Back in the USSA.....or USA

Yes I got back last Saturday and am now in Texas. It is nice to be in my own country, with my own family, with my wallet in my back pocket, and putting toilet paper in the toilet where it belongs.

Some thoughts that I have been chewing on:

You reading this may be a fan of the super "popular" and "relevant" preacher Rob Bell. It was brought to my attention that Rob has a lot of criticism, and since I liked Rob I decided to investigate.

I came across sites like: ROB BELL SAYS GOD HAS ALREADY MADE PEACE WITH ALL MEN, a video by my boys at Way of the Master (who are all about the Bible) made Bull Horn Rebuttal, Rob "Oprah" Bell, just to name a few.

(The "Oprah" link says this is Rob Bell's theology:
"God is love. He is not angry. Don’t feel guilty. Don’t feel shame. Just love {OPRAH}. God loves you just the way you are {MR. ROGERS}. Feel good about yourself. Love wins. All we need is love {JOHN LENNON}. Celebrate God’s love. Don’t turn from your sin. Everybody is already reconciled to God. Just breathe it in.”)

I side with those articles that Bell is wrong but I am not going to talk about that. I am going to talk about how the salvation message is not a salvation message without "Fire and Brimstone" or as some people say "Condemnation" because they say that it is not loving.

Let me not only disagree but also prove it is the only way of true love.

The law (10 Commandments) are essential for the salvation message. Telling people that "God has a great plan for you and wants to transform your life" is 100% true, but an offer people can pass up without any consequences. People can already feel like their life is going good the way it is.

It is essential to let people know they are dead in their sins and that we are all liars and sinners at heart that will have to face a wrath filled God on judgment day. Some people say that God isn't like that because God is love. But a wrath filled God can be loving too. You can love your friend and hate it when someone slits the tires on your car. That doesn't make you not exist or not be loving.

People need to know that without repenting and trusting in Jesus (not saying one prayer and doing nothing) is the only way to enter heaven. Telling them that "God is love" without the Law and eternal damnation doesn't make sense, and the law not only shows us our sins (Romans 7:7) but shows us how truly loving God is by saving us!

The free gift of salvation is the biggest way God shows His love! Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." If someone said "Billy died for you" you would be like "You are crazy that doesn't make sense." If someone said that Billy died for you by taking a bullet for you while you were napping, that would make a lot more sense and show love.

Its like a doctor telling you he has found the cure for you and not what needs to be cured. You don't know that you have a terrible disease that will kill you in a week if you don't take the remedy.

That may be "loving", but here's a better way, the REAL WAY.

You first need to know you have a horrible disease (sin Romans 6:23 and are bound for hell without forgiveness) and then you will hear about a cure and joyfully accept it because you know the TRUTH about the horrible future you will face.


I take a lot of my analogies from Ray Comfort and he pipes in about not using the law in evangelism,

"He [the doctor] didn’t like the feeling he got when the needle brought them pain, so his discarded it in the name of love. When his patients began to die of an agonizing disease, his professed love was seen for what it was---a terrible betrayal.

Millions of unconverted church-goers sit in pews with a Bible on their lap, asleep in their sins within earshot of the pulpit.

Listen to these sobering words of warning from J. C. Ryle: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, but never so fearful as when men fall from under the Gospel. The saddest road to Hell is that which runs under the pulpit, past the Bible, and through the midst of warnings and invitations.” How much more sad is it when there is no warning given . . ."


Read your Bibles and don't mess with false prophets.


I hope someone caught that Beatles reference in the title. I don't know how lucky I am.

Atheist Christian Debate/Fake Christians

Go to http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast/2006/04/04/friel-barker-debate/ and you can download a Christian Atheist Debate. It’s pretty cool. Both sides have good points (only one side has truth and the other has faulty arguments) but I hope you guys listen to it, I enjoyed it.

Here are my thoughts:

The atheist said that he was a “born-again Christian” and “filled with the Holy Spirit” but then realized it was all fake.

1^st of all, he obviously admitted to God existing when he said I was really “filled with the Holy Spirit”. How can you be filled with something that doesn’t exist??? Too bad the Christian guy didn't point out his mistake.

2ndly I believe he was a “false convert”, someone who thinks they are a Christian, but in the end God will say “'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:23) because they never REPENTED and put their trust in Jesus Christ, two biblical ways to be saved. Then the Holy Spirit will come and be a seal of salvation (Ephesians 1:13).

“Asking Jesus into your heart” will never save anybody without repentance and trusting Jesus. It will just deceive people to think they are Christians. I honestly think that was me up until age 18. I liked worldly stuff a heck of a lot more than God, baseball, movies, TV, and stuff that doesn’t last. Those in and of themselves are not necessarily bad, but when they are in the place of God they are. I also was positive that I would go to heaven. So sad that Matthew 7:22-23 is true, “Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Now the Holy Spirit has made me run from sin and pursue God with a willing heart, not a heart that just read the bible to “be a good Christian”.

This is soooo important! And there is joy in it too!

LIKES DISLIKES and Christmas Plans

Likes (stuff that I will miss):

-Other cultures

-Speaking Spanish

-People here (Specifically my family and other random people)

-Ecuadorian food (I like rice)

-Having a maid to make my bed (but not unplugging my lamp and phone charger every time she does it. At least I wont need my phone charger any more)

Dislikes (stuff I won’t miss):

-Rude people (people cutting in lines, people letting their babies scream their heads off IN CHURCH, people who let their phones ring in church…etc)

-No place ever having change for a bill bigger than a 10 (and many times a 5). STUPID

-Car noise/pollution

-Greeting guestures like the kiss on the cheek

-People who recognize that I am a foreigner and try to speak English to me but I have no idea what they are saying and the transaction takes 20 times longer

-You have to pay for water at restaurants and I have seen zero drinking fountains in this entire country.

Looking forward to:

-Free nights and weekends

-Friends and fam

-having a car

-College life

Christmas break Plans

First I get home next Saturday night the 22nd, then Halloran family Christmas on Sunday, leave Christmas day to spend time with the fam in Texas, then fly back New Years Day then go to TU that Wednesday for J-term.

Firsts in Ecuador

Firsts from Ecuador (ironically they came in the last week and a half)

1. 1^st time Taylor students took public buses out of Cuenca. (We went to Yungilla and Montanita)

Funny story: I had to go to the bathroom on the bus but the bathroom in the back was locked, so I kindly asked the bus dude to open it for me, but he mumbled “come this way…it will be easier” and the bus stopped just for me to pee. And the whole bus watched. Later Jordan told me that the whole bus was whispering “Why did we stop” and “oh he’s going to the bathroom”.

2. First time a Taylor student this semester went to the hospital. She’s fine, I think it was just food poisoning and she’s out.

3. First time I got stung by a jellyfish. Actually, a long tentacle from a dead jelly fish wrapped around both of my ankles.

4. First time I spent “finals week” on the beach. In South America. Surfing.

5. First time I got an allergic reaction. It still comes and goes and I don’t know what its from. Pictured is my foot with the “leprosy”

.

6. First time I showed up to church more than an hour late (other than a daylight savings time day).

7. First time my family has brought “Lucas” over, another wiener dog with the sole purpose of making babies with one of the other dogs.

