There and Back Again

For all practical purposes there is no rhythm to this semester.  After finishing our Spanish crash course on Wednesday, my group packed it up and took a four day trip to Misahualli (a small town five hours away, located smack dab in the jungle).   On the way there, we stopped and explored one of the biggest caves in Ecuador.  Now imagine the following scene.  There is a dense forest with a with a cave.  The pitch black cave has a river that runs through it, and at one point the underground river has a waterfall.  In the waterfall, our guide showed us a hole through which one could dive, swim down fifteen feet or so of a slightly twisting tunnel all to grab a rock from the bottom.  It was terrifying thing to picture doing what our guide was talking about, so when I found myself being the gringo who said,   "Sure yeah I'll go for it.  Just going down until I reach the end right?" I think I slightly surprised myself.  I went for it though, and it was just as freaky as I imagined it being.  Still when I came back up, I held a rock in my hand. 

While we were in the jungle town of Misahualli, we learned about Youth World's understanding of short term mission trips (based on mutual reciprocal blessing and partnering with local Christians), put on a day long VBS, played basketball, played soccer (!), and helped finish some woodwork on a house.  (Note:  I didn't bring my camera on this trip, so atypically all of the pictures on this post were taken by other people.)

Yo y mi amigo nuevo


We all made some animal masks

In case your interested: we saw a multitude of bullet ants while we were in Misahualli.  Bullet ants, or paraponera, are over an inch long and have received their names for their bites, which supposedly can be as painful as getting shot and cause over 24 hours of uncontrollable seizures.  If these facts have peaked your curiosity at all, you should look up how bullet ants are utilized in initiation rites of the Satere-Mawe people of Brazil.  Crazy stuff!

Before leaving the jungle, we went and played at a waterfall.  It was really fun to rockclimb, laugh, and cliff jump (Don't worry Mom, there was substantially more water than there appears to be in the picture).  The bus ride back consisted of rain, cliffs, car sickness, and a couple rounds of Mafia. 

Today, I began teaching english at a school called San Francisco at Quito.  In the morning I have two elementary classes and in the afternoon I have two middle school classes.  When I arrived at the school this morning, I had no clue where to go or really what I was doing.  So, after wondering around for a while and asking the same people multiple questions, I found the teacher I was supposed to help.  She immediately gave me the following orders: talk to the kids in English.  Problem: the kids don't really speak English, so what ensued was an hour of Drew smiling, nodding, and asking what is your favorite color twenty different ways.  At lunch I was ready to quit.  For real.  I literally walked over and hung out by the exit door while trying to figure out how to get another internship placement without inconveniencing everybody involved.  The break was short however, so before I knew it I was heading apprehensively to my even longer afternoon classes.  They went great though!  I had a different teacher who handed me a book with the day's lesson plans.  She even remained engaged during the whole lessons, helping trouble shoot a couple of confusing exercises and generally just encouraging me with little smiles and nods.   As a result, the day ended up being mostly in the positive.  Below is a picture of me on my first day of school as a teacher.

Something to munch on as I leave.  A couple of days ago I was given the opportunity to switch internships, but I have come to a realization: more than my 16+ years of education, a degree, spanish classes, random trainings, and whatever else I have worked so hard on in an attempt to equip myself for life and ministry, in Quito, it is my ability to speak English that might be the most valuable thing I can offer people.  English.  I could be in an internship where I could feel more gratification or get to know people on a more personal level.  I could work in an orphanage or with a Compassion International project down here.  But it might just be that the best way I can actually serve for this next season is by asking what a kid's favorite color is twenty different ways.  I am uncomfortable with this reality, somewhat frustrated, and certainly humbled, yet I rejoice.  To God I ask "knock me down, and build you up."