New Update on Boxes!

Well it's been awhile since we got back from Quito in attempt to get our boxes out of the customs in Quito and got a lawyer to start the process again with the hopes of better news. Since then the kids have started school, we continue to get busier with the work here, we bought fish, Ceara had her fifth birthday, Cuenca days went by, we bought a dog and so much more. During all of this time we have been waiting as patiently as possible on news of our boxes. After a long time we finally heard back from the lawyer. First of all, he was not able to get our boxes but he did discover that the boxes in question actually were not located in the post office that we had been to when we went to Quito. In fact, they had never even made it out of the airport customs so that was one of the major reasons we did not get our boxes when we went to Quito. Why they couldn't tell us that when we were there is a question I don't think we will ever know the answer to.
However, since the boxes never left the actual customs at the airport, this lawyer was not able to get the boxes out as he has only ever worked with the post office customs. So we have been told to hire a customs officer to get our boxes out. This means again we have to return to Quito. With the kids in school now, it makes it more difficult to get us all there so Travis is giving up his time to make the trip to Quito. He will leave on Monday morning and arrive to Quito that same morning and deliver all the paperwork to this customs officer and hopefully we will have some sort of confirmation to whether or not we can get our boxes. Travis will stay until Wednesday night just in case it takes longer to get them.
During the time that he waits, he will also attempt to get his cedula, which is our equivalent to a social security number. We all need to get this done so he will forge the way and then whenever our whole family can return to Quito then we will already know what is needed for us all to get our cedulas too.
Today, I spent the morning getting a notarized document giving Travis the rights to get our boxes, as they have my name on them and I won't be going so that the kids can continue to go to school without more interruption and to take care of them as they have both been sick. Hopefully, this document is just a formality and won't really be needed but I figure better safe then sorry. I wouldn't want him getting there and the customs saying he can't get them out as it's my name on the boxes.
Please be in prayer as he travels and talks to the people there. That God will touch the hearts of those working and that they will see that we just are looking to get our personal belongings and nothing more. We hope this will be the end of our long saga of the boxes! Please just be in prayer that we can get them and not have to continue to worry about how to get them. And pray for the safe travel of Travis while he is away from us!

Things You Hope Never To See!

One of the things that I never really wanted to see in my life was a tarantula! But not that long ago Travis called me to the bottom floor of our house and told me that Nuvia had caught a weird bug. When I got to the bottom floor I found a dead tarantula on the floor which Nuvia had caught hiding in a corner of the room under my sewing machine. I couldn't believe that I had seen one and that it was caught in my house. Of course the next few days I was paranoid in finding another and moved the sewing machine so there was no place to hide but if one came in then maybe there would be more. We live next to a house that has a overgrown yard so Nuvia told us it probably came from there. A few days later, Calen came running into the house saying he saw a spider. Not thinking I ran outside expecting a little one on the ground and there along the far wall was another tarantula. Travis took a video of me killing the spider with raid and a broom. Hopefully, we won't have to do that again! Fortunately our neighbors finally cut down all the crazy overgrown plants and we haven't seen any for awhile now so hopefully their hiding places are now gone and they will look for a different overgrown area to live. But definitely not a thing that I wished to see in my life time. But don't worry for those who hope to visit we are prepared to kill all spiders and won't make you live on the bottom floor of our place. Haha! Just beware of overgrown plants!

School Play Day

PA290054, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

At almost every school in Ecuador, they start the year off by having a play day where everyone including the parents go to watch the kids do a little program at their school. Ceara's school held one of these days which was an experience for us. Each class made a special shirt and paraded around the school. They voted on a princess and prince for their class and they wore their most formal clothes and were cheered on as they tried to decide the king and queen of the school. They all won in the end but was fun to see them all dressed up nice. The parents had to sell food one the day and I got to serve desserts for about 30 minutes during that time. It was good to meet some of the other parents and to help in some way at her school. As well, a few classes choreographed a danced and performed for the parents. Ceara's class did a little performance and it was lots of fun watching Ceara as she loves to dance. If you want to see the video check it out on our flickr site. It was definitely a cultural experience for us and fun to see Ceara interacting with her friends at school.

A Date With The Pitufos/Smurfs

Family with Pitufos, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

On November 3rd, Cuenca celebrates their independence from Spain. The week is called Cuenca days and they celebrate with parades, fairs and circuses. Everyone gets the week off of school and jobs (as long as you work for the government). We decided to take in some of these days by going downtown to see many street vendors, many parades, lots of entertainment and cultural activities. One day we took Nuvia and her kids to a small fair and enjoyed seeing the kids go on a few rides and try some Colombian foods (which technically Nuvia's parents are Colombian) that were being sold at the fair. Another day we went as a family to another fair which hosted a circus and the smurfs or pitufos as they are called here. We decided to take in the circus and enjoyed watching a few trapeze artists, some clowns and a contortionist. At the very end the Smurfs came out, danced and got pictures taken with the kids. We had bought a little package with candies and happened to win a free photo with the Smurfs. Calen was a little afraid of them but Ceara was glad to be near Smurfette. Then of course we let the kids experience a few of the rides including a kid sized ferris wheel.Overall, Cuenca days was a great way to learn a bit more about the culture of the country but more of the city and the things that the people enjoy here.

Ceara Turns Five!

PA220026, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

It's hard to believe that five years ago, Ceara came into the world and changed everything. I definitely wouldn't change that day for anything and we celebrated with her five years of life. So much has changed having Ceara and she is such a joy in our lives. Ceara loves going to school, loves her friends and meeting new people. She can be stubborn and really likes things her way but in the end knows that we are the parents. She loves all things pink, purple and anything sparkly. If she could decided what to wear every day she would choose a dress or skirt and never wants to wear shoes or socks. She loves my little ponies, littlest pet shops and any sort of Barbie. She loves to draw or do crafts and never stops moving or talking. She is so much like her parents, although I'll let you decide in what ways. We love our little girl and all the ways that life has changed since she was born. Happy 5th Birthday Ceara!
We were able to celebrate her birthday here by having a party and inviting the girls from her school class and people from church or people we have met. We had a my little pony theme which she loved and enjoyed showing everyone a little bit of our Brazilian girl by having some hot dogs, Brazilian style. We played games like hot potato, pin the unicorn on the pony, pop the balloons, and find the ponies, topping it all off with a pinata! It was great to meet some of the kids from Ceara's school and to see other friends meet each other for the first time. Ceara loved every minute of the party and didn't want it to end.

Preaching in Spanish

P9250012, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

When we lived in Brazil, Travis became the permanent preacher for our church with the occasional help from our team mates and the nationals. He hasn't been preaching for awhile now since going back to Canada and now here in Ecuador. In September he was finally asked to preach here at the church. He did a great job and even did well not confusing his Spanish with Portuguese. Luckily, there are quite a few nationals here that do the preaching so we know that Travis won't be doing that as much as as he did in Brazil. This will allow him more time to focus on Evangelism rather then preparing for sermons. Although I am sure that the Ecuadorians will enjoy his sermons when he's asked to do one again.

