Faces: Two Jesus'

They say time flies, but days here are spent on a bus!  Ann, kids and the Nichols spend at least 2-3 hours a day riding on at least three buses.  They all are different.  Just like the people.  The first: private, quiet, comfortable, sitting down with time to put on makeup, makeup homework or just plain makeup stories (usually the boys).  The second, piggyback bus holding at least 150 business, university and city folk usually has barely enough room to stand.  The third, local bus carries both drunks and hardworking country/suburbanite ecuadorians on their way home to family or friends.  Their faces are just as diverse: african blacks from the coast, kichwa indians in traditional clothing from the mountains and oriental( a region) areas and lighter latino's of spanish decent.

My friend, ministry partner and spiritual amigo Chris Nichols preached this weekend at the Alliance Academy staff retreat on Hebrews 12-13 in Quito.  We all joked that it was nice to have a 'real shower' and challenged the group comfortably living within a 10 block radius of the school to do 'out of the box hygiene' and join us out in the country (Conocoto).  My girls, Ann and Maggie still looked like a million bucks!  What troopers....how do they do that....a couple minutes behind closed doors.....Hebrews 13:6 says " We can say with confidence 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me'"  The first Jesus we say we all know about.  He hung and maintains the heavens but we still insist on a weather report....what's ahead, what can I expect.  We look in the mirror for answers but His face reflects the faith, hope and love found in his name alone.  Its hard to get out of in front of the mirror either asking questions or looking for answers.  I admit I'm guilty of the latter, just ask my family.

The second Jesus (Hey-zus) is one you probably don't know.   The Lord in his wisdom, chooses to work through His people in our lives.  We look for miracles, signs and positive things and He gives us Himself in the flesh.  Jesus (above on a rock) is a believer who works at the foundation.  He has been with them a little over a year.  He is a 38 year old hard worker, on his second family (believing wife and 4 year old daughter) and is a man of action.  He speaks no english and speaks little of his kids 'on the coast' who he misses terribly.  He drives too fast (his job-driver), brushes/flosses too little (has two gold teeth) but is just right in the indispensible friend/accountability partner department.   His family lives in Yurac, a small peasant, agricultural Kichwa (indian) community across the valley about 45 minutes away.  Pastor Miguel, (foundation director) birthed one of four churches there through Jesus and his family.  People living there are only one generation away from being enslaved by wealthy spainards or their very own people!  Evangelical Christianity found its way there about the same time.  It is the closest community to Anti Sana, an active volcano about 5-6 miles away.  I came to be used to change and transform hearts/lives but the Lord is changing mine.

                                                                                                                                                           

Thank you Lord for my Family who came willingly and is learning to love our new home.  Thank you Lord for my friend who started our ministry and found this place on the web: Vickie Nichols.  Thank you Lord for my dark-faced, Kichwan friend who bears your name and countenance.  Thank you Lord for my friend who preached the freedom of the Word to former slaves in their language: Ronnie Brock (above).  Thank you Lord for holding us captive to Your Grace!   

Contextual Learning...

Don't you love different perspectives!  Ann's last blog inspired me to share my thoughts from another angle...

Everything is temporal...


water - It's been intermittently on and off for two weeks due to a water main issue which affects everything from showers, cleaning dishes, going number two (digging a ditch in the woods suffices-we now keep a 5 gallon bucket of water for the bowl in case of emergencies) and doing the wash.  That covers the majority of domestic tasks. 
security - It's possible to make a ladder in a cinder block wall.  Running interference with drunks while waiting or riding buses is a learned or acquired skill.  Squatter's laws build walls, not people. 
internet -  Works when it feels like it.  We really do over rely on it!  Should be renamed, "When helping Hurts..."
ownership - Our sole party use agreement of the 25 acres doesn't cover others able to use the soccer field, woods and road as a bathroom, cemetery or parts of our houses as seed/crop storage.  Pets - JJ (our dog) was taken by the kids of the family who gave him to us, $20 changes things.  Unsecured items - Vickie's cell phone stolen on the bus (passed on the $15 negotiated return fee by pick pocket), $300 worth of tools and materials stolen from a shed attached to the house (the thief arrived/left in a taxi).  Believe it or not, he was initially looking for paint to paint graves in the cemetery, some local custom which we were neither aware of nor home.
Time -  You can't do once-a-month shopping with no car - the best you can do is twice a week with a bus, taxi and your own two feet.  Motorcycles only hold a few bags with a bungie cord.  In the words of a friend, pick one big thing to do per day and you may have time for another little one.   Money - $5 ATM fees add up.  Everything is negotiable....

