Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

March 9, 2007

As we finish up our first week and half, we are so thankful to finally be here after so long of a preparation. Our flight went smooth and we spent the first night at the Hacienda El Refugio or HER for short.

Two teams were here when we landed. One group, from Hume Lake is building a huge tree house out of steel beams. When it is complete it will really be quite phenomenal. The second group was training basically in search and rescue techniques. The interesting thing about the second group is there were some non believers and there was an opportunity to present the gospel to each before they left. This is a good example of why we are so captivated with the ministry at HER, because you have a very non traditional way to reach people who may never hear about the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

With these two large groups the water system was challenged because this is the dry season. Howard was up on the mountain assessing the situation and knows this will be one of his priorities to address. Howard met with the workers and started the process of overseeing these men. He needed to be here, each man has been basically doing as they saw necessary without an overall plan in mind. Pray for Howard, that the men will follow his lead and as he works at communicating with them in Spanish.

We all start our sessions with the Spanish tutor next Monday. We have all felt the need to understand and speak the language because of the barrier we feel. Danielle went to youth group on Sunday and they went to the Cinemark to do informal religious surveys. She was so impressed with the language skills of the American kids here and has a real desire to do as well.

Jonathan probably feels the most like he has come home. Unlimited mountains to hike and things to discover, we joked he may never set foot off the property again.

As I sit and write this I can look out our window and see cows on the mountain, which looks like a 90 degree angle. I have no idea how they don’t fall off! Last Friday, we all hiked up the mountain on the property to see the progress on the tree house and we just kept saying, “Can you believe we are finally here?”

One final encouragement from us to you is to do one thing out of your comfort zone. Bridget and I were talking last summer and I told her at that time I had no idea what my comfort zone was anymore. Well this last week our family had to step “even further” out of our comfort zone. Howard drove alone for the first time in Quito, without the aid of following anyone and having someone in the car with him. I grocery shopped in a store where everything is in Spanish. Now granted it took me 15 minutes to figure out what cooking oil to buy, the point is I came home with cooking oil.

We are thankful for each and every one of you. We are fully aware we could not be doing the work here without your love and encouragement.

As God is our Refuge, Mary for the Scholl Family