For those of you who followed along with my trip to Ecuador last summer, and might be reading this, I am planning on going on the Never the Same trip again next summer, this time to Panama! I am really excited to see what God has planned for us and for the people of Panama.
I have already begun a new blog for my trip. If you are interested, you can check it out at : www.ntspanama.blogspot.com
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Slideshow
We had a little shindig today so the people who sponsored me could come over and hear what happened.. I got to share some pictures and stories, and I made this slideshow as well. :)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Quick Note...
For pictures, info and other such things, you can also check out the official trip blog, if you haven't been already. The link is:
http://www.neverthesameec.com/
I'm on Team 3!! :D
http://www.neverthesameec.com/
I'm on Team 3!! :D
I'm Home.
Well, most of you probably are wondering why I didn't update any after my last post, so I was going to apologize for that. The Internet was $4 for 1/2 an hour, so I didn't want to use it very much. Also, we were really busy and I was hanging out with all of my friends and stuff, so I didn't always even have time to use the computer. :)
Wednesday wasn't a regular ministry day, instead we were able to go to the market in the morning. I was able to get a bunch of cool souvenirs and gifts, and had a lot of fun bartering. ;D Wednesday afternoon was AWESOME! I got to meet Erika, the child I sponsor through Compassion International. I've been sponsoring her for a few months now, and I was super excited to get to meet her. They had a park set up for us with slides, swings, a bounce house... They also had a bunch of tables set up under tents where we ate lunch.
Erika recognized me right away, and ran up to me to give me a huge hug! :D She is soooooo cute. She was really excited to meet me as well, and was having a great time running to all the different things to play on. I gave her a bunny that she loved, and she carried it around with her for the rest of the day. Our lunch was delicious. We were fed a traditional Ecuadorian lunch, which consisted of some meat, rice, beans, and four or five different types of corn, including popcorn! Yes, regular popcorn. They ate it with a fork and a knife, just like you would eat peas. :) They even had dessert for us, two scoops of ice cream with a little cookie.
Erika and I got to play all afternoon before it was time to say good-bye. :'( I also got her a jump rope, a coloring book and crayons, and some stickers. She was really excited about the coloring book as well, and sat down to color as soon as I gave it to her. It was so great to meet her, though, and it makes it even more special to be able to sponsor her now. <3
Wednesday was also Wacky Hair night. That was a lot of fun... I did my hair, but not as wacky as some people. A lot of girls (and guys!) got really into it, and were very creative. I'll be posting some pictures later.
Thursday we went to a Downtown Plaza to do our drama, but we had to leave sooner than expected because there was a few dangerous things going on. Don't worry though, everyone was fine. :) We got a pretty good-sized crowd for it though, and I got to lead 2 people to the Lord there. After lunch we went to a park, where we did the drama twice more, and I got to lead 2 more people to the Lord at the park. :D Praise God for all that is doing (and did!). I also got to buy an ice-cream bar at the park, I got a Mora bar. It was really good. Ecuadorian ice cream is the BEST.
Thursday's FUAGNEM was amazing. We had a wedding ceremony where each person was able to get married to Jesus. It was really awesome. All of our FUAGNEM's have been really great, with such intense worship and powerful messages.
Friday was our last official day of ministry. We went to an orphanage, there was 15-20 kids there. We did the drama for them, had lunch, and then split into two groups. The first group took them to a park and played with all the kids, and the second group (that's where I was) stayed at the orphanage to help them in the garden area. We raked, swept, cut and moved tree branches... everyone found a job to do, and we were able to help them out. After about an hour or so, we switched. We didn't take the kids to the park again, but just played with them around the orphanage. :)
On Saturday, we walked around Quito, and our translators explained to us about the buildings, what they were and things like that. It was really fun to just see all of the beautiful buildings and get to take some pictures. After that, we went to the market again, and I got to finish up all of my shopping. Saturday afternoon we had a farewell party at the hotel. Some of our team had to leave on Saturday afternoon, so we had to be able to say good-bye. :'( It was one of our team member's birthday, so our leaders bought cake and ice cream, and we also had a Pinata. It was lots of fun (well, except for the good-byes part, that was definitely NOT fun) and we got to exchange addresses and things like that.
