Day 49 in Ecuador

Today was another whirlwind of a day. Jam packed full of stuff and I'm left feeling very exhausted. The morning began as usual, with Dale and I starting our work around 9:00 after a short meeting with interns. We worked more on the ministry report in the morning until around 11:00. I then did a hill workout close by la Casablanca (because it's pretty much all hills) and ate some lunch afterwards.

I did some more work in the afternoon for about an hour. At 1:30, Edwards came to la Casablanca to learn some more English. Dale and I have a good system of giving him a quizlet full of English words for him to study while we do work. Once he's ready we then quiz him on what he has studied. It's awesome seeing how dedicated he is to learning English and I hope that he can keep it up when we leave.

At around 3:30, I left with Edwards to go to the bus station (Dale had gone to the doctor to figure out why he keeps getting sick)
Once there we parted and I went to go take a bus to La Luz only to remember that I forgot the bag of soccer balls I was supposed to bring for practice with the kids. So after going back to get them I ended up being around 10 minutes late, but the kids had their own ball to play with so they were entertained. I ended up leading the practice by myself and I thought it went really well. Today I taught them passing and then we finished with some fun games. 

Gustavo and Alex then picked me up to go out to eat at a delicious Italian restaraunt with all the other interns. This was our farewell dinner for a lot of the interns since 5 of us are leaving within the next week. We had a time where everyone that was leaving (Me, Dale, Jake, Alex, and Merrick) was affirmed but everyone else at the table. It was definitely a special time to hear lots of words of affirmation from the people that I have grown close too. After dinner we went to a gelato place where I had some delicious mint gelato. We then left and Dale and I had to say goodbye to Merrick, who was leaving that night for the airport.

We ended up getting to practice tonight about 30 minutes late. Practice tonight was hard since I was fairly tired and stuffed from dinner, but it was still fun to get to see the guys. Mejia was then able to drive Dale and I home which was awesome to get to hang out and talk with him more. We then hung out some more and went to bed after a long day.

It felt good to get a good amount of work done today and to also get to do a lot as well. God provided me with the energy I needed to lead the practice for the kids which went well! I could be using some prayer for energy tomorrow as well as it will be another busy day.

Today was a glimpse into how it is going to be when Dale and I leave and have to start saying our goodbyes. The sadness hasn't really hit me yet, due to my excitement to come home, but I think God is starting to show me how much I am going to miss this place and the people I met here. Be praying that I would really take advantage of my last days here and that I would recognize the amazing work God has done here this summer and the amazing work He will continue to do when we leave.

Dios Bendiga,

Nico