Exploring Quito and volcanoes

I'm so behind! But I guess that's good for you because you'll only get highlights rather than my babbling on and on. First picture: this is what I fall asleep to every night and wake up to every morning. The airport is so close and the planes so low that I can often read the company name on the tail. Fun fun!

This last Friday was a holiday. Actually, Thursday was the real day, but the government gave everyone Friday off. I thought it was a good idea. My friends Serene, Adeline, and I went hiking down Pululahua Crater. It was like a lost world down there, completely cut off from the rest of the world other than via the steep path we hiked down. Those who live down in the crater (it's extremely fertile farmland) have to use donkeys or horses to bring all their supplies in and their goods out. In the second picture you can see a man we passed heading out, and look at the steep cliffs ahead of him. That's what we hiked down.


Melon patch growing on top of a roof:

Of course, hiking down wasn't the hard part. After lunch at the only restaurant down in the crater, we had to hike back up! Serene (in the red) is pretty used to hiking, but Adeline and I had to stop about every three minutes and catch our breath. That incline plus the altitude just didn't make for ideal hiking conditions. Well, Serene thought so, but we don't ask her anymore.


These pictures go back to the previous weekend. Adeline took me downtown to the historical center of Quito. There are tons of hidden courtyards, nooks, and crannies that are going to make it one of my favorite old towns, I can already tell. In the second picture, you can see the two towers of the Basilica, Quito's biggest church. They only have about 100 ornate Catholic ones. The picture that has me with the view was taken from the restaurant where we had an afternoon snack before the rains hit. (They come almost without fail every afternoon.)



Finally, here are more pictures of Quito from the top of Mt. Pichincha. Look at that wind! (No, I didn't grow antennas out the side of my head.) We took the cable car up to the top around 12,000 feet for a gorgeous view of the entire valley. In the second picture, you can see not only part of the mountain but half the antennas. HCJB Radio owns the two tallest, but unfortunately you can't see them in this picture because they're also the two skinniest and don't show up. The clump of "whiter" clouds in the distance is hovering over Mt. Cayambe, which is much higher than Pichincha. I know because it has snow on it.


Anyway, I'm at work and should probably get back to it. Anyone convinced they need to come for a visit yet? I'm ready!

First News from Ecuador

As you probably assumed, I made it to Quito safe and sound just under a week ago, and I love it here. The mountains are gorgeous, the weather is just perfect with a blend of sun, rain, warm, and cool every day, the food (so far) has been delicious, and the people are faultlessly welcoming. My Spanish skills are weak, but I'm set up on a daily 1/2-hour computer program, and my downstairs neighbor and I agreed to do a trade-off every week: an hour of Spanish for an hour of English.

Here's a view of my house. I go through the middle door (the reddish-orange one), up the stairs, and to the right. That three-paned window on the right is my living room. (Notice the dud balcony that has no door out on to it.)

The HCJB (world radio) campus is just to the left of this picture, and my school, the CCC, is on that campus. It takes me 2 minutes to get to work. J Here’s the best overview shot of the campus I could get. I’m standing on an overpass, looking toward Mount Pinchincha. The yellow buildings just beyond the soccer field are the start of the HCJB campus. In fact, those closest buildings are the school, CCC.

Here’s the CCC from the front. The top two floors are actually the school (small, isn’t it). Then there’s me in front of the CCC-NWC sign, then me in my office, and then the view from my office with Pinchincha in the background. Clearly, I’m suffering.

Last Saturday, one of the permanent missionaries and another short-termer took me to a market downtown in one of the parks. They only sold Ecuadorian-made things, all of which are things I love: scarves, blankets, jewelry, art, ponchos, etc. We happened to be there over noon. Look Ma, no shadow!

That’s basically it so far. I’m in the office 8 – 5, and since it’s dark by 6:15 and I can’t be out by myself, I’ve either been indoors reading or with other missionaries (played games one night, joined a Bible study on Tuesday nights, and volunteered at an English Club Wednesday night). Next week, Dr. Cureton, the president from Northwestern, is coming, so everyone’s in a frenzy about that. It’s going to be great for me though because we’re going to go into the Amazon one day and up Pinchincha another. Catch you all later!

This Journey is My Home

Yes, I stole this title from a Steve Green song. My musical tastes leave a lot to be desired. But I do like this line, and it sure defines my upcoming adventures. 