You can believe Genesis 11, People are all the same! 

People need the Lord!  Being saved is just the beginning, not the end.  Sanctification is directly proportional to our reliance on Him.  Both humble generosity and extreme depravity abounds here, found both on the Foundation and on the buses!  God's grace can be seen in the eyes of child and through the simple actions of a few adults!  Study peoples habits, it gives you clues.

You can miss God aiming at Him (Blind Guide) if He's not the goal!

Matthew 23: 17-19 says: "Which is more important - the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred?" or "For which is more important - the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred?" I can spend so much time making His work the goal and not Him that people miss Him, with eternal consequences.  In the words of another friend, showing the Hand of God is less important than revealing the Heart of God.  I recently ran it in the ditch on this one.  This week my head was full of starting, prioritizing and finishing tasks.  Fresh from the sting of our taxi robber experience, I came home after a day of moving donated furniture from Quito to Conocoto for the foundation. As we pulled up, both the outer and animal gates were wide open  (an invitation for more temporal living).  After asking and getting no response from the orphans guarding it, I witnessed hoards of people and cars walking/parking on the property.  Jumping to conclusions and incensed that no one informed me of yet another 'cemetery-painting' day, I proceeded to walk up the hill.  I noticed that my wheel-barrow, pick, shovel and other tools left earlier on the side of the road were missing along with my dog again.  I fumed as I passed yet another orphan sitting on our porch and others milling outside the cemetery on the road.    As I crested the gate to the cemetery it dawned on me.  At all times, two graves had to be dug for occasions such as these.  Ecuadorian 'Christiano's generally have but a day to bury their loved ones who pass since many cannot afford the privilege of embalming.  As I glimpsed at the wheel barrow in the back of the tractor, I realized my faulty viewpoint.  A young, 7 year old little girl was hit by a car and killed the day prior.  The throng of hundreds of family, friends and fellow believers had been waiting for hours in the sun for our 'three amingos' (older boys from the orphanage who do most of the physical work here) to finish covering the grave with dirt using some of my tools.  I found myself immediately and completely humbled by my misconceptions, misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of the people I came to serve.   I quickly grabbed a shovel to help finish the task so these people could pray over their loved one and attempt to move on with their lives without her.  I'm only thankful that I didn't impart my ignorance on any other during the event. 

He must see us contextualized to our world. Fumbling around, always seeing everything through the narrow prisms of our small orbits.   God grant me the courage, desire and ability to see others from your perspective.....

Ready...set...PUSH!

I know it has been quite a while since one of us a posted, and this is not meant to be an excuse, but let me just give you a quick snapshot of the past few weeks: our last summer teams leave, we say goodbye to the Brock family (sniff, sniff, tear), we throw ourselves (Ok, mainly Bob) headfirst into trying to finish our little pink 'casa' (which, I believe, should kick off a new show: International Extreme Home Make-Over), I enjoy 8 days of new teacher training:-), by God's grace we move INTO the awesome little house, we find a driver to take us 1-way to school and finally, start school this past Thursday. Throw in Maggie's Sweet 16th birthday (complete with a set of braces:-), a 'free' dog that came with Bob's used motorcycle, and by golly we've got ourselves a good old fashioned Ecuadorian lifestyle: crazy, unpredictable, and totally on God's schedule. 

We have learned alot of things our first few months here. We have learned to wait on buses. We have learned not to eat the lettuce and tomato in restaurants. We have learned that our new friends and neighbors love to chat, kiss you on the cheek when they greet you, and help you with your Spanish. Our new friends have smiles like none other. The youngest child can melt your heart while the oldest woman has a certain beauty in her smile that shows both outward and inner strength.

