Well, another week has come and gone.  This past week seemed to go on and on forever, and the weekend was greatly appreciated.  Not that it was a bad week…  just long.

I am happy to report some positive stories from some of our staff and students.  One of the girls in 8th grade is new this year.  She arrived three weeks into the school year and has had a hard time adjusting to new friends, new teachers, and the dreaded combination locks on the lockers.  For about three weeks, I pulled her out of class at least once a day due to her anxiety and feeling overwhelmed.  She is quite shy and afraid to ask others for help.  But (and this is the good part) when I went to get her last Monday, she was happy and smiling and no longer in need of support from the counseling department.  She has made several friends, figured out the combination lock, and is starting to catch up in her classes.  Her mother, also, was all smiles when I talked to her on Friday.  It has been a wonderful opportunity to minister to a very sweet and gentle family!

Rick’s desire to be able to connect more with the high school boys has also shown some promise.  This coming weekend is a long weekend (due to Dia de los Difuntos, or All Saints Day) and we have Monday and Tuesday of next week off.  One of the boys (11th grade) who lives in the dorm is in need of a place to stay, since the dorms will be closed for the holiday.  So, he will stay with us.  It is an interesting challenge, as we will have to be responsible for his food, as well as basic rules like curfew and accountability.  He is a nice guy and we don’t anticipate any difficulties, but it will definitely be an adventure.

Rick took his first set of Senior Pictures for the year.  One of our families here is heading back to the States in a week, and their daughter has been in several of Rick’s classes.  We spent last Saturday morning with her photo shoot, and received a very nice set of shelves/sideboard as payment. We will miss the Hedricks, but are thankful that we got to share the last two years with them here in Quito.

Another fun fact is that, as Rick just found out, Bon Appetit magazine delivers internationally!  He subscribed today and hopes to get his first edition in Ecuador by December.  All you who know Rick know that he has subscribed to two different magazines in the past, Bon Appetit and Backpacker.  It is wonderful to know that he can get something like that while we are here.  It will be a new challenge to see how many of the ingredients can be found in the Andes.

One prayer request that Rick and I both have is about an opportunity through Alliance Academy for both of us to continue our educations.  We are checking into the process and figuring out the specifics, but there is a very real possibility that AAI will pay for either all (or at least part) of college degrees for us both.  The current question is how many years commitment, post degree, they will require for us to stay, and if they will consider time that we have already been here prior to the degree.  Please pray that the administration and we will be able to come to an agreement on what is fair for both us and the school. 

Also, please continue to pray for us, the staff at AAI, and the students when it comes to health concerns.  There are many students out daily with illnesses ranging from basic colds to severe flu symptoms.  One of our 6th graders had the flu (not swine flu, but some other sort) which attacked the proteins in his muscles and caused him to lose all the strength in his legs.  Thankfully this condition is temporary.  His father is a doctor and knew to take him to the hospital very quickly.  He is still recouperating and hopefully will be back in school soon.

Once again we thank you for all of your prayers and support.

May God bless and keep you all,
Rachel Sams

So, basically my wife is a sneaky, sneaky woman.  Last week, she told you about our Saturday evening birthday plans, where 24 of our friends joined us for a night of fun on the town.  What she didn’t tell you (or me) was that there was more … a lot more.  Sunday was pretty tame, some friends went out with us for lunch, and it was mostly “lunch”.  Monday rolled around, and first thing I got a stack of letters.  (Now to be completely honest, I kinda expected something like this was coming, however she did it up grand!)  Thanks so much to all of you who contributed.  I was humbled, amused, and moved to tears multiple times during the reading process.  I got stacks of letters on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.

Tuesday was the big surprise, though.  Every Tuesday night in Quito is 2-for-1 pizza night.  Seriously, every pizza joint in town has an identical deal.  We always have a group of people over to chip in a few bucks, hang out, and chow down.  Recently, I’ve been on a baking kick, so I’d made a cheesecake in honor of myself.  (That’s kinda how I roll.)  Rachel had purchased a “4″ candle and a “0″ candle, and I figured we’d have our usual 6-10 folk, serve cheescake, and maybe I’d get sung to.  About 6:30, usual starting time, the doorbell rings.  Rachel says she has to throw somethin’ away in the kitchen and asks if I’ll get the door.  It rings again as I walk toward the entryway.  “Yeah yeah,” I sarcastically call out, (’Cause that’s kinda how I roll, too).  I try to look out the peephole, but someone has their hand over it, so I open the door.

“Surprise!” shout the 30-some people already crowded into the hallway outside our apartment.  I got sung to … several times.  A total of 58 people came through our (not really all that big) apartment that night.  I honestly had NO idea.  Complete shock.  She got me good, and is pretty much the best wife anyone’s ever had.  Many of them brought food (another cheesecake, two other cakes, a pan of brownies, a fruit salad, a pan of spinach/artichoke dip, and tons of chips and pop).  One family brought a couple of piñatas.  We ordered 10 pizzas.  It was the best birthday party ever.

