal my wounds? Do I trust that He is always good? Do I know I am His beloved child? Yes, God fills me with a joy beyond my understanding in all circumstances! This does not mean life is always easy or that everything goes perfectly for me, but I have a deep peace in my soul, because I know the Lord will never give me more than I can handle. I arrived at the school bright and early to help gather materials and get the activities set up. There were a series of activities for the different age groups of kids involving colored water! It was raining all morning while we played the games so we were all drenched, but this helped when it came time for the final activity. We played the last game in a big mud pit and in it matching numbers were called, you would sprint to the middle and try to get the rope back to your side. I had a blast playing this game with the oldest group of kids! After all the games were done it was time for a feast. We had chicken, pork chops, sausage, and potatoes! It was seriously  some of the best food I have ever had. There was an incredible milky, cheesy, basil sauce that tasted 

Let Carnival begin!

good on all of the food. Laura and I met up again this evening for ice cream and a walk around town. While walking somebody dumped water on us from their roof and a couple of kids sprayed us with a hose, yay for Carnival! I really did enjoy this because it made me feel like I truly experienced the holiday. There were also tons of people throughout the day with colored flour on them and egg shells around town which are also part of the tradition. When Laura and I were done walking I came back to the house and celebrated "Pancake Tuesday" a Canadian holiday. My roommate Cheralyn was telling me all about pancake Tuesday, which I had never heard of before, so we made pancakes for supper. It was a day filled with celebrations from places all over the world!