Country Side Adventure

As I have mentioned before, one of the best parts of life here in Ecuador is spending time with our neighbors in Mt. Sinai. Our relationships are starting to grow and deepen with many of our neighbors here, and yet we still have this dynamic of still extending our relationships to new regions of the town. One of my favorite ways to spend the afternoon is just to leave the house with no plans at all. I always end up meeting such interesting people, or having spontaneous adventures.

So, last week it was one of those unplanned afternoons. I was walking around in a new area to see what was happening or if anyone I knew lived there. Somehow amongst my adventuring and comfort with neighborhood time, I forget that being one of the only gringas in the area, leads to this not resulting in a very inconspicuos effort. (yes, even though it feels like home I am still white and very contrary to the norm).

I approached this group of children who were hanging out in this street, who were baffled by the sight of me walking around and proceeded to ask if I was.....pause..... lost??! and I was thinking to myself....darnit! I must have taken some wrong turn in the US and ended up on the other side of the Equador. :) It ended up making a lot more sense to them explaining that although I was from the US, I was only living here for a year and would go back eventually.

Being very excited about meeting someone new, they took my hands and showed me all around their neighborhood. Where were the places to play futbol, hang out and chat, and where all their friends and family live. We then proceeded to a small grove of trees that lined the separation between houses and the country side and continued on this small trail that winded through a rural landscape. It was so peaceful to be away from the sound of loud music, construction, and cars driving and to be filled with the sounds of rustling leaves and a gentle wind. The children were running around showing me the different types of plants that were around-lime and papaya trees, guayaba and pear trees. So here I am with this large group of friendly and joyful children dancing and running around (I also somehow ended up carrying someone´s baby brother during the course of our walk), watching this brilliant sunset cast behind the hills of Mt. Sinai. It was one of those peaceful, unanticipated moments where all you can do is breathe it in, knowing that these little moments are what make life, life in Ecuador.

When life gives you a coup, make coup-kies

So after the excitement of the political events of Sept. 30, I figured I should probably fill you in a bit on the perspective of living here! We were actually not to affected by the events here in the more rural Mt. Sinai region, which was a blessing, but it definitely made for an interesting few days!

On the 30th I was working a normal day in my classroom, so I didn't even hear about the ordeal until noon when school ended. Jeff and Jenn came to pick me up at school and explained that there was a "golpe de estado" taking place in Quito. The buses were all shutting down, so we were to pick Becky and Aaron up from their worksites so that we would all be home safe. As I recall the events of that day, I like to envision myself valiently embarking on some wonderful rescue mission through the streets of Ecuador, but it was pretty much like any other day.

As we heard more on the radio and talked to neighbors, we were able to find out that the police had gone on strike throughout Ecuador, which was the reason why it was so dangerous to be out on the streets, especially for us "gringos". Having no idea how long this was going on, we ran to the store quick on our way home and made sure we had enough groceries for atleast a day or two. Our neighbors were so protective and caring, making sure that we were home safe. I went over to watch the news with one of our neighbors, and she wanted us to call her when we got home even though it probably takes a minute to walk home from her house.

That night, we heard that we wouldn't be going to work the next day and it honestly felt like a snowday! No work, we weren't really leaving the house...what was there to do!? Becky and I decided that we needed to do something that was out of the ordinary, as the chances of being in another coup in our lifetime is not incredibly promising (although who knows! it was Aaron's second) so we decided to make some coup-kies. Yes, pun intended. Now that we graduated from college, we have no motivation or incentive to be cool. :) It ended up being a nice time to hang out with community, watch a movie, read a book. The whole situation completely cleared up within a day and a half, so we are back to our normal ecua-lives, what ever "normal" is I suppose. :)

Time flies...

Wow, it has been so long since I updated my blog…apologies! Internet access is hard to come around on a regular basis! There is soo much I have learned and experienced in these last weeks. I am absolutely smitten with life here in Ecuador-It is such a beautiful blessing to wake up here every morning, knowing we are so lucky to have the opportunity to be here. Anyways, with that being said I will try to share with you a little bit of the latest happenings!

