Day 6 and 7 - Work Day 3&4

  
WEDNESDAY:
 Hola! Sorry for the late update! We got to sleep in a little bit, so we took advantage of the extra sleep last night.
    Today was another big day of work on the houses. We woke up this morning and had a great Ecuadorian breakfast of rolls, eggs, pineapple, and tomate de arbol juice (tree tomato that does that does not taste like a tomato at all!) When we finished breakfast we made our way over to the houses that we are painting. We got right to work on painting and doing the many other working projects that we had to do for the house.
    We had a bunch of fun memories to make the long day of work move along. For instance, part of our project is to paint the metal security grates over the windows with an oil based black paint. It smells like tar, it looks like tar, and it’s super sticky and thick, so we can tell that it tastes like tar too. ;) To clean it off our hands before eating and after the day is over we use gasoline because it is the only thing that will wash off this oil based paint. A lot of times the paint gets on places of our bodies other than our hands. This was seen just today when Zach jabbed Sydney in the face with his paint brushed covered in black tar. Needless to say, the facial expression and scream all made our day! Another great memory of today was the many down pours of rain that we had. In Ecuador it is very common for it to rain and then 5 minutes it to be sunny. Totally unpredictable! We all get so excited for our lunch break of the day.
    For lunch today we had a lot of great food, but the best was the amazing animal crackers. These animal crackers were delicious and fun treat; they even had owls and turtles! We were all ready to crash after this long day. One of the workers from maintenance invited us to his church ceremony tonight. We were all so excited to go! We stopped on the way to a delicious outdoor restaurant where they served us amazing meats, fish, and so much more. Most of us loved the food, but some did not (uhgmhmmmmm...JOSH--not a big fan of seafood or meat). We could even watch them make our food over the grill! Rafael met us at the restaurant around 7:30ish and by 7:45 we were packed in the van on our way to church. (Rafael is a maintenance worker who invited us to church with him). He was so excited for us to come worship with this community of believers. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but most of us were excited.
    We arrived at a small brightly lit building in the middle of a part of the jungle. Loud music filled our ears as we filed into the room. There were no more than 20-25 Ecuadorians there! We found our seats in the back and began to sing along. It was an experience that we will never forget! EVERYONE was singing, dancing, crying, and praising with such a great passion for the Lord. The pastor invited us forward to share a bit about why we are here. Guille talked about why we are here and what we have been doing the past couple days. He also shared Psalm 1 because he felt like God had placed it on his heart. Next, our group sang “Father, I Adore You” and “This is the Day” in english and spanish. The congregation asked for 2 members of our group to share their testimonies. Sydney and Zach each shared; each of their stories deeply touched everyone there. The pastor asked each of the members of the congregation to match up with someone from our team to pray with us. Once we each were matched up with others, our partner prayed for blessings on our family, our trip, and our future. We then got a chance to pray for them (even though most of us prayed in English). Overall, it was a really powerful experience and each of us grew from it.
    Even though we just prayed with this person, it was still an opportunity to make a connection and form a relationship with a Christ Follower here in Ecuador. After the service, we mingled and took pictures with the people from the congregation. We headed back, did reflections and devotions, then we crashed. It was a long (but good) day and we were exhausted!

THURSDAY:

Hello once again a todos!
    With our last day of work under the belt, we are looking forward to a fun weekend! Today was yet another good, but exhausting day. We slept an extra hour and started work late today. Once we got to the houses, we went right to work because we had a big day ahead of us. No cafecito today because of our later start. We were quickly assigned jobs and went to work priming and painting to finish the houses today! Over the course of the week we have been working on painting the outside of 2 different missionary homes. We scraped, primed, and painted to finish one and 1/2 houses! :) We felt accomplished by the end of the day. It was crazy because this morning, it was HOT and sunny up until after lunch. Then, a huge storm cloud rolled in and it began to pour on and off the rest of the afternoon. By about 5:15ish when we finished up, it was a constant downpour.
    We had empanadas for dinner that an Ecuadorian maid worked all morning to prepare for us. These are breaded pouches (sorta like a calzone) with chicken and veggies inside. They were delicious!!
    We came back to Hosteria and cleaned up after getting filthy and sopping wet from the rain and mud. 
    For our reflections and testimonies, Tim and Mary shared. They both did a really nice job and encouraged all of us in our walk in faith. It was awesome to hear more snippets of how God has been working in the lives of each and every person in our group.

    Thanks once again for the prayers and support! We really appreciate everything. God is working in amazing ways that are still being revealed to us. Our group is building a strong relationship with each other and in Christ. We can’t wait to see everyone Monday morning again!! Thanks!

With tons of love,
    Mallory, Erica, and Mariah

PS: Notes to family from...

Mallory--I think you had said that Lindsay was going to Papallacta. We are headed there Saturday! Maybe see her? I hope she has a great trip. Comment please! Love you and miss you!

Erica--Hey Everyone! I have been having such an amazing time on this trip! It has been life changing and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. I miss you tons! I can’t wait to see you on Monday morning. I hope everyone is doing well-say hi to everyone for me. Love you!

Mariah--Thank you so much Mom, Dad, Levi, and Gabe for your notes. They really made my WHOLE week and I really loved hearing from you. Thanks for encouraging me in everything I do. I can’t wait to tell you all about Ecuador! Love you!

Mallory and her prayer partner

Erica's Prayer Partner

Some of the girls after a big day of painting

A finished house!