Weekly Update - December 7, 2009
Hello Dear Friends!
I apologize for the lack of Monday Memo last week. It was a difficult week in many ways, and I am afraid that the memo just kind of got away from me. So, I will try to catch up for the last two weeks in this memo. 
We had school (half day) on Thursday, the day of Thanksgiving. Due to mandates by the Minister of Education, we weren’t able to have as long of a Thanksgiving break as we usually do, but we got half day on Thursday and all day Friday off. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday at the house of some friends (the Saavedras), along with several other friends. Rick made an amazing turkey and stuffing. Others brought other sides, like mashed potatoes and gravy, corn dressing, apple pies, etc. It was wonderful to see everyone together, although I fear most of us were in food comas shortly after eating!
One of our friends, Luke, both teaches at the school and serves as a dorm parent in the Alliance Academy Dorms. He took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to spend time away from the dorms. In order to do this, he spent the weekend with us. Rick loved having another musician in the house and they have begun recording their own rendition of “Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel” (along with some contributions from one of the seniors in the dorm). We also got to meet Luke’s girlfriend and his family via Skype!
Rick and Luke pulled out all the Christmas decorations on Saturday and made the house look festive. I contributed by finding our Christmas music and making sure the house sounded festive while they worked! :) I think my job was the easiest one! On Monday another friend (Chris Sylva) took Rick and I to buy a real Christmas tree at the park (the artificial ones here are very, very expensive). It isn’t really a pine tree (it is a type of juniper bush, trimmed into the shape of a tree), but is smells nice and looks beautiful decorated. We were very thankful to Chris for allowing us to use his driving and his car to bring the tree back to our place. It is about 8 feet tall and almost touches our ceiling. Rick says this is the first time he remembers having a real tree! (Please check out our facebook pages for pictures of the tree!)
This last Friday was the school’s celebration of Quito Days, which is the celebration of the founding of the city of Quito. The actual holiday is Dec. 6th, but, since that fell on a Sunday this year, we had a half day of school on Friday, December 4th. The morning hours (for elementary grades) were spent in various games and activities. My responsibilities were in watching the giant, inflatable castles/bouncy houses/slides and making sure no one fell out of them. One boy did (rolled down the slide instead of actually sliding, and then rolled right over the edge…). Thankfully, he landed on his feet and was fine!
Other games included the tomato dances (the couple dances with a tomato pressed between their foreheads, and is disqualified if their tomato is dropped or squished before the music ends), the waxed pole (the contestant has to shimmy up a waxed pole and collect a prize from the top), and sack races. Rick’s responsibilities were in taking photographs for the yearbook of all the events. Overall, the kids (and staff) were all exhausted, sunburnt, and pretty content by noon when they got to go home.
On Saturday Rick and I joined a large group of volunteers to help a ministry called Extreme Response with one of their large Christmas parties at a local garbage dump. The name of the dump is Zambiza and there are many families who live in and/or around the dump, gleaning a living from the recyclables that they take from the trash. When the wind blows in the right direction, the smell is quite astonishing. While the city has tried to improve the conditions by forcing people to move their shacks and shanties further away from the dump itself, it is still a very difficult and meager living. The Christmas party last year was first-come, first-served and they had to start turning people away after serving about 4,000. This year, to help regulate a little better, they had the ministry leaders in the neighborhood pass out special invites to the families that were most in need (3.000 invites total). Only people with invites would be allowed to enter, as that was the amount that they had the resources to serve. Even so, there were about 2,000 people without invites waiting outside the gates when we arrived, hoping they would be able to come in and receive gifts of food for their families and some small toys for their children. It was heartbreaking to see them turned away. Many of the hung around for several hours, and only left when the armed police guards showed up to make sure that things stayed peaceful. Inside the gates the volunteers lead the kids and families in different games (with prizes of candy for all), face painting, fingernail painting, etc. At the end of the day they helped to distribute the packages of food and toys to each family. We left there a little more sunburnt, a little dustier, and very humbled in the knowledge of the many blessings we possess.
Please keep me and the school counselors in your prayers this week, as we begin to address the many issues of self respect, respecting others, appropriate/inappropriate touching, etc. in our middle school and high school. This will start with a chapel this Wednesday, and will continue with open discussion in each of the Bible classes. It is my hope that some of our students (those who are stronger in their faith and more mature) will become more intentional in setting a good example, as well as defending the rights of those around them. Some of our students come from troubled homes and really don’t know how to ask for others to respect them, as they really don’t know how to respect themselves. It is my hope, above all else, that they will receive a clearer view of how Christ sees them and how valuable they are in His sight. Please pray that their hearts and minds will be open to see this Truth!
This weekend we will caravan with a group of friends to Otavalo, one of the biggest artisan markets in South America. It is about a two hour drive from Quito and is always a fun, cultural experience. I am looking forward to stocking up on yarn (which is about 75 cents a skein there) and maybe finding a Christmas present or two. Many of our friends will take advantage of the opportunity to get Christmas gifts for friends and family back ‘home’ (where ever that may be for them).
Once again, thank you all for your thoughts, prayer, and support as we minister here in Quito. Please think of us often during this season, as we are sure to be missing home and family there.
May God bless and keep you all,
Rachel