Saturday night I wasn't feeling well at all, so I just made sure I was packed and went to bed. I was, thankfully, feeling a lot better on Sunday, which was my travel day. We went to lunch at Crepes and Waffles, which is DELICIOUS! And I am going to miss it, and then left for the airport. We didn't get into the Miami hotel until 2 in the morning, and I didn't get to bed until 3am because I was saying more good-byes. :'( Our team got soo close in just two short weeks, I miss all of you guys already! <3
I hung out at the hotel on Monday until 4, when two of the leaders took Anna and I to the airport (we were the last two people to fly out), and I got home at 11-something on Monday night. I didn't get home and in bed until 1 or 2am, of course, but my plane actually landed around midnight.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. Our total salvation count was 1,024. Remember, there may have been countless more salvations that for one reason or another, didn't make it into our count, but that's our best number. It's amazing what God can do in just two short weeks. I want to thank you guys all again, it was such an amazing trip, and I couldn't have done it without you. <3
Love you all!!!
P.S. I'll be posting some pictures on here later. I might go back and add them to my posts, and/or put them in a new post of their own. :)
Wednesday wasn't a regular ministry day, instead we were able to go to the market in the morning. I was able to get a bunch of cool souvenirs and gifts, and had a lot of fun bartering. ;D Wednesday afternoon was AWESOME! I got to meet Erika, the child I sponsor through Compassion International. I've been sponsoring her for a few months now, and I was super excited to get to meet her. They had a park set up for us with slides, swings, a bounce house... They also had a bunch of tables set up under tents where we ate lunch.
Erika recognized me right away, and ran up to me to give me a huge hug! :D She is soooooo cute. She was really excited to meet me as well, and was having a great time running to all the different things to play on. I gave her a bunny that she loved, and she carried it around with her for the rest of the day. Our lunch was delicious. We were fed a traditional Ecuadorian lunch, which consisted of some meat, rice, beans, and four or five different types of corn, including popcorn! Yes, regular popcorn. They ate it with a fork and a knife, just like you would eat peas. :) They even had dessert for us, two scoops of ice cream with a little cookie.
Erika and I got to play all afternoon before it was time to say good-bye. :'( I also got her a jump rope, a coloring book and crayons, and some stickers. She was really excited about the coloring book as well, and sat down to color as soon as I gave it to her. It was so great to meet her, though, and it makes it even more special to be able to sponsor her now. <3
Wednesday was also Wacky Hair night. That was a lot of fun... I did my hair, but not as wacky as some people. A lot of girls (and guys!) got really into it, and were very creative. I'll be posting some pictures later.
Thursday we went to a Downtown Plaza to do our drama, but we had to leave sooner than expected because there was a few dangerous things going on. Don't worry though, everyone was fine. :) We got a pretty good-sized crowd for it though, and I got to lead 2 people to the Lord there. After lunch we went to a park, where we did the drama twice more, and I got to lead 2 more people to the Lord at the park. :D Praise God for all that is doing (and did!). I also got to buy an ice-cream bar at the park, I got a Mora bar. It was really good. Ecuadorian ice cream is the BEST.
Thursday's FUAGNEM was amazing. We had a wedding ceremony where each person was able to get married to Jesus. It was really awesome. All of our FUAGNEM's have been really great, with such intense worship and powerful messages.
