Saturday Reflections

Emily Ha: Hi! Hope everyone is doing well back at home. Today is Saturday and we did some construction around Casablanca again and we also finished lunch.  I'm going to summarize our super-wonderful-spectacular trip to Mindo yesterday! And it was amazing!! ~ We woke up earlier and started our 2 hour trip to Mindo. It was a windy road around the mountains, but that's the best for playing "Jello"! We were squishing each other with each turn and it was really funny. When we arrived, it was just a little town, and a road that headed up. Our bus took us as far as it was allowed to go, but then we had to walk the rest of the way up. It was a long and tedious trip up the rest of the way to the zipline place, but it was worth the sweat and the aching muscles. We suited up in helmets, harnesses, and big thick gloves (with a big rubber strip across where the palm is - so we don't get bad rope burn!!). Then we made our way to the first of 13 ziplines. When the guide let me go on the first zipline, I took one around and was in awe of the view. It was breathtaking. One can see the beautiful green mountains, the blue sky, and the area for hundreds of miles around. I honestly could not believe that we were in this place because it felt as if I was looking at a magazine picture, except for the fact that it was all around me - 360 degrees - and I could feel the wind and the sunshine - and the annoying bugs that bit my legs everywhere and made them bleed a little. How could anyone say that there is not a God? How could something so perfect be created if there was not a God? For miles all around, all you can see are hills, trees, creeks/rivers, the blue sky, and the warm sun. It was gorgeous. But this was only the start of the adventures in Mindo. Then, we headed back down the big hill to our bus and headed to eat homemade pizza! It was really funny how we were eating pizza...in Ecuador. But it was delicious! It was a thin crusted pizza, with mushrooms, ham, and cheese and we had some spicy Ecuadorean peppers, and lemonade to go with it. YUM. Then, we half of us changed into our swimsuits for another huge adventure! The other half went across the street to a chocolate shop and learned to make chocolate fondu and ate it with fruit. Apparently, it was really fun and delicious (I didn't find out for myself until they brought some home with them for the rest of us to try). While the other half of us paid only 6 dollars for the ride, in the back of a truck, to the top of the river, where our white river rafting/tubing experience began and also the river rafting itself! When we arrived, we saw our raft. It looked like a huge flower - of 6 tubes tied around one tube - and rope handholds between each one. We split into 2 groups (6 each - we had 12 from our group go exactly) and got in. We each sat with our butts on a side of a tube, and our feet on the other side, and the hole was right below our legs...and we held on the rope for dear life (even though we were wearing life vests, helmets, and gloves. We started down the river - in the freezing cold water. It was so exciting! The cold water splashed over us with every big rock and dip. I was pretty much screaming the ENTIRE time. Even though I was screaming everytime a huge dip or splash came, I was having the time of my life! The freezing cold water drenched us completely, but it was really fun! It honestly was better than Disneyland and Great America combined! Those little rides were nothing compared to the real thing in Mindo - the zipline adventure and the river rafting combined were only 16 dollars total! So incredibly fun, and so incredibly cheap! When we headed back to the little town, I changed out of my swimsuit and bought a brownie and chocolate pieces from the same chocolate shop as the others had been at. Then, went back across the street and bought a type of berry sherbet on a cone for only 50 cents! It was soooo good! When we returned back to Quito, we had more empanadas at the same place we ate at earlier in the week. It was delicious as always! I kinda half fell asleep in the bus on the way back cuz of exhaustion, but the day was worth the sweat and tried muscles. We walked so much on the trip, and in turn, I ate a lot...More than I ever do! I am writing way too much, but I love talking about the wonderful experiences here! I am going to miss Ecuador a ton when we leave, but this place will definitely never leave my heart. All the people here and all the experiences here are unforgetable. I've learned a ton about missions, people, culture, and my own life. I really hope I can apply everything I learned here, to back at home. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. We'll be seeing you all soon!

Carolyn Corstorphine (Mrs. C) - this has been a great week.  The kids are wonderful and it is fun to have my daughter as one of our "post followers."  Yes, Kirsten - I did all of the zip lines and only screamed on one when they were bouncing me.

Renee W
Hello again! Today has been a pretty mellow day. This morning we spent a few hours twisting wire and rebar together to make supports for concrete. Then, since lunch I have been talking with an 8-year-ol girl named Carmella. She is teaching me more Spanish and I am teaching her English. Because today isn't super exciting though, I'll talk about yesterday. I'm sure if you've been reading this blog you already know what we did yesterday, but we spent the day in the Ecuadorian jungle going on almost 2 miles of ziplines and then rafting down an intense river. It was a great day-super fun! I can't wait until I can come back down here again sometime!
P.S. writing this blog was very difficult because my mind is functioning in Spanish right now :)

Iona Brannon-Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. Flying across the Mindo jungles by a zipline, making legit Ecuadorian chocolate(and I mean roasting, shelling, and grinding the beans too), and having awesome conversations on the bus ride to and fro. It was amazing, but as I think about it, the day before was pretty awesome too. We visited different churches, and for some of us girls the top of the Basilica held a pleasant surprise. ;) We saw amazing things and bought a ton of souvenirs. It was so fun. Today was construction day and we had an amazing time cutting, pulling, and chopping trees. I'm totally pro at machetes and chainsaws now. :) I must admit, I do not want to leave Ecuador.