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.”

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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.

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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