To see our kids assimilate to this culture is a measure of amazing grace. This does not go without it's down days, I assure you. Public breastfeeding is something Tim is going to have to get used to and I believe Bobby is now aware that 150 people on a public bus is just a fact of daily life for us. Our new motto coming home from school is " You take the right side...I'll flank left...ready...set...PUSH!"  Victory is sweet when we all make the 4:00pm bus. That's when I buy them a 15cent BonIce at the half-way bus stop and thank God for another great day.

God is truly at work here in Ecuador. It is evident in the lives of the kids and staff at Alliance Academy. It is evident in the lives of the Pastor, house mothers and orphans at the Davis Fundacion. Our prayer is that it is becoming evident to our new neighbors up here on the 'big hill' (Matt 5:14-16). And by God's grace, it is evident in the lives of our family. We never would have guessed at this time a year ago we would be at this place, for this purpose.

It's great to be a part of His plan.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Alabama has been our Sweet Home home for over 11 years now. We chose to plant ourselves here after bouncing from Germany to Missouri to North Carolina only to finally land in the deep south. We have loved it here. Alabamians even embraced these two displaced Yankees, and that's one reason why we chose to raise our kids here. The importance of God, family, community (and let's face it - S.E.C football and BBQ) is something we wanted our kids to be apart of. 

In the past, we have been offered relocation packages from Bob's former jobs. Each time we have declined. Our answer was always,  "Nope, we like it here." Our answer was due in part to a corporation directing the move. Now, this relocation to Ecuador is an outright "Yes!" due wholly to God directing the move. 

As we finalize our last 3 days in Alabama, I am struggling with emotions like: bitter sweet vs. nervous excitement.  I look back on our 11 years of raising our kids at 2007 Eagle Hollow Circle and the many memories in that sweet house.  On the flip side, I look forward with anticipation to what God has in store for us in the next chapter of our lives in Ecuador. 

Bring it on.

Sweet Home Ecuador!

Less Hair, Less Teeth, Less Oxygen

Hey its been an interesting and exciting 18 hours prior to our first teams arrival.  Bob gave Tim and Brandon haircuts while Chris gave Cole and Kory the same.  The boys are looking sharp, you could take them for new recruits!  Last night Kendall came to the door with Cole who had lost half his tooth to a break dance session at the big house.  Although shaken up he rebounded after a movie and reassurance that it could be fixed.  Today he saw a dentist and it looks good as new!  Lastly, Tio Bill took several of us to the top of a 10,000ft mountain, hiking about 1500 ft from our dropoff point.  Had to be the hardest thing Ive done in a long while.  From our location, we see 3 volcano's no more than 50 miles away.  Tonight celebrating the creator who made this creation....

Dos Semanas

It is hard to believe its only been two weeks here in Ecuador!  It seems so much longer... Not sure if its the altitude, cultural adjustment, language and life assimilation or the simple fact that Ann isn't here to pick up after us?  All three families are adjusting well while trying to navigate a technological tightrope with WiFi to stay in touch with home. Today, the orphanage had its annual reunion in which several hundred people showed to celebrate their time here.  God is still in the business of changing lives and it was evident on the faces of the parents, grandparents and children.  There was prayer, traditional Ecuadoran dancing and a contemporary dance performance in which Maggie, Kayla, Katelyn and Lydia participated with other E -kids their age.   They did well with less than a weeks practice!  The last two weeks have been filled with getting adjusted and this week we're gearing up for our first teams this upcoming weekend.  In addition, our niece Kirby will be joining us thursday coming fresh from Peru serving at another orphanage.  Please pray that we are properly prepared and that the Lord determines the appointments and outcomes for the week!

Que Dios le bendiga!

Step 2- Saying Goodbye

It's very hard to let go of something. For example, our friends, family, our house, and Sadie, our dog. We have had that experience. For our family it is very hard to say goodbye. Us kids have grown up in such a good christian community. We are thankful for an amazing pastor, friends, church, and most of all, our GREAT GOD! For Bobby (little Bob) and Ann, we will be staying back until July 17, due to Bobby's drama camp. We said goodbye yesterday to Big Bob, Maggie, and Tim. They are getting things ready in Ecuador. Just as we said before  it's very hard to let go of family. But we know God's purpose in our lives and we are setting out to do it. As it says " For greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city"... and every single state, country, continent, and in every corner of the Earth.

Posted by Bobby (little Bob)