Adventures In The Middle of the World. . .

What to say, what to say. . .

2009-04-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have written, we had a hail storm the last time I tried to write, and so things were not working well. . .

Things are still as busy as ever here.

This past Saturday Bre and I went to a woman, by the name of Staci, house. She is a missionary and right now her full time job is to take care of 3 orphan girls - Nati, Josi, and Flora. She is not married and is quite overwhelmed. She is with them 24-7 with no breaks. Also, Flora is special needs. All three girls are beautiful, and Staci is doing a great job. So this Saturday was our first day helping her, and we will be there every Saturday to help her and give her a break - some days she will stay with us and others she will go out, she says this is an answer to her prayers, praise the Lord!

This Sunday I went to church, and between the Spanish I understood and Bre translating some it was good. The pastor preached out of Galations, lol to anyone who is in the Middle School at Haven since we just finished Galations, and it was about walking in freedom in Christ. :-D After church, that night we had a girls night, Bre, Jenna, Becky (the wife of the couple we are working with), the ladies we live with, and I. It was a lot of fun, and Bre, Jenna and I made an American meal, and let me tell you that garlic bread was strong!!!! lol

On Monday we woke up and Bre, Jenna and I headed out to the orpanange called For His Children. When we got there Bre went to an older kids house while Jenna and I headed to the baby house, those of you who know me can imagine my joy! I ended up taking care of an infant named Moyses basically the entire time I was there. He was probabally about 4 monthes old. I just wanted to steal him away, and this other little girl (maybe 1-2 months old) Assisatu away. . . God knows my heart, lol. I will be going back this coming Monday, and it has to be one of my favorite things I have done while being here. . .

Tuesday morning bright and early around 6:30 am, we got up and headed to South Quito. Byron, the husband of the couple we are working with, dropped Bre and I off at a "bilingual" school to help teach English. Please keep us in your prayers we will be there each tuesday to help. The one class doesnt even have books to study with, and the English teacher hardly speaks english herself, and desperatly wants our help. We talk English with the kids and help with classes all day. Please pray for open doors to share the Gospel. It is a Catholic school. Then we headed to Ashley´s, a friend of Bre´s and we will be living with her until we go back to the North on Friday. . .

Prayer Requests:
- The Continual leading of the Holy Spirit for myself and for Bre as we minister and live life here. - Health, the pollution has been kinda rough which can make breathing rather interesting. . .
- La Libertad Youth Ministry, Bre is preaching this Thursday
- Staci and the girls (Josi, Nati, and Flora) Josi and Nati´s adoption to go well, Flora to get a family, and Staci to have the strength to be a single Mom for them right now.
- Byron and Becky as they are expecting their first child. Becky has been sick a lot.
- For His Children - the kids there to all get homes, and to come to know the Lord. THat the children would get sponsored
- The food pantry - that it would always have enough food for the families it serves

I love you all, and I AM missing you, but God is so good and I know I am where He has called me to be for now, see you all in a couple weeks! I will try to keep you posted on what´s happening here! I will try to put some more pics up soon!

The Adventures are coming thick and fast. . . .

2009-03-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Wow. . . i feel like i hardly know where to begin! Life has been sooooo busy since I last wrote!

Well, I suppose I will begin with Thursday!

Bre and I are currently living at the Guidino´s family house, and so on Thursday morning Byron and Becky showed up with a huge load of clothes and toys and such that someone had donated, so for the next 3 hours or so unloaded the van and sorted through the things. Part would go to the daycare, part to La Libertad (the church that on thursdays we do kids club, youth ministry, and an adult study goes on), and the rest for the Cayambe trip. It was actually a lot of fun and seemed to go by quite fast actually. Afterwards we had a prayer meeting and update with Byron and Becky as to what would be happening the rest of the week. Danielle was there as well, she is a freind from Bre´s church that has been here doing ministry as well. We found out that Bre and I would be leading and running the youth ministry for that night as it hasn´t been going for a little while as there has not been anyone to lead it, so the youth have been with the adults. So for the next couple hours Bre and I prepped with lots of prayer for La Libertad Youth Ministy. Talk about needing the Lord´s help! Bre speaks Spanish but is not completely fluent yet, and I have a very limited vocab. We prepared the lesson, and games, and left it in the Lord´s hands. That night we headed out for South Quito to La Libertad. The people were so nice and welcoming, and then the time came for Bre and I to lead the youth ministry. . . . Bre did most of the talking, we had about 6 kids, and they were very gracious, but they seemed to have a great time. . . please keep La Libertad Youth Ministry in your prayers. . . . .

By the way, we really don´t have hills in New York, they have hills in Ecuador! let me tell you, mountians!!!!!

On Friday, Efran showed up with the truck, we loaded up and we headed out to the daycare to bring the clothes and toys we had seperated the day before, the daycare is in the south which is a lot more run down than where I am living the the North, and more dangerous. We finally got to the daycare after driving on quite interesting roads. . . We emptied out the truck, and then got to hang around for lil bit. The kids where so cute, and it broke my heart to see the poverty. I ended up going into a room with kids that were about 3-5 year olds. There I met a little boy by the name of Alex. Alex was probabally 3 or 4 and we started playing puzzles and then he got up in my arms and just cuddled there. He wasn´t feeling good and just wanted me to hold him. Eventually we had to leave and put him down for his nap, which was on blankets with a bunch of other kids. He ended getting back up and coming over to me, and back into my arms to cuddle, even though I found out he had to use the restroom, he just stayed there, it was hard to let him go. . .