Nuvia, Hannah, Seth and Dottie

IMG_2344, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

When Travis lived in Cuenca the first time about 15 years ago he knew a young girl named Nuvia who had just moved to the city as well. Travis and his team mates became really good friends with her as they were all new to the city. 15 years later we are here in Cuenca and Nuvia has returned with her three kids not that long before we got here. It is funny how God works through years and can make a connection with people from the past again.
Nuvia comes from a family of 13 kids on the coast of Ecuador in a city called Esmeraldas. When she was 16 her family asked a missionary in Cuenca to bring her to the city so that she could work and go to school, as with 13 kids they were struggling to make end meat. Nuvia finished her schooling in Cuenca and worked in the city for many years. She met her husband about nine years ago who is in the military and moved a bit throughout the country, her last home being in a place called Machala. She recently moved back to Cuenca and had been searching for steady work that allowed her to spend as much time with her kids as possible. Her two oldest are nine year old twins, Hannah and Seth. Hannah was named after one of Travis' team mates and Seth was originally named after Travis but when she went to register his name, it was too foreign of a name so they would not allow her to name him that. No matter what though, Travis was very honored to have been thought of. They are very smart, polite and never leave each other. Obviously they have a very special bond as twins. Dottie is 7 and very much an outgoing and extroverted child, so different from her siblings. Ceara and Dottie love being together and have very similar personalities that make it fun to watch them play together. Nuvia has been helping us around our house which gives me more free time to work on other stuff as well as gives her some money and the time she needs with her kids as well. Nuvia has become a great friend to me, helping me, correcting my Spanish and giving us insights on the culture and the city. Our kids love Nuvia's kids and we all spend lots of time together especially since they don't live very far away from us. It is pretty amazing that God would place her and us in the same place after so many years. And that our kids would be near the same ages and get along so well. Please pray for Nuvia and her kids as they still struggle to get by daily on Nuvia's wage and as they also adjust to being here in Cuenca.

Update on Boxes!

Well the 19th has come and gone and we are still not very far along with our boxes. We finished the paper work that was asked of us and sent it to Quito but received word last Thursday that it still wasn't good enough and that they want one more thing.
The next piece of paper work that they want is a contract in Ecuador, however as we are on a missionary visa, we cannot get an Ecuadorian contract without being paid in Ecuador. And since we are paid from Canada that makes getting a contract difficult.
After talking to a few other people we decided to hire a lawyer who also happens to be Jenny's nephew. He works in Quito and has been a lawyer to the customs people for many years so he has quite a few connections with the customs. We have now sent him everything that we were asked for from the customs people and he said that we shouldn't have been asked to send everything that we have to them. And in fact shouldn't have to send anything else to them except for our visas that show we work in Ecuador and are missionaries that get paid from outside of the country. He also said it was pretty strange that they were asking for so much stuff, when we clearly will be living here for many years.
We hope that this lawyer will be able to do something for us about our boxes that we haven't been able to do. At least be able to talk to the customs officer in charge and not just the in between people like we have only been able to talk to. Please be in prayer that the lawyer can get our boxes for us and that we can start putting this frustrating process behind us. Please pray that the lawyer will get back to us quickly and have some good news about our boxes.

Boxes!

When we moved to Ecuador we decided that we'd like to bring a little more stuff with us then we did to Brazil. One is because we now have kids and we wanted to bring some of their special toys, books and so on. And two is because there were a few times when in Brazil that we wished we had brought other things with us. So instead of paying extreme amounts of money to add a luggage to the trip, we decided to mail us our stuff here so that when we got here, they would arrive soon after.
However, now after being here two months and not getting our boxes when we thought we would, I sometimes wonder if it would have been easier and cheaper to just have brought the stuff as extra luggage. We sent four boxes of stuff here and only received one, which as it turns out was the one we expected to arrive last. All the others were stopped at the customs at the post office in Quito. Turns out that they supposedly were all overweight and couldn't be shipped to Cuenca. So we were asked to fill out some paperwork and bring it to Quito.
Two weeks ago we went to Quito with everything that they had asked us for but then we were told they needed other paperwork to show that we are staying in Ecuador for a long time. Well, we thought we had done everything during that week we were in Quito, even extending our trip because we thought that we were going to get the boxes yet returned to Cuenca without them. Unfortunately, they asked for one more piece of paperwork and gave us till the 19th to comply or we wouldn't get our boxes ever or even get them sent back to Canada. We even discovered that technically two of the three boxes were not overweight but because they arrived on the same day and on the same plane, those two boxes were joined together making them overweight. It was a very frustrating week and very hard on the kids as we spent numerous hours at the post office in Quito with nothing to show for it.
These past two weeks that we have been back in Cuenca, we have been trying to get our paperwork done and finally sent it to the Representative of the customs in Quito on Wednesday. Today, Travis was able to talk to someone in the post office who got in touch with the representative, who told him that they were unable to confirm with the customs if the paperwork is enough to get our boxes. So again we wait to find out if we can get our boxes. Monday, Travis is supposed to go back to the Post Office to find out if this last paperwork we got done is enough and then we would head back to Quito to pick up our boxes. This time we won't bring the kids as one they are now in school and two we don't want to get there and for the customs to say no and then have one more thing to do when we get there.
The main thing that we have in those boxes are the books and notes that Travis needs for the work that we will do here. As well, they contain some sentimental items from both Canada and Brazil to help us remember those special places and to also remind our kids where they were born. If it weren't for those two main things, we would be tempted not to even worry about the boxes but in lots of ways we really want to keep those things, we don't own a lot but the things we do own mean a lot to us.
So please be in prayer that God will work in the hearts of those who make the decisions about releasing our boxes and let them be happy with everything that we have provided to prove we plan to stay here for many years. Please be in prayer that Monday brings good news that we can go get our boxes and that we have a safe trip to Quito and back.

Home Sweet Home!

P9070276, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

We have officially been in our new place for a month now and are definitely glad to have a place to call our own. You can see Ceara, Travis and Calen standing outside our living room window, above is Ceara's bedroom, as you can tell with the barbie curtains. Our place is in a closed condo with three houses and four apartments. We have three floors in our place the first floor is the laundry room, kitchen, living and dining space and a guest bathroom. The second floor is three bedrooms and two bathrooms and the top floor is an open space and a bathroom that we have made into the kids play space. It's been great having a separate place for the kids to go play and not have to worry about cleaning up every night or when company might come over.
Besides the play room the kids have lots of space outside to run around as you can see in the picture the large driveway that they can play in. The great thing is that there is a locked gate so they can't just leave the condo area and that there is very little car traffic so they can still play in the road without worry.
We have a couple that lives in the last house of the condo with a grand daughter Calen's age and she comes over to play all the time or the kids go over there too. As well there is another house that has their parking space in the condo but technically is not a part of the condo. They also have a boy around Ceara's age and he often comes over to play too. So it's been a great move for our kids being able to play a lot with the Ecuadorian kids.
We finally have all the things we need for our house like the fridge, stove and washer, dryer. They finally were hooked up so we are glad to be able to finally cook and wash our own clothes. Our couch arrived the same day as our dining room table which ended up as a surprise as they had said it wouldn't be ready till this week. And Travis and I finally got our bed frame so now we don't have to sleep on the floor. Which since I am getting up at 6am every morning to get the kids ready for school, it has been a little hard waking up since I am still a night owl, but now it's not so hard to wake up in the morning knowing I don't have to crawl up off the floor, haha. The only thing that we have to get still are the kids bed frames. I had originally made a design for their beds, a princess bed and a race car bed. We were going to get one of the church members who is a carpenter to make the beds as we knew he was in need of the work, however, they have recently moved back to his home town so we are stuck with just the designs. So now we either have to find someone else to make them or we go with a second option and buy them already built beds. It may just be easier now to buy them already built beds even though it would have been fun to make custom beds here.
Last Friday we hosted our first group of people over to our place in honor of Travis' birthday! We invited all of our team and then the families that we have been studying the Bible with. As well, Bolo's daughter Valeria is going out with Mateo and his birthday was the same day as Travis' so we had his family over too. It was great to be able to host something at our place and know that it won't be the last time. All the kids had a blast playing upstairs, it's a pretty big room but the whole floor when they were done was covered in toys. But at least they enjoyed it and they kept busy which was nice as all the adults were able to chat without having to worry about the kids.
We barbecued chicken wings and added a few new flavors that the Ecuadorians loved. I made Greek and potato salad which went over well then then to top it all off a carrot cake and cream cheese icing. That went over so well that I will now be translating the recipe to give to everyone that was there. It is funny what things we make that end up being favorites for the locals of the countries we go to. It was great having everyone over and we hope to do a few more things like that here, where people see God through the way that we live and give to others.
Another thing that we enjoy is the neighborhood that we live in. Just a block from where we live is a great park for the kids, it's one that's a little off of the main beat so the playground itself is in better condition then others. As well there is another park just two blocks away that have a few different play ground equipment's. We are also near a little store so if we find we are out of something we don't have to go far to go get it. As well, there is a great bread store near us, a hardware store and a soccer field that the kids could join. So just in this little area you can find everything you need in a 5 or 10 minute walk. It's definitely been a great move for us and we know that God is already making way for us as we continue to meet new people and make more connections here. It is so nice to have a home sweet home! Please continue to pray for us and the people that we will meet just because of where we have moved.