8. First time I lost my cell phone. Luckilly it was only the cheap one Taylor gave me.

9. Been in a car accident. Actually within 7 days I had ironically been in THREE!!!!!! Van or bus accidents. Nobody was ever hurt. Pictured is the bus accident.

Dogs and Goodbyes

2 Weekends ago the TU students and I went to Yungilla for a weekend full of hiking, reading, relaxing, and puzzles. It was pretty chill.

Some funny stories from this weekend (all involving Godark the huge dog who is pictured)

1. When we went hiking, Godark started fighting with a large bull, and could have easily gotten gored. It was awesome

2. My Ecuadorian cousin told me that Godark eats a lot of chickens (ours and neighbors) and people want him to be put down. So he was fed poison to kill him, but the poison didn’t do anything. To him. The little white dog with 3 puppies named Muñeca (or Dolly in English, who’s dirty brother always tries to make puppies with my two dogs) ate some of the poisoned food and died.

3. Jordan pushed Godark in the duck pond and Godark ran away skiddishly after.

Tomorrow we leave for the beach for 3 days before our last week.

My last week will include

-2 “finals” that will be super easy (one of which we already have a question bank for)

-Goodbye dinner with our families

-Many sad goodbyes (already had one at my work that was sad)

^{Proverbs 18:10}

The name of the LORD is a strong tower;

the righteous run to it and are safe.

In response to Josiah’s post

This whole blog is a response to a rebuttal that was a comment for my last blog.
********************************

I think I have a bad habit of writing stuff that isn’t exactly what I want to say…and that last post was sort of that way.

First of all, I enjoyed your rebuttal Josiah and took some interesting things from it. I know my views are sort of radical but I think I have a basis for that.

I wasn’t out to say that all art forms like movies, TV and such are bad and from the devil.

A good sum up of what I meant and wanted to say is as follows:

As a Christian, our focus should be on Christ (Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things), and I think that at least for myself (and its gotta be sort of true for everybody because we are human and all created similarly and struggle with the same things) a lot of times media can “choke” out my potential in Christ and relationship with Christ, as it (desires and pleasures of the world) says it can do in Luke 8.

If things of the world like media can hinder us in our call to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' by fixing our eyes on earthly things, then I don’t think its good.

Our excitement and treasure should be in Christ.

I say a lot of this because I think at one time in my life I idolized movies and TV and such and it choked out my desire for God. Something that bothered me while being a PA and Small Group leader last year was seeing people spend literally all day in front of movie after movie, but “would not have enough time” for small group or chapel…cool priorities.

Another place I get some beliefs is from Ray Comforts book “Hollywood be Thy Name”, which talks about the twisted minds and anti-Christian/God agendas of many in Hollywood, which bring up to mind Psalm 1 again (Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners …).

Some good points Josiah made:
-the Holy Spirit can speak through some things other than the Bible (very true, but it can be harder to tell when it’s the Holy Spirit or just great cinematography, but still very true)
-Jesus talked in parables and they teach us (and they are awesome. My fave author uses a lot of ‘parable’ type stories to make points. Great point JoHat.)
-The fact that Paul used culture (he quoted some dude), he did it as a chance to share the gospel. That should be our motivation.

My response for “If we confine God to simply the Bible, we partly reject the Holy Spirit's ability to speak to us in other various forms”…

It is true that God can speak to us through anything. God can teach you through media (#1 because He is God and can do whatever He wants; memorable God-teaching me experiences come from Narnia, Evan Almighty, and Facing the Giants, all of which are sort of Christian…but whatever), he can teach you through whatever he wants and doesn’t necessarily mean that we should be seeking it out (ejemplo: God can teach us through our sin, but we definitely shouldn’t be seeking out sin). And since he can do anything, he can teach us what he would teach us through media by other means.

The Bible is a 100% chance to hear God and His Word. Its can be hard to “feel” God or “feel” Him speaking through His Word, but according to Isaiah 55 the Word is not gonna come back void, because it is like precipitation watering our souls (such good imagery, the Bible truly is also a great literary work along with the Truth).

I think that as long as we are learning from the Bible and “letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly” (Colossians 3:16) we can let God guide us how to go.

Another Take on Worldliness

I started thinking about a Christian’s role in the world and how much of the “world” (in a Christian worldliness sense) each of us should intake (spurred on by a conversation with another Taylor student). It was said that we need to “be a part of culture to relate better to non-Christians”. He argued that we need to keep up to date with culture to be relevant (this blog is not pointing fingers or saying any one person is wrong it’s just what’s up).

I disagree. Romans 12:2 says that we are “not to conform the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds”, and goes later to say that it is God’s will for us. A definition of culture from the American Heritage Dictionary says, “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.” I have heard it said that Christians are “counter-culture” because we “are not of this world” and do not live by the same rules that non-Christians do (see Colossians 2:20*).

I have tried in the past year and a half or so to not be a part of this world by limiting my intake of movies, music that doesn’t have good lyrics, and anything of the like to “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2), and if anything, I feel better able to witness to people because I better understand God, His love, and how this world is dying and in need of Him.

Luke 8 has the parable of the seeds, and it says that “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Obviously between that verse James 4:4**, and James 1:27***, God does not want us to be polluted by worldly things.

I argue that to relate to people, we need to speak the truth, because God’s law is written on our hearts****, and the biggest reason of all: we already live in the world along with them. Just because I choose not to fill my mind with a lot of things that will do nothing for me eternally or spiritually does not mean that I cannot have meaningful relationships and conversations with people. Being salt and light and making a difference in the world comes through our relationship with God***** and nothing else. I can honestly say that back in the day I used to idolize TV and movies, and they choked out my desire to know God more and grow up in Christ because I was too focused on stuff that doesn’t last.

The first Psalm says that whoever walks in the counsel of the wicked, sits in the seat of sinners, and stands in the way of mockers will be like chaff that the wind blows away.

Think about it, say when you get married you only spend 10 minutes a day with your spouse and hours on end in front of the TV…your partner would not be too happy, and she is not even the one who gave us salvation and forgiveness, the greatest gift anybody could imagine.

I think our desires and delights should come first and foremost in God (Psalms 1:1-3, and Psalms 37:4)****** and that we shouldn’t care a whole lot about other stuff, because nothing else brings life or salvation.

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and take to heart what God has for you guys.

*****************************************

Footnotes:
* Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?

**You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

***Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

****Romans 2:15

***** John 15:5

****** Psalms 1
(1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.)

And Psalms 37:4 (Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.)

Home Stretch

I only have 2 more days of my practicum, only a few more classes, only a few easy (hopefully) tests, and plenty of time to enjoy my last weeks here in Ecuador.

This weekend doesn’t have too much in store: a trip to a jewelry town and the church garage sale, and then Sunday an extra credit seminar given by some Nobel Peace prize dude (for 25% of our final test).

The week after we may go to an orphanage to help out or we may go to Yungilla. Then during that week Tues-Fri we’re going to Montanita and possibly Salinas beaches to chill.


A few funny things happened yesterday. As I was leaving my house, I was reaching in my backpack to get my MP3 player and my digital camera fell out of its case and bounced 3 times on the concrete. How sad, at least my camera still works.