A normal day In Mt. Sinai:
So to give you all a better idea of what my life looks like. During the week I get up around 6 o´clock to get ready for school. I drink some coffee and eat some bread or oatmeal and look at my lesson plans for the day to make sure I am set! Aaron and Becky are usually up getting ready as well so I often times get to sit down with them. I leave our house and walk to the school I work at, which theoretically is a 5 minute walk, but usually ends up taking a little longer because I run into friends, neighbors or students who want to chat. I get to school around 7:15 and welcome my students. School starts up at 7:30! Each day has a bit different set of subjects to be taught in 40 minute blocks and there is a recess at 9:30 that lasts 10. This is honestly one of my favorite parts of the job. It is when I get to just chill out and spend time with my students. It is a great time to talk and get to know more about their lives. Then classes begin again. My favorite classes to teach are religion, art, reading and music. School ends at 12 and it usually takes about 30 minutes for all the parents to show up! Afterwards the nuns that I work with insist that I stay for lunch, which I frequently partake in. Otherwise I eat with neighbors or eat something quick at home. The afternoons are free so we are encouraged to go out and meet our neighbors. It is the best part of the day! It is so fun to meet all of the familes, and they have been so gracious and welcoming to us as we adjust to our lives here. In the evening there are often events going on at the church such as daily mass, prayers and rosaries which we can attend, otherwise we spend time together at home. Then there is dinner and nightly prayer. The sun sets around 6:30 here so it is dark pretty early.

House blessing and mass:
To celebrate the opening of our new home in Mt. Sinai, we celebrated a mass in the living room. It was a lovely bilingual service with prayers and songs from both the US and Ecuador. It was really exciting to share this experience with our community members from Duran and various work partners.

Futbol:
So, going to a Futbol game in the middle of the week when you are teaching the next day, but so worth it! Megan, our in-country director/team Barcelona enthusiast invited us to accompany her to a Barcelona game (one of the teams in Ecuador). It was great! There were about 10 or so people from our group who went to the stadium. On the way they had Jerseys for three dollars, so we equipped ourselves in the team´s colors-yellow and black. So if 10 gringos weren´t enough to leave all the Ecuadorians scratching their heads, add 10 jerseys, and the world basically exploded. Everbody watched us walk in with disbelief. During the game, several people came up wanting pictures with us like we were Mickey Mouse or something! It was pretty incredible! Also I have never been to a sporting event with such enthusiastic fans. In one of the sections “El Sur Oscura”-“the dark south” the fans were moving around like crazy, singing, shouting, setting off canons and fireworks. Wow! Didn´t seem like the safest thing to be happening in a contained area but was fantastically exciting! Unfortunately the team didn´t win in the end, but it made for a quick (and an assumingly safer) exit .
Community living:
One of my favorite parts about living in Ecuador is getting to spend time with my wonderful community mates: Becky, Jenn, Aaron, and Jeff. Within our community we have certain obligations during the week including community night, spirituality night, and five meals together during the week. There is always something going on and someone to talk to. Jeff plays the guitar amazingly so is always serenading us with requests and the latest tunes. (My favorite when I am preparing dinner). The other night Becky was wearing black shorts, a green shirt and a baseball cap-to be dorky I went and put on basically the same outfit to see if the others would notice. (we thought it would be the best joke ever…lame haha ) Anyways, Aaron comes home and decides to get in on our joke so we were all matching when Jenn and Jeff arrived and of course they had to change to match, so we ended up wearing matching outfits for the rest of the day. Haha. What else-oh! Becky and I are choreographing our aerobic routines. We want to make a new one each month (With different genres of music). I can´t tell whether I laugh or exercise more during the process but it is very fun! Last night we decided to write a four part harmony to a short little song diddy which was incredibly entertaining. Aaron and Becky have been busy creating a garden at our home with all sorts of plants. They were just gifted a Verde tree from a friend which they just planted last night.
Of course I would be remiss if I didn´t mention the episodes of cooking locura! During the week, each of us has a turn to prepare food for the house! We have had a lot of fun learning about Ecuadorian cuisine from our neighbors who have been so excited to show us “how to cook”. It is great, these moms start at the basics and are really patient with explaining all the details. It brings them a lot of joy to share their cooking wisdom with us. The staples of food here are rice, lentils, lots of veggies, Verdes (Plantains) and the occasional meat dish. Seco de Pollo is just about everyone´s favorite food here which is Chicken with special spices. Also one of my favorite things here is that there are all different types of fruit here fresh mangos, papayas, pineapple, watermelons, maraculla, tomate de arbol, etc. it is amazing! Each of us in the house are responsible for cooking for the community once during the week. No fires or explosions yet, thankfully, but we still have 10 months left! 