School Begins!

Ceara in her sports uniform!

Calen on his first day of school.

 This past week Ceara and Calen have been experiencing school for the first time in Ecuador. Ceara is in primeria basica, which is the equivalent to kindergarten in Canada. Last year she went to her first preschool class for three days a week between 9am and 12pm. This time her schedule is much different. I wake up at 6am to get her breakfast ready and then wake her up by 6:15 where she gets dressed, eats breakfast and then we head out the door to wait for her bus which comes at 6:45am every morning. She gets to school around 7:30 ish once the bus has picked up all the other kids. They have a little snack break at 10:45am and then she is done school at 12:45pm where she heads back on the bus and doesn't get home until 1:20pm. She is really enjoying her school, everyone of course speaks Spanish so she is having to learn a lot quickly. There is one exception of another girl who has recently moved to Cuenca who also speaks only English so the two of them are pretty good friends and I am sure that they are trying to learn Spanish together. But at least they aren't alone in the process. There are about 15 kids in her class so she has more chance to have one on one time with the teacher. We hear Ceara everyday speaking a little bit more Spanish. Even though she wakes up a little grumpy she always comes home with a huge smile on her face and tells us all about her day. I know she loves school.

Ceara just about to get on her bus.

Calen in his new school.

Calen in his school uniform.

 Calen also is going to school but he is in preschool. It is his first time to go to school and be away from me for a long period of time. He has always said since Ceara started school that he needed to go to but it's a little different then he realized. Calen's school is only a two minute walk from our house, one block away. We really enjoyed finding this school because it was close and because the classes are only with six kids in a class with a teacher. It's exactly what Calen needs, some friends but also some more one on one time with the teacher to learn Spanish. His teachers say he's pretty quiet in school and doesn't talk much but I know he is absorbing it all and once he feels more comfortable going every day then he will start to come out of his shell. We hear him talking more in Spanish every day so we know he is learning what he needs to. He starts school at 9am and is done at 12pm but can stay there till 1pm if we'd like. Everyday it is the same thing, "I don't want to go to school" but at the end of his time he's happy and excited that he went. He never has cried when we leave him but I think it's more that he'd like to play and enjoy a little more of his morning before he goes to school. It's been a bit of an adjustment for us to be up earlier in the day but it's been really great to see the kids grow and be excited about school. And it does give me more time during the day to do the things I need to do such as writing this blog, haha. It's hard to believe that those little kids we had in Brazil are now old enough to be in school here in Ecuador, where has the time gone? Please keep our kids in your prayers as they continue to go to school and learn more about this culture and it's language.

Calen is Three!

P8270454, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

August 27th was Calen's Birthday! He turned three this year and it's so crazy. The time has flown by so quickly. I can't believe that he is already three, though most of the time he seems older. In fact he's so much taller then a three year old that most people ask us if he's four.
We decided at the last minute to have a little celebration. We decided to host the party at CEDI and we enjoyed having about 30 people come to celebrate his day. Calen was so excited that he couldn't even wait to open his presents till the end, so we ended up opening them up half way between before he ended up having a meltdown. He got lots of cars for his birthday. In fact for the whole month before his birthday he kept asking for a fire truck and a 'lofty', for those who have ever watched 'Bob the Builder' you know what we mean. So he was pretty happy when we got one of each of those. We also got a bunch of pizzas and ordered the giant size, however, it really was giant! But the great thing was we were able to give a bunch of left over people to our guest to take home, so they were all pretty happy.
Travis even got to teach the Ecuadorians how to play baseball. Overall, it was a great party and even though Calen is more introverted, he enjoyed his party!
It's hard to believe that Calen is three, I am so excited for the new things that he will learn and the ways that he is going to grow. He's a pretty quiet guy but once he gets talking, it's hard to get him to stop. He has lots of stories to tell and he's our funny man. He also is strong and can push his older sister around any time he wants. He loves cars and spiderman and playing any kind of sports. He's such a special guy! Happy Third Birthday Calen!

A Place to Call Home!

P8030340, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

We have been searching since we arrived in Cuenca for a place to call our own. We have been living in a temporary furnished apartment which has been great. It is located on a very main street, across from one of the three rivers in the city and a big enough space for the kids to play and not feel too claustrophobic. It's also near a lot of things like a park, great stores, the mall, good restaurants and in walking distance from many things, including Bolo and Jenny's place.
So we have had an idea of where we want to live and have scoured the streets looking for houses for rent. Renting in Cuenca is not at all like Canada. Usually we think about looking in the classifieds or word of mouth from friends or family. Here finding a place to rent is either by word of mouth or by walking along the streets looking for a sign in the house window. There are a few classified ads but not many and very few have been anywhere near the area that we would like to live.
Even a realtor in Cuenca is not common to be able to find a place to rent. Most realtors sell houses and that is all, very few even bother to find places to rent to people. And it has only been in the past few years that realtors have even begun to sell property.
Fortunately on one of our walks, Travis happened upon a realtor company that was called New Life. He wondered if this was just the name as I suppose when you buy a house, you sort of starting a new life. But he happened to come upon four men having a bible study and asked them if they would be willing to help us find a place to live. We wonder if this was a coincidence at all or that God was bringing us to Christian people who would find us a good place to live for a decent price.
So with the help of these realtors, Bolo and Jenny and a few other people, we continued to look. Many places once they found out that we were foreigners wanted to charge us more for rent so we didn't look at a lot of places that we ended up calling. In fact we had so few options we wondered at all if we would find a place anytime soon.
During one of our days with Bolo and Jenny, we headed home walking the streets again and found a little house not far from our apartment for rent. We had Bolo and Jenny call and book a time to see it. I went with Jenny one day to look and was glad to see that it was a little small but maybe something that we could start out in. Unfortunately, once they realized who we were the price went up again and Jenny told us that we could find something better. By that time though we were going into another month at our temporary apartment and my hopes were not high on finding a house. After all we had only seen one house for rent during this whole time.
On August 8th we got a phone call from one of the realtors we had talked to before saying that he had a place that we could see. So we decided to check it out. They had told us approximately where it was located so we went walking all along that area that morning to see if we could find it. We had to wait till the afternoon to be able to actually go to the house. But during our walk we found a new park that is great for the kids so even though we couldn't really see where the house might have been we hoped it was near the park so that we'd have a place to take the kids.
That afternoon we met the realtors and the wife of the owner of the house and took a little tour. It is a three floor house with three bedrooms and four bathrooms. It is located in a gated condo which was great as the kids would be able to play outside without us worrying about cars and strangers. There are two other houses in the condo and four apartments. The top floor is a large open area which is probably what sold us the most besides the closed condo. Though the bottom floor where we would entertain is smaller then we hoped for, the top floor makes up for it.
We thanked the realtor and the wife and decided to think it over for the rest of the day. But after thinking it over we decided that it was great in many ways. One way is that is really is less then a block to that new park we found, it's right in the area we wanted, it's a quiet neighborhood, there is opportunity to meet our neighbors and it's got lots of space for the kids to play. So we called up the guys to say we wanted the place and on August 10th we signed the contract for our new place.
We are excited to be moving to this new place but for now we are still stuck in the temporary apartment, well at least until Saturday. We still have to furnish our place and buy the stove and fridge as those do not come with rentals, unlike Canada. However that has been taking us time to do that as you can always get a much better deal if you pay with cash rather then with cheque or credit card. So we are just waiting on a money transfer from Canada to our bank account here in Cuenca so that we can finally move into our place. Thanks to Carol for helping us get the transfer going, hopefully by the middle of the week we can start buying things like beds, washer,dryer, stove, fridge, table and couch, just to name a few essential things. But we praise God for a new home to be able to start making Cuenca our home away from home.
And by the way, the house in the picture is not our new place, you can see the pictures of our place on our flickr. Thanks for all your prayers on finding a house and please be in prayer that our transfer of funds goes through too.

