Life in Ecuador

It is now less than 70 days until Nich and Alison arrive at the Quito airport. I am so excited for them to be here. Sometimes it feels like a dream come true that I get to travel around South America for two weeks with my best friend and my boyfriend, and of course with Ali! My two worlds are coming together, an APU friend and my life long best friends will all be travelling together.

I get more happy and content here as each day goes on. I feel so much more comfortable with where I am at and with my life here. I think I have said this before, but sometimes I actually forget that I am in Ecuador. Life is becoming so normal here that it no longer feels like a temporary trip to a foreign country. I am getting better at being alone too. Some of my favorite times are when my family drops me off in town and I just wander around by myself. I walk through the markets admiring all the fruits and vegetables, many of which I have never seen before, I buy way too much bread (and ice cream) for myself, and I just enjoy the fact that I am living one of my lifelong dreams of living in a foreign country. There are so many times when I think to myself, "I can´t believe this is my life right now!"  I am loving it more and more every day, and I am rarely homesick anymore. There are times when loneliness and the longing for something familiar still overwhelm me, but they are always short lived and do not make me feel as weak and sad as I used to feel. 

Several weeks ago I finished reading a book called Gracias!, by Henry Nouwen.  Henry Nouwen is a priest who lived in Bolivia and Peru for several months living alongside the poor. This book gave me more peace, encouragement, wisdom, and inspiration than I could have ever imagined that it would. There is a part in the book where he is talking about his prayer life. He says that each day he committed a full hour to silent time with the Lord. He would either pray or just sit in silence in the presence of God. He explained that often times this hour was not in any way enjoyable or powerful. Most of the time he was distracted, fidgety, unable to focus on praying, and just wanting the hour to be over. But that hour was his commitment to the Lord. Because he committed that time to God every single day, he was able to truly see God at work in his life and his daily life was deeply impacted by that one hour of prayer each day. So often when I pray I want to see immediate results, or feel immediate peace and intimacy with God. But that isn´t always the case. Sometimes prayer is so hard for me to do. It is hard to sit in silence, to not be distracted by so many other things, and it is hard to keep my mind focused on the Lord.  Since being in Ecuador I have been really trying to commit time to prayer every single day. Sometimes it is so hard, sometimes I really don´t want to do it, but I am committed to this relationship with God even if I never feel that warm fuzzy feeling inside or see immediate results like I want. I am realizing that it is about a relationship, not a feeling. I have never been closer to God in my whole life. All of my comforts have been stripped away from me and I realized quickly in the beginning of this that I couldn´t do this without the strength of God to bring me through these four months. I have never known so confidently how real God is. I have never experienced His presence so strongly and so consistently. There are still hard times here, there are still days when I don´t pray, but I know that God is with me and that I am not alone or without His love and mercy. Prayer is so important and so powerful ... I see the truth of this more and more every single day! When I am happy and things are good, I want to rejoice with the Lord. When times are tough and I am weak and broken, I want to turn first to Jesus for his grace and love.

I hope that you all are doing well, and I can´t wait to see everyone in November!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

"If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." C.S. Lewis