Memoirs of a first-year teacher in Ecuador.
In regards to the fact that a large portion of my time here in Ecuador is spent at my worksite, I have decided to dedicate the following blog to the happenings of my life as a teacher.
One of the adventures about teaching in Ecuador is that no matter how much you plan and anticipate for the next day of teaching, it will almost never go as you plan! There is always something or some event that randomly will come up. For example, one day I arrived at school and the teacher, that I was supposed to be observing, was “running late” and I was asked to stand in with a classroom of 30 kids. The suggestion was to sing some songs or tell a story-which I was thinking wouldn´t be too difficult considering she was to arrive soon. Well soon in Ecuador means a very different thing than soon in the US. Three hours later she showed up! I sang about every song in my repertoire (both English and Spanish haha), taught a drawing class, did some dictations, lead some stretches-meanwhile the students enjoyed a holiday from standard classroom management procedures (due to developing language skills on my behalf). It was…treacherous as you may imagine. After a few conversations with community members I am starting to see the humor in these situations rather than getting down which has been very helpful!

Everyday is crazy and is filled with wonderful moments of “I can´t believe that happened” Such as dogs running into the classroom, children eating paint, sporadic soccer games that trump language lessons, exploding juice boxes. You name the weirdest thing you can think of happening in the classroom and times that by 3.5 that is what teaching in Ecuador is like. :) Ok that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I tend to error on the side of a good story.

I officially opened my own classroom for Segundo año basico, which are children who are 5 and 6, so it is basically like teaching Kindergarten (which is my favorite). It was unfortunately an insanely unorganized transition as I came to school on Monday (never having seen my classroom and having no idea what I was going to teach because I didn´t have teachers manuals). I certainly was banking on enthusiasm allowing me to get through the day! I was really stressed out the first few days, but am feeling more comfortable now! I am determined to do a good job for the students, but this week was certainly not living up to my personal standards. Oh well…poco a poco. On a happier note It is the perfect set up for a first year teacher. I only have 13 students in my class (10 girls and 3 boys) which helps sooo much when it comes to classroom management. Even though they can be tricksters, each student is so unique and special. They melt my heart everyday, and make my job so rewarding.

Anyways, writing about all of this school business reminds me of the lesson plans I must attend to! So off I go. Please everyone look outside and enjoy the sight of new school supplies, football games, sweatshirts, changing leaves and crisp autumn air for me! It is something we in Ecuador missing right now! My blessings go out to each and every one of you. Thank you for all of your support! You are all in my heart and prayers!

Wishing you all the joys and beauties of the changing season,
Marita
xoxo

It´s the start of something new

It is the end of our first week of living here in Mt. Sinai, and things have been bustling with the excitement of new beginnings. We moved into our new house on Monday, which is absolutely beautiful. It is spacious and very accomodating for myself and four community mates. In the house we have a kitchen, living room and eight bedrooms. (three of which are serving as guest bedrooms and closet space :) Our ceilings are very high, so it makes everything feel very open and spacious. It also is a lot of fun because it echoes like crazy! The acoustics are great for singing-Jen and I feel like rock stars! The hallway where are bedrooms are is really long and their are doors on both sides. We decided it is perfect for running sprints, and we are working on devising either bowling alley or a slip and slide. :) hehe. The colors of our house are really cheery! The living room, kitchen, and hallway are yellow, the bedrooms are light green and our chapel is light blue. The chapel is my favorite place in the whole house. It is such a peaceful place to be. oh and we have a nice little deck area where they will be setting up two hammocks in the near future.