Bible Studies and Visiting

One of the things that we are supposed to do in the first year here is to get to know the culture, language and not do too many things right away as we try to adjust to being here in Ecuador. Though these things are important we have realized pretty quickly that our adjustment time is not going to take as long as we thought it would. With Travis already knowing Spanish, speaking fluently (with  a few Portuguese words thrown in) and I already having a head start and being able to communicate decently for right now, we realize that we aren’t going to have to spend a lot of time on the language.

So one of the things that we are doing, that we usually wouldn’t do for awhile are some bible studies. We are meeting with two families right now and maybe soon a third. Jorge, Karina and their almost one year old daughter, Maria-Emilia have been going to church here for awhile and we are meeting with them on Tuesday nights along with members of both sides of their family. And last week a friend named Javier who is really open to hearing the Gospel joined the group.

On Wednesday nights we are meeting with Ivan, Betty and their daughter Angelica, and their sons, Christian and Jonathan. They actually live about three blocks away from our new house and their daughter is just about three years older than Ceara but they are already good friends. Ivan goes to the same gym as Travis and I am joining Betty at the park at nights doing Dance therapy. We hope that these things that we have in common with them will allow them to see God more clearly in their lives and how much He wants a relationship with them.

Another thing that we have done is join with Bolo and Jenny and hosted a meal after church on Sunday to visit with some members better. We invited Nelson and his wife the first meal we did. Nelson is a carpenter and at this time of year he has not had a lot of work so they have been struggling a bit with things. They have four kids and are originally from Esmeralda which is on the coast. We are thinking of hiring Nelson to make a few pieces of furniture for our place since he is really good at it. We have seen some of his work in Bolo and Jenny’s house. 

We hope to continue to have Bible studies and visit with more of the church members in the months and years to come. We are glad that this time around we can already be at work only one month into being in the country. We know that God has already been working on the lives of people here and we pray that He can continue to use us even now to make a difference in the lives of the people. Please be in prayer for these bible studies and the ones to come. 

Small Familiar Things

As we have been here awhile now, there have been times when we think to ourselves, “Oh wouldn’t it be nice if we could eat this, or get that or see this?”  But the longer we are here the more things that we end up seeing that are familiar to us in one way or another. One of the more major grocery stores in the city is called Supermaxi, this store we have found does offer some of the things that we are used to back home. And even has more selection then we used to find in Brazil. For instance, we can get Kraft dinner more expensive of course but not outrageous and for those moments of weakness we could spurge and get a box or two. As well we have syrup and pancakes, easy make muffins, tortillas and a few more things too. It is nice to think that we could make burritos for a meal if we wanted, which in Brazil we really wished we could have done more.

In the main mall in the city at another store called, Coral, we actually found that many of the toys that we have in Canada we can find here and even for the same or almost the same price. Calen is so happy to see he can get Thomas the train and Ceara is happy to see we can get the Littlest Pet Shops. Not that we have got any of them but it is nice to know for birthdays and Christmas there will be things that we can get here and not spend three times the amount for the same product that we can get at home in Canada.

As well we have been able to even watch some new movies here too, we have seen the Zoo movie with the animals that talk and the Smurf movie. The only difference is the time frame that the movie comes out and that almost all of the movies are in Spanish, something to get used to but at least when people back home talk about at movie being really good, we might actually get to watch it here.

Then of course there is the restaurants, there is always the food that reminds us most of home. We are lucky to have KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s here in the city. It is still amazing to us though that there is no McDonald’s. I am sure that one day there will be soon. But even though we get to still have some of our favourite foods, we have founds lots of great new foods to try and end up getting those more often then the foods that remind us more of home.

Even though we are glad to have these small familiar things, we are happier for the new things that we get to try, get to see and get to experience every day. 

A Trip To the Capital: Quito

IMG_1912, originally uploaded by A Family On A Mission.

One of the things that we had to do when we got to Ecuador was get registered with the government within the first 30 days of being in the country. When we got here on the first day we tried to do this before our final flight to Cuenca, only to arrive at the office 5 minutes after 2pm and the offices were not seeing any more people. Fortunately, there were quite a few other people who put up an argument and we actually got to see someone. That day they gave us a list of things that we needed in order to register, so it wasn’t a wasted trip. So with that list we made the trip to Quito once again on the 25th of July till the 27th in order to register. Hoping that we had everything they needed we got off the plane at 9am headed to the hotel to drop off our luggage and went straight to the offices, being prepared to wait a long time. Unfortunately we arrived to the offices and it was no longer there. They had moved within the two weeks that we had been in Cuenca. Luckily they had left a note to where they had relocated and the taxi driver new exactly where it was, about two blocks behind the hotel that we booked. Now headed to the right location we got out of the taxi, entered the building, waited about ½ hour which is good and were told that we had everything we needed and that they needed to keep our passports till the Wednesday morning. Luckily we had decided to stay that long, ‘Just in Case.’ So we ended back at our hotel by 10:30am with nothing else to do but return to the offices on the Wednesday morning to pick up our passports again.
With basically two days to wait for our passports, we decided to take the opportunity to visit the local attractions. We really thought that we would be in the country awhile before we got to see some of these things, so it was great to have the time to do so. So that first day we decided to go to one of the tallest mountain peaks in the city which had a lift to take you to the top. It was a very hot day outside so we had left our jackets at the hotel but once we got to the top we realized how high we were because it was so much colder. As well the whole taxi ride up to the lift just kept getting steeper and steeper and the harder it was to breath. (For those of you who don’t know, the mountains in Ecuador are extremely high and the air is very thin so sometimes it’s hard to breathe. We even struggled for the first while climbing up the stairs to our first floor temporary apartment.) At the top of the mountain they had a few areas to look through the telescopes to look at the city, it is huge and you can’t even see it all. As well we took a little hike around the top. Not all the way of course since we weren’t dressed properly and I struggled with breathing on the small part that we did, but the views are definitely worth it. We hope one day to be able to go back once the kids are a little older and we are better equipped and maybe make it to the very top.
Our second day in Quito we went to the Mitad Del Mundo, which means the middle of the world. This is where we can stand on the equator and either be in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere. They have a great huge statue of the world and so many people take pictures like you are holding the world in your hands. And yes we did do this, you can see for yourself on our flickr pictures. Some of the things that you can see there is that yes the water does go down the drain one way in the North and the other way in the South. Inside the statue of the world, they now have a museum about the people of Ecuador. It was really interesting. Travis found it pretty neat to go back to a place he’d been years before and to see how much had changed during that time.
After we headed to the middle of the city of Quito where the downtown used to be, to a place called the Panicello. It is a huge statue of an angel on a small hill overlooking the downtown area. Inside the statue they had a museum showing how the statue was put together, each part was numbered on the inside, we even got to go right to the top and walk out on the outside just under the angel. And you could see the city stretched out forever. Travis couldn’t believe how much the city had grown and changed. Of course the day wouldn’t be complete without at trip to a restaurant that we haven’t been to in forever, yes, a TGI Fridays and yes it was yummy!
The Wednesday came and we headed back to the government offices to pick up our passports, we had a little longer of a wait but got our passports back without anything else being needed. So much easier and faster then when we did things with the government in Brazil. So still having time before our flight in the evening we headed to a little amusement park called the Volcano, so that the kids could play and have some fun. While we were there we met another Christian family living in a small town who worked at a Christian school. The husband was Ecuadorian but the wife was American and their two boys spoke English so all the kids had fun playing together and we were able to visit and talk about the work that brought us to Quito. It was a great trip and not as bad that we thought it could be with having to wait and get paperwork done. Hopefully every time we have paperwork with the government it goes as smoothly as it did this time.