Friday was our last official day of ministry. We went to an orphanage, there was 15-20 kids there. We did the drama for them, had lunch, and then split into two groups. The first group took them to a park and played with all the kids, and the second group (that's where I was) stayed at the orphanage to help them in the garden area. We raked, swept, cut and moved tree branches... everyone found a job to do, and we were able to help them out. After about an hour or so, we switched. We didn't take the kids to the park again, but just played with them around the orphanage. :)
On Saturday, we walked around Quito, and our translators explained to us about the buildings, what they were and things like that. It was really fun to just see all of the beautiful buildings and get to take some pictures. After that, we went to the market again, and I got to finish up all of my shopping. Saturday afternoon we had a farewell party at the hotel. Some of our team had to leave on Saturday afternoon, so we had to be able to say good-bye. :'( It was one of our team member's birthday, so our leaders bought cake and ice cream, and we also had a Pinata. It was lots of fun (well, except for the good-byes part, that was definitely NOT fun) and we got to exchange addresses and things like that.
Saturday night I wasn't feeling well at all, so I just made sure I was packed and went to bed. I was, thankfully, feeling a lot better on Sunday, which was my travel day. We went to lunch at Crepes and Waffles, which is DELICIOUS! And I am going to miss it, and then left for the airport. We didn't get into the Miami hotel until 2 in the morning, and I didn't get to bed until 3am because I was saying more good-byes. :'( Our team got soo close in just two short weeks, I miss all of you guys already! <3
I hung out at the hotel on Monday until 4, when two of the leaders took Anna and I to the airport (we were the last two people to fly out), and I got home at 11-something on Monday night. I didn't get home and in bed until 1 or 2am, of course, but my plane actually landed around midnight.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. Our total salvation count was 1,024. Remember, there may have been countless more salvations that for one reason or another, didn't make it into our count, but that's our best number. It's amazing what God can do in just two short weeks. I want to thank you guys all again, it was such an amazing trip, and I couldn't have done it without you. <3
Love you all!!!
P.S. I'll be posting some pictures on here later. I might go back and add them to my posts, and/or put them in a new post of their own. :)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Monday and Tuesday....
So, first off, the rest of Sunday evening was FANTASTIC!!!! The seminars were awesome, as was our evening FUAGNEM (that's our worship service, in case you were wondering ;). Then we had the Britt Nicole concert. She. is. so. awesome! I loved every bit of it, she is so sweet and down-to-earth, and just has such a huge heart for the Lord. Afterwards, there was a signing table set up in the lobby for autographs, and I, luckily, was near the front of the line. I stood in line for about 30 minutes before getting up there. We were only allowed to have one thing signed (sorry Jenny!) so I had Britt and Gabby (her friend :D) sign the back of my trip notebook. I got a picture with them too. :)
Monday, we went to a low-income school. There was a ton of kids there, so we waited while they did their morning ... exercise? :) I'm not quite sure what they were doing. It was their last day of school. After they had finished their morning routine, we split into two groups because there was so many kids (maybe 200? or more?) and we had a bunch of different things to do with them. A couple of us brought out some face paints and painted a TON of faces, hands, arms, etc. I must have painted over 100 pictures (I am getting much better at asking kids what they want me to paint in Spanish ;P). Other people were playing with them, or giving them stickers, or blowing bubbles, or just giving them lots of hugs. :)
We did the drama for them, and after the prayer, about half of the kids raised their hands to say that they had accepted Jesus as their Savior. We went around to talk to the people there, and I was able to pray for one mom that had two little kids at the school. She was already a Christian, so I was able to pray for her family and job. :)
I'm really running out of time. :O Tuesday, we went to a church about an hour away, and we were able to do a work project for them. We helped them prepare this area they were leveling for a new church. We had to dig some spots, wheel dirt to the next, then I and a couple of others were leveling it out and smashing dirt clumps. It was a lot harder than it sounds. I was using my hands and feet for the leveling, and for the smashing, we were using either our hands and feet again, or this huge tool that was a long stick with this metal thing on the end, like.... hmm... like an unsharp ax. haha, I don't know how to describe it. It was hard work, but it was still a great day.
