We were at the airport Saturday morning, July 17, when we found out that our flight was delayed 3 hours which would make us miss our connecting flight in Bogota, Columbia. So we were comped hotel rooms for one night for us so that we could then make a flight the next morning. After settling into our rooms at the orphanage, we went down to go play and meet the kids. None of them spoke any English, which was a huge language barrier for 8 of us on the team. But regardless, the children loved us and we loved them as well.
In the mornings, our main project was supposed to be putting in a water line, but that didnt work out, so instead, we redesigned a house that had been burned down(the walls are cement, so just their posessions were burned). We worked on the house every morning from 9:00AM until about 12:00PM. After lunch at 12:30,we would go down and do an art project with the children. There were 140 kids total at the orphanage of all ages, so there were many projects to continuously work on.
After about a week of being there, I had picked up a ton of basic Spanish, thank goodness, because the language barrier was really making me sad.
The first Thursday that we were there, we went on a hike up a 10,500 ft hill, starting at about 8,500 ft up already. Our goal was to make it to the top to the 90 ft lightning rod cross. When we were leaving, a few of the kids at the orphanage decided that they wanted to come as well, which was a blessing because we hadnt had a chance yet to bond much with the kids our age. So we made our way up the mountain... it ended up being about a 2 hour hike. Of course the elevation effected our breathing, but the kids from the orphanage were used to it, so they made fun of us most of the time :P
Later that night when we got home, we got to experience our first church service for the youth. It was amazing to experience especially to see how excited all of the kids were and how wholeheart they are for God.
Sunday after another church service, some of us went up the the soccer feild at the orphanage and watched our boys at Foundation Davis play against some boys in town. So much fun! And one little girl brought us a bunch of fresh oranges that were bright green on the outside and delicious!
That week we finished sanding and washing the walls of the house, so we finally got to start paining! By the end of the week, the house looked like someone would move in.. it was so amazing to see the work that we did. We continued falling in love with the kids every day which was going to make it harder to leave..
The children at the orphanage gave us a new perspective on life. I expect every mission trip from here on out that I go on will do the same thing. They are such a beautiful people in Ecuador and we really miss them. But leaving, we felt a feeling of accomplishment making the house look so wonderful, working for God, and falling in love with these kids that are the sweetest things you will ever meet. <3
