Resting

I’m always waiting for the next best thing. Waiting to go to nursing school. Then I couldn’t wait to be done with nursing school.

Once I was officially DONE with nursing school, then I had to wait to take the NCLEX.

Now the NCLEX is done (and I PASSED! Praise the Lord!).

What’s the next best thing? Finding a job. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. So far I’ve applied for 20+ positions (okay, so it’s not a lot compared to some people), and I haven’t had any calls about any of them.

And at least 9 of my classmates have jobs already (not that I’m keeping track?).

I really am excited for them. And I’m trying to keep the green-eyed monster at bay.

My roommate (and nursing classmate) had an interview yesterday and has another one for a different position next week.

I want to be excited for her and help her through it (and I am), but I want to be able to do so without feeling frustrated with myself for not applying for more positions, for not having a good enough resume to get call backs. I don’t want to become bitter.

I’m aware of where my heart is in all of this – and I don’t want to follow it down that road of bitterness and jealousy.

I am excited for my roommate and all of my classmates. And I keep reminding myself that God has a spot out there for me. Whether it’s one that I’ve applied for yet or not. He will continue to guide me and bring me to the place that He wants me to be. He brought me back to Northwestern for nursing school rather than the U of M. He provided throughout nursing school and he continues to provide for me in this in-between time.

I know that in the days to come, once I find a job, I will miss the days of doing “nothing” and being able to sleep in and [finally!] relax after a crazy busy 16 months of nursing school. I am thankful for these days to recover from the non-stop craziness of school. And resting in God’s promises that He knows what’s best for me right now.

Melt my Heart - Aaron Jeremiah

On our second day of working at the hospital, we continued with our well-baby checks and got to see lots of little ones. Some baby clothes had been donated and so we picked out outfits to give the little ones that came in.

One afternoon, Jeri pulled me aside and asked if I could bring an outfit for a little boy who had been born at the hospital, but missed the Blessing Ceremony that we had for them. He was about 6 months old and I had to dig through all the girly outfits we had for something for a little guy that looked like it would fit him.

When I brought it out to him, I asked his mom if I could hold him for a bit. I loved it - I just love babies, so it made my day. So we took some selfies together

And then he fell asleep. In my arms. Bliss.

So I walked around with him for a while with him sleeping in my arms gave his mom some time to be with her mother (the main reason they were at the hospital in the first place).

He just snuggled there for what seemed like an hour. And then he woke up and soon after it was time for me to leave the hospital. Such a sweet little guy.

Melted my heart.

Melt my Heart...just the beginning

Just last week, I returned from a 2 week medical missions trip to Kampala, Uganda. It seems so cliche to say that it changed my life. But it did. I'm not sure how exactly to describe that change. But my heart melted. Time and time again.

I've never been one to blog and write down every detail of what happened on a trip - there's just too much to capture, and I've never been able to keep up with my own journal detailing a trip...so what I want to do here is to share and remember the moments that melted my heart. Many of them have long stories and backgrounds, some were just brief instances. But these are the memories that are going to live long in my heart.

I never learned this precious girl's name. She never said anything to me. We were touring a government hospital, conditions were not ideal. I'm not sure anyone in the States would be willing to accept health care from a hospital like this one - but it's what they have. As we were wrapping up our tour, we visited the pediatric outpatient clinic. A few of us had stopped to talk to a little girl who was wearing her best dress - it was beautiful and she was so proud of it. As we were talking to her, this little one climbed down from her chair, toddled down the stairs and toddled straight to me.

She never said a word. She just stood there by me. So I knelt down and asked her if I could give her a hug. She came closer and hugged me. When I let go of her, she toddled to the others and then just stared at us as we had to leave to catch up with the rest of our group. I just wanted to scoop her up and hold her longer.

Melted my heart.

Psalm 46:5

following God WHEREVER.

I started this blog a few years ago to document and share my adventures as God took me to Ecuador for a summer. Since that summer I have been on several more trips. I love to travel and it has been fun to see where God has brought me on different missions trips over the years - Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama, and soon to be Uganda!

I considered starting this blog up again to document my upcoming trip to Uganda. But I've never been good at being able to share everything about my trips and stay up to date.

But as I was thinking about this, I realized what the name of this blog was - "Following God Wherever." This doesn't just mean following Him on my international missions trips. This means following Him in my every day life.

This is my life. This is me following God. Wherever.

