Hello again!! I know I have already written a bit of an overview about what I do in my ministry here, but I decided I wanted to go a little bit more in depth. Since being on the race, this is the first time that my ministry assignment has looked pretty much the same every day. In South Africa it was a good mix of everything! Jeffrey’s bay looked different everyday, sometimes with kids ministry at Beats and Books, and sometimes with manual labor wherever our host needed some extra help. In Johannesburg we did outreach most days, with the occasional kids program, assisting teachers in the classroom, or working at a baby rescue home. But even on outreach days, every day looked different because I never knew who I was going to meet/pray for, or what I was going to talk about with those people. Here in Ecuador, on the other hand, my ministry at Camp Hope, a day care for kids with disabilities, looks pretty much the same every day. If you have no idea what I’m talking about or just want to refresh your memory on Camp Hope, go check out my first two blogs from Ecuador, “Hola from Ecuador” and “Back to Basics: Service!”. I cover a lot about my ministry in both of these!
And now without further ado, here’s what a typical day in my life looks like here in Ecuador!!
5:50 – First alarm goes off! Yes I know it’s not a fun time to get up every day, but I’ll take all the extra Jesus time I can get in the morning!
5:52(ish) – Roll off my top bunk, trying not to make too much noise for all my roommates 🙂 Then I grab my clothes for the day and my bag of toiletries and head to the bathroom to get ready. The automatic lights in there are usually a rude awakening…
6:00 – I pack my bag for the day of ministry (water bottle, a snack, headphones, phone, my treasured burts bees chapstick, a jacket or sweatshirt, and my wallet if I plan on stopping for any groceries).
6:05 – I head downstairs to the living room and sit down at the table (same exact spot every morning haha) to start my quiet time! I put in my headphones, put on some instrumental tunes to help me focus, then open up my Bible and Journal. Obviously this part is what looks a little different every day depending on what book of the Bible I’m working through, but I think you get the idea. I’m finishing up with Hebrews right now!
7:00 – My squad leader Zach (in Ecuador we call him zachito) plays worship music on his speaker at 7 every morning. So I turn off my own music and continue my devo with some worship!
7:30 – It starts getting a little more crowded in the living room, so I usually wrap up my devo and just hang out with everyone for a bit!
8:00 – We pray, and get in line for breakfast! Sometimes we eat yuka (a cheese potato thing, idk haha), sometimes bread and fruit, and occasionally we are blessed with some cereal!!!
8:30 – Team Refinement leaves for ministry! My team is the only group that walks to our ministry. The others all take buses, but we walk 30-40 minutes.
8:35 – Pit stop!! There’s a conveneince store on our way that we often stop at for a little something extra for breakfast. We always say “buenos dias” to Jorge at the counter then scatter to buy our usual snacks. For me thats usually a 30 cent empanada 🙂
After we stop at the little store, we get to walking again. Depending on the day, we sometimes prayer walk. We take turns praying out loud for one another’s intentions (not super easy when you’re walking uphill and out of breath haha). If we aren’t prayer walking, the headphones go immediately back in haha!! I always listen to worship music while we walk.
Our morning walk is a literal game of crossy road… for the adults that don’t know what I’m talking about, let’s just say running across an 8 lane busy street requires a LOT of attention.
9:00-9:10 – Depending on how fast we walked and whether or not we stopped at the store, this is when we arrive at Camp Hope! We ask the receptionist for las llaves (the keys) so we can put our bags into a locker. Then we all split off into our separate classrooms. I speak only Spanish all day, except to my team at lunchtime, so at this point it’s goodbye English for a little while!
If you don’t remember this from past blogs, my room is called “Paciencia” (patience). All of the rooms are named after the fruits of the Spirit!!
I greet Martha, the nurse in my room, with a hug and always get a kiss on the cheek and a “buenos días querida.” I’ve learned that my name is really hard for native Spanish speakers to pronounce, so instead she just calls me querida (dear/loved one) or when the kids are in the room, “professora.”
9:30 – The kids have been filtering into the room one by one for awhile now, but around 9:30 is when we start working with them. We always start by telling them “manitos arriba” (hands up) and singing a song that they all love! The kids all shake each other’s hands as a greeting (and we make sure no one hits each other here, LOL), and then Martha prays for us all and for the day. We also always say “toca su cabeza! Toca su carita! Sus ojos, su nariz, su boca, y sus orejas” (touch your head, face, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, you get the idea) and hold their hands to help them do it!
9:40 – Whatever’s first on the schedule, we get to work. Sometimes the kids play with shaving cream or flour and water, so they can be reminded of different textures. Whatever it may be that day, it almost always ends up dumped down the front of my clothes.
10:00 – Snack time!! I go to the kitchen and bring back a tray of food for the kids. It’s usually fruit, so I mash it up for the ones that have a little bit more trouble eating, and then we all sit and eat together. Then I clean them up, change bibs, help wash hands, and all that good stuff!