Then less than 10 minutes later, I wanted to get my camera to take a pic of something, and I juggled my camera case for a few seconds until it fell into a puddle. But hey at least my camera still works.

Then after I took a picture of the best graffiti ever (of a chicken smoking a cigarette), I saw from the bus a boy in a Chicago Bears Jersey. This was not just any Bears jersey; it said Kevin on the back. Pretty awesome. I think it was Kevin Butler from the ’85 Bears.

Earthquake! 6.8 on the Richter!

Matthew 24:6-8 (Jesus talking about the end times)
“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

Yesterday night at about 11pm there was an earthquake in from what I hear all of Ecuador. No one died and in Cuenca only one house collapsed, and a mirror fell off the wall at my grandma’s house (from what my dad tells me).

I think I had just fallen asleep when it started, and at first I thought it was heavy machinery close to my house (there are a lot of busses and trucks in Ecuador, and also there is a house going up right behind my room) but quickly realized that it was an earthquake.

I really wasn’t thinking logically at all. Instead of running outside to a safer place, I stayed in my bed thinking “This is so cool!” Bad idea. I finally thought about running to safety when it ended. It was about a minute long, and reached 6.8 on the Richter scale. It was a biggy.

Nobody was hurt to my knowledge and everything is back to normal. My boss told me that around 3 earthquakes have happened in the past 6 months.

I learned a few things from that:
1. I need to think about safety in times like that
2. Anybody could go at anytime and we need to be ready
3. Anything that could have caused death is a good opportunity to talk about death and life after death and a good chance to share the gospel

Thoughts with 40 days left

A lot can happen in 40 days (just ask Noah).

Here are some things on tap for our last 40 days:
-Visit to Incan ruins
-Another beach trip: this time possibly visiting 2 world-class beaches. Between taking public transportation and staying in hostels, not only will it not cost a ton, but we will hopefully have the freedom we expect.
-Enjoy more free time: Practicums end December 7.
-Spend some time with the fam: I still have to finish the video I started with my sibs, and hopefully some more trips to Yungilla.

Reasons I’m looking forward to home:
-see family and friends again obviously
-my j-term and second semester schedules rock
-having a car
-having a climate that does not rain every day

Reasons I want to stay here:
-my Ecuadorian family
-I enjoy living in a big city (no offense Upland)
-I want to continue improving in my Spanish
-I will miss some people I met

Cucumber Eating Champion

I am the Kobayashi of cucumbers.

And here is my story.

It all starts with our International Management teacher pushing our test up one two days. Since our class is longer on Wednesdays than Fridays, he decided to give the test Wednesday. That means studying would have to be done Tuesday night.

I decided that I did not want to study, and I wanted to go to Home Church with my brother.

After we arrived, the hosts brought out cups filled with sugar, one for everyone there. I wondered, what on earth is going on? Then came plates filled with cucumbers, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and big red spicy peppers. I thought “Uh-Oh”.

We had a race to finish the sugar and since I felt sort of sick, I decided to pretend to be eating it also.

The leader then says we are having an eating contest, and every team needs a representative for each vegetable. I quickly volunteered for the only veggie I thought I liked, the carrot.

The girl next to me claimed the carrot, so I quickly volunteered for the thing that would not make me super sick, the cucumber.

When it came to my turn, I was a little apprehensive but determined to eat that thing as quickly as humanly possible. I first bit into the cucumber and it was good. Then I shoved about a third of it in my mouth and crunched it.

The other people noticed the good head start I had and started chanting, “KEVIN! KEVIN!”.

It was the most glorious moment of my life.

Just kidding. But I did win (it helps that I have about 5 years on everybody there), and the cucumber was quite delicious also.

Larry the cucumber would be proud.

Also I think our team won every vegetable. It may have helped that our team of five had 2 guys with beards and myself.

When it came time for the pepper (called aji in Ecuador), people were ready to be sick. The one kid who always wears the same sweater actually threw up after downing that pepper. Another guy’s eyes turned really red and ate crackers like crazy after he was done.

Then after that fun game, we got down to business. The hosts brought out chips and sausages to dip in ketchup.

So what did all of this mean?

The 2 minute message was about Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The sick vegetables were symbolizing trials we face in our Christian lives, and the chips/ketchup/sausage-links were representing heaven.

That verse makes you really wonder why people live for anything other than Christ, because Paul would know have written it unless Christ was unbelievable better than anything else.

Personally I would like to use the Bible more in the Home Church, although having fun and growing relationships by eating veggies is good too. I guess since Paul wanted to be all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), this is good. I think that since the age group is younger than I, this was a good idea.

Although the next time there is a food eating contest, can I get some pie or hotdogs or pizza or Magnums?

So did skipping studying hurt me? A little, but my boss didn’t come in the next afternoon so I studied then.

Recently, my favourite Psalm has been Psalm 1. Here it is:

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Quito and Galapagos Trip

Day 1: We flew from Cuenca to Quito and had a city tour of Quito. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is rich in culture and history. We saw a lot of historical sites and cathedrals.
In the afternoon, we went to the Equator line at a place called “Mitad del Mundo” (middle of the world). We first went to the “fake one”. A few hundred years ago, some French dudes thought they found the Equator and made a sweet monument there. Problem was, they were about 200m off target, but is a big tourist spot and still considered by most “Mitad del Mundo” even though it isn’t. We had to convince our driver to drive us to the real equator after, because what’s the point of going to the fake one? At the real one we learned about the history of Ecuador and some of the cool physics of the equator; namely the direction water flushes and how an egg balances.

Day 2: We went to Otavalo, the biggest market in all of South America. When you hear “biggest in _________” you generally think gargantuan. I was expecting a market 4 blocks by 4 blocks with tons of variety.

It’s funny how expectations don’t affect the real thing at all.

When we first got there, I realized that it was only about twice the size of the market in Cuenca (it was about one square block on the 2nd biggest day of the week)…and they all had the same classic “Ecuadorian Artesian” stuff. So I perused and found some sweet stuff for gifts and also bought a hammock. I thought the hour they gave us was way too small for the biggest market in South America, until I was done shopping after 20 minutes.
The best part of Otavalo was easily the llama fur tienda that we found towards the end. I almost bought some slippers made from genuine llama fur, but the $17 starting price wasn’t even dickering down.

Then we went to Cotacachi, a town that specializes in leather. I got a nice double sided (black/brown) belt for $10.


Day 3: First Galapagos day did not go as expected. We expected to arrive at Galapagos at 12pm and have the whole rest of the day to enjoy the islands, but a flight delay pushed us back to 4pm ish….and we really didn’t see much, unless you think the Quito airport is much.

We did go to the Charles Darwin Center to see some tortoises.

Day 4: Today we went on a boat to visit a sweet island (I don’t remember which one) where we went on a nature walk and saw iguanas and a vast array of the unique birds of Galapagos (yes including the blue footed booby). Then after the sweet walk, we went snorkelling and I saw a school of Dory fishes (the blue fish from Finding Nemo, no clue what they’re called). Also a friendly sea lion came by us and we hung out for a while. The sea lion would swim 6 inches away from my face and then spin around and swim around like crazy. That was flippin’ sweet.