This week we have been figuring out how our community is going to be functioning together, with cleaning and cooking schedules, food stipends ect. Our first night together in the house was pretty wonderful. We ended up eating dinner fairly late-and we were all pretty tired and we ended up just being goofy and laughing about everything for about an hour. We couldn´t even get through dinner without Becky having to leave the table because she was laughing so hard :). Some other highlights from community living this week would include: nightly prayers, excercise night, movie night, and cooking together.

Let´s see, this week we started our jobs which has been crazy to say the least. As I mentioned before, I am working at a small Catholic school near where I live. The kids are so unbelievably adorable. This week I was able to teach Language (Spanish hahaha) and a little bit of Phy. Ed....which I don´t know if I can even call it phy ed. haha. Madre Luceli came up to me and asked if I could teach phy ed. on Friday! I had not written a lesson plan, and let´s just say the resources available were a bit....lacking. She gave me this little pink pillow, and was like "you can throw this around". So...I was going into this teaching experience with no gym, and no equipment (aside from the pink pillow, which I didn´t have high hopes for being useful) Thankfully enthusiasm and creativity went a long way, and I survived the experience. :) The plan for me is that I will be teaching Computer classes to all sections on Wednesdays, Phy. ed to all sections on Friday, and then I will be teaching 5-6 year olds all subjects on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in my own classroom-wow that is going to be crazy. I hope that I am not getting into a situation that is too difficult, but I am going to have another week here of observations. The Ecuador school system is pretty different here. All of the subjects are taught almost directly out of books-so you can say goodbye to any cognitive discovery learning experiences. I am hoping that I can do some more hands on learning in my classroom. We´ll see :) I have like a million ideas. I´m pumped!

On Wednesday I went to some religous convention in Guayaquil with the nuns that I work with...haha exciting experience. They told me that it would be good for me because I am a missionary and the content would be applicable to me-which it was...but I was the only "non-nun" in the whole joint! I felt so left out haha. My community mates are convinced that the sisters are going to try to get me to become a nun by the end of the year, but I really don´t see that being in my life plans. haha we´ll see about that

This weekend I helped sing at two masses, which was great, I love the music here. I ended up cantoring and not knowing the songs incredibly well, which made for some laughs afterwards. After mass at Corpus Christi, we had a music ministry meeting and I met some amazing youth with great musical talent. We spent an hour or so learning and practicing music together. I got to sing in a microphone. I felt you know...a little bit legit...just saying.. haha just playing :)

I think the resounding theme of the week is being thrown into incredibly new and awkward situations. We are embracing our "awkwardness" as we adjust to our new jobs, culture and language. It is all together very humbling. You finally think that you are on top of your game, and then boom, life catches up to you. One of the more awkward moments was when i locked myself inside the gate to our house, as I tried to get out to get to a meeting at school. (awkwardly waving at the onlooking neighbors who were enjoying a little chuckle to my dismay) what else-misuse of Spanish vocabulary, and deviations from Ecua-social norms is a daily occurence. Although it can be slightly discomforting at times, it is also such a beautiful and blessed place to be in life. Everyday is a mini adventure and there is so much to think about and learn from everything and everyone I meet. I hope that I can maintain this spirit of excitement as we journey in the weeks to come...more updates on the life and times of Mt. Sinai to come

Friends and family at home-I miss you, I love you, I´m thinking about you lots! Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

Con amor,

Marita

Here is a shot of ´all the 08-10, 09-10 and 10-11 volunteers!

Once upon a time in a land far, far away

This is the first official blog entry from ECUADOR! Today marks the end of our second week here and it has been pretty incredible! We have been doing a little bit of everything, as we are still doing a couple weeks of in-country orientation! We have learned so much in such a short period of time, that it is hard to remember all of the details, though I will now impart to you the highlights and initial impressions of my first few weeks here.

Air Travel: We were blessed for our flights here to not have any delays or troubles. My community of Mt. Sinai flew together from Boston to Miami and then to Guayaquil. It actually was only like a 3 hour flight from Miami, which was shorter than I expected. It was pretty funny walking through the airports, because 3 out of our 5 members brought guitars, and everyone kept asking if we were a band. Our arrival in Guayaquil was additionally exciting because all of the former volunteers welcomed us!