FUAGNEM was awesome, as usual. :D Tonight I got a blood transfusion. :D I'll go into more detail on that later, but everything is going great. I miss you guys back home, but I love it here so much. I'll be sad when it's time to leave. :'(
Love you all! <3 Thanks so much for all the prayers! I haven't been sick, although a lot on our team have, so please be praying for health, safety and lots of energy. And of course, be praying for God to work through us to minister to the people of Ecuador. Gracias!
Monday, we went to a low-income school. There was a ton of kids there, so we waited while they did their morning ... exercise? :) I'm not quite sure what they were doing. It was their last day of school. After they had finished their morning routine, we split into two groups because there was so many kids (maybe 200? or more?) and we had a bunch of different things to do with them. A couple of us brought out some face paints and painted a TON of faces, hands, arms, etc. I must have painted over 100 pictures (I am getting much better at asking kids what they want me to paint in Spanish ;P). Other people were playing with them, or giving them stickers, or blowing bubbles, or just giving them lots of hugs. :)
We did the drama for them, and after the prayer, about half of the kids raised their hands to say that they had accepted Jesus as their Savior. We went around to talk to the people there, and I was able to pray for one mom that had two little kids at the school. She was already a Christian, so I was able to pray for her family and job. :)
I'm really running out of time. :O Tuesday, we went to a church about an hour away, and we were able to do a work project for them. We helped them prepare this area they were leveling for a new church. We had to dig some spots, wheel dirt to the next, then I and a couple of others were leveling it out and smashing dirt clumps. It was a lot harder than it sounds. I was using my hands and feet for the leveling, and for the smashing, we were using either our hands and feet again, or this huge tool that was a long stick with this metal thing on the end, like.... hmm... like an unsharp ax. haha, I don't know how to describe it. It was hard work, but it was still a great day.
FUAGNEM was awesome, as usual. :D Tonight I got a blood transfusion. :D I'll go into more detail on that later, but everything is going great. I miss you guys back home, but I love it here so much. I'll be sad when it's time to leave. :'(
Love you all! <3 Thanks so much for all the prayers! I haven't been sick, although a lot on our team have, so please be praying for health, safety and lots of energy. And of course, be praying for God to work through us to minister to the people of Ecuador. Gracias!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day 4 of Ecuador!
Sorry I haven't had time to post everything, or put up any pictures, but we have all been really busy. I'm trying to post as often as I can, and I know our photographers are running around everywhere trying to capture everything. With such a big group, I know it's really hard for them, but I will have hundreds of pictures when I get home, so don't worry.
Today has been awesome. :D The total salvation count for the first two days was 253 salvations, and that's for all the teams combined. Isn't that amazing? :D God is so good, and we have seen miracles, and new Christans, rededications, and just have been seeing and experiencing God work in so many amazing ways.
Breakfast wasn't until 8am today, so I got to sleep in! Whoo-hoo! :D Breakfast was delicious as usual, all the food we've been having is a mix of what we'd normally have in the States and traditional Ecuadorian food. It's all been really yummy. This morning I tried blueberry juice and it was DELICOUS!!!!!!!!!!! I've also tryed papaya and guava juice. The fruit juice here is really good. Well, the fruit is too. The pineapple here is the BEST you'll ever have, even better than Hawaii. :D
We had a morning worship FUAGNEM that was... about 2 hours, I guess. Goodness. There is absolutely no way to describe the amazingness of FUAGNEM. It's just so amazing, and God just really comes and speaks to each individual person through the worship and the message. The message this morning was by Susie. It was about having eye surgery, and it was amazing. (It's not really what you're thinking right now. ;P)
I can't explain it all on here and I'm running out of time again. -_- It was just really amazing, and at the end everyone got to go to a leader and be prayed over. I stood up and turned around, and Britt Nicole had just gotten up and stood behind her chair (the "I'm a leader" sign) so I went over to her, and she prayed over me, and it was just so amazing. ♥
This afternoon, most of our team went to this Ecuadorian mall that is really close to our hotel to get lunch. We ended up getting pizza from Pizza Hut (and it was way better than in the States), and I got ice cream from a little Ecuadorian ice cream stand in the mall. OH.MY.WORD. You have not had ice cream until you have had ice cream for Ecuador. Their chocolate is to die for too. :D It was seriously the best ice cream I've ever had.
