Day 15 in Ecuador

Getting ready to play soccer on the field!

Thursday was another very busy day, but very good day as well. I got up early in the morning for some quiet time and time to eat breakfast. Dale and I left la Casablanca at around 7:30, before anybody else was up, and made our way to La Luz where we would be working all day.

In the morning, Dale and I were researching new Donor management systems for Joseph. This is one of the long-term projects that he wants us to work on. We decided to take some time looking at one option this morning. We then made our way to a mini Ecuadorian restaurant for some Almuerzo. Almuerzo usually consists of the first course, which is soup, and then a second course of chicken, rice, and potatoes. All of this food for only $2.50 and it was delicious!

Our lunchtime view today. Never gets old.

During the afternoon, Dale and I started working on creating a report for missionaries to track their donation trends and averages and their expense trends and averages. This required use of Quickbooks and excel and was frustrating at times to work through, but Dale and I made decent progress on it.

At 3:00, we left to go to Edgar's house to meet up with him before heading over to a soccer field to help him coach a U12 Cumbre Alta academy team. This practice was a lot of fun. The kids listened and were very polite and fun to hang out with. Most of them know English and were patient with me as I tried to speak in Spanish to them. I am definitely looking forward to going to more practices and getting to hang out with these kids more!

The field were the U12 academy team trains.

After that practice, Dale and I found another small restaurant for dinner. Here we ate an empanada and a ham and cheese sandwich. Another delicious meal that makes me realize I am going to miss Ecuadorian food a lot. At around 6:00, Dale and I had made plans to watch the Ecuadorian national team face off against Chile in la Copa America. We were able to watch the first half at a restaurant before heading to practice for Cumbre Alta.

A delicious donut I bought.

Tonight's practice was a lot of fun. Although the numbers were low (most likely due to the Copa America), the player's attitudes were great and we mostly just played 7v7 the whole time. Keep praying that through soccer Dale and I would continue to build relationships with these players and that we would trust that God is working through this ministry.

Thanks for checking in today. This morning I was struggling with a poor attitude and was very frustrated as Dale and I were working through a project. Please be praying that God would help improve my attitude and that God would be at work despite my weaknesses.

Dios Bendiga,
Nich