Duran: In duran there are two houses where volunteers will be living AJS and Arbolito. The last house, where I will be living is in Mt. Sinai. Until the construction of our house is completed, we have spent the last two weeks in the AJS retreat house in Duran. We don´t spend a lot of time there, as we are learning the area during the day. It is an interesting experience trying to fall asleep at night, as there are a plethora of interesting noises in the area-music, whistles, partying, and the greatest perpertrator.....the ROOSTER! He makes noises just about all night-which is fairly comical :).

Mt. Sinai: This is the region where my community and I will be living for the year. It is about a 45 minute drive from where the other houses of volunteers are staying in Duran. It definitely has a different feel to the region. It is a bit more rural, and amongst some brushy hills-with the most beautiful twisted trees. The area is a fairly new residential sector, so the majority of the houses are cane houses made of bamboo. What most families do is that they start off making a house of bamboo, and then start replacing different walls with concrete blocks once they have enough money. It is common to see houses that are part cane and part concrete. Most of the roads are made of dirt in the area-which is an adventure on the bus! Mt. Sinai is much more beautiful than I thought it would be-and the people are even more beautiful. They are so incredibly kind and welcoming. Even though they were only meeting us for the first time, they would invite us into their homes and offer us what little they have. It is a very humbling experience to be in their presence, as they truly have an understanding of what is valuable in life. I know that their friendships are going to be a great source of life an joy during the year! Within Mt. Sinai there are three churches: Santa Teresa, San Felipe, Corpus Christi. The first two are smaller and Corpus Christi is the largest church in Mt. Sinai. It is breathtakingly beautiful. It is made of Bamboo, and is structured in a way that the sun shines through to illuminate the worship space. Also, this church has an amazing music ministy, which I am hoping to be able to sing with during the year! All three of the churches have an active chatechism program, which I am hoping to help with this year.

Escuela San Felipe Neri: This is the school that I will be working at this year. It is run by three Columbian nuns, who are so dear! Madre Lucelli is the oldest of the three and assumes the leader position. She is very energetic and tends to speak Spanish fairly fast! Then there is Sister Mayrah and Sister Nuri who are about my age.They are wonderful as well. The sisters have such big hearts and are very kind! The school itself is composed of two or three small buildings that are yellow with little story book murals on the walls. (Which the former Rostro volunteers painted) It is an adorable school, and the students are sooooooooooo adorable as well. The school only goes to 2nd grade so they are the little ones. They all have these little plaid uniforms that they wear and the sweetest little high pitched Spanish speaking voices...anyways as you can tell I am slightly enamoured with my job placement and can´t wait to start this Monday! More updates on the work situation to come!

Work Visits: In addition to visiting my work site, we were able to visit the sites where our community members are working. We learned a ton about Becky´s site Hogar de Cristo where she will be working in a clinic doing EKGs and other little tasks. Aaron is also working at a little clinic that serves a community in Nueva prosperina. Jenn and Jeff will be working with "Chicos de la calle"-a shelter and school for street kids. The Saint Don Bosco is basically their idol there, so we were able to hear several songs about him haha.

The work situation is a little different for our fellow community members in Duran. They are still discerning their work placements, so we got to go with them to several of the sites they can choose from. Wow, they were all fantastic. Rostro´s mission is really awesome in the respect that instead of going into Ecuador and starting new programs (that wouldn´t necesarily be helpful or sustainable for the people we serve), they find partner foundations developed and run by Ecuadorians that we work with. There are placements for working with street children, working at schools for children living in poverty, working at clinics and soup kitchens etc. Two of my favorite work sites I was able to visit were Nuevo Mundo and Damien house. Nuevo Mundo is functions like Robin Hood in the Ecuadorian school system. This school facilty (Which is the nicest in all of Guayaquil), is a private school for more affluent children who pay tuition to attend. In the afternoon, the school allows for students who live in extreme poverty come and use the same beautiful facilities for free. It is amazing, the program gives so much hope to these children and opens the door to higher education and a better life. Another favorite was visiting Damien House, which is a home for people who are living with Hanson´s Disease (aka Leprosy). They were mostly older people and they were so joyful and friendly. One of the patients living there gave a welcome speech to us and told us that the beauty of our group had turned their home into a "garden of flowers" My mouth hurt so much from smiling after visiting with them.....a little bit more friendly than our attempts to sing at the nursing home in St. Cloud during a football game...haha Webers :)