Family Chats

Yesterday we were finally able to chat a bit with family, we finally had a connection good enough to video online with Travis' family. Hopefully today we will be able to talk with mine. Lena, our niece and our kids basically laughed the first ten minutes that we talked. Must have been awhile since they have seen each other. It's been good having our own space after a year of living with Travis' parents but at the same time it is hard to be away from our families. That is the one thing that is hard about being missionaries, not only do we have to give up time with our families but they too have to sacrifice time with us so we can be here. However, now that there is internet available and online chatting places, it makes being away for so long a little easier to bear. So I am sure we will be spending enough time online with our families to keep the time apart not seem so long. I am so thankful for the time that we did get to spend with our families this past year and hopefully in the not to distant future some of them will be able to visit us here in Cuenca. So for those who do live close to their families, give them a big hug just because you can! And we'll just send our hugs through cyberspace!

Laundry and Flying!

After being here almost two weeks and even longer then that travelling, we had a ton of laundry. Luckily, we have a laundromat just down the street from our house so we were able to take it there to get cleaned. I bet it looks funny watching two adults followed by their kids and two huge suitcases walking down the street. It's not a laundry mat like back home where you actually do the washing but more like a dry cleaners where you drop it off and pick it back up. For two large suitcases we only paid $12, crazy! And that included washing, drying, and folding. So cheap but it will be nice to have a place to do our own laundry, so that I can be the one making sure the stains get out.
After taking the laundry we took the kids to a new park to play, they had lots of fun though it was still quite muddy from the rain the previous days. We got to see some cows too on our walk to the park. They are often brought to the rivers to drink the water and eat the green grass by the edges. It's funny to be walking in a residential area and see a person leading their cow to the river. We have even seen goats, chickens and many dogs. You never know what you might see when talking a walk to the park.
Once we finally made it downtown to CEDI, we did a little internet and then Bolo picked us up to take us to get our police id's for our bank accounts. Once we got there we had to wait for about an hour and then were told that we can't finalize the id's until we are officially registered in the country. So we decided to book our flights to Quito. Remember we did try to do that when we landed in Ecuador and were told we needed to do some stuff first in order to do it but didn't have time before our flight to Cuenca. So we called up Anshy (Bolo's daughter that just got married) as she works for a travel agency here in the city and she was able to book us some flights to Quito. So we will head to Quito next Monday morning and come back on Wednesday night. We hope to get it all done on the Monday but thought we better spend a bit more time there for the just in case. Hopefully, once we are officially registered in the country we will be able to get our id's and bank accounts. We'll keep you updated on that process, however we did find that we can write out cheques here and get them cashed for u.s. dollars (which is the local currency here) for a minimum fee, which for us is great since we can't really get out cash with our regular bank cards. So until we can get those bank accounts, that is a great alternative.

Church, lunch and SOCCER!

Sunday brought another day to worship with the main congregation here in the city. Calen and I joined Ceara and Travis this time and found the people very friendly and excited that we were here to work in the city. Bolo presented to the church and they prayed for us and the people that we would have an influence on. Ceara and Calen got to go to Sunday school and did well, it was good that they were able to be in the same class although Ceara acts as if she's always gone there, haha. Of course they are still learning Spanish and trying to understand what is going on but I think they both know more then they let on, especially Ceara, she remembers Portuguese enough that I think it's helping her with the Spanish.

After church we got to spend some time with Bolo, Jenny and their family. Now that the wedding plans are over and the work with LST that kept them very busy, they were able to take some time with us talking, sharing and just hanging out. Jenny hasn't been feeling well for awhile now and this past week was really struggling with her health. Finally though they saw a doctor who realized what she was being treated for wasn't really what she needed and ran some tests. She has some sort of bacteria in her body that makes it hard for her to eat and keep anything down. She's now on antibiotics and a strict diet to help with this. Hopefully this is what is really wrong and she can start feeling better (she already says she does). But please continue to pray for her as she deals with her health. But despite being sick she wanted to make us lunch, so we ate really good that day. It's always the basic rice, beans and chicken but very delicious. Travis tells Jenny every time that she should open a restaurant.

And of course no day would be complete without a game of soccer! No we did not play, however, Brazil was playing and so we sat around watching the game, the kids went out to play with the neighborhood girls and Jenny and I mostly chatted. Brazil lost the game but we say that is because Ceara and Calen were not watching, since they are really the ones who cheer for Brazil having been born there. The other day though was a harder game to watch as Brazil played Ecuador. Who do you cheer for? The place where you lived and brought kids into the world or the place you currently live? Well the kids picked their native land, I was undecided and I don't think Travis could decide either though for him, either one was good. Oh the things you end up talking about when you live in the land of soccer!

No More Stitches!

Today was a big day for Calen! He got his stitches out! Yeah, I can’t believe that only a week ago he was in my arms bleeding and needing to get stitches to mend the gash in his head. He was very brave as the same doctor came to remove the stitches ( a little leery of course when he first saw him), only crying a little thinking that the doctor was going to hurt him more. But after it all, he even gave the doctor a high five. The doctor said that Calen was healing well and that the wound just needed time to dry out by itself, so we are so grateful that nothing else was wrong and that God was watching over him even though he fell. I am glad too as it’s hard as a mom to see your child hurt and not be able to do anything to help them. But he is good and will have a great story to tell his friends and family one day about his time in Cuenca. We celebrated with some time at the mall for the kids to play and even a little ice cream!

Of course no day would be complete for Travis if he didn’t get to spend some time at CEDI listening to the riders play football over the internet, though not the outcome he really wanted! But fun none the less! However, leaving CEDI he was unable to reset the alarm and the rest of the night we all spent time up there trying to get it going again. Even after getting Bolo and the guy from the alarm company, nothing was fixed so that wasn’t great. But we have been told, this happens from time to time so just to be patient and learn who to call and what to do. I think we experienced this a few times in Brazil (Hey guys? Randy, Russ, Matt?) too! Got to have a few of these times to experience here as well. (It’s fixed now though!)

Mail Taxes and Banking!

Today was another day at CEDI, checking internet, doing banking, trying to send a few emails and do blogs, post pictures and so on. Seems like that is the only time we can get on the internet is at the CEDI or the mall, though it is much easier and faster at CEDI. We also got a package in the mail, well technically it was a letter to say that we have something but looks like we are going to have to pay taxes on our mail. So please don’t send us anything until we know for sure as it looks like it will be a lot to pay for the taxes. Unfortunately we have sent some things for our house through the mail and if we have to pay taxes, we are now a little worried about how much we will be paying for our stuff to come through the mail. Hopefully, it won’t be as much as we imagine it to be. We will find out soon though. It’s a good thing that Bolo is around to help us sort all these types of things out, it definitely wasn’t that easy in Brazil since we really didn’t know anyone to help in that way.

