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”

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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.

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.

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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.)

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

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.”

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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