Never the Same - Panama 2012

I just got back home from a 2 1/2 week missions trip to Panama with Susie Magazine, a Christian magazine for teen girls, and Big World Ventures, a nonprofit Christian organization that specializes in planning short-term missions trips for teens and churches. This was my third mission trip with them -- my first mission trip with them was in 2006 to Peru when Susie Magazine was Brio Magazine (a magazine published by Focus on the Family).

Now that I'm home, I actually have time to take a moment to think about the trip and everything that happened. There was so much to think about and learn and everything while on the trip, but I was too busy loving on my kids and running around helping with organization stuff. It was so much fun, and even though I would have loved to spend another week in Panama, I'm glad to be home.

The trip started out different for me than any of my other trips -- I flew down to Miami, FL a day early to be a part of "Team Big World Ventures" and help with set up and getting everything ready for the leaders to arrive the next day. The leaders arrived and we had several training sessions and time for preparation for the students to arrive. The students arrived and the leaders were prepared and organized to receive them -- we had teams at the airport picking kids up in our matching shirts and another set of leaders back at the hotel to get them registered and make sure their passports were accounted for.

Striped zebra in the corner = boredom during slow times of registration

That night we had our first large group meeting -- FUAGNEM ((F.ired U.p A.nd G.oing N.uts E.very M.inute)) -- and our first meeting as Team 1. And then we had drama casting for the drama we would be performing on our ministry days in Panama.

Our first night with the students ended with us casting each team member as a part in the drama -- from the evil magician to the toys, from the Toymaker to the mimes, everyone was given an important role.



More stories and pictures to come...


Simply,

Amy Lynn



To learn more about next year's Never the Same Mission trip to Peru, visit www.neverthesamemissions.com

Very little internet access...and very little time...

I had hoped that I'd be able to update this blog a little more, but I have only just discovered that I have access to the internet in my room. I also have been quite busy and haven't had much time to write or do much else.

Facebook has been quite the medium for sharing updates on the trip -- we have a facebook group for the whole trip (( http://www.facebook.com/groups/PanamaMission2012/ )) and I created a page for my team ((http://www.facebook.com/groups/176615665802660/)). We have several photographers on the trip who are updating the whole group's page and my team leader, Lia, has been updating our team's page with pictures via her iphone.

I myself have taken over 2000 pictures so far and I have not had much time to sort through them yet!

Today is our free day -- we've had 4 ministry days so far, and we have two more days of ministry left. Saturday we have our shopping/tourist day and then we fly out on Sunday. I can't believe it's gone so fast!

Brief update on what our days have been like so far:

Panama Day 1 --We took motorized dugout canoes up a river to the Embera Tribe. They performed a dance for us and fed us fish and fried plantains (delicioso!). We did our drama for them, and then talked, prayed and played with them until it was time for us to leave.


Panama Day 2 -- Our second day was titled "food distribution" and our first stop was to a supermarket where we bought rice and several different kinds of beans. We then sorted the items into individual bags with 5 items each. We packed over 100 bags of food to take to a local community. We then walked to the site where we'd be meeting with people and performing our drama. I'm not sure how far we walked, but it was at least 2 miles. We went door to door, inviting people to our drama, performed, talked and prayed with people and distributed our food. We still had about half of our food left to give away, so we decided to walk to another village/neighborhood. Just as we started walking, it started raining...and we continued to walk the opposite direction of our bus for another 3+ miles, in the pouring rain...




to be continued....I'm hungry and it's time for dinner!

Students, Day One

((I'm in charge of my team's blog/group on facebook, so I'll hopefully be posting there throughout the week and I'll share it on here as well!))


July 2, 2012 -- Team Update

Today was the day that the students all arrived! We had several students that came a few days early with family and siblings, but today was the first day that we had the whole team together for the first time.

As everyone arrived throughout the day, friendships were created as the kids waited for room assignments, explored the hotel and greeted new teammates. Our first time together as a team was at FUAGNEM - F.ired U.p A.nd G.oing N.uts E.very M.inute ((pronounced “fwaag-num”), where we worshipped our amazing God through worship with Tommy Bailey and celebrated our “Big Bertha,” our birthdays in Christ. {{I unfortunately could not be with the team at this time, as I was still working on registration for the last few students on the trip}}

After FUAGNEM, we had our first team time and split up into our “pods” ((small groups within the team)) {{see facebook pictures}} and got to know each other a little more. We watched a video of the drama they will be learning and then moved on to the drama try-outs.