Speaking of Bolo, he went with us to find out if we could get a bank account here in Cuenca. In Brazil we never actually were able to open an account during the whole five years that we lived there so it was a surprise when the process here is not that hard. One thing we need is like a registration card or a type of police id to say that we are living in Cuenca, the other is money to put into the account, an address and a reference which will be Bolo. Unfortunately we won’t be able to get the account yet as we have to go back to Quito to get registered in Ecuador and then get the police ID card then off to the bank and we will have an account in Ecuador. So in a lot of ways that will help us with many types of things that we may need to do here, but just having a bank account will be great.

Portuguese or Spanish/Spanish or Portuguese?

As was planned we headed to CEDI to help the girls study Portuguese. I actually had a hard time at first as I had been trying to speak more Spanish and forget Portuguese these past few days, and the months before we came here. It was fun though being able to laugh a little bit at Travis as he tried to say things in Portuguese and not doing well at it or trying to remember a word and not knowing if that word was the Spanish or Portuguese word. Overall, I think we were able to help out the girls with their pronunciation and give them better ways to say something for their oral test. (They said to us later that they did very well on their test)

Afterwards we started to look downtown at the furniture stores (there happen to be three just on the same street as CEDI), but as we had to remember that most stores are closed between 1 and 3. So we only were able to get an idea of what we would like to get once we have a permanent home to live in. Later that night we went to a pizza place for supper that had a bunch of play structures for the kids to play on and met a really nice waitress that was excited that we were here as missionaries. She started to tell us of some Austrians that she had worked with in the past that were missionaries here about 10 years ago. It is really interesting sometimes how open people are with you, especially when they think your kids are cute. So many of the taxi drivers here are really open too, we’ve heard many stories now of their lives, their kids or vacations they have just come from. Cuenca seems to be a very open city and God definitely is working on the hearts of people here. Keep on praying, I know there are many who will come to know Him as we work here.

Meetings and Play Time

We finally got to meet today with Bolo and Jaime who are our teammates to discuss the what, how, when and why’s of us being here. It was good to reconnect and plan for the future of our work here. Of course right now most of what we are doing is settling in but after that we will be working on the continuation of those that were part of the Let’s Start Talking program just before we got here. Another thing Travis will do, probably starting in January is teaching some classes at the institute which I will start referring to as CEDI which is the new name for the school since the paperwork has been finalized. So don’t forget I will start referring to the school as CEDI. It’s a long technical name in Spanish so I won’t bother going into it all for you, so just CEDI. Another thing will be starting on the bible studies that Bolo and Jaime already have going on in the city, worshipping with the existing church right now and for me learning to speak better Spanish. It may not seem like a lot to many of you but trust me that is a brief statement of what we will end up doing. I am sure once we get more settled in, you will hear of more work that we are doing.

After meeting with the guys for quite awhile and the kids having played with the secretary of CEDi’s kids we needed to let our kids do something fun for a bit, so we hopped into a taxi and took them to play at the mall. They have a place called PlayGo, it’s like a big Chucky Cheese and Dinobouncers in one(for those who know those two places in Regina). So lots of games and rides to play on as well as those blow-up castles and slides. Those are what our kids like the best, to jump and slide down, it sure lets them wear off their exorbitant amounts of energy that they have. And it’s a good place for us as well because we can check our email while they are playing. While there we were able to stop by Coral (another grocery/all-in-one store) and picked up some heaters. Yes I know, it’s crazy but the mountains is not all that warm at night. Especially when you live in concrete buildings and have tiled floors. So when it gets to be about 5 or 6 degrees out at night it gets a little chilly in the house. Let me just say how much my toes love me now!

While the kids were taking their naps, Travis headed back to CEDI to meet with some girls who have been studying Portuguese. They were having a test in a few days and wanted to make sure that they were speaking it well enough as it was an oral test. When he got back Travis told me how he was struggling to help them enough since he’d already started switching to Spanish in his mind. So he offered me to help the next day. Yeah a great way to confuse my mind too!

Two Hour Lunch!

After almost being here a week we decided to take a little walk through our neighbourhood. Travis had already been doing a bunch of exploring but he wanted us to see everything too. It was neat to see how close we live to a grocery store we went to when we came in November 2009 and how close we are to Bolo and Jenny’s home. It was neat to see how many little stores there are, how close it is to walk to the soccer stadium and to the two main malls. There are so many stores to buy bread and the main things for your house as well as many little restaurants or barbeque places (they specialize in cuy which is guinea pig).

After our walk we went downtown to explore some more, found a good little restaurant to eat at and looked at a bunch of stores that sell appliances. We found one that seems to be able to provide us everything we may need at a great price. There are lots of things to find downtown but we have to make sure that we don’t go between 1 and 3 when most of the stores still close for lunch. Can you imagine what that would be like if we did that in Canada? Two hours for lunch for everyone? It is nice because that means a lot of families have time to eat lunch together!

That evening we went to the other mall that, get this, has a KFC. Although that might be a good thing in the months to come having a familiar restaurant, we didn’t actually eat there but let the kids play on their play structure and looked to see what there was in this mall. Afterwards we took a little walk to a taco place, it actually makes pretty decent Mexican food which is nice to see we have more options then the rice, beans and meat that is usually served at every place. And this happens not to be far from our place right now either. Which is good seeing that we don’t have much stuff right now to make a lot of food from the house. Hopefully in the next while we can find a more permanent house to live in and start setting up the things we need in order to do just that. 

Rain and a Spider!

Monday brought with it a huge rainfall. So the river that is just outside our temporary apartment was rushing by and overflowing it’s sides, in fact the day earlier the kids had stood throwing rocks into the river that was at least three feet down and now it’s up past where they were standing. It is crazy how much rain can affect the rivers but when you live in the mountains that is the only way for it to come down from the top. The benefit of the rain is that it helps power the city as they use hydro power from the rivers to keep the city with energy.

As it wasn’t a great day to be outside playing so we decided to check out a few stores for furniture and other essentials for our new home once we move in. One of the places we heard of before coming here from a blog of a couple from Nova Scotia that are now living here is a place called Su Kasa, it’s a more like a store you can find in Canada.  It has more of the brands that we are familiar with and the types of home things that we recognize but also with that comes higher prices, so although it was great to go look at that store, we most likely won’t be buying from there.

After that store we stopped at a little cafe for lunch and the four of us ate for $5 u.s. dollars a large meal. In a lot of ways things here can be cheaper, I really don’t know anywhere in Canada that four of us can eat a meal for $5, well except at Little Caesars pizza which had just opened up in Regina before we left.

Afterwards we went to the grocery store called Super Maxi and found that they had an excellent selection of foods, including many foods that we are accustomed to in Canada for not much more then the prices we would usually pay for. Some of those things were pancake mixes and syrup, Kraft dinner and Travis’ favourite Mexican foods. We picked up some of the essentials and some things just to try and headed home for the kids to take a nap. During the kids naps, Travis has usually taken walks around the neighbourhood to scope out the things that our near us.

After their naps we took a walk to the mall for supper and as we walked by one place I happened to walk through a spider web, I didn’t really think much about it until we were at the mall and I felt a sharp pain on my neck, where a spider who had gotten stuck between my jacket and neck decided to take a bite out of me. Of course being in a foreign country where I know they have poisonous spiders I was concerned about the kind of spider that had bit me. I mean first Calen gets hurt and then I am bitten by a spider. Luckily I was able to see the spider and identify what it looked like but decided that in 15-30 minutes if something started changing or I was feeling funny, that we would head to the doctors right away. Fortunately many spiders that live near people are not actually dangerous and only have a sharp bite as was the case with my spider bite because after 10 minutes I didn’t feel anything anymore and the bite was starting to disappear. Needless to say, I now will check myself over the next time I walk through a spider web. Which to those of you who want to come visit but now are extremely scared, don’t worry, there are not many spider webs out there and even less spiders. In fact I have only seen two, the one that bit me and the daddy long-legs that I saw in the shower and drowned. Otherwise, we are spider free and insect free. Which I can say I saw way more of those types of things when I lived in Brazil, so Ecuador definitely has a plus in that area.

