Buen Pastor Iglesia (Church)

We got to attend church at Buen Pastor in Pifo (another suburb area of Quto). It was a deeply moving experience to worship with these brothers and sisters in their language and country. Some of the songs were the same that we sing... Just in Spanish. Pastor Ramiro preached from 2 Peter 3:1-7. Lee Cooper and Craig Timmons were asked to help serve Communion. It was a huge honor to take the Lord's Supper with our friends here. What a sense of unity in the global Church. 

Ecuador-Volibol

They play a cool version of beach volleyball here. There are 3 players on each side. The net is about 10 feet tall at the top. They use a hard soccer ball. There are courts all over and you'll find whole neighborhoods out in the evening to play from when they get off work until 11 or 12 pm every night of the week. I've only seen men play. Some of our guys (Lee, Craig, and Gabe) decided to take on the locals (Paul, our Extreme Response host; Neri, one of the workers at the Hacienda; and Pachilo, one of the pastors t the church here). Jonathan jumped in to give Pachilo a break.  

Building progress

This is our last two days of work on the building. It's amazing how fast it has gotten to this point. We poured concrete on the roof by handing buckets of hand-stirred concrete up to the roof. It was rough on everybody but we got it done. Then we plastered the inside walls, painted the metalwork, and cleaned up some huge piles of sod behind the building. 

Driving around Tababela and Pifo

I wanted to include some pictures of the area we are in. Some (most) were taken from the van as we drove so might be a bit blurry. 

Miss Betti

She worked us all into the ground!

Compassion International Kids

We got to meet several kids from the Compassion International program here. They come to Buen Pastor Church 3 days a week for a free lunch, help with homework, and a healthy dose of Christ's love. They are the poorest of the poor. Pastor Ramiro reminded them that we will give them presents, but all gifts are small compared to the grace and love God gives us. 

El Restaurante Madrigal

We've had every breakfast here and a few dinners