Drama try-outs were EXTREMELY difficult this year -- everyone on the team is SO talented, that it was hard to narrow down the parts. As a leadership team, we cast the roles and I think that everyone will thrive in their role -- and every single part is absolutely crucial to the performance as a whole. Every role requires the talent that each of our kids possess.

We had our first tuck-ins/slap-ins and I loved getting to go around with the other female leaders to talk with and pray for the four rooms of girls that we have. Hopefully they won’t stay up too late, as we have the first shift for breakfast tomorrow -- bright and early at 6:45!

I’m so excited to see where this trip takes us all ((ok, we’re obviously going to Panama, but you know what I mean!)) We have such a great group of students and leaders and I can already tell that everyone is going to get along and work well together. I just know that God has big things planned for this group.
Please pray for health as there will be a lot packed into the next few days and we don’t always get our normal amount of sleep each night -- it’s just too much fun being around such good friends to go to bed :)

Preparing

‎...reality is hitting and you are walking away from your home for 2 weeks and 2 days. Some of us are leaving our children at home. Work unfinished at the office. Laundry has to be done. Bills have to be paid. Some have a funeral on their mind. Everything starts to close in on you these last hours before you get on the plane. Maybe you are even hearing doubts being whispered in your ear. You are not alone. It is part of the job description and it is not easy, regardless of how many time you may or may not have done this. Be encouraged. Everything will fall into place, eventually. We are warriors in the Kingdom of God. We belong to God. We are on assignment, but.. there is an active enemy that would like to really discourage us right about now. You have been CALLED. You have been EQUIPPED. Jesus Christ is Lord. You are going to do amazing! Keep pressing ahead, full speed! 

Jill Dooney Etter

This was posted by one of my fellow leaders for the Panama trip just this evening.

And I realized that I have such a different mindset than so many others when I travel. Part of it may be that I have been a "carefree" student for the majority of my travels. But for me, I love the opportunity to leave "normal" life behind. I love the adventures and the spontaneity of traveling.

At the beginning of our trip last year, our team leader addressed the things that were distracting us from being completely present in training. For several of my girls, it was hard for them to be away from friends and family and were distracted in thinking about what everyone at home was doing and what they were missing out on. For me, that has never crossed my mind. As I said before, I love getting away from that.

I'm taking almost three weeks off of work. When I get home, my paycheck from my full time job will be quite minuscule. I have rent to pay and school bills to pay. While I know that that is the truth, God has provided in other ways -- such as one job in which I get my first paycheck from working all through June while I'm in Panama.

God has also provided full funding for my trip, plus a little extra to cover some of the items I needed to buy specifically for the trip and for some toys for the kids we meet along the way!

I know not everything will go "according to plan" -- there will be hard days, little sleep, disagreements between teammates, and messy heart issues that we'll all be working and praying through. But I know that through it all, God has His hand in it all. Even though it's difficult sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), I know that God knows what He's doing. He has put me on this trip, on my team, for a reason -- whether it's to teach me something about myself or to minister to someone on my team or someone in Panama ((or more than likely, all three)), I'm following Him wherever He wants me to go.

Until next time,

Amy Lynn

Already Packed

I don't leave until Friday, but my bags are already packed.

I have a lot to do this week, but in the name of procrastination, my suitcase for Panama is already packed! After doing my laundry this weekend, I figured it would make more sense to pack what I needed rather than put it away.

This will be my suitcase's maiden voyage -- as I was returning from Ecuador last year, my suitcase broke and I decided it was time for a new one :)

After I had packed my bag, I didn't know how much it actually weighed. We don't have a scale and so I finally went out and bought a luggage scale ((something I've been wanting for a while)).

I weighed my suitcase today and I was totally surprised when I saw that it only weighed 35 pounds. I'm pretty sure this has never happened to me. I know I'll probably add a few more things to my bag before I leave on Friday, but to be 15 pounds under the weight limit, that's new. I'm usually just barely below 50 pounds, and that's with a ton of stuff crammed into my carry-on, just to make the weight limit. I'm hoping that I can avoid putting much more in between now and Friday and have it be a record for me :)


Until next time,

Amy

Wow, 49 days from now I'll be on a plane bound for yet another mission trip.

