Today, I received an email entitled "Remember When..." This message came from the directors of Youth World, the mission that I use to work with in Ecuador. It was asking, those of us who have left Youth World, to remember significant things about our time as a part of that community. Things that happened to us, things that related the "culture" of our team, or significant events that are part of the Youth World history.
This gave me the opportunity to reflect on the seven years that I spent as a member of that amazing community.I reflected on the things I learned about my self, about others and about God.
I remembered the time when I sat in a room with seven other people to discuss what our mission statement at El Refugio should be. Choosing those words that have come to mean so much to me. Words that have shaped me,given me direction, and purpose. " To provide a training and retreat center which facilitates a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through nature and outdoor adventure".
I also remembered a time when we choose the verse from Hosea 2:14-15 to put at the end of our video. " I will lead her into the dessert. I will speak tenderly to her. I will restore her fruitfulness and her valley of trouble will become a door of hope." That verse has always been a picture of how God has lead me in my life and given me hope.
There were many hard things about leaving the Youth World team. Leaving the ministry that I loved and people that had poured so much into my life. But, there is an even greater joy that comes with knowing God has provided a "door of hope"
A few more very fun things that I remember about my time in Ecuador are: riding in a thirty foot long dug out canoe through the amazon rain forest, taking care of a little wooly monkey that had to wear diapers and get fed a bottle a formula twice a day, taking rides on a chiva (basically, a bus with no sides and a band playing on the roof) waving flags, blowing whistles, and drinking from cups that were hung around our necks, making spanish mistakes which included; telling the cooks to beat up the hot dogs, asking if i could pee a pizza, telling the cooks to take everything and put it in a flag and stick it in the oven, and (my favorite) misunderstanding a worker who was trying to tell me we had a dead llama and thinking that it was a dead milk lady.
So, here's to all my Youth World friends. Thanks for all the laughs, for all the wise words and for sharing your lives with me. Enjoy the old photos!
30ft long dug out canoe on the Agua Rico River
Kidnapping Elizabeth Payne on her Birthday (Nancy, Mike R, Elizabeth, Beks, Devin, Cameron, Me)
Devin sporting the apron and cooking up some good food
Cameron and Fabricio (our spanish professor)
My 29th Birthday (Matthew,Ruth, Sarah, Beth, Paul, Jorge, Dan, Justin, Greg, Daniel,
Alisha, Andrea, Andrew, Christina, and Evan)
Me and Tammy
The Chiva Ride (Russ, Austin, Me, Gabriel and Gina)