A day at the beach: Ok, this may have been the best day of my life. Ok probably an overstatement but it is up there. So last Saturday we were EXHAUSTED from in country orientation and we were told that we were going to take a day for "community bonding" at a pool in Guayaquil-though the next morning when we were ready to go, Megan surprised us and told us that we were going to the ocean, which was a two hour drive. I LOOOVVEE surprises AND the OCEAN so needless to say I was giddy all day long. It was so beautiful, the sunshine felt so nice, and the waves were huge and fun to play in. Becky, Caitlin, Brendan and I went for a jog along the beach which was fun! (Although I got stung by a little jellyfish on the way) Don´t worry it only stung a bit! It was such a relaxing and peaceful day to spend with the other 15 volunteers!

"Lost" in Ecuador: Ok so for part of orientation, we have a day where we are given a camera, and a list of places that we need to go-but we are only allowed to use public transportation to get around. Okay...so if you know me, this is the ultimate culmination of everything that Marita is bad at! Katie and Megan would know based on our European excursions...I am bad at being attentive to details, maps, and let´s face it...my sense of direction is deplorable. The only skill I offered my team is that I could at least ask for directions in Spanish.... oh and I have been working on my "flagging down the bus" hand motion....which is nearly perfected if I may say so myself. We started at 10 AM and bussed all around Duran, Guayaquil, and Mt. Sinai until we ended at the lighthouse in Guayaquil at around 7:30 PM. My team ended up tie-ing with another group, which was a pleasant ending.

Earthquake: So this morning, as we were laying in bed around 7 AM the floor and bed started shaking! It was a real life EARTHQUAKE! Jenn and I woke up and were soooo excited. We were giggling and talking about the whole affair and then we woke up Becky-so all three of us were laughing about being in an earthquake. Certainly not something that you experience in the midwest!! Don´t worry mom and dad there is no damage at all where we are!

So friends and family, I have been having a wonderful couple weeks here in Ecuador! It has been nice to spend time as a large community before splitting off into our homes this weekend! Honestly it is so fun-all the games, conversations, prayers, making dinners together and guitar playing.

The house in Mt. Sinai should be done by Sunday, and we will be moving in before work on Monday!
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I send my love to all of you!
Con amor,
Marita

Orientation

The Rostro Volunteers 2010-2011

The Community of Mt. Sinai

Back row(Aaron, Becky Jeff)
Front Row (Jen and I)

Hello Everyone!
Here is your update from beautiful Boston, where we are having a 2 week orientation before leaving for Ecuador! It is my first time in Boston so it has been very exciting. Before arriving, I had spent the weekend with Julie in Baltimore where she is doing her NASA internship! It was a super fun weekend, and very much needed before these next weeks! Anyways, orientation has been a BLAST and very informative. In addition to the 16 who are going to Ecuador with Rostro de Cristo, we are also spending this time with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp (about 30 members). It has been so enlivening to be around people who are so passionate about social justice and international service. The orientation itself has taken place at Boston College, which is gorgeous! We are living in one of the residence halls and having our sessions in various buildings. Most days we have four sessions and they have covered a variety of topics. My favorites have been: Catholic Social Teaching, Prayer and Spirituality, Call and Mission, Crossing Cultures, and building relationships. It is very well organized and we are learning a lot of important details and skills that we will use in Ecuador! I have also been able to speak with several past volunteers who loved their experience and are so excited for us. Let me say, my group of 16 for Rostro (and my community of 4 for Mt. Sinai) are awesome. It has been really fun to get to know them over the last few days! In addition to having amazing sessions, reflection time and prayer we have also been able to have some pretty exciting free times. There is always a game going on-soccer, football, volleyball, walks around the reservoir, mini guitar jam sessions, time in the sunshine and some great conversations. I have also happened upon teaching some Spanish lessons....and my personal favorite...gymnastics hour. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time. So after a very nice Taize prayer service, everyone was spending sometime outside in the beautiful weather....someone did a handstand...and then the world exploded. The majority of our orientation group was on the lawn showing off "cartwheels", headstands, and handstands....well just about anything that resulted in your feet being above your head. The funny part was that most of them were boys. haha. And if you are wondering out there... if you are an individual who has never done gymnastics-you can't do a standing front flip...some people are crazy! Needless to say, the next morning I was very sore! :)