Preparing for Panama has been quite different than any other mission trip I've been on (okay, other than procrastinating on sending out support letters, which seems to happen every year).

• I have two trips with Brio/Susie/Big World Ventures under my belt, and while I know what to expect, I'm expecting this year to be completely different and completely awesome!

• I haven't really kept a countdown for this trip (yes, I know it's 50 days today, but I hadn't really looked at the countdown until a few days ago)

• Panama is a warmer climate than where I've been for the last few trips

• I've been fundraising differently than ever before: I've sold handmade items and my mom and I hosted a jewelry party

• I'm going into this trip knowing so many more people than ever before and I'm looking forward to it. But on the other hand, some of my closest friends from last year are not going to be on the trip.

I think a big part of why this time of preparing for the trip is so different has to do with where I'm at in life right now. This whole year has been so different for me -- I graduated from Northwestern College last spring and am currently working full time. I'm not counting down to the end of the semester or anything this year and summer doesn't mean a long break or a change from what I'm doing right now. I'll continue working at the nursing home until the day before I leave and when I get back from Panama, I have one day off to rest up and then I'm back at work. All that to say: I'm really looking forward to Panama, but it's starting to sneak up on me because of my schedule.

Until next time,

Amy Lynn

Changed web address

I changed the web address for this blog.

I planned on only using for my trips to Ecuador. But God had different plans. Ecuador was supposed to be the last "hoorah" of my short term missions. I never planned on going to Panama.

But all I can do is follow God. He knows where He's taking me and what He's doing in my life. I'm just here to follow after Him and live my life for Him.

So please, join me on this journey.

And if you're here to donate/purchase one of my handmade bags/aprons/headbands/potholders - thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it!!



Simply,

Amy Lynn

Blogging Fail...and fundraising ideas

I had grand dreams of recounting the whole 3 weeks in Ecuador on here...and I got through 2 ministry days. Oops.
Life kinda happened and time got away from me.

I wanted to let you all know that God has given me one more opportunity to work with Susie Magazine and Big World Venture and I'll be heading to Panama next summer for the same trip, different location.

I have a little more advanced notice this time, and I want to be more creative in how I raise money this year. I'm out of school now and am working more and realized that God has provided these jobs for me and I want to use the opportunities He has given me to raise a portion of the money needed through work. So each paycheck, I'm setting aside a small amount that will add up over the next 9 months.

And a week ago, I was looking at different blogs and came across a tutorial to make a sweet purse.

An idea was sparked.

I discovered several other tutorials and I currently have several projects planned out in my head.

Tonight I completed my first one and I thought I'd share it with you:

Several Pockets on the inside

Update...a few more creations:

Design #2

Sneak peek of new fabrics

Fun Fall Pot Holders

Reminisce: Quito, Ministry Day 2

It's been a crazy few weeks and I haven't had nearly as much time to reminisce as I thought I would have. I'm preparing to move out of the house that my friends and I have lived in for the past year.

I've kept in touch with many people from Ecuador and I'm really missing them.

And I sent in my application for Panama next summer. I honestly did not think about going to Panama until I was actually in Ecuador. We'll see what God has planned for this next year - I was planning on heading to nursing school in May, but I think I'll now be looking at schools that start in the fall.

But, without further a-do - Ministry Day 2:


We started out the day by going to a park. It was a beautiful day and the park was close to our hotel. Our translators directed us to a central plaza and we gathered by a large cross. I know Lorena told us the story about why the cross was there, but I can't remember it.

We finished up everyone's makeup for the drama and then broke into small groups to walk around and invite people to come to our drama.

We did a little "Cha Cha Slide" to attract people.

And we also took some time to take pictures with Britt Nicole (singer/songwriter) and her friend Gabby, who had joined our team for the day.

We performed the drama twice and in between presentations, we talked with people and played with little kids. So many people were open to hearing the Gospel. 

I played with this sweet little boy, Jean Pierre, while Gabby talked to and prayed for his mom with one of our translators

Team 4 showed up at the same park just before we started our second performance and so once we were done, they took over.

We headed to an orphanage in Quito for the afternoon. On the bus, we took up a donation and stopped to buy some food for the orphanage. 

I left my camera on the bus for the afternoon - I wanted to just be able to love on the kids and not be preoccupied by taking pictures. 