Now we're getting ready for this evening, which is jam packed. We have our first seminar, then dinner, then seminar #2, then FUAGNEM, then a Britt Nicole concert. :] Tomorrow is a ministry day, and I'll try to update ya'll sometime tomorrow evening. :D
Love you!! Thanks so much for the prayers everyone. <333333
Today has been awesome. :D The total salvation count for the first two days was 253 salvations, and that's for all the teams combined. Isn't that amazing? :D God is so good, and we have seen miracles, and new Christans, rededications, and just have been seeing and experiencing God work in so many amazing ways.
Breakfast wasn't until 8am today, so I got to sleep in! Whoo-hoo! :D Breakfast was delicious as usual, all the food we've been having is a mix of what we'd normally have in the States and traditional Ecuadorian food. It's all been really yummy. This morning I tried blueberry juice and it was DELICOUS!!!!!!!!!!! I've also tryed papaya and guava juice. The fruit juice here is really good. Well, the fruit is too. The pineapple here is the BEST you'll ever have, even better than Hawaii. :D
We had a morning worship FUAGNEM that was... about 2 hours, I guess. Goodness. There is absolutely no way to describe the amazingness of FUAGNEM. It's just so amazing, and God just really comes and speaks to each individual person through the worship and the message. The message this morning was by Susie. It was about having eye surgery, and it was amazing. (It's not really what you're thinking right now. ;P)
I can't explain it all on here and I'm running out of time again. -_- It was just really amazing, and at the end everyone got to go to a leader and be prayed over. I stood up and turned around, and Britt Nicole had just gotten up and stood behind her chair (the "I'm a leader" sign) so I went over to her, and she prayed over me, and it was just so amazing. ♥
This afternoon, most of our team went to this Ecuadorian mall that is really close to our hotel to get lunch. We ended up getting pizza from Pizza Hut (and it was way better than in the States), and I got ice cream from a little Ecuadorian ice cream stand in the mall. OH.MY.WORD. You have not had ice cream until you have had ice cream for Ecuador. Their chocolate is to die for too. :D It was seriously the best ice cream I've ever had.
Now we're getting ready for this evening, which is jam packed. We have our first seminar, then dinner, then seminar #2, then FUAGNEM, then a Britt Nicole concert. :] Tomorrow is a ministry day, and I'll try to update ya'll sometime tomorrow evening. :D
Love you!! Thanks so much for the prayers everyone. <333333
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Day 2 of Ministry!
Friday was our first day of ministry and it was absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have so many cool stories to share, and I won't be able to type them all out, but know that I am having the most amazing time here.
On Friday, about half of our team was missing due to late flights and such, so our LITs and a leader filled in the empty spots. We started the day with breakfast and team time, and spent about 40 minutes teaching and practicing the drama with the LITs and leader (s) before heading out. I believe we got out around 10am. One REALLY, REALLY cool thing about Friday was.....Britt Nicole actually went out for ministry day with our team! Her sweet friend Gabby came with us as well. It was sosososososososoosososo cool to have them along. She is super sweet, and really down-to-earth. I thought she was totally amazing. We got to our first ministry site (a park) in about 30 minutes or so. Before we got out of the bus, Britt Nicole led us in a worship song, and we prayed for the drama and the people we were about to impact.
We went out, and split up into groups of about 7 or so to invite people to the drama. After about 10 minutes, we had started to gather a crowd, so we started doing the Hokey Pokey with some of the kids and singing Father Abraham. :) We did the drama, and it went really well. After the drama, one of the girls on our team shared her testimony through a translator, and then one of our leaders explained the drama, in case anyone hadn't understood. When they were finished, we split up into groups again, and went to talk to the people.