I leave tomorrow! Ahhhhhhh! And here I sit typing away when I should be packing. (Packing early is so overrated. I'm all about this last-minute, stay-up-all-night stuff.) Here's my fun itinerary for the next few days:

Sun: St. Paul - Madison, see good friend Karen Rice

Mon: Madison - Chicago - Indianapolis - Cincinnati - Atlanta (or as Lizzie says: Bears - Colts - Bengals - Falcons)

**Actually, I only make it to Knoxville on Mon, but I wanted to get the Falcons in there. I stay with friends Jim and Kay Frank

Tue: Smokey Mountain National Park - Atlanta - Tampa, see brother Scott and his wife Fiona

Thu: fly Tampa - Houston - QUITO, ECUADOR!!!!

Keep in touch everybody!

Well, football didn't exactly start off on the right foot, though the Broncos won (that one's for you, Rachel). 

But I can't even begin to describe what a wonderfully encouraging week it has been! I thought I used to know a little something about the power or prayer. I felt I used to honestly say "Prayer support is more important than financial support, " and I was sure I actually believed it. Well, whether or not I understood it before, this last week proved it over and over. Being prayed for is a true treasure, a gift that really is so easily to give and can mean a world to the person who hears it. Standing before the throne of God with fellow believers and hearing them lift you up humbles me immensely. 

I feel inspired to pray more for others, to be able to intercede for others in the same powerful way they have been for me. My biggest fear is that this new desire will pass again in a week. How do I stay fervent?

FOOTBALL STARTS THIS WEEK!!!!

Just a tad excited.

Broncos

Snippet from a conversation with my good friend, K.R.:

Me: We were on a ranch once, and my brother kept saying he wanted to ride a bucking bronco. Of course, as soon as he was on one and it jumped two inches, he was halfway off it again.

KR: Huh. I didn't know people rode cows.

Me: .... Come again?

KR: Your brother rode a bronco.

Me: Yes.....

KR: I didn't know people rode cows.

Me: Um, well a bronco is a horse.

KR: Really? Not cows?

Indiana Custer, Part III

Final installment: There were so many sites we saw during our two weeks of class and travel that I cannot possibly cover them all. So, I'll touch on some of the more meaningful ones that stuck out in my memory. 

Of course, there was the group baptism. 14 people in our group had never been baptized before or only as infants and wanted to declare their dedication to Christ. Since we were near the Jordan River, it seemed perfect to do it there. The second picture here is on a cliff near Nazareth overlooking the Jezreel Valley. What was cool there was when our tour guide went through story after story that took place there. "Over to the left is where Deborah and Barak assembled the Israelites to fight Sisera ... the river flooded and washed out the valley ... and there's En-Dor where Saul snuck around that hill in disguise ... Gideon encircled the Midianites' camp with merely 300 men ... Jesus raised a young man back to life as he was being carried to his funeral ...."

Across the Sea of Galilee here you see the sun setting behind the Cliffs of Arbel. Those cliffs contain a ton of caves where some rebels hid out during the Jewish Revolt in the 1st century. We got to climb down the steep side which was enormously fun! Some of the caves were still black from where the Romans had smoked out the rebels. The third picture here contains older ruins from the time of King Ahab (bad king but smart builder). It's the city of Hazor up in northern Galilee.

Speaking of Jewish rebels, they really did leave remnants everywhere. Here we're at Herodian, one of Herod the Great's fortresses that he could withdraw to when his enemies got too close. (Later, the revolters dug tunnels to hide in as well.) The next picture is another fortress way off in the distance: Masada, quite famous, too for what the Jewish rebels did there.

Masada is located in the Dead Sea Valley which is where these next three pictures were taken. That was a beautiful day! The view was tremendous (as you can see) even though it was about 108 degrees! We stopped at Qumran, which is the second picture, and could see from afar one of the caves in which most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. They weren't going to take us swimming, but we begged and begged to float around for a little bit, and they finally let us. It was such a unique experience because it really is hard to stand; you have to float. And if you flip over onto your stomach, it's nearly impossible to flip back. I think in this picture we have rocks on our bellies, and we're still not sinking. 

Back in Jerusalem! This is a shot from a walk we did along the walls of the Old City. You can see Damascus Gate which enters into the Moslem Quarter, and on Saturdays, the gate is turned into a marketplace. Finally, I watched the sun set over Jerusalem almost every night. It was easily one of the highlights of my day.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and caring! :-)