When we first walked in, I found a little girl standing by a wall. I crouched down to talk to her, but she was very shy. She had a sifter toy and she would cover her face with it and we played a modified version of "peek-a-boo." She sat on my lap during the drama and stayed with me the whole afternoon until after their meal. She was getting really tired. I set her down for a little bit and I never saw her after that - I think she went up to take a nap. 

I'm so thankful that a few of my wonderful teammates got some pictures of this sweet little girl so I can always remember her :)

via Kathleen Hartsfield

It was hard to leave the orphanage. Everyone just wanted to keep loving on and holding the kids. I wished that we could go back the next day - but there were other kids in other parts of the city that needed to hear about God's love for them and that needed our attention.

More to come soon!

Amy Lynn

Reminisce: Quito, the beginning

*I'll try not to make this too long, but there's just so much to share!*

As I recount the many memories that my trip to Ecuador this summer encompasses, I figure I'll start right out with our time in Quito - I think I did an adequate job of recounting our time in Miami while we were still there (http://followinggodtoecuador.blogspot.com/2011/06/students-have-been-here-since-monday.html - if you want to read more about it)

Ministry Day 1:

We started our first ministry day without our entire team. Our team was split into 4 or 5 different flight groups and there were delays on almost all flights except the one I was on. While most groups made it to Quito for our first ministry day (one group arriving at 2 am, I think), one group dealt with more cancellations and travel changes than the rest. One student and one leader from my team were on the delayed flight. They didn't arrive in Quito until Friday evening. As frustrating as everything was for them, they made the most of it. I only heard a few of the stories, however.

We went out on our first ministry day lacking one of our mimes and had to make some adjustments so that the show could go on. It just wasn't the same without Cierra and we were quite relieved to have her back the next day!

We gathered in the hotel lobby after breakfast and team time (two separate times for everyone...except me - I grabbed breakfast on my way to team time) and headed out into the city with our 4 amazing translators. For our first day we went to a plaza at Santo Domingo, in Old Town Quito. It looked familiar to me, but I don't remember a specific time going there last summer.

We set up our sound equipment and tied all of our bags together. While everyone grouped up into "pods" and went out with the translators to invite people to the drama, I took charge of watching the bags. There were a few others who stayed close to our "base" against a gate and we talked with a few people who came to see what was going on (I'm sure we looked quite strange to them). Everyone jumped right into their part in the ministry - so much fun to watch!

After a while, we set up to perform the drama for the first time. I sat by the bags at the back of the "stage" and just loved watching the students perform the drama that they had worked so hard to learn! Here are a few of my favorite snapshots from our first drama performance:

Sin separating the Toymaker and his Son from the Toys

The Toymaker sending his son into the world

Crucifixion of the Toymaker's son

After we finished the drama, someone from the team would get up and explain the connections between the drama we had just performed and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They would then share their testimony and invite people to pray to accept Jesus as their savior.

Once we were done with the presentation, we spread out with the translators to talk to people again. I just loved seeing how eager everyone was to share God's love with the people of Quito! One of the students, Sammy, came over to me so excited because two guys who had been whistling and cat-calling girls were now sitting on the steps reading Bibles that he had just given them! There were also many prayers for healing among the people - and many answers to those prayers! At one point, I was invited along with a group to act as their "translator" and they wanted to pray for healing for a man's leg and asked me to pray for him in Spanish - definitely not my best work yet, but God knew my intent.

Praying with the Ecuadorians

That's all I have for now regarding our first ministry day. I'll continue to share more over the next few weeks - there's so much to share and I hope you enjoy hearing it all!!

Amy Lynn

And so ends my time in Ecuador again...

I'm back home in Minnesota. It's odd being back. I've only been back for a little over 24 hours but it seems like so much longer already.

I miss so much about this trip already - the people, the places, the events. There's so much that no one understands except my friends from the trip. This is one of many reasons I'm very thankful for facebook and know that despite a slight addiction to facebook, at this point, I can't willingly give it up - that would mean forfeiting many conversations with dear friends from the trip (as I do not have phone numbers yet).

It was odd saying goodbye to everyone on this trip. It wasn't as hard as when I went to Peru. Back then I really had no idea if I'd stay in touch with my friends or if I'd ever see them again. I have stayed in touch with them and I've seen several of them in the past 5 years. I know that God will bring me back together with some of my friends from this trip to Ecuador. And there's facebook to keep us connected.

What was weird about the goodbyes was how scattered my team was when it came time to say goodbye.