Next, we went to the grocery store and bought lots and lots and lots of groceries for a food pantry, some people from Maine had brought money to do so. Let me just tell you we got food for 20 families for just under $200! Craziness!!!!!!!! We also did food shopping for our Cayambe trip. Then we headed out to the food pantry, we met the pastor´s wife there and another woman, they were soooo touched as the pantry was getting empty and cried quite a bit, they were soooo thankful!!!!!

On Thursday´s prayer meeting we also found out more about the Cayambe trip. . . We were to be leaving on Saturday morning and going out to a commune past Cayambe, basically we were going to minister to a group of indigionis people out in the mountians in the middle of nowhere, compared to there I live in a BIG CITY, lol, i probabally am exagerating a bit, but seriously it´s in the middle of nowhere. . .

Well I will have to write more later as the internet caffe is closing, i love you all and am so thankful for you!!

If any of you think of it please keep my family in your prayers as my Memere´s boyfriend, Phil, died on Saturday of a heart attack, thank you for your prayers. . .

let the adventures begin. . .

2009-03-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

Notes from the planes. . .

I´m on the plane flying to Houston, Texs!!! God is so amazing, He has showed me so much getting ready for this trip. He has built my faith through His amazing provision, He has displayed His love for me through His Word, His people, and just everyday life!

Wow, I am now on the plane to Quite and I am becoming more and more amazed at the God we serve. It has been God appointments all day long. I keep meeting people from Quito, and having interesting conversations, and basically each one in turn has offered me their contact info. The people of Quito are hurting and I pray God lets me be a part of the healing. . .

Well, yesterday as I flew from Newark to Houston, and Houston to Quito God really encouranged me. My Mom brought me the airport and helped me get all checked in, I went through security and walked to my gate. When I got there I sat down, and then realized I needed to use the restroom, so I got up and when I came back my seat was taken. I proceeded to sit down between these two guys. One was older and the other around my age, and somehow I found out the older man was from Quito and did not speak any English. The guy around my age, Ghandi is his name as I found out, was from Quito as well. Ghandi and I began to talk and he told me all these interesting things about his homeland was just really nice. We boarded the plane, and I was seated next to a hispanic woman. I was hoping that I would get an opportunity to share Christ, but she did not seem interested in talking at all, she put in earplugs. . . lol. Well later on, towards the end of the flight, we began to talk, that is as much as we could. All she spoke was Spanish, and she, Mariana is her name, was from Quito as well, so between her Spanish, my mix of Spanish and Engligh and our made up sign language we talked. We both had the same connecting flight and decided to walk together. Ghandi met up with us as we came off the plane, and then low and behold, Alyssa Martin was in front of me!!! For those of you who do not know who she is, she is the sister of Bre, and we also went to college, Elim, together. She was on her way back from Ecuador to Maine! So that was really cool.

Now that Ghandi was with Mariana and I, he could translate for us and we all hung out together. Mariana it turns out houses a lot of foriegn exchange students, mostly from Europe. Mariana was the first, and she wanted to give me her contact info, and told me if I needed anything, ect. . . then Ghandi wanted to give me his as well, and did. . .

We boarded the flight bound for Quito, the adventure was not over yet. . . I was seated next to another woman, who seemed to be the silent type as well, but somehow we got talking, and man God is amazing! She gave me her contact info as well, but the more amazing thing was she opened up to me, and began sharing what was happening in her life, I felt so privelaged. . . We shall see what God does with the beginning friendship. . .

Now, I can´t tell you about the flight to Quito without mentioning Monster! lol, Monster, also known as Sebastian, was a little boy seated in front of me that decided we were going to be friends, and have some fun. . . lol. So throughout my flight he peppered me with questions, Why is the sky blue?. . . Because God made it blue. . . and the list goes on, he added so much joy to my flight. . .

Now, today. . . I know this blog update has been rather long, lol. . . feel free to read what you like. . .

Went went to the Basilica, Dannielle, Bre, Javiar and I. Javiar took us there, and he is a native Ecuadorian, but it was his first time there as well, we had such a blast! Now this is where safety goes out the window. . . well not totally, but we could have never done what we did today in the states, it was soooo much fun! We saw the catatcombs underneath the Basilica, we climbed to the top of the Basilica in different areas, pretended we were gargoyles, yeah, we are ridiculous. . . You just have to see the pictures from today!

Well, that´s all for now, and im sure if your reading this your happy im finished with my long dialouge. . . hehe, I love you guys! I hope all is going well there! God Bless, In Him, Sarah

It's Coming!!!!!!

2009-02-22T03:48:00.000-08:00

It's coming and im so excited to see what God will do, I leave March 17th to go to Ecuador, the middle of the world, for a month!!!!!!!!!!! How insane is that, God totally supprised me! I honestly did not think it would happen, but as I prayed, God continued to lay on my heart to go. When God wants you to go, He DEFINITLY makes a way, and provides. Please keep me in your prayers, as I know that this is a work of His Spirit and I never want to get in the way of what He is doing. . . may God Bless you richly as I prepare to go start the adventures in the middle of the world. . .

Psalm 85:13 (NKJV)
"Rightousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway"