Day 53 in Ecuador

As I'm writing this blog post, it is 1:00 am in the morning. As much as the lack of sleep will probably affect me tomorrow, it was all worth it. Anyways back to the beginning of the day. Dale and I got up and made ourselves some breakfast and then helped Fabi set out the breakfast for the teams. We then showered, got ready for church, and left to go meet up with Edgar at his house. 

Once at his house, Edgar took us to his church. It was definitely a good service, but I struggled paying attention to the sermon (which I already struggle with when the message is in English). They started the service by having these kids sing some songs and recite bible verses they memorized. After that was the message and then a brief baby dedication. The total service lasted about 2.5 hours, from 10:30 to 1:00. So it was a really long service but it was cool to see where Edgar works and attends church. 

At church we also got to meet Edgar's grandmother. She ended up going out to eat with us after church which was a lot of fun. We ate at a place called Rancho Viejo and I got something called Menestras con pollos which was lentils, rice, chicken, french fries, and plantains. The food was delicious but we also had a great time hanging out with Edgar and his grandmother. We left the restaurant and headed back to la Casablanca.

We got back around 4:00 and spent the next couple hours resting and rejuvenating ourselves for what would be a long night. At 6:30, we left to go back to Edgar's house to play some Fifa with Dani, Rolando, and Meji. We got there and ended up getting some burgers at a local fast food place to eat at Edgar's house. We then started our Fifa tournament which ended up lasting until around 12:00. I was in the finals against Dani and was up 3-1 and ended up losing 4-3 in overtime. Despite this horrific loss, Dale and I had so much fun with the guys. I'm so grateful that we got another chance to hang out with them before we have to head back to the States. God has really blessed these friendships and caused them to grow faster than I would have ever realized possible. Praise God for that! 

So despite the fact that it is really late and I will not be getting much sleep tonight, I am so happy at how today turned out. We weren't even sure if this was going to happen tonight because we couldn't get in contact with the guys. Eventually it all worked out and God provided an awesome night to get to hang out with the guys. 

It's hard to believe there are only two more days left in Ecuador. Nights like tonight make me realize how much I am going to miss it down here. Keep sending your prayers for these last two days that we would just surrender them to God and that we would make the most out of them!

Dios Bendiga,

Nico