On the way to Quito, we were in 4 or 5 different flight groups. This was because some people were only going to be there for 2 weeks, while a select few of us would be staying an extra week. So when it came time to say goodbye, we had 4 people leave on a Saturday afternoon and we said goodbye to them while we were at the Equator...only to see the group as we were getting back to the hotel. I said goodbye to the 2 that were leaving in the middle of the night and the 6 that were heading to the Galapagos and leaving early the next morning...but then I woke up early and saw the Galapagos group off.

I also said goodbye to the majority of my team on Saturday night because I thought my group was heading out early to go to Otavalo. But it turned out that we went to a local church service and then returned to the hotel before leaving for Otavalo. So I saw people that I had already said goodbye to on Sunday morning and ate lunch with them.

At the end of the 3rd week, our Otavalo group split into two as the first group left at noon this past Saturday and my half of the group left 12 hours later. We joined up with part of the Galapagos group for our flight back to Miami. And once in Miami, there were several people from the earlier flight that we got to see as well.

I guess everything was just so mixed up and jumbled that I wasn't really sure when I was going to see someone for the last time, until I saw my last students off on the plane yesterday and boarded the plane bound for Minnesota with 5 others from the trip that I didn't know too well. It wasn't until I saw my roommate drive up at baggage claim to pick me up that I realized that it was really over.

So much time and effort and thought went into this trip, and it truly was amazing and life changing. I made some amazing friendships and I had the greatest teams ever. I will never forget the opportunities God gave me and how He stretched me outside my comfort zone, a lot. I want to share those memories with you all. I didn't have much time while we were in Ecuador, but I'm going to go back through my pictures and journals and share memories and stories from each day over the next few weeks. So please, check back often, I'd love to share everything with you!

Last Ministry Day

We just finished our last ministry day.

It's really feeling like the trip is coming to a close. When we left Quito, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone on my team because I knew that I still wasn't going home.

We had three long days of work projects (mostly painting) and we ended up cutting our day short today to have some time to relax. Today was a bit different than our other work days in Otavalo. We've been working at Compassion International sites, but the site we went to this morning was under construction. We worked hard the whole morning carrying buckets of sand up to the third floor of the building. We created a bucket brigade to bring the sand up the stairs and then also created two "pulley" type systems that our fearless leaders - Jed & Chuck - were in charge of.

Right now, part of our group is on a trip to see some waterfalls, while a group of us stayed back at the hotel for some R&R. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will be going to a Crater Lake - I'm not sure of the name though. After the crater lake, we'll be stopping in Cotacachi - a town known for their leather. Saturday will be an early morning as we head to the large market in Otavalo for some shopping. Half of our group heads to the airport at noon on Saturday for an overnight flight into Miami while the rest of the group and I have an extra 12 hours before heading to Quito at midnight.

In the past 3 weeks, I've taken over 1700 pictures...I've narrowed it down to my 600 favorite that I'll be putting on facebook later. Here's a few, but I'll post more later - it's great to have internet, but it isn't the best for uploading pictures.

Abram helping us paint the school

We took some breaks to play with the neighborhood kids

We painted the building blue - and did as much as we could with what paint we had

Bucket Brigade!

Amy Lynn

Otavalo!

We've made it to the second phase of our trip!

Yesterday the group split up - the majority flying to Miami, with one part heading to the Galapagos early in the morning and our small group of about 30 going to a local church service and then driving to Otavalo.

Yesterday we had some time to relax, ate a delicious dinner complete with chocolate cake, had some team time by a campfire (much needed as it's cooler here, especially at night) and got some much needed sleep (our curfew was 8:30 and I was in bed by 9 - it felt so good to sleep 10 hours...the most I had been getting was between 6-7, and with all that we've been doing, I need more).

Today we woke up to a delicious breakfast and hot chocolate...and no hot water. We spent the day in Cayambe working at a Compassion International school painting the classrooms. We were prepared to have another lunch of peanut butter & jelly/honey, but much to our surprise, the wonderful ladies at the school prepared an Ecuadorian meal of llapingachos, chorizo, habas and more. It was wonderful.

We just got back about an hour ago and are looking forward to some more good team time tonight.

I'll post some more pictures from last week and his week once I get my computer up and in the dining room - where we can get internet.

