The End Of An Era!

The time has come - well nearly, we leave in 4 days time and so this is to be the final post on "The Ecuador Experience" - sad but true. The video is a quick little recap of our time here (Warning - it is  quite long - about 12 minutes - but then again 4 years have been condensed into  just 12 minutes, so I didn't do too bad really!)

Thank you everyone who has commented over the years - and others who have loyally read and watched our adventures - we hope in some small way to have helped any who have been thinking about serving where the need is great. 

So if you can be bothered checking out the video - I would recommend grabbing a cup of coffee first - hopefully it doesn't put you to sleep. 

Adios, Zai jian and Goodbye

Goodbye again!

Once again we have been thrown another desperdida (farewell party) - how many is that now? Number 50???? Anyway this one was a little different as in they played games, which was quite cute really. In the top photo - we were made to do a presentation, using whatever was handed to us - not an easy thing to do in another language, but I think we held our own - or maybe they were just laughing to humor us! The photo showing Mark with a match burning is a question and answer game - you have to answer the question before the match burns your fingers - nice hah? I had an easy question - name 5 people from the bible, but Mark found it difficult naming 5 different flowers. he found out that no, white rose, red rose, yellow rose etc are not different flowers! He had a few laughs though when he tried cauliflower. Anyway it was good fun but hopefully we won't have anymore goodbye parties for awhile!

When in Ecuador......

 Aaron's friend, Joel, is here visiting for a couple of weeks and today we went with them for lunch to see him have the ultimate Ecuador experience - eating guinea pig! I was very impressed by his fortitude - he even tried a bit of the brain! (He said later though that maybe he took it too far doing that).

 Also visiting from Canada is Sarah (she is staying with Megan and Britney, who have been here for a couple of years). Obviously, as the photo shows, Sarah was pretty game too - to the disgust of Britney (love the look on her face).

Amanda shows she is an old pro at eating the ratlike creature by breaking off it's paw and chowing down on that!

Something much nicer to eat was Joel's lasagna that he spent hours and hours making for us. The don't have fresh pasta here so he lovingly made the pasta sheets from scratch - believe me it was the best lasagna we had ever tasted! He can come back anytime! (Or to visit us in NZ as the case maybe!)

Visit from the Coasties!

Just finished a really lovely week (last hor-rah) with our friends from the coast - David and Abbi, Stephanie and Chad. It was a week filled with delicious food, touristy stuff and lots of laughs. While we were out in town one day, we met up with the Kelly's and another sister from the english congregation, so I snapped this shot of them all. While acting as tourists, something we really haven't done in Cuenca before, we found a lot of interesting places (mainly eating places, hehe) so it was nice checking out the city from a different prospective!

Aaron's friend, Joel, arrived too this week so - it's been a busy old household. I suppose I really should try and work out how to fit our lives back into 4 suitcases soon  - countdown has begun!

Jamin gives his first talk

This little fellow is so cute - I just had to share his first talk with you (shortened version). As he says in the video - he is six years old and he and his family have only been in Ecuador for just over a year. This just goes to show how a childs mind really is like a sponge....oh if only that were true for adults too! Anyway we were very privileged to see his first ever talk - well done Jay!

Busy few days

Well we are back in Cuenca with all our worldly goods - thank goodness there are these guys wandering around the bus terminals looking for work - throw them a couple of bucks and they do all the hard work.

Its been a hive of activity since we arrived. First off, and most important, Haircuts! Then Aaron had his first Public Talk in spanish so it was awesome to be able to hear that. Next day - we moved house! Chad and Michele found a house almost the same size as the old one for $100 less a month so we couldn't pass that deal up. I unpacked our suitcases, which is just fantastic because we have been living out of them for  nearly 5 months. Of course I will have to repack in a months time, but it feels good anyway to have drawers and a wardrobe for now.

I have also been to physio a couple of times but before he does any more treatment on me, he wants a second opinion from a specialist - I have that appointment today so I am hoping that he doesn't want to put a pin in my foot or something equally horrible. I had to have a new set of x-rays taken yesterday, 3rd time so far - but here in Cuenca the equipment is a bit more up to date (I'm not sure if I have ever seen anything so old as the one in Manta-it looked like it was out of WWII or something). Anyway at least all the places I have had to go to have been within a bus or taxi ride - I can't imagine having to go up to Manta everyday for physio, it would have been horrendous! Yay for Cuenca!


Update on the foot - Seems that it is now too late to do anything for my foot - it should have been operated on straight away apparently, but now that it in the healing stage, the doc thinks we should wait and see how it goes. If not, then it would have to be broken again and pinned - of course I am quite happy with this news although, if I had seen Xavier (the bone specialist, who happens to be a brother in a neighboring congregation - great aye) earlier, no doubt it would have healed faster. Anyway I am back with a walking stick for two weeks and to carry on with physio - so I will no doubt get yelled at again when crossing the street "Muevete Mumita"

Last meetings are always so hard...

One last beautiful sunset to send us on our way - 
Thank you Puerto Cayo!

Always manage to find myself a special little girl in every congregation - this is my Puerto Cayo granddaughter - Maritza 

Mark and his possie of fans

Abran - so adorable just had to share his photo with you

Another one bites the dust - last meeting that is. The older I get - the harder it is to say goodbye - I hate it!