After that we went to a beach and snorkelled some more, seeing more fish and sharks, and also a lone flamingo. And it was sunny and the perfect temperature. Thanks God!

Day 5: Second day involved going to see some tortoises in the wild in the morning, which was sweet.

In the afternoon, we went to Tortuga Bay and hiked around seeing wildlife and then we kayaked and saw a ton of sea turtles coming up for air, blue footed boobies diving in the water, and a shark.

Although day 5 was cloudy, I think it helped us not turn to lobsters.

Our tour guide Eduardo’s grandmother was the “Ice-Cream lady” for the Galapagos islands.
We ate so many Magnum ice cream bars this day because we finally found places with variety and we had to try all of the flavours that are not in Cuenca. I had 2, and a person remaining unnamed had 4 Magnums in one day. My absolute favourite is the Blanc (white chocolate covering chocolate ice cream) and the cookies and cream flavour.

It was also interesting hearing what life was like in a beautiful place that thrived on tourism from our tour guide. Hearing about introduced species of plants and animals hurting the environment was interesting to hear.

Day 6: Last day our “activity” was seeing a crater. It took 10 minutes and then we left. It was an awesome trip…but 2 days in the one of the most beautiful places on earth? I would have liked another 5 days at least, but I am thankful for the two days we had and am thankful that Taylor paid for those two days.

LINKS TO PICS:
~QUITO~
~GALAPAGOS~

Expect the Unexpected: My tale of a very unusual Sunday

Sunday October 28th started out like any other. The plan for the day was to go to Yungilla* with my boss, get back in the afternoon, and go to church. This all happened, but not according to plan. What I expected was to meet his family, enjoy a nice meal and small talk, and come back to Cuenca safe and sound. What happened was.....

(*Yungilla is a nice warm town in the mountains 90 minutes away where many people have vacation homes)

***Quick disclaimer: this is not intended to be negative towards anybody or anything (my boss is great and I really like him), I just found humor in how everything I expected happened another way***

The plan was to get to my boss’s apartment at 9:30 am and get to Yungilla at 11 or so. I arrived late to my boss’s, and he informed me that he had a flat tire. So as we went to fix the tire, we hit a road block because the jack we had didn’t go high enough (we later found out there was an extra part to it that was hidden). So we searched his parking garage for something to put under the jack to get it higher, all the while moving to keep the motion sensor lights activated.

Forty-five minutes later, the tire was on and ready to go. Or so I thought.

We drove to the other side of town and picked up Luis’s mom who definitely gave Luis his looks. After we washed our dirty-change-a-tire hands at her house, we left for Yungilla---or in actuality the tire store.

As Luis’s mom and I waited in the car while Luis got the tire patched, we exchanged stories about pets and travel experiences, as well as talked about the kids riding their big chopper-style bikes by and how dangerous they were.

Twenty-five minutes later, we departed for a fun-filled afternoon in Yungilla.

The ride to Luis’s mom’s property in Yungilla was uneventful and filled with Sunny brand mango juice, ham sandwiches, and my boss’s favorite 80’s music (and I learned that in fact Video did kill the Radio star).

When we pulled into the side street where the property was, we got another flat tire. This time we were fashioned professionals and began the same routine that we finished two hours prior. We quickly realized that the jack would not go high enough and we did not have the rocks that we used in his parking garage to prop it up.

So we flagged down a man in a pick-up truck for assistance.

He quickly helped us and showed us how our jack actually worked. Nice guy.

Then we made off for their house.

When we arrived at their house, I quickly realized that this “house” was a “shack” and it was only sort of “theirs”. My boss’s mom rents her property and the purpose of our excursion was to collect the rent and discuss the rental contract.

Don’t think that at any time during this story that I had a bad attitude, because I was enjoying just chillin’, talking with my boss, and having time to think and process my experience her so far in Ecuador.

After the time here that involved: learning about mango fruit, seeing the head of a pig hanging from a tree by a rope, and feeling grateful for all God has given me, we left, assumably for a nice restaurant.

But before the restaurant, we went to get the tire fixed another time. While my boss was inside talking with the tire people, I had a chance to discuss religion with his mother.

His mom, a Catholic, has some very typical Catholic beliefs. She says that she “respects” the Virgin Mary and that is why she has pictures of her places and little statues, not to worship but to “respect”. I asked why she thought it mattered, and she repeatedly stressed the fact that “She’s God’s mom, she’s important”.

I then asked her if she was 100% sure that when she dies she will go to heaven. She never flat out answered me, but she said that she does good things and God will like that. I shared Ephesians 2:8-9 (For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.) in my own words and she agreed and talked about asking for forgiveness and repentance, but never said that she was 100% sure that she would go to heaven. An excerpt from Ray Comfort’s blog sums grace/repentance/salvation up perfectly,

“The way to partake of the grace of God is through repentance, but repentance doesn't save us. If it did, we wouldn't need a Savior. Think of it like this. A man is in a rowboat that’s about to go over Niagara Falls. Someone throws him a rope. He turns towards the rope, and then grabs it in faith. Will that save him? No. He turned. He took hold of the rope in faith. But if the person on the other end isn’t pulling on the rope, he’s still going over the falls.”

She also shared that she thinks the Bible’s writers “exaggerated a little” and that she doesn’t read it much because she reads works by Catholic writers instead.

Anyways, be praying for her to read the Bible and believe in Jesus, and also the people around us who I think over heard the conversation (at one point one of the people was looking at me like they were listening).

I feel like that conversation was another answer to the Prayer of Jabez that I try to pray every day from 1 Chronicles 4:10, “Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.”

************************************************************

After the tire store we went to go “get some food”. What I expected to be a restaurant turned out to be a convenience store. But hey yogurt and Oreos are delicious.

The uneventful drive home provided a nice time to think and be thankful for everything God has done for me here so far in Ecuador and in life in general.

************************************************************

When we arrived back in Cuenca, I went to my Cuencan grandmother’s apartment to help her move. Walking up and down 3 flights of stairs is a great time. I reminisced about the end of the school year last year, when the other Wengatz PA’s and I moved out all of the furniture from the dorm in the dark since the power was out, able to see only by the light of headlights.

Then I tried to catch a bus from my grandmother’s house to the church. After I saw 2 bus #27s, 28s, 3 # 7s, and 5 #11s, I decided the 15 wasn’t worth waiting for, so I took a cab.

Being the bulletin-passer-outer-guy was all I hoped for and more.

Church went well, and after that my family picked me up and we went to go pick up our dog from the vet, who had a cyst in on of her nipples. Pretty sweet huh.

The vet had dungeon like dimensions in the basement where we found our sweet Daisy, who happened to be sharing a room with a bald monkey using an IV.

Arriving home was exciting because now I could be with my family, take a shower, and go to bed.

As I entered my room, flipped on the light, and got ready for a shower nothing seemed strange. I thought about my strange day and thought the day of surprises was over.

But when I left my room to go turn the hot water on, I noticed a giant spider right by my light switch.

It took me a moment or two to realize it was real and not one of those plastic Halloween ones and managed to take a picture of it before we splattered its brains all over the floor.