Amy Lynn

Brief Update

Tomorrow (ok, technically it's today...I'm up kinda late) is our LAST day of ministry in Quito!!! I can't believe it. This time has gone by SO fast! I have not been able to post frequent updates as we had to pay to use the internet. But after spending a week in a hotel, we're bound to figure out the secrets - and we found a spot where we can get FREE wifi. So I'm finally getting around to using it :)

I'll try to give a few updates about the last few weeks in tid-bits so the posts don't get too long - there's just so much to share!!

My team is amazing, no doubt about it. I know that God brought us all together for a specific purpose and that He hand-picked each member of the team. I didn't feel like I really knew the team until we made it to Ecuador and started our ministry days. When the students were working on learning the drama and spending time together we (LITs and leaders) had other things that needed to get done.

Our ministry days have consisted of performing a drama that is the story of the Gospel - from creation to Christ's death and resurrection. It's so fun to be on other side of the drama and watch the students perform every day. After the drama, someone from the team gets up and explains it and how it relates to the Gospel and then shares their own testimony (all through a translator).

Barrier of sin between the Toymaker (God) and His Son (Jesus) & the toys

Our wonderful clown :)

The other day we were at a park, working with a local church, and during the drama, my team leader came up to me and asked if I could explain the drama and give my testimony to the many school children gathered to watch. I only had about 5 minutes before the end of the drama, but I agreed. I started out talking in Spanish, but there were a few things I didn't know how to say and so the translator told me to just talk in English and she'd translate. By the end, I had what seemed like 30-40 kids pray to accept Jesus!! It was so fun! And then we passed out presents to all the kids who came - and we attempted to keep track of who received a gift by putting a stamp on their hand, but some kids were trying to be sneaky.

The kids watching the drama after they got out of school

Britt Nicole (a Christian singer/songwriter) came down for a few days and had a concert for us on Sunday. On Saturday her and her friend, Gabby, spent the day with our team. It was fun to get to know them both - they're such sweet girls.

Britt, Mattie, Delaney & Gabby

AND...I finally got my MORA ice cream :) I've had a lot of it - although I've only found Mora ice cream bars on one of our ministry days...but I've made several trips to Crepes & Waffles

My first (of two) Mora bars on our 2nd day :)

I'll update more later and include some fun stories! We only have 2 days left in Quito, then the teams switch up and my group heads to Otavalo for a week!

Also, we have a blog for the trip: www.neverthesameec.com - there are updates from the different teams (I'm on Team 1) and more pictures. So check it out!

Amy Lynn

We're all here and ready to go!

The students have been here since Monday. It’s been so fun seeing them all get to know each other and watch them as they learn the drama. We have 25 students on my team - they’re from all over the States and between 14 and 18 years old.

As I type this, I’m sitting in the back of one of the ballrooms at the hotel watching my team practice their drama. They are doing such a great job. It was so difficult to cast our group because everyone was so good. But every part in the drama is critical and everyone is giving it their all. I can’t wait to see the finished product - it’s going to look so great. And the drama itself is so impactful. I’m hoping to get a video of it one day during the trip and maybe I’ll be able to post it on here.

Drama try-outs

Working on the drama

It’s been difficult to really get to know them all so far, as they’ve been focused on their drama training and we have other things that need to get done so we’re not always together. But I’m anticipating that our team will grow closer as we get to Ecuador and start our ministry days - we’ll be all together every day.

We have lots of team spirit - at least the leaders do, haha :) There’s been a little competition between our team and team 6. And our leader, Chris, is going all out. Yesterday we made a flag for our team. It’s all pretty crazy.

Our FUAGNEM (Fired Up And Going Nuts Every Minute) evening meetings have been really good so far. I love the worship time and the messages these last two nights have been real good. I'm looking forward to more FUAGNEMs as walls get broken down and we all come together and closer to God. I can already see God at work within our group.

It’s been interesting being on the leader side of everything rather than being a student. There’s much more freedom : ) While they’ve been in drama training we’ve been getting everything together and running to the store. One of our jobs is to pass out lunch to each room - instead of having all the students pick up their own lunch and be in long lines for a while, we’ve been taking food up to each students hotel room. It’s a pretty slick system. 

Our fearless leader, Lia

We head out for Ecuador in the morning. My team is in 5 different flight groups - I'll be leaving the hotel at 3:30 am and arriving in Ecuador at 3:30 pm, with a layover in Colombia. Please pray for safe travel and smooth transitions for everyone!!

Thanks

Amy Lynn