I grabbed a translator, and went over to a little girl with two ladies, and a baby boy. The little girl was about 4 years old, and asked what it meant to have Jesus in your heart. I explained the best that I could, and shared a little bit of my testimony with her, and then asked if she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior. She said yes, and so I prayed with her. After that, a couple of other people came over, and (with the translator helping this whole time) we talked a bit more with the two ladies with her. At the end, all three of them (the little girl and the two ladies) had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Praise God! :D
We ate lunch (yummy pb&j!) and went back to the park, and did the drama again in a different spot. We gathered an even larger crowd, and again led a few people to the Lord through our drama.
FUAGNEM is awesome, I can't even begin to describe it. It's just so amazing. We had an awesome time. :D
I'm running out of time and trying to go really fast. ;) Today was just as amazing. We got to do the drama three times today, the first two were in a huge park with tons of little kids. We got to play with them and paint their faces and such to invite people to the drama. It was a lot of fun. During our 2nd drama, we had a crowd of over 200 people. :D God is so amazing. The last drama we did in a park behind a local market. I got to lead someone to Christ again through a translator. :D
For our team alone, in the two days we've been out, we've had over 35 salvations. :D Praise the Lord! I'm not sure what the total count for all the teams is, but I'll find out tonight at FUAGNEM. I'm getting ready to go to dinner now, so I need to get going.
Love you all! :D <3333
On Friday, about half of our team was missing due to late flights and such, so our LITs and a leader filled in the empty spots. We started the day with breakfast and team time, and spent about 40 minutes teaching and practicing the drama with the LITs and leader (s) before heading out. I believe we got out around 10am. One REALLY, REALLY cool thing about Friday was.....Britt Nicole actually went out for ministry day with our team! Her sweet friend Gabby came with us as well. It was sosososososososoosososo cool to have them along. She is super sweet, and really down-to-earth. I thought she was totally amazing. We got to our first ministry site (a park) in about 30 minutes or so. Before we got out of the bus, Britt Nicole led us in a worship song, and we prayed for the drama and the people we were about to impact.
We went out, and split up into groups of about 7 or so to invite people to the drama. After about 10 minutes, we had started to gather a crowd, so we started doing the Hokey Pokey with some of the kids and singing Father Abraham. :) We did the drama, and it went really well. After the drama, one of the girls on our team shared her testimony through a translator, and then one of our leaders explained the drama, in case anyone hadn't understood. When they were finished, we split up into groups again, and went to talk to the people.
I grabbed a translator, and went over to a little girl with two ladies, and a baby boy. The little girl was about 4 years old, and asked what it meant to have Jesus in your heart. I explained the best that I could, and shared a little bit of my testimony with her, and then asked if she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior. She said yes, and so I prayed with her. After that, a couple of other people came over, and (with the translator helping this whole time) we talked a bit more with the two ladies with her. At the end, all three of them (the little girl and the two ladies) had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Praise God! :D
We ate lunch (yummy pb&j!) and went back to the park, and did the drama again in a different spot. We gathered an even larger crowd, and again led a few people to the Lord through our drama.
FUAGNEM is awesome, I can't even begin to describe it. It's just so amazing. We had an awesome time. :D
I'm running out of time and trying to go really fast. ;) Today was just as amazing. We got to do the drama three times today, the first two were in a huge park with tons of little kids. We got to play with them and paint their faces and such to invite people to the drama. It was a lot of fun. During our 2nd drama, we had a crowd of over 200 people. :D God is so amazing. The last drama we did in a park behind a local market. I got to lead someone to Christ again through a translator. :D
For our team alone, in the two days we've been out, we've had over 35 salvations. :D Praise the Lord! I'm not sure what the total count for all the teams is, but I'll find out tonight at FUAGNEM. I'm getting ready to go to dinner now, so I need to get going.
Love you all! :D <3333
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