THE END

In other news, this week myself and the other Taylor students are going to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and the Galapagos Islands, which I am told is the home of the coolest beach in the world because the animals (iguanas, penguins, tortoises, sharks, sea lions) are so friendly that humans can go up to them and interact. I’m pumped.

Another Random Update: FHB on the Water/Home Church

1 Planning Home Church
2 Strange food habits
3 Funny Stuff
4 Thoughts
5 New Album

For a few days this week, my family did not have any water. That stunk. No pun intended. I hope you enjoy this picture, the spider was in my house parading around.

1 Planning Home Church
So my brother, Jacob, Diego (Jacob’s brother), and myself had to plan a home church (small group type thing with 20 or so people) this week. I actually didn’t have to, but I felt like it would be a good time to get to know my bro and have some fellowship together so I jumped at the opportunity. I also have been wanting to be an encouragement in the faith of my family (not that they really need it or anything, but faith can always be strengthened), so I saw this opportunity as answered prayer. We really had no idea what to do. I had a document on my comp with 6 or 7 scripture references to God’s Will (which everybody wants to know), and I volunteered that and we were off.
So I translated it into Spanish and we decided to have the game to start be a little acting out of what people think God’s Will is for them. I was planning on having them act out the verses, but I think my brother thought something different, which is OK. I think it would be better to enforce a biblical truth into people’s lives instead of what they already think (which could be wrong). After we did our little skits, we sat around and talked about “El Voluntad de Dios” as it is in Spanish and read the verses and shared our thoughts. I know it was a fruitful time because “God’s word will not return void” according to Isaiah 55.
In the end I was very satisfied with the opportunity God gave me to work with my brother and be a godly influence in his life and have the opportunity to bless others too.

2 Strange food Habits
Things that either bother me or are just weird that deal with food:
a. Mayonnaise is very popular to eat with French fries. They also LOAD burgers up with mayonnaise. And no mayonnaise is not an instrument
b. Ketchup is eaten on everything. You say, “It’s the same in the US too.” Do people in the US put ketchup on spaghetti? On pizza? Yeah….
c. I don’t think that Ecuador has any drinking fountains in the whole country. And at restaurants they don’t give out water for free!!! For someone like me who is
i. A cheapskate
ii. Someone who drinks a lot of water
iii. Someone who doesn’t like soda of any kind,
This poses a problem. Paying for something that I feel is my right to have for free is a problem. But at least there is KFC here.

3 Funny Stuff
My family here is fairly goofy like my family back home which is great (I fit in). I let my brother listen to some of my music and let him have whatever he wants (there are no copyright laws here so you RIAA people shut it). He took a bunch and I gave him some of my favourite CDs (but forgot to give him Beyond Belief by Petra, what was I thinking?).
He and my entire family are in love with the Beach Boys song “Surfin’ USA” and we always sing the line “A bushy bushy blonde hairdo” and it is funny. They also love the song “Pretty Woman”, how could you not.

Today if I wasnt paying attention I probably would have been hit by a truck, and a motorcycle. Both of which would have hit me while they were driving on the sidewalk.

4 Thoughts:

Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2

Also God is teaching me a ton here in Ecuador. He is teaching me a ton by being in another culture, but he is also teaching me a ton since I am trying to read the Bible a ton and grow from it.

5 Album 4

Relatively Short Update

Sweet Stuff:
----I am going hiking and fishing in the Andes tomorrow with my family and other TU students
----A random lady said that I looked Spanish (I’m not sure if she meant Latino or like a Spaniard) which I take as a great compliment, I have no problem with that, and if I blend in more that will help my chances of not getting mugged (also the knife I carry around will help too not to mention being taller than 95% of people here).
----Also someone on the street asked me for directions, so I guess random lady was right
----I talked to a girl at the market yesterday about going to heaven, she said she wanted to go and I read her a couple of verses and gave her my pocket NT in Español. Be praying for her salvation and growth.
----My practicum is actually somewhat enjoyable these days
----November 1st we leave for two days in Quito and then 4 days in the world famous Galapagos Islands

Other Items of Note:
----Beach trip last weekend was fun. Since there were political riots blocking the road to the really nice beach we wanted to go to, we went to a beach known for being lame. Hey the beach is the beach. And if we didn’t go there, I may have never seen that dead decaying sea-lion.
----Our teacher for “International Finance” actually is teaching “International Business” and is supposed to speak in English but the last 2 classes have been 95% Spanish. Hmmm…….. both work out for me fine so I’m not complaining
----I sorta miss good ol’ USA….friends, family, real paved streets, having a car, fast food

Things to Ponder:

---- Ezekiel 16:49-50 says, “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.”That sure does sound like the US, which is frightening.

----I read this somewhere online and liked it:
“To a great extent, how we use our faith determines the amount of involvement God will have with our daily lives. Faith is our means of connecting with God and His supernatural power. It may help you to think of your faith as a muscle that grows as you exercise it. And just as we can become physically lazy, we can become spiritually lazy, too. Hebrews 6:12 says, "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."”

----God is teaching me to test all of my actions by the Bible. For example, instead of saying something like “This _________(you fill in the blank: movie,band,action,thought) is OK for me because everybody does it and its not that bad”, say “Does filling your mind with this hold true to the scripture, specifically Matthew 22:37-8 or Philippians 4:8? If it doesn’t then I need to stay away from it because it will only build your foundation on the sand (Matthew 7:24-27).”

Finally in the Real Swing of Things

TOC (because I will not be able to keep this short):
1. A NORMAL DAY FOR ME
2. PRACTICUM UPDATE
3. UPAC – BUSINESS CLASSES (ßread this its funny)
4. JUNGLE TRIP YO COMÍ HORMIGAS, BUSETA MALA, RELOJ
5. CUBBIES
6. WHAT I’VE BEEN LEARNIN’ (COMPLAINING)
7. ADDRESS, CONTACT ME
8. STUDY ABROAD THOUGHTS

1. A normal Monday Wednesday and Friday are like this:

7:00am wake up, read the Bible, shower, eat breakfast (a piece of bread, glass of orange juice, and hot chocolate)
7:50am leave the house for my Ecuador dad’s job, then I walk 20 minutes to my job
8:30am Work at my practicum until lunch
1pm Get picked up by my dad and we go to the house
1:30-2:05pm Eat and when we are done just sit around table and talk
2:15pm Take the bus to work
3:00-5pm Practicum (thank God that I don’t have to work until 6 anymore because of my classes)
5:15pm-6:45, or 8:00 Classes at UPAC Mondays are until 8, W and F are ‘til 6:45
Then we wait for our driver to drive us home. Since I live the farthest away, I am usually last and it takes almost an hour to get home. LAME. But at least I have my Taylor buddies there with me and the van driver is pretty cool

Normal Tuesday Thursday

1:00pm Wake up. Just kidding, but if I wanted to I could. Its nice to have time to relax.
8:00am Get up, shower, eat, read, do homework
1:30pm Eat lunch with my family
2:30pm Leave for Spanish class
3:00pm Spanish class
5:00pm Go from Spanish class to UPAC (only on Thursdays)
Tuesdays have ‘Home Church’ which is like my family’s small group from the church

