Ibarra

On Wednesday, we hit the ground running!  There were lots of errands to be run and lots of things to prep and pack for the college ministry workshops we would be holding Thursday thru Saturday.  Traffic in Quito is kinda like traffic at Crossroads during the busiest parts of the day.  There was lots!  Also, malls are big around here.  They are everywhere.  Supermarkets are also big, but who needs a supermarket when you can get all your fresh fruits and veggies from people walking the street and selling their products as you drive by.  You can get a huge bag of oranges for $1, can't beat that!

Ecuador uses the US dollar everywhere so that has been a huge blessing that I don't have to exchange currency.  You can get a meal for around $5, at least so far I've been able to!  Also, it's rained every afternoon so far (aka 2 days).  Today, it was rainy all day as we traveled North through the mountains to get to Ibarra (pronounced E-bar-a with a rolling of the r).  We had to drive through Otavalo as we made our way to Ibarra.  Otavalo was one of my favorite places the first time I came to Ecuador so it was great to be able to drive through it again!

The countryside is beautiful with rolling mountains, lakes and streams.  It was just hard to see all the beauty with all the rain that was happening.  Here are a couple of pics from the drive up here while it wasn't raining as much:

 

And another...

See why I love Ecuador so much?!! :)

Tonight we had a three hour workshop with some local college students.  The Penley's want to build interest within local university students so that they will go back to their school and start up small groups of their own where others can be discipled.  Tomorrow night we will hold another workshop and then Saturday we will have several workshops and breakout sessions.  With all that being said, I'm definitely exhausted and ready for bed!  Hopefully I can get another update to you in the next day or two!  So far I've been impressed with the wireless Internet access here!  Thank you all for your continued support and prayers :)

The Adventure of a Lifetime Awaits!

I made it!  I have arrived in Ecuador!  It was a very long and tiring day, but I'm here and I was welcomed with hugs and smiles and chattering up the wazoo! It was such a blessing for me :)

Out of the three flights I took to get here, the last one was the most interesting.  The other flights were completely packed and it was quite a sight to see me shoving my carry on in the overhead bin. It was just a little too full, haha, but I was determined to not have to check that bag so with a few good shoves and some determination, it was safely nestled in for the trip.  Only it got worse when it was time to retrieve my bag from the overhead and people were waiting for me to wrangle it out of there.  If you know me, you know I hate attention, especially if I'm "that person" who is holding everyone else up.  Needless to say, I succeeded in getting the bag out and it probably wasn't nearly as bad to everyone else as I was making it out to be in my head!

The last flight was less crowded and I got to spread out some more.  I met a sweet young lady named Carmen and she was headed back to her home country of Colombia, after she spent a few days in Quito with some people she knew.  Lo and behold I found out she had been staying in the States for a while, in different places, and one of the cities she stayed in was Cary, NC!! How crazy is that?! So we had lots of interesting stuff to talk about.  

The flight itself was one of the most turbulent flights I had ever been on!  I mean at one point the plane must have hit an area of low pressure because the plane literally dropped straight down for a second or two and everyone lifted out of their seats, I only to slam back into them when we got lift again.  Luckily, our seat belts were on since the captain had turned on the "fasten seat belt" sign a few minutes earlier.  I wasn't expecting an amusement park ride at 30,000 feet in the air, but it was memorable to say the least!

At the end of the flight, Carmen and I followed along with the rest of the crowd and tried to figure out customs and immigration together.  That was the part I was most worried about, and would you know that God sent someone to sit beside me on the flight who was fluent in English and Spanish, and who was just as worried as trying to figure out customs as I was!  Together we made it through and then parted our ways, but it was a sweet reminder that God cares enough about me, that He would send someone to help me through customs and immigration, even if I could have figured it all out on my own.

When I walked through the exit doors, the Penley's were waiting open arms and just as excited as I was, if not more!  Rylee and Aiden tackled me with hugs and then the catching up began.  Rylee and Aiden started catching me up immediately on everything that's been going on, and Amelia quickly joined in!  I loved it :) Aiden wanted me to catch him up on like the last 3 or 4 years in Raleigh, and let me tell you that little guy has a memory like no other.  He was telling me things I had forgotten about and asking me to fill him I'm from there.  Haha I did my best but I'm sure I left out some stuff since my memory is nothing like his!

All in all, I am so thankful to be here and I can't wait for the adventure that is in front of me!

This is a picture from the window of the Penley's living room :)