“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you,
saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'” Isaiah 30:21


“Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.” Psalm 86:11

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ
loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7


Friday, May 24, 2013

The one who had mercy

Sheila and I with our gafas (glasses)!
There was a moderate earth quake between Shell and Baños early in the morning, the epicenter was about 30km away from me and I didn't even know it. I must have been pretty tired, because the magnitude was a 4.8. It happened at 5:42am and I woke up right around that time, I thought it was just from street noise, but maybe it was from the earthquake! I walked up to Casa de Fe this morning to met up with the team. There was no school today, on May 24th, 1822 the Battle of Pichincha took place the Royalist forces loyal to Spain were defeated bringing about the liberation of Quito. It is now a holiday and the day on which the President was inaugurated. Since there was no school I took charge of the volunteers and paired them with kids for a field trip in to the park. It took a little while to get all of this figured out, but in no time we were on our way. There was one group member off buying bus tickets for their departure and I had a buddy for myself, so once she got there I let her take my buddy to spend the morning with. The kids were having a blast running around and I think the adults were exhausted, but the kiddos didn't mind. While we were there one of the girls had to go to the bathroom and since the park one was closed I took her over to Alexander's and was able to confirm that we had a team coming in at lunch time. It worked out very nicely! We sang happy birthday to Nicol at the park in English and Spanish since it was her special day, then were ready to head back. One of the little boys was really mad about leaving and he tends to get stubborn, after not being able to get him to do anything for five I made an executive decision to try carrying him a little ways to see if he could get his emotions together. Unfortunately I tried several times to sit him down and put his shoes on so he could walk, but he couldn't bring himself to do it which meant I carried him from the park in the middle of town to the orphanage. Wowza that was tiring in the late morning sun! We hung out at the house before journeying to Alexander's and as we left Sheila was being a goofy girl. She was greeting me with a kiss on the cheek over and over and had these silly glasses she was balancing on her face, she is hilarious!
The little guys enjoing the team's activities!
Lunch at Alexander's was great as usual and followed by an ice cream cone for dessert. I wish I could go there more often, but I am really able to appreciate it when I can go since it's not very often. When we got back to the house it was still nap time for the kids and the team preparing, so I had a nap time outside. It was great! The team split the kids up in to an older and a younger group, there was a message and fun activities for the kids. The little ones started with a message and ended with games and face painting activities, but the older ones started with games then had a message about the good Samaritan. Luke 10:25-37, "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'What is written in the Law?' he replied. 'How do you read it?' He answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 'You have answered correctly,' Jesus replied. 'Do this and you will live.' But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' In reply Jesus said: 'A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
I captured a picture of the "lion dog"
on the journey home.
'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?' The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'" I love this scripture and am glad the older kids got to see it in the form of a skit and discuss it afterwards. God has asked us to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Out of this great love for God we called to love our neighbors as ourselves and everybody around us are our neighbors, it is easy to love those who love us, but we are called to love and care for those who don't like us too. The Lord shows mercy and compassion to all and so we are asked to have mercy on others, to build them up, support, and care for all just as Christ did. It does not matter what our social status is or what we have accomplished, what matters is how we have loved. I like being able to communicate with the Tias so much, they are great ladies and being able to joke around with Geidi is fun. Shortly before leaving Edison hit somebody and felt really bad, so bad that he started crying. I went over there to sign with and communicate to him that he was sorry, needs to be gentle, and that he is still good boy. Sometimes the kids feel
The cotton candy sky!
like when they do something bad they are bad and I wanted to make sure he knew he was still good, but needs to be gentle. He responded very well and I was excited to see he was able to come back and play the game! I was home for a little bit before walking over to Dwight and Tandy's house, along the way I couldn't stop staring at the beautiful sunset, the clouds were pink, orange, and some were a baby blue that I had never seen before. The sky was so unique and incredible, I had just finished saying it looked like cotton candy and when we turned down the street I smelt something sweet, just like cotton candy! Tandy made a delicious meal of taco soup, corn bread, and fruit salad, it was all accompanied by great conversation. After a while we ate ice cream sundaes and played a wild west card game (it's a little bit like mafia) called BANG.  Dwight told some comments and good jokes that reminded me of my dad, such a great sense of humor! It was an awesome night at the Martin's with Jessica, Joel, Rick, and Rebekah.

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