But, she still wasn’t done!  On Wednesday, the actual day of my birthday, she told me she had to go in early when I went in to work out.  I found out why when I got back to my room just before school started.  Happy birthday signs were strung up outside my classroom, posters with horrifically awesome pix of me were posted all over the school, and the window in my classroom was plastered with pictures spanning my entire 40 years.  The sang to me in chapel that day (Rachel had arranged that as well), and the chaplain told the students that any of them that wanted to could come up and touch my head while they sang.  A few of the ones with boundary issues took him up on it.

Seriously, it was almost five days straight of birthday!  I was blown away, felt loved, and was kinda sad to see it all end.  Thanks to everyone who helped make 40 incredible.  But thanks most of all to my gorgeous, wonderful, sneaky Rachel!

On Thursday, we attended a baby shower for a couple of our closest friends here, Dave and Beth Saavedra.  They’re expecting baby #4, their first girl, who will answer to Evangeline.  It was a guys and girls shower, but you know how those things go.  Most of the guys hung out in the corner for fear of getting involved in the games.  The food was great, and lots of fun was had.

This past Saturday was AAI’s annual Harvest Festival.  The Harvest Festival is a fundraiser for the junior class, but all of the middle-school and high-school classes set up booths with games, contests, food and such.  The theme for the festival this year was “super heroes”, and the student body turned out dressed up a lot!  We saw many Supermen, Batmen, and Spidermen, as well as a significant number of super-villians who clearly hadn’t gotten the whole “hero” memo.  There was a silent auction, a food court, and a haunted house (which we call a Fun House to keep from stepping on toes).  Rachel and I hung around for a few hours, and I went home with heartburn.  (Philly cheesesteak gets me every time!)

Sunday was a great day, too.  Church was awesome, but lunch afterward was especially so.  It feels kind of weird to admit, but one of the things that has been a frustration for Rachel and I is how few Ecuadorian friends we have.  Part of that is language barrier (mine) and part of it is cultural barriers (theirs).  Folk in the highlands of Ecuador where we live, are not super quick to invite people over to their homes.  It’s seen as pretty intimate, and for a people that are fairly formal and who stand on custom and tradition to no small degree, things socially move slowly.  That said, English Fellowship Church has a constantly growing group of Ecuadorians who attend, and a couple of them have recently agreed to join us for lunch.  One of them is coming to pizza nights, and made it to my birthday party as well.  We’re expecting another couple of guys to join us tomorrow night.  At the end of lunch yesterday, the group comprised three of us gringos and three Ecuadorians, and the conversation was amazing.  I walked away from the time full of shawarma and spinning with all the stuff I’d learned.

I’m sure Rachel has a lot more she’d like to share, but she’ll have to wait until next week.  That’s what she gets for leaving the computer unmanned.

Much love and blessings.

Thanks,
Rick Sams

Hello to you all!

I hope that this week has begun well for all of you, and that you are still looking forward to the good things that this week still has yet to bring.  Wow, I sound surprisingly optimistic for a Monday evening!  Don’t know what’s gotten into me!  Wait, I do!  This is the week of Rick’s Birthday!  Woo hoo!

We went out this last Saturday night with a group of friends, to celebrate this momentous occasion.  Originally it was going to be a small group of 6-8 people…  it ended being a group of 24!  We went to our favorite Vietnamese-ish restaurant, Uncle Ho’s (yes, they do exist!  You can find them on facebook!), and they were very nice in accommodating our large group.  I think we took up all but two of their tables!  After dinner we headed to another restaurant nearby, Boca del Lobo (Wolf mouth?  See what happens when English speaking people open restaurants in South America!) for dessert.  Over all, the evening was a wonderful success, and Rick seems to have really enjoyed it.

Thanks to all of you who have sent letters and notes as a surprise for Rick on his birthday.  He received some of the letters today, and will recieve the rest of them over the next two days.  I can’t guarantee that he will respond to all of you immediately, but he will probably get back to you eventually.  There were 47 in total (so far).  Many, many people responded!  Thanks!!!

I wanted to bring up a few prayer requests for Alliance Academy this semester.  We have many, many new students this year (24 in secondary alone).  They come from a wide variety of homes and life styles.  Some come from Christian homes, while others are unchurched. Some are Ecuadorian, while others are foreigners.  Some are academically strong, while others struggle with learning disabilities or other challenges.  Please keep them all in your prayers as they adjust to a new school/country/friends/teachers/etc.  Please pray that God will continue to open their hearts and minds to His will, and that we the staff will serve as mentors and examples to them.

Along these lines, there are several of the upper-classmen (boys) that Rick feels drawn towards in ministry.  If it is God’s will, pray that God would open up opportunities for Rick to get to know them better over this next year.  Some of them are seniors, so they will only be here this year.