This has been such a great transition to actually leaving for Ecuador, because I feel so much more prepared than I did before. I am on a social and spiritual high right now (they call this the honeymoon period...before any community drama and culture shock kicks in) hehe. We have spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to live out our mission in Ecuador. So much of what we value in the US is on what we can DO and not who we ARE. While we are gone, we may not change anything-but WE will be changed, and others will be changed by their relationships with us. Although I will be teaching, my main focus is to build relationships. The goal of mission work is to slow down and focus on serving the person in front of you-for their needs are the most important to attend to. It is a different way of quantifying "success" and organizing ones days and priorities. It will probably take a while to adjust but I am so open to this new experience.

In 24 hours I will be on my flight to Ecuador, and tonight is my last night of going to bed in the US for more than a year. (CRAZY!) Please keep me and the other members of the Mt. Sinai community in your prayers as we travel to Ecuador tomorrow. I can't wait to fill you in when I get there.
Con amor,
Marita

Bienvenidos!

Hola a todos! (Hello Everyone) This is the first of many blog posts that I will be writing during my experience of volunteering for a year of service in Ecuador! I will be serving with a program called Rostro de Cristo, which means "Face of Christ". This is a Catholic Organization that provides opportunities for young adults to live out the Gospel with the people of Ecuador. If you would like to learn more about the program check out the website! rostrodecristo.org During my time there, I will be living in the new community, Monte Sinai. This region is right outside of northern Guayaquil. This is a relatively new residential area, so many of the people living there are new to the area. Most of the families there live on less than two dollars a day. (Cost of house included.) -Puts our lives in perspective a bit-wow! Even though these people are less affluent in some respects, they are often times more hospitable and joyful than people who have so much more in a material sense. While I am there, I will be teaching at the school called San Felipe de Neri. I will be teaching parts of second grades, and different odds and ends (I will be filling you in later on details). I will also be spending time focusing on building relationships with our neighbors and experiencing the Ecuadorian life with them and my community. I will be living with four other amazing volunteers- Becky, Jenn, Aaron and Jeff (Recent college grads from all over the US) It will be a blessing to share a year with these people-because I know that they will teach me more than I could ever imagine.

Now since you all will be journeying with me throughout the year, I feel as though I should fill you in on why I am moving half way across the world to volunteer. Well, I'm going to have to put the blame on you! (Especially my parents, family, and fellow Bennies!). You have enlivened my life with faith. You have loved me and taught me how to love. You have given me life, and given me the drive to want to give life to others. I am so grateful for what you all mean to me, and how formative each and every one of you has been in my life. Honestly Mom and Dad...We have a life-size Jesus statue in our house-What did you expect? :). Also through the many wonderful experiences I have had in my life (Such as the annual trips to Mexico), I have been able to feel the joys of international service and recognize that these trips allow you to grow in incredible, new ways. Also being in a different country would allow for me to experience a new culture, the livelihood of its people, and (hopefully) an expansion in my language skills! Another amazing aspect of this program is that I will be living in an intentional Christian community, where we will grow and reflect together throughout the year. This component was essential for me. If I was going to leave the country for a year, I needed to know that I would be able to have support from a community. Lastly, in my faith journey I have come to a point where just having my beliefs wasn't enough. I needed to put them into action!

I am so excited to see where this year will bring me (and excited that I will be able to impart my experience to you via blog). I know that being in Ecuador allow for me to be challenged, to grow in community, to love unconditionally, and to come to know God in new ways.

As I sign off, I would like to leave you with this prayer. This inspires me as I prepare to leave for Ecuador. Maybe it will speak to you as well.

Falling In Love
Nothing is more practical than finding God,
that is, than falling in love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you
out of bed in the morning,
what you will do with your evenings,
how you will spend your weekends
what you read, who you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you
with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.
-Pedro Arrape, SJ

You are all in my prayers, and I send you much love.
Blessings and all joys,
Marita