Sunday Services

The day after Calen’s accident was Sunday services with the church congregation that has been here for many years and whom Travis knows quite a few people. With Calen still feeling groggy because of his head, he and I stayed home and tried to do as little as possible just to give him more time to heal. Travis and Ceara went ahead to classes and services where Travis was able to reconnect with friends of the past, to see the growth of the congregation and Ceara was able to start making some friends. Once they came home we went to the new mall here to eat some lunch and try to use the internet. It so far has been the only time to be able to use the internet and to inform you all of the things that have been happening here. Unfortunately we get kicked off every 30 minutes so there is not much time to do much of anything given the speed of the internet service. So please bear with us as we work to get things on our blog and until we get better internet service. Afterwards Travis took Calen to the little store by our house to get some stuff for the house. The people there were so excited to see him and know that we were going to be living here and that soon he would be speaking Spanish like them. The kids definitely allow for lots of time to communicate with others as people are curious about our kids. It’s been a great thing being able to meet with new people, please keep praying for the people that we will continue to meet.

Anshy and Chicho's Wedding! July 9th

To our surprise July 9th brought the wedding of our teammate's daughter Anshy. We had originally thought that it was on the 10th but were surprised when Bolo told us to be ready by 11am for the wedding that day.After getting ready for the wedding we took a 15 minute taxi ride out to a farm where the wedding was held. It was great being able to spend the day celebrating with our teammates family. Of course our kids seeing all of the farm things wanted to play rather then watch the wedding but there was lots of space for them to play without interrupting anything.

It was a beautiful wedding and we got to meet many people from the church and from Bolo and Jenny's family who came for the wedding. One of the great thing we were privileged to be a part of after just arriving in the city. The reception after the wedding was fun as well, the kids got to be at the kids table and were fed chicken nuggets and fries instead of the adult food and given coloring things and then all of them went to play on the playground. After awhile the girls all pretended they were getting married under the tent that Anshy and Chicho had just gotten married in and the boys found a soccer ball to play with. Calen is pretty talented at soccer and was the youngest boy by about 7 years and still could get the ball away from the older boys. After awhile the boys didn't want to play with him any more but Calen didn't seem to notice. The kids had lots of fun and so did we as we were able to talk with the adults without having to worry much about the kids.

As we were leaving, Travis went to get Bolo to call us a taxi and I took the kids to the front of the farm to wait. They had a very old tractor as a decoration there and the kids were pretending to drive it while we waited. At one point Calen climbed up further to look into the holes and pull out rocks that had been put in them. As he was getting back down he moved his foot and lost his balance and fell. I saw him falling but couldn't catch him as he went down the other side to where I was standing. Unfortunately his head hit a rock wall on his way down and caused a large gash in his head. He was bleeding lots so I couldn't tell how bad it was, although at the moment it seemed really bad as there was so much blood. A lady came to help me and took Calen and I to a room away from the wedding crowd and Ceara ran to get Travis. I of course was freaking out at that point and couldn't really get across what happened very well. Finally there happened to be a pediatrician who came to look at Calen's head and said everything was okay and that it was just a large surface wound that needed stitches and that the bleeding had already stopped. So Travis and I with Bolo and Jenny went back into the city to a emergency clinic and got Calen's head stitched up while Ceara stayed with the youngest of Bolo's daughters so that she didn't have to see and worry about Calen. Bolo and Jenny went back to the wedding and a few hours later Ceara came back to the apartment where Travis, Calen and I had just gotten back from getting his stitches. Calen is doing well now and you can't really tell anymore that anything had happened unless you know where on his head he hit the wall. We go back to the doctors on Saturday to get the stitches removed. Calen's healing well but definitely gave me a scare. What a thing to have to worry about on the second day in the city that is going to be your home. But the doctor was great and we saw someone right away. It will just take me more time to recover from it because as a Mom you hope to protect your kids from things like that and I was standing right there and couldn't catch him. But maybe that is just a reminder that God is ultimately in control and no matter what God will be the one watching over us! So please keep our family in your prayers as we let God be the one who is in control of our lives and that we allow Him to shape us and mold us as we share our lives in Him with others here in Cuenca.

July 8th

Here is the family minus Travis who is taking the picture, just outside of the temporary apartment that we have here in Cuenca. After sleeping in the day after we arrived we decided to get out in order to get a few essentials that the apartment didn't come with such as food, towels, toilet paper and some good pillows. It is pretty easy to find a taxi as we live right across the street from one of the main rivers in the city. Of course we had to check it out and the kids love the river but they have to be very careful as it is very fast and dangerous. After a quick walk around to see the stores that are around we went to one of the new malls in the city to see if we could get some of the essentials. While there the kids tried out the train that takes a tour of the bottom level of the mall and enjoyed watching the kids play on a large trampoline. After getting some essentials we headed back to our apartment. Deciding that it would be fun to eat somewhere we took a little walk to our neighborhood to find some sort of restaurant and found a pizza place so we got a giant pizza not realizing how big it would really be, but extremely delicious. There are definitely a lot of good little places near us that serve some good food and for very cheap. It was a great day to get to know what there is near us and to start getting some of the essentials for our home in Cuenca.

A New Beginning- July 7th

Well after two days of travel we finally made it to Cuenca, Ecuador. In fact we even made it with all of our luggage, all 8 of them. When does that ever happen? And only two of them were opened to be inspected and we think only a pair of my shoes and some makeup is missing. At least I hope that is all, it's so hard to remember what we actually ended up packing in the suitcases and what we had packed in boxes and shipped. Fortunately everything that was electronic or more expensive here actually arrived in the suitcases, even from those that had been opened. The kids were really good despite the lack of sleep and having to go from plane to plane, only a few minor breakdowns during the entire trip. And for us that was the best part, knowing that our kids can adjust well despite all the changes.
While in Quito waiting for the last 40 minute flight to Cuenca, we decided that we had time to register our visas with the government here which we have to do in the first 30 days of arriving. We took a taxi, which charged us more then we should have been charged to the government office and realized that we had made it ten minutes late to be seen at this office: 2:10pm! Who closes a government office at 2pm? After a few moments of talking with the people outside the office we were finally seen and told that we had to do some paperwork before we could finalize our registration and with the time that we needed to get to the airport for our flight, it was impossible. So we used the last hour to find a place to eat and get away from the airport for a bit. Unfortunately this means in the next few weeks we will have to go back to Quito in order to register but at least this time we will have all the paperwork that we need to get it done quickly. And have to make sure that we get there before the 2pm deadline!
Once we got back to the airport we ended up taking all our luggage and so on to the counter and waited for over an hour to send in our luggage because of a mix-up with some other flight. That was hard for the kids because there was absolutely nothing to do that entire time, and our flight got delayed so we really didn't get to Cuenca till late and by that time I was exhausted as I slept very little the whole trip. When we arrived in Cuenca, our team mate Bolo came to pick us up and his wife Jenny, they took us to an apartment by one of the main rivers in the city and told us that they had been able to rent it for the month with all the furniture until we can find something that suits us better. It was great to be able to relax and put our things away (even for a few weeks) until we find something else. It is nice not having to be in a hotel like we had to when we moved to Brazil, especially since there is more space for the kids to play around and we get to save money for other things. But that is not the end of our day, as I would have enjoyed it to be as there was a Let's Start Talking final party that was already in progress as we dropped off our stuff. So off we went to the school where the LST party was happening. The kids thought it was lots of fun even though they were not able to communicate with the kids that were there, but they made it work. And of course the cake and treats were great for them too. Travis and I were able to meet with the Americans that have been hosting the LST here for the last 30 days and meet a lot of the people that they read with. As well we were able to meet a few people that we had seen on our survey trip in November of 2009. Travis' Spanish came back really quick and he's been able to communicate very well with everyone. I am of course having a harder time but the Portuguese that I know has definitely helped me to understand a lot. The kids still will only say a few words here and there but once they are in school, I know they will have no problem. It was a long night but definitely worth going to the party as now Travis and I will continue to work with a lot of the people from LST and hopefully some of them will come to know God. So a great start to a new life here in Cuenca, Ecuador. Please be in prayer for those people we met that night!