Also, along these lines, pray for our 7th graders, as they get used to the new expectations of Middle School.  This seem to be the year/grade where our students struggle the most, both academically and socially.  I see more anxiety/depression/meltdowns in this grade than any other, as well as the social drama between peers.  Somehow, by 9th grade, they seem to get it all sorted out, for which I am glad.

Finally, please keep our pastor, Len Kinzel, in your prayers.  He has had continuous trouble with one of his shoulders, which ended up being an old injury (rotary cuff tear) which will not require surgery, but will take time to subside.  That all seemed manageable, until he went running last week, tripped on a root, landed on a small tree trunk, and bruised several of his ribs.  Now he has pain on both sides of his body and over most of his torso.  This kind of pain can be both distracting (while trying to plan sermons, minister to others, etc) and discouraging.  He has been a great encouragement to both Rick and I, and we pray that he is feeling better soon.

Last, but not least, it has finally started to rain in Quito!  The trees will not be brown for too much longer!  It is starting to feel a little like fall, which is a wonderful feeling (especially since my room at the school has little ventilation and gets very, very warm in the afternoons!).  We have greatly needed the rain, and are thankful that it has started at last.

May God bless and keep you all!  Thank you for your prayers and support.

Rachel Sams

Hello all!

I pray this email finds you all well, as it does us.

This last week has been a busy one.  It seems we have had something going on every night of the week, and we are looking forward to this next weekend (which is a three-day weekend).

Tuesday night was Alliance Academy International’s Open House for the new school year.  While Rick attended the Open House for high school students and their parents, I attended the Open House for elementary students and their parents.  As a school counselor, a see students of all ages, so I tried to attend a little bit of both events.  It was wonderful to get to meet many of the new parents, as well as reconnect with the parents that I had already known last year.

Last Friday was the annual RCE meeting with RCE staff member Brett Howard.  He comes to Quito once a year to keep us up-to-date on any new changes within RCE.  A surprising number of the staff at AAI are now here under the RCE umbrella, and we have been quite happy with the help that RCE has provided us.  It is with their help that we are able to receive payment/stipends from AAI as a salary, as well as through donations from friends and family in the U.S.

A fun and exciting possibility has presented itself through RCE.  Apparently they are arranging a sort of teacher exchange program with other schools with RCE teachers.  One of those sister schools is a Christian school in Okinawa, Japan!  Basically, we could potentially spend a semester working in the school there, live on campus in an apartment/dorm like setting, and then return to our current post in Quito.  At the present it is what Rick calls a ‘giggly dream’, but God has ways of making ‘giggly dreams’ come true (as seen by the fact that we are currently living in Ecuador).

Saturday was the annual RCE retreat at Calacali.  We spent the day on a property outside of the city, owned by one of the missionaries here, Dale Groeneweg.  We spent the time in devotions, games, eating, and roasting marshmallows.  It was truly a blessing to enjoy the clean air and the sunshine, as well as the company of fellow believers.

On Sunday we celebrated the birthday of a friend and co-worker, Jeff Schuurman.  A large group of us decended upon the Chili’s (about 28, at last count).  Someone leaked the news that it was Jeff’s birthday, so the Chili’s gang came out and sang Happy Birthday to him in English and in Spanish.  I hope that we were all able to convey how much we appreciate his friendship, and hope that the next year will be a wonderful one.

On Saturday, another friend and co-worker, Dan Klassen, was walking home (on a street near our house) when a man jumped out of a doorway, grabbed him from behind, and pistol-whipped him.  Thankfully Dan was able to fight him off and get away with only a few aches and pains.  Please keep all of us in your prayers, as we seek to live safely in a large city.   While we try to take reasonable precautions, ultimately it is our Lord who watches over us here.

We continue to plan for Rick’s birthday next week, on Oct. 14th.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and maybe call him to wish him a Happy Birthday if you can.

I am beginning to see students more, now that the school year is really under way.  I have been able to reconnect with some of my students from last year. It is a wonderful feeling to have an elementary student run up and hug me during their recess time.  It’s especially nice when their parents share their sentiments!  I have also begun to see a few new students this year.  Most of them are students who are new to the school, and need just a little extra support as they adjust to all the changes (new school, new friends, new classes, etc.).  One family had only two weeks notice before they had to vacate their previous home in another country, and move to Quito.  The kids started the school three weeks late and are working hard to catch up to where their peers are.  Finally, Rick and I are also getting to reconnect with the students in Peer Helpers, as well as other students who are not necessarily in counseling but think that we are fun to hang out with.

Well, I should wrap this up, as it is our bedtime and tomorrow will come too soon.  Thank you, once again, for you love and support.  Please keep us in your prayers, as well as praying for the students and families that we serve here.

May God bless and keep you always.
Rachel Sams