The Seventh Day

On the sixth day, we met at the wee hour of 8am to take a short road trip to Milagro (courtesy of the wonderful Daniel and his family) to play some soccer (futbol), swim, and relax. We had some great bonding time between the morning and the not-so-morning people who were all squished in the back of a van. Thankfully, I'm a morning person and therefore did not have to endure my own annoying hyperactivity. 

The day was just flat out fun. There was monkey in the middle, plenty of laughs, tanning under a cloudy overcast (someone please remind me everyday that you can--and will--get burnt even under clouds), and who can forget synchronized diving. It was so much fun that we were all exhausted during the seafood lunch, ride back (once again squished together between exhausted-hyper people and exhausted-exhausted people), and once we arrived home. 

We had the rest of the evening free, so a group of us walked to the Malecón (boardwalk). The highlight of the evening was the very end. We were hanging out around this cool statue when a pretty bird landed right next to us. After a few pictures, Jeremy reached out to touch it.

IT DIDN'T MOVE.

Guys, it let us pet it. We actually got bored with it and walked away before it flew off. 

"WHAT," you're asking, "was it rabid? was it dead? was it a robot?"

NO!

It was just a really friendly bird, and that's the explanation I'm sticking with. 

I will now skip ahead about 10 hours to the seventh day. We walked the now familiar route to church. Once again, it was all in Spanish, but our kind translator was not around so we were left on our own. The Spanish speaking folk on our team sat toward the front again, while we pretended to know what was going on in the back. I didn't doubt that God was still speaking to me during the service, no matter how little I understood. Something I'm still thinking about is how long and intentionally they prayed. As someone on our team said, "I'm pretty sure they prayed through the whole New Testament." While funny, I was amazed at the faith shown during those times of direct communication to God. 

My prayer life has always lagged. I didn't grow up praying and so it's really hard to stay in the habit of intentionally communicating to God. It's weird because I sometimes feel like I'm talking to myself. But then, when my prayers are answered (which is always--just not necessarily in the way that I originally plan for), I'm amazed my God's power and grace. What I witnessed at that church has definitely inspired me and given me a great example to follow. 

The afternoon was, in a word, lazy. We all napped (listening to a two-hour service in all Spanish along with the 20 or so minute walks there and back is tiring), and I took care of a minor toe issue (now you're all so curious...). Trust me, it's entirely unexciting and not worth any more detail. 

We ended the day with praise and prayer time. Thanks to our personal worship leader, Jason, we are able to worship through song, which is something we are all quite passionate about. It's so awesome to center ourselves on Christ before we go into another week of sharing his love and mercy. 

I'm excited about this week and seeing how follow-up sessions go (and of course getting jugo at ESPOL). I'm praying specifically that the Lord will use us to raise up new disciples and leaders at ESPOL and U.G. who will continue the movement. 

Tired but alive in Christ, 

Ashley