10:20 – Back to work! The schedule changes every day, but we do a lot of the same stuff. We look at pictures in magazines, play with toys, or listen to music/dance. Sometimes we do kitchen therapy, where they all work on mashing/mixing something, which Martha then makes into another snack for later! One time we made pancakes (which was probably my favorite day EVER).
Between now and lunchtime, I work one on one with a lot of the kids outside doing physical activity. I take them to practice going up and down stairs, step over tires in the park, kick a soccer ball back and forth, or play on the swings!! That all really just depends on the kid that I’m working with and what they are able to do.
12:00 – Lunchtime for all the volunteers! My team and I meet back up in the dining room area to eat our packed lunches. We often share funny stories of things our kids did that morning… things that got spilled on us, who got peed/thrown up on, activities they did, etc. We share a lot of good laughs around that table!
12:30 – Time for all the kids to eat lunch! I feed the same kid every day, a little boy with cerebral palsy. He is not the easiest to feed and we are usually sitting at the table for over an hour, but I pass the time by singing/talking to him to keep him focused on me!
1:30 – As soon as the kids finish eating, we walk all the kids back to their respective rooms. Right around this time I help out for a little bit in Gozo (“joy”), the room for the kids with cerebral palsy. They always could use a little extra help cleaning the kids up and brushing their teeth. Then it’s back to my room to help my kids do the same. One by one they line up, I brush their teeth, change bibs for those who use them, help them wash their hands, and clean up any food on their clothes or faces. Some cooperate well, but not all of them love having their teeth brushed so this is quite a task…
1:45 – To calm down a little bit after lunch, we play with legos or push a ball around/across the table. After we relax a little bit, I take more of the kids outside one on one for their physical activity. Also in the afternoons, I often take some of them out in groups to play together. Sometimes we sit down to relax in the grass, and that usually means I give them foot massages with lotion. They LOVE this. I always sing to them to keep them entertained, or just talk to them even though they might not understand everything I say.
3:00 – Snack time again!! And you guessed it, more fruit! Same as before, we all sit around the table and eat together. Then once again I clean them up and help them wash their hands and faces off.
3:30 – Time for my team to head back! I give Martha a big hug and thank her for another great day. Another kiss on the cheek and I’m on my way out! My team and I meet up at the front (Back to speaking English, woohoo) and we gather our things and start the walk back! Headphones back in of course 🙂
4:00 – We pass our favorite little strip of shops on the way back to the base. I wrote a little bit about it in my first blog in Ecuador. We pass Mariano in the window of his empanada shop and wave hello, sometimes stopping to eat there. I also always give Thomas a big hug whenever we pass his family’s restaurant. I ask him “cómo fue escuela hoy” (How was school today) and “que aprendiste” (what did you learn). Sometimes he gives an answer, but most of the time he just says “nada” (nothing) and tries to jump on my back. Lol. Sometimes we also stop to buy a pizza so we can use the pizza shop’s WiFi for a bit, to call home, update social media, or post blogs. Thomas always seems to get away with eating a piece of my pizza…
Depending on whether we stop for food or wifi, we usually get back to the base sometime between 4:00 and 5:00. Which means it’s time for team time! We have team time every night, and it’s different depending on the day of the week. Monday’s are worship, Tuesday’s are Bible project (we watch a video and work through questions about the Bible), Wednesday’s are blogging, where we work on blogs, duh! On Thursday’s we have feedback (sitting down to affirm one another and give suggestions for what we can all be working on/seeking to grow in). Friday’s are our free for all, meaning we can pick what we want to do as a team. Sometimes we just stop for food together as a team after ministry, sometimes we just hang out in our room. And Saturday’s are our weekly debriefs, where we discuss what we are learning, and answer processing questions together about the week. On Sundays we don’t have assigned team times, but of course we still hang out because we live together haha!
Between team time and dinner, I just relax! I almost always spend more time in the Word or journal about the day, but sometimes I take a nap in my hammock. I usually squeeze a shower in during that time too!
6:30 – Well, dinner is supposed to start at 6:30, but I don’t think it ever has, haha!!! Usually more like 7:30. But either way, around 6:30, everyone starts to gather in the living room to get ready to eat. It gets a little chaotic with 33 people trying to squeeze into a living room that’s about as big as my own living room at home, but we use this time to catch up with people on the other teams about their days!
After dinner the living room is still the place to be for a little while! I have never laughed harder than with these people, so spending time with everyone is my favorite way to end the night.
9:00 – around this time I get ready for bed and climb back up to my top bunk. I finish any journaling I wanted to do that day, maybe play a couple rounds of candy crush or sudoku on my phone (don’t judge lol) and then just like that, I’m out!
And there you have it, my typical day here in Ecuador! Every day obviously looks a little different, but I think this gives a good glimpse into what life has looked like lately!! Please be praying for my team and I as we continue working with this ministry, it’s certainly a challenge and we are learning a LOT from working with the kids. Thanks for reading 🙂