Soon On Our Way!

Well as you know, we finally received our paperwork that we have been waiting for from Ecuador for many months. It is finally all in order so our move down to Ecuador is set. We will leave on July 4th at 6:30pm to Toronto so anyone in the Regina area who wants to say bye to us at the airport please come by. We then will stay in Toronto in order to pick up our visas which we have been told is the same day process so we hope to do that on July 5th. But please keep this part of the process in your prayers as with foreign countries you never know what might happen. Then we will leave July 6th at 5:30pm to Lima, Peru then on to Quito,  Ecuador at 10:40 am and then will arrive at 7pm to Cuenca which will be our home for the next five years. 

We are so excited to start the travelling part of this process even though hauling luggage and two young kids doesn't sound that appealing at this moment but the end result is what excites us the most. We are so excited to know that this time has finally come, that we get to go back to what God has been preparing us to do again, this time in Ecuador. I know Travis is excited to go back to the place that started his love for missions and it seems appropriate that it's come full circle again for him. We are excited for the new place, the new people and the new work that we will start there. Please continue to pray for our family as we travel, for the visas to really only take one day to process and the people we will meet and the work that will be started. 

It is amazing that we have been in Canada for over a year already but it has been a great time for us. A time to relax, to heal, to be renewed and so much more. We have spent time with both of our families and had time for the kids to bond with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins like they were never able to do before. We have been able to renew our friendships with people from years past and to gain new friendships. We have been able to meet with our supporters, our sponsoring church and continue to strengthen that bond between them and our family. We have been able to spend time as a family just the four of us without the pressures or demands that being missionaries require. In so many ways, this year in Canada has been a great blessing to us but we are eager to start our life in Ecuador. Thank you to everyone that we have been with over this past year, for all those memories and times of fun, for the time we have shared our lives together. And for all those who want a place to go somewhere south of the border, remember you are always welcome to come and visit us anytime. 

Thank you again for your prayers and support during this whole process to get to Ecuador. As we know, God is faithful to those who wait, and we see that our waiting has been a good reminder as who we place our trust in and who has our interests at heart. We are on our way to share with those who that God is and how their lives can changed, just as ours has been changed. Please continue to pray for our family, our team and the work God is doing in Cuenca, Ecuador.

2nd False Green Light

What an emotional roller coaster ride getting to Cuenca is becoming for us. We are glad to be in Canada...but we continue to work toward getting to our final destination, to where God has called us to serve. It has been painstakingly challenging to my level of patience as we have had 2 false green lights to getting our visas. Our teammates Bolo and Jaime in Ecuador have been getting frustrated probably even more, because it seems like every time they have fulfilled the requires of the government for our papers, there seems to be something else that needs to be done. However saying all that, both our teammates and ourselves are confident that the end of this process is near and we will be on a plane to Cuenca. Our teammates also talked to some lawyers concerning international visas and were told that they have the ability to get us our visas if we go there initially on a visitors visa. But after talking to our overseers in Saskatoon they told us to continue down the process that we are on because it is so close to being done. That way we would arrive with our permanent work visas in hand, rather than having to start over again, and have the possibility that something goes wrong and having to return home unexpectedly. 

We continue to stay busy doing kingdom work here in Regina, updating supporters, as well as doing all the long term planning that has to be done while we are away from Canada. We have been preparing a will, setting up the kids some education funds, updating and extending passports, drivers lic's and other id's, and getting our health insurance in order. I've also got to play some hockey with my old friends, our team made it to the final Sunday and lost in OT. But playing was like therapy for my heart. We've also been learning Spanish. Alicia and the kids let me teach them. Alicia wants to be able to talk when she gets off the plane. She has such a head start already knowing Portuguese. We have also been paying attention to our emotional needs that concern returning missionaries. It is always difficult to transition through cultures. We returned to our home for a year, but in reality Canada is no longer our home. We try and find how we fit here, while still missing our spiritual family and friends in Brasil. We ran into a great book, "praying your good-byes" which is a great help for learning to deal with our feelings through life's transitions. God is taking care of us and getting us ready for our next ministry. It has been so good to reconnect with my family, my parents, my sister, her husband and my niece. It has been good to be around my younger brother who recently broke up with his girlfriend of 4 years. I have been able to help him process that and in some small ways hope to point him to God and faith. My mom's brother also just passed away unexpectedly and they family has asked me to do the memorial service. This weekend I will see many cousins and extended family on her side that I haven't seen in years. So that should be good. 

 

But we are so looking forward to starting our next phase in life. It has been a blessing to live with my parents, and I know they will miss us again, but I'm sure they are ready to get their space back. We are ready to find our own place to live in. Our teammate Jenny is looking for rentals places for us in Cuenca. We have been blessed to have our finances in place but lacking our visas. The opposite was the case 6 years ago when we were leaving for Brasil. Please continue to pray that the evil one will not have His way in any way during these final days and weeks until we finally arrive in Ecuador.We continue to trust in God's perfect timing for our lives. In Him, Travis 

Still Waiting on Visas

Lot's of people are asking us how we are doing with waiting on our visas. We never thought we would still be in Saskatchewan in February, but we are. When we were told January 3rd that the paper work had been approved we were so excited.We moved into that final countdown mindset of "last's" before we leave for the long-term again. So we were disappointed when we found out that someone in the Ecuadorian government did not finalize the paperwork due to a technicality that has nothing to do with us. Having lived for many years in South America I have come to realize that this is common, even though it can be frustrating.
There is nothing that we want more than to make the move to our new hometown and to get busy doing the work God has called us to. This last statement reminds us that what we are doing is for God, and therefore will be done on His terms. This includes the timing of our final departure. This week we contacted the consulate one more time to see if there was anything we could or they could do to expedite the visa process. They responded in less than an hour to tell us to be patient, that these process can take some setbacks, but that the process was still continuing. This reminds me of how 7 years ago when we were preparing to go to Brasil it took us over 6 months to get our paperwork and that we ended up arriving 2 weeks after our teammates. Even so we were still the first ones to get keys to a new apartment in Salvador. So God was definitely at work, having gone before us and preparing the perfect arrival.
This is the trust and faith that we are counting on again as we prepare for this next move. We have seen firsthand how many times we have been blessed because we waited on God's timing rather than trying to make it happen ourselves. So we continue to do what Scripture calls us to do so often, and that is wait upon the Lord, knowing that He is our Father and is looking out for our best.
In the meantime we have so many details to take care of. We have been blessed to work with Russell Elford about our long-term finances. He has a heart for helping people like us, working in full-time ministry, to try and have some sort of financial plan for the end of our lives. Alicia and the kids continue to learn Spanish, and as I teach, my Spanish continues to improve as it comes back from that long-term memory bank. Alicia and I study at least 1 hour a day and I read with the kids which is the best way for them to learn. The Regina public library has an impressive amount of books in Spanish, which has been helpful. We continue to be strengthened spiritually and emotionally. Leaving our church family that we had an intrigal part in creating in Salvador Brazil was a harder adjustment than we could have imagined. This on top of reverse culture shock and other adjustments has left our heads spinning at times, and having only the hand of God to lean on, as really He is the only one who truly knows all that we have experienced in the last 7 years of our lives.

Please continue to be in prayer for our visas. We know that God can do whatever is needed to make our departure possible. In the meantime we will continue to prepare and work on all the minute details and planning that is necessary to move our family across the world once again. Thanks again for your prayers and support. Travis