Ecuador … Taking Hope To The Fringes Update
February 19, 2009 by Jeremy Horne
A Letter From Alex Smyth
After weeks and weeks of preparing and waiting for February 12th, the departure date for Playas, Ecuador was finally upon us. And after a long day of flying, and meeting/connecting with teammates, we finally arrived (at around 1:30 A.M. I will add) to the hot, beautiful, and humid camp: Campamento El Faro d’Esparenza (Lighthouse of Hope Camp).
We were finally able to sleep after unloading the bus, going to our assigned rooms, getting acquainted with our Ecuadorian roommates, and setting up, with much frustration and confusion in some cases, our protective bug nets. The next few days were spent in getting acquainted with the ridiculously hot sun, getting to know the Ecuadorians through fun games and playing “a la playas” (at the beach), and learning how to effectively show God’s love and share the gospel with the campers who would be coming in a few short days.
These sessions proved to be incredibly interesting as half of the sessions were not translated. God has blessed our team with teammates who are fluent enough in Spanish to help the rest of the team out when situations prove to be incredibly difficult regarding our understanding of the Spanish language. It’s safe to say that our Spanish-English dictionaries have been put to many, many uses! Others, including myself, have found the language barrier to be quite overwhelming as most of the Ecuadorians speak very little English and communication is extremely difficult. But the Ecuadorians are most understanding and they love to help us with our pronunciation and understanding of the language. 1
As the days have passed, I have seen many team members reaching out and really trying to work the language. Sure, a few laughs are most certainly sure to follow, but trying to understand and experiment with the language really helps to make relationships with these beautiful people. Ecuadorians are absolutely hilarious! They love to have fun, make jokes, and laugh! Everywhere you look our Ecuadorian friends are always accompanied with a smile, which is incredibly refreshing for those of us who are extremely tired! It is so humbling to see the way these people are so open to new comers, how they welcome you with open arms, and how they accept you no matter what. They are truly inspiring and God has challenged me many, many times in the past