2. Oh Practicum. So far it has not been good. I have realized that my attitude and how hard I work can make it better even if I don’t particularly enjoy what I am doing. I like the people I work with but I feel like I don’t have that much work to do on a regular basis. Luckily right now I have my Practicum paper to work on which includes a report on the company so I have been working on that and seeing how the company functions. I realized that I need to pray more about it that I would understand what I’m doing and work my hardest because sometimes it’s hard to be motivated when I feel like I don’t really accomplish anything for the company, especially when the Cubs are in the playoffs and I have internet at work and not at home. I am going to pretend like I have a fresh start and do my best because as it says in Colossians 3:23-4¨"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

3. UPAC (Universidad Panamerica de Cuenca)
I am studying at one of the more expensive Universities in Cuenca. Because of this there are ‘rich kids’ in it and kids that like to complain a lot. The first class I had was unbelievable, everybody was complaining about not wanting to do homework and how the teachers tests are too hard and blah blah blah. It felt like 6th grade all over again. Instead of having to buy books, since there are no copyright laws in Ecuador, we pick one person from the class to take the class book to a copier and they copy the entire book—sometimes hundreds and hundreds of pages—and put it in a spiral bound book. It’s incredible! Instead of dropping sometimes $100 for a real book, we get photocopied books for $5.00. If you guys really know me you know that I love a good deal (or you just call me a cheapskate) which means this book thing is awesome.

My Marketing class has an American teacher that lets his students use their notes and books for the tests and quizzes. Pencil that one in as a blow off. We are also allowed to skip 25% of the classes, but then we might miss pop quizzes. Skip class for once in a life time opportunity to go somewhere awesome in South America? I think so (don’t worry mom we are not going to skip much just a couple).

My International Business class will be tougher with 3 ten page papers due! Luckily they are group projects, and maybe since the Taylor students are the best English speakers, our job can be mostly editing and English stuff, not research stuff. I expect to learn a substantial amount in this one.

4. AMAZON JUNGLE TRIP BABY
We stayed at La Casa del Suizo (lacasadelsuizo.com for pics) for 5 days and 4 nights. It is on the Napo river in the upper portion of the Ecuadorian jungle. We had a few different tour type things a day ranging from hiking through the jungle, visiting an animal rescue place, visiting a butterfly house, rafting Huck Finn style down the Napo river with nothing but the life jackets on our backs (and swimsuits of course), tubing down various rivers, eating a few different varieties of ants and other stuff. During free time we usually chilled by the pool and played with the sweet parrot that they had there. The parrot actually ripped a button off my watch. I didn’t think that was a big deal until I was tubing in the river and realized that some water got in my watch through a hole that the parrot made. Cool parrot, break my watch. Good thing I got the watch for free. I thought we would see a little more wildlife, but we did see monkeys in the wild which has always been a dream of mine.

My one complaint about that trip was the ride there and back. Imagine 6 people in a minivan all night for 10 hours. And then imagine the whole way being the bumpiest ride you could imagine. We had a DVD player and screen but after watching a movie we all felt sick to our stomachs. But hey sometimes you gotta sacrifice for the jungle, just ask Mowgli.

5. So the Cubs are in the playoffs and I cant watch them most of the time unless I go to a sports bar. Shoot. It was fun explaining to my Ecuadorian dad that they haven´t won a championship in 99 years. And now they’re 0-2

6. LEARNING
One thing that I have learned here is that having a positive attitude no matter the circumstances is very important. Having a bad attitude can ruin a day and make it so much worse than it is. Also having a bad attitude about something you really haven’t prayed much for is worthless. I need to pray more.

7. Address for those who want it:

Kevin Halloran
Verbo Iglesia
Av. 10 de Agosto 1-196 y Lorenzo Piedra
Cuenca, Ecuador

8. STUDY ABROAD THOUGHTS
To come to Ecuador, it costs the same amount as a regular semester at Taylor. Some things that are included: sweet cross cultural experience, plane tix to Ecuador, trips to the Amazon jungle and Galapagos Islands on Taylor’s tab, staying with a sweet family, getting $50!!!! a month for transportation (I use on average $.50 a day…).

Love you guys and hope you´re doing swell

Album Links

If you want to see some sweet pictures, click below

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

Also, tomorrow we depart for the Amazon jungle...


Hebrews 4:15-16
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Likes and Dislikes of Living in Ecuador

Likes:
1. Big bottles of yogurt for $1.35 --I love yogurt
2. Living in big city
3. My classes (because they are easy, and not my job)
4. Getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night
5. Real fruit juice at every meal
6. Stray dogs everywhere (reminds me of Max the ugly campus dog at Taylor)
7. Hanging out with the other Taylor students
8. The family I’m staying with here
9. Mountains
10. The fact that you can buy a cat for $3 (not that I’m gonna get one, but the fact that I can intrigues me)
11. Independence
12. 12 cents a minute international calling
13. Feeling adjusted and comfortable
14. Having Tuesday and Thursday mornings free (starting October)
15. Learning a lot about culture and life down here
16. Being called a gringo every so often (or even gringito, which means little white guy but ‘ito’ is added a lot when talking about people you know and like)
17. Hopefully a trip to the Galapagos islands (Heather if you are reading this we all want to go bad!)
18. Having a maid make your bed, do your laundry, and prepare your food
19. Walking to work because it gives me time to think, pray, listen to music, exercise
20. The verse John 15:5,--- "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.---which is quite a comforting promise. We don’t need to worry about making a difference, just stay connected to Jesus and we will!
21-25. LLAMAS BABY!


Dislikes (not for the sake of complaining, just giving a real sense of life here and for laughs):
1. Sparse and SLOW internet (I’ve been trying to upload a bunch of pics to facebook for about 10 days now but it never works, rats)
2. Not always being able to say what I want
3. Sick bus smells
4. Traveling to work/school a lot everyday
5. Poop on the sidewalks from all of the stray dogs (see 6 in likes)
6. Stepping in poop mentioned above
7. Giving the guy on the bus a dollar bill and getting all dimes back
8. The 15 bus stopping at 6:30 so to get to church or Josiah’s house we have to walk or take a cab
9. Different keyboard configuration at work (I try and save something and it underlines stuff)
10. Not being able to watch the Cubs miss the playoffs (lets be honest with ourselves and if I accept defeat already then it won’t hurt as bad when it happens. I reserve this way of thinking only for the Cubs, because anything else and you have some problems)
11. Missing friends and family from home
12. My practicum. I hope and pray that it will move to the likes but so far it’s really boring. I feel like pulling my hair out sitting in front of a computer all day and typing with cold fingers, which leads to 13.
13. I feel like my fingers are always cold. It’s either
a. don’t wash my hands after the bathroom and have dirty hands, the number 1 way to get sick, which I don’t want
Or
b. Wash my hands with freezing water (because not every faucet has warm water) and have cold hands for hours on end.
If only I had some gloves made out of authentic llama fur to keep me warm, or maybe if someone could snag me one of those hand dryers from a gas station bathroom and FedEx it to me, I would be eternally grateful
14. Carrying my wallet in my front pocket (lots of pickpocketers want to steal from a nice-dressed gringo, heck I would….jk)
15. That dang guy selling sunglasses by the bank. I make one comment on how I like his old school-early 90’s Chicago Bulls jacket and he chases me down the street trying to sell me sunglasses. I guess nice guys do finish last, or at least running from sunglass vendors.

