Day 55 in Ecuador

God surely provided a great last day. This morning I was able to help again with breakfast and making lunches for the teams here. We got done in the kitchen around 9:30 this morning. Anna needed someone who could speak some Spanish to go with her team to Camp Hope in order to help them know what they should do because no one her team spoke any Spanish. I decided to go help because Dale and I didn't have much else to do in the morning and Dale wasn't able to go so they needed someone to help them. I was kind of nervous that I wasn't going to be able to understand but I was just going to trust that God would help me do whatever needed to be done.

Our walk to Camp Hope was nice because I got to talk with some people from the team and just hear about their lives. Once we got there, the lady at the front desk said that the kids from Camp Hope already went to the pool and that she would guide us there as well. So far I was able to understand and translate to the team what was happening. We got to the pool and the team needed some more direction which I once again was able to help with. It was an awesome morning to be able to help out the team and also see the joy in the kids faces when they were in the pool. I was hesitant at wanting to help at first but God definitely provided a sweet morning.

I got back at around 11:30. I ended up taking a taxi back and got to talk with my taxi driver a bit which I always enjoy doing. Once, back Dale and I finished up some things with Joseph and then took a break for lunch. After lunch we cleaned the bathrooms one last time. We then attempted to create a 60-90 second video summarizing our time here in Ecuador for a professor at school. Dale and I had written a script so that our thoughts would flow better. Many of you know that I am not the greatest actor, so this turned into a very difficult task. Once one of us messed up, we laughed and had to start all over. We probable tried about 50 times and were never able to go through the whole way. It was a fun time though and we had a lot of laughs doing it and watching the videos afterwards.

Once we finished with that, we packed up all of our stuff and then went to the tienda to get some snacks for our trip tomorrow. We also went to our favorite smoothie lady for one last smoothie. We actually found out the other day that she is having to sell her business because her daughter is sick with migraines and she needs time to take care of her. Once we got our smoothies Dale had the idea to pray for her, so we did and she seemed to really appreciate it. Once again another moment that God provided for us to further his Kingdom. He is so good!

Mabe and Fabi! Two amazing people

We then went back to la Casablanca and cooked some dinner for ourselves. Practice was at 7:30 so we had to eat earlier than Fabi and Mabe's dinner for everyone. We left for our final Cumbre Alta practice which was a lot of fun. We just played 4v4 for the whole time, about 1 hour and a half. The hard part about practice was having to say goodbye at the end. We were grateful that most of the guys we had grown close to, such as Meji, Dani, and Rolando were able to come to practice, but it was still hard having to say goodbye to all of them. A lot of them were asking when we were going to return which means a lot to me personally that they are wondering that. I am just so thankful for the opportunity we had this summer to get to play with them and get to know them better.

Meji was able to drive us home tonight along with his brother Alejo, which it was awesome to get to see him again. On the way home Meji thanked us a lot for what we did and shared a bible verse for us also. It was an awesome ride home with him and his brother. We are going to miss him and our friendship with him a lot, but we are also so thankful for the opportunity we had this summer to build a relationship with him.

We said goodbye to Meji and Alejo and went into la Casablanca to do our final debrief with Anna, while Mabe and Fabi were still in the kitchen. We were able to reflect on our trip with Anna which was nice to do and eventually we had to say goodbye to Mabe and Fabi too, which was super difficult. We then finished our debrief, said goodbye to Anna, and got ready for bed.

Today was such an amazing last day here in Ecuador. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity this summer. God has worked in so many ways and I have learned so much. I have built lifelong friendships that I never foresaw coming.

As I write this blog, I am filled with mixed feelings. I am super excited to come home, see my family and friends, and get to be apart of Zach and Rachel's wedding. But the sadness of leaving has really hit me. I have grown to love Ecuador and the people here more than I could have ever imagined. This place will always have a special place in my heart and I can't wait to come back someday and be reunited with the amazing people.

Praise God for giving me this life-changing experience this summer. Words are unable to describe how much this trip has done for me and how much it has impacted me. Thank you all so much for your support throughout this entire trip! Your financial support and encouragement and prayers have meant so much to me and have helped me tremendously.



Dios Bendiga,
Nico