Doy gracias a mi Dios

At the museum with Marjurie, Marcela, and the Primero students!

While I was enjoying my morning walk around town, I ran in to Jenny, Rebekah, and Sylvia. It was a wonderful treat getting to see these ladies first thing in the morning. My last round of morning exercises went well, then I had work time to prep before my first gym class was supposed to start. Surprise, right before my class with Primero was going to start they were loading up the van to go on a field trip. I am very excited to say I got to go with the the tour of the Pastaza museum with them. There were different huts from each of the tribes in the Pastaza region, there were animal, and pottery. On the hut for the Waorani the spelling stuck out to me, because it was "Huarani". After confirming that it was Waorani I asked about the spelling and was told that before the current spelling it was spelt Hauarani, but that linguists and missionaries cause the spelling to evolve. There were a ton of butterflies hanging on a wall and my favorite was the Angel, because it was this incredible creamy, white, iridescent color! I also got to see one of the pots a Shuar

Bumblebee from Transformers!

tribe used to shrink heads. When the tour was done we stopped downstairs and I learned more about Ecuador's flag. There have been five different designs for the center logo and eight different backgrounds for the flag, the current one has a slightly bigger yellow strip at the top, then a blue stripe, and finally a red. On the way home after driving past it we made a spontaneous pit stop at the park. The kids loved it even though we weren't there long and I managed to get kicked off the playground. It was one of those awkward moments when a police officer had to tell an adult they were too big for the playground! Right after I had climbed up I heard a police officers said, "Seniorita, es para los ninos" (it is for the kids). The park in Puyo was incredibly nice, clean, quiet, and had a statue of Bumblebee from Transformers. It was a quick stop, but a great one after nice history lesson at the museum. As we drove through Puyo there were great smells all around and we wouldn't be in Ecuador if we didn't stop to run an errand for somebody on the way, it is the Ecuadorian thing to do! On the ride Sheila was bopping around to the music on the way home. She is a little girl after my own heart, it was so adorable! We pulled up to the school right when the bell rang for my gym class to start. Talk about perfect timing and cutting it close! The Inicial class was very good today, they responded to my direction, were obedient, and respectful. We have made progress every day and it was awesome to have such a great day with these little ones. My last day of Cultura Fisica (Gym) with the biggest girls consisted of kickball at the cancha with guest appearances with Heidi and Mike. The girls were having a blast! I had managed to not fall in a puddle at the dique the entire time here until today. I slipped and fell in the puddle and it was the smallest it has been in a month, usually it is taking up a good portion of the field, but it hasn't been raining too hard so it was pretty dry. The next time my team was in the infield I kicked a home run, so that made up for the wipe out! I got a whole bunch of

I took my students out for ice cream and to the park for an
end of the year celebration!

hugs as the kids passed me on their way to the house and that is when emotions were really starting to hit me. Caila was the first one walking down with her smiling face calling my name, then a bunch of the younger ones were shortly behind her. Right when I arrived at the school Slyvia pulled me aside and gave me a gift, it was a lovely prayer and a coin purse...that's when I broke down. The love, support, blessings, and friendship I have been shown from everybody here and in the States is overwhelming. We had a special meal with all of the teachers! They prayed over me, we shared stories, and enjoyed one last meal together. I got a huge stack of cards from the kids and received a card and gift from the teachers! They have such abundantly giving hearts. Just when I thought there would be no new surprises, surprise, I got a new English student on our last day of class! He was at Casa de Fe before, but after being at home for the past year returned due to tough situations at home. We were having our last day of school celebration, so I'm thinking he had the best first and last day of school all at once! We walked to Alexander's for ice cream, then went to the park to eat it and play for a little bit 

My girls!!! I thank God for every day with Paola, Caila, Diana, and Evelyn ♥

before heading back. On the way there we raced up the hill and on the way back we ran down it, it is a big hill which makes it hard to run up and really fun to run down. When I got back I went straight upstairs for my last day of library, then helped Jenny do some interviews with the kids. When I finished helping others I put away my last books, tied up some loose ends, and finished making cards for all the teachers. Along with a little note I put Philippians 1:2-6, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." In Spanish it is Filipenses 1:2-6, "Que Dios nuestro Padre y el Señor Jesucristo les concedan gracia y paz. Doy gracias a mi Dios cada vez que me acuerdo de ustedes. En todas mis oraciones por todos ustedes, siempre oro con alegría, porque han participado

Nayeli and I!

en el evangelio desde el primer día hasta ahora. Estoy convencido de esto: el que comenzó tan buena obra en ustedes la irá perfeccionando hasta el día de Cristo Jesús." I will in fact thank God every time I think about the friendships I have formed here. I am so filled with joy when I think about obstacles that have been overcome, the challenges that have been faced, and the love that has been shared! God is so very good and is faithful in all places at all times. I went down to the house to hang out with the kiddos one last time and enjoyed the beautiful weather at this time of day. I was doing pretty good until I saw Evelyn from my English class curled up and crying. I had given my girls a picture of our class from a while back and there she had it in a little picture frame she had made. I gave her a big hug before heading out, then gave her another one before I actually left. She has such a free spirit and I can just picture her dancing around and running in the wind! The way she runs is how I picture all of God's children running to greet Him at Heaven's gates! I walked home by myself and had a good alone time with God, He knows my heart and every thing I am feeling and I thank Him for always being constant. When everything around me is changing He remains the same and that is the most valuable thing in my life! I stopped at the dique to read my cards stack of cards and enjoyed very much the little messages and magazine cut outs on them. They are wonderful! I went home, cleaned up, and spent a while packing. When I was all ready I went out for pizza at Hut Cheese for the best pizza in Ecuador one last time! The evening ended with games at Jessica's house with Mike, Molly, Abby, Heidi, Jocelyn, Jesse, Ryan, and Lydia. While we were playing Tracey stopped by to say goodbye which was a huge blessing and I look forward to staying in touch with her and hearing about how the Lord is working this their family and ministry here!