A couple sweet truths to leave you all with:

God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

What I've been learning

Some things I’ve been learning is that I shouldn’t but limits on my relationship with God like saying to myself, “I have already prayed and read my Bible today, so I can do whatever I want now”. When in reality I should be seeking after a closer relationship and loving God with “all my heart, soul, mind, and strength (the 1st and GREATEST commandment, Matthew 22:37). When you want a closer relationship with a friend what do you do? Spend less time conversing with them and do things that annoy them? No, the exact opposite.
Another thing that I’ve been learning is how empty everything except things of God is. The other Taylor students and I have gone into a few DVD shops to look around. In my opinion, there is so much trash that anything in the whole store just seems dirty to me. Honestly if you think about it, 99% of movies have nothing to with God or truth, and if they do they are usually mocking God. One reason I don’t watch many movies anymore is that they can’t really do anything for me except bring me farther from God-- even if it is a movie that “isn’t bad”. Do I not watch many movies because of legalism? No, I don’t watch many movies because I have something infinitely better to fix my attention, praise, and money on.
Starting at the end of last school year, I have been really into the Christian music artist Keith Green. His music itself is pretty cool, but his lyrics are what really attract me to him. Many of the songs are just honest heartfelt passionate prayers to the Lord. I am also reading his biography called “No Compromise” which is a sweet book. It has taught me a lot about compromising our faith for the world and not letting our lights shine. There are songs called “You Love the World (And You’re Avoiding Me)” a song about how many Christians love worldly stuff like magazines and TV more than the Lord, and another one called “Asleep in the Light” about how many Christians forget the “Great Commission” part of the Christian life and just live for themselves. My favorite Keith Green song is called “If You Love the Lord” and just talks about how our hearts need to be before God.
Another thing I’ve been learning is that Christians need to have a heart for the lost. I feel like in this world it is easier to have a heart for the TV show LOST than the people who are going to spend eternity in Hell if Christians don’t reach out to them. Charles Spurgeon the famous Christian dude said something like this, “If you don’t care about the salvation of the unsaved, then you are not saved yourself”. I’m not calling that Biblical truth or anything, but if Christ is truly so important and great (which I believe he is and the Bible says he is), then why don’t many Christians care about the salvation of non-Christians? Could it be because they aren’t seeking Him? Not to say I’m perfect, I’m not and that’s why God is teaching me about how we need to care about the unsaved and how we need to pray for a heart for them.

The Fam´s Comin and much more

Since this blog is another long one, here’s a table of contents:
1. The Fam’s a Coming!
2. Spanish
3. Luis my boss
4. What I’ve been Learning (limits, movies, Keith Green, LOST)
5. Cultural Differences
6. Letter to EHabs about Spanish class, car, PHP credit for walking
7. Daytona
8. Man bag
9. Funny happenings (dog, rock, corn) + Links you need to check out
10. Coming soon…video
11.


1. My Ecuadorian family is headin’ to Taylor. I believe there was an email sent to all TU students about it, and my family is the first one on the attachment on the email. They are really cool so if you see them tell them you’re my friend and give them a shout out for me. Since they are gone, I moved back into the house I was in for the first week I was here which has its perks. If I wanted to, I could get to work in 15 minutes or so by walking a little and taking a bus. Yesterday I walked and it took 30 minutes but that’s a good time for me to just think and pray and enjoy myself.

2. I feel like I can communicate most of the things I want to say with people which is sweet to be learning another skill. A good handful of people have told me that I speak really well for a gringo (a white dude). That pleases me to hear, but still I know I have a lot of learning and practicing to do.

3. The other day after a few meetings I had with my boss we were driving and got to talking about the church I go to here. I asked him if he went to church and he said he was a basically a non-practicing catholic. He said that he thought he was fine if he didn’t kill anybody or steal. If that’s were true, then why would Jesus have come? Only for Him to die for the sins of thieves and murderers? I guess that we are all essentially thieves and murderers anyway, because the Bible says that if you break one of the ten commandments you have broken them all, and that anyone who is angry with his brother is worthy of judgment (Matthew 5:22).
So if you guys could please pray for me and my relationship with my boss that would be excellent. This Monday I am driving out to a milk factory with him and will have hours in a car together, so pray that God would give me words.

4. This section about what I learned is long, so its on another entry. I guess thats good!

5. Cultural differences between Ecuador and the US: greetings involve kissing on the cheek, prices (a meal on the street is usually $1, real restaurants are more expensive, gas is $1.50/gallon, electronics are a lot more expensive (because they have to import them); and it is common to see a farmer dude walking across a busy street with a dozen goats.

6. All of the students here feel like we should get more than 3 Spanish credits because we live in a Spanish speaking culture. Jordan and I go to Spanish class 4 hours a week, and everyone else has 6. We also think that the Taylor students should have a car down here because taking the bus and taxis can be annoying. And lastly we think we should get a PHP credit for walking because we walk a ton! So we were joking about writing a letter to EHabs (President Dr. Eugene Habecker) and seeing if he could pull some strings.

7. Looks like I’m going to lead the Daytona Beach missions trip this year. I’m pretty jazzed for this opportunity and I know God will do great things for us and through us once again.

8. Everyday I carry my computer bag with me (usually w/o my computer) and I have enjoyed parts of it. It’s nice to always have chapstick, an umbrella, my digital camera, my toothbrush, a map of Cuenca, and a flashlight. I noticed that one of our male tour guides carried a little purse type thing, which I assume came in handy. But does this entice me to always carry a bag with my necessities? Heck no. I would rather be lost, have chapped lips, dirty teeth, be wet and in the dark then carry a “man bag”. Sorry I just had to get that out.

9. Funny stories: Josiah’s family (the Borjas) I guess had a dog named Pepe. One day Pepe got hit by a car and died. Something interesting about the Borja house is that they are on a cliff and about 3 or 4 stories down behind their house there is a river. So I guess instead of burying dead pets some people just throw animals in the river. Josiah told me that they threw their dead dog all the way down from their house into the river (like I said 3 or 4 stories), and instead of the dog getting washed away with the current it hit its head on a rock and stayed put. Inside joke: That makes Scooby Doo seem like nothing!
Awkward story: I was walking home from work there was a rock about half the size of a baseball that I accidentally kicked (I didn’t see it) and went right into the door of a parked car. I said to myself, “Thank God that there is nobody in the car”. Then I walked past the car and there was definitely a girl probably around my age staring right at me. There was no dent so I did my Jefferson Perez impression (Jefferson Perez is the national hero in Ecuador for being the world’s fastest speed walker, cool huh we have Michael Jordan a basketball player and they have some guy who can walk fast.).
We also learned about corn for about 10 minutes in my culture class and thought it was ironic that being at Taylor two years with all the corn around us I never learned anything about corn.

Funny links:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-09-11-alex-parrot-death_N.htm?csp=34
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=481601&in_page_id=1811

10. I might make a short video about my typical day here, so be looking at the blog or my facebook if you want to see it.
That’s all hope you’re all doing well.

Psalms 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Part 2 (The Real Deal)----LONG sorry

Blog 2

This past week is the first real week here. I started my practicum and my Spanish and Ecuadorian culture classes. My Spanish is getting better and my boss is a little easier to understand. The first few days he had me scour the internet (sounds cooler than Google) to find electronic comment cards (like electronic surveys) and also technology that tracks the electronic flow of customers in a store. My company is a Consulting company, so other companies come to us and ask us to help them improve their customer service or find out more information about their customers and we give them options like these products. Then I made a presentation about the comment cards for presentation to the heads of the company. I work for Advance Consultora (http://advance.ec/) on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays and do whatever busy work my boss gives me. My boss gave me some information about some products and told me to read up on them and see how good they were. The problem was that all of the information sheets and pamphlets were in Portugese, which is very similar to Spanish, but not enough for me to read something and understand much. I felt like Josiah who’s also from Taylor came to Ecuador not knowing a word of Spanish.
Something different about Ecuador (and probably all of Latin America) is that just about every building has a security system. The first day I was at work they gave me my code to put in and my password (because after someone disarms the alarm a guy calls us and asks for a password). The next day at work I was the first to arrive (because everybody is late for everything here) and when I got in, I put my code in and waited for a phone call but the alarm was going crazy, I probably woke up the whole block. And then the phone call came, but since the alarm was so loud and I couldn’t understand the guy’s Spanish, so I felt a little helpless until one of my coworkers came five minutes later.
Random story; last weekend my family and I went out to eat and I ordered chicken. The soup that came with it had a strange vegetable in it and I cut it up and tried a bite. It turns out this vegetable was a chicken foot that is supposed to add flavor. So I spit out the bones and decided I was done with that soup for the day.
To get to my job, I have to walk down to the street about ten minutes to be able to catch the #3 bus and then walk a half block to catch the #16 and then walk about ten more minutes around the stadium to get to my job. Overall it takes about 45 minutes which I don’t mind too much. Since everyone goes home for lunch in Cuenca, my lunch is 2 hours long; 1-3pm. I usually get home about 1:30 and then eat, and now if I have to take the bus back I would have to leave at about 2:15, meaning my lunch break is 62.5% traveling. It would be different if I had a car (or a moped) but that is not going to happen.
My Tuesday and Thursdays have an Ecuadorian culture class in the morning and then Spanish class in the afternoon. My culture class consists of 4 people, Josiah, Jordan, and a sweet dude from Florida Atlantic University. My Spanish class is just Jordan and myself, taught by Jordan’s host mom.
I really enjoy my family down here. My “mom” and “dad” are really nice and hospitable. My little sister Carolina (11) are getting to know each other a little more, but we haven’t had much time together without her parents around so it’s a little hard to get to know her. We have meals together and after dinner we usually sit around the table talking about our days or just joking around.
The group I’m with just started having a small group time together on Thursdays. This Thursday it was a good time to just vent in English what’s going on and what we like/dislike about the experience. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that living in a big city (roughly 200+ Uplands) is fun. Walking around downtown and enjoying the culture and differences is sweet. Then we got to talking about the Bible and that we know that we are each here for a reason and then started talking about our favorite Psalms. One of my favorite Psalms is 103, which says,
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (verses 11 and 12). Notable mentions are 22 (all about Jesus), 73, 91, 119—“the beast” as I call it, and 121 to name a few. I definitely was running a little spiritually dry without fellowship for a couple of weeks or so.
One thing that I am trying to do is to live “fully here”. What I mean by that is to not let my feelings of missing home and Taylor take away from the amazing situation God has placed me in and to “make the most of every opportunity” (Colossians 4:5). Today is the first real Saturday I’ve had with basically nothing, so I am taking this time to catch up on this blog, reading, prayer, and sleep.
We get to go on a trip or two while we’re down here and I’m really hoping that a trip to the Galapagos Islands is one of them. I’ve heard it called “the modern day Garden of Eden” because of the amazing variety of animals and plant life. We don’t know for sure if that’s going to happen though.
Sorry this thing is really long but there’s a lot of stuff that I want to say.
Lastly, I am praying about possibly leading the Daytona Beach Spring Break Missions trip this year. I’ve gone the past two years and have learned so much from sharing my faith on those trips. Pros about the trip: cheap for a missions trip (less than $900 and the $ is raised anyway), we’re in Florida, the group is always really fun, and we get to share the love of Christ with fellow Americans (which really practical for everyday of life).
Thanks for your prayers,

Kevin

Ecuador 1

What’s up everybody? So I’m here with 4 other Taylor students; Josiah Hatfield, Jacob Rufenauct, Jordan Elwell, and Brittany Hughes. We’re staying with host families in Cuenca (Ecuador’s 3rd largest city at about 400,000 people) while we take language classes at the church we’re connected to; complete our practicums, take business classes at a local university, and participate in ministries in the church so we’re definitely going to be busy this semester.
The family I am supposed to be staying with has plumbing troubles, so in the mean time I’m staying with a lady named Lucia. She’s very nice and hospitable. It’s too bad her kids are in the United States right now or I could hang out with them. Next week I will move in with Morris and Maria de Lourdes Abad. They have two kids Carolina who’s 11, and Sebastian who’s 15 and also in the United States in Indianapolis (he was at Taylor sometime this week I think).
This week we just have some meetings with various people to get adjusted and set everything up. I am really enjoying the relationship aspect down here; getting to know people and learning about each other is very interesting. It is frustrating at times not being able to communicate and express yourself the way you want, but I know that I will get better and also grow from this experience. The food in Ecuador is really good. Breakfast and dinner are usually just a little something with coffee and lunch is the main meal of the day. Lunch is usually soup for the first course and then another course of meat, rice, and fruit. I have tried everything that I have been offered just to be polite and enjoy the experience, the whole “When in Rome” mentality. For some reason, even though Ecuadorians grow some the best coffee in the world, Ecuadorians love Nescafe coffee. I don’t really drink coffee at all because I don’t like the taste and after expecting the world’s best cup of coffee and getting powdered junk, it was a disappointment.
At the airport I was reading my Bible and came across Joshua 3:5, “Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you,’” and I felt like God was speaking to me in that. Many of you know that a terrible bus accident happened in the area, killing three men my age from the church. Today I talked with a guy who said that he felt the Holy Spirit tell him to switch seats on the bus with one of the guys that died and that he knew God had awesome things in store for him. He also said that the youth group was ripe and ready to grow tremendously because of what happened. The ministry that I am doing is working with the youth group, so if you could keep me in your prayers for that I would me much appreciative.
Another thing that you could pray for me about is my practicum. I am working with a company called Advanced Consulting. I do not know much of anything about consulting and my boss is really hard for me to understand. Pray that I can learn what I need to do and also that I can be a light because I have the opportunity to be a witness of the Mighty God.

I will leave you with another passage of scripture that has spoken to me this week:
(It was Sunday at church hours after the tragic bus accident):
Romans 14:7-9, “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”

Feel free to give me a holla while I’m down here (by email, facebook, or Skype) because although I’m pretty busy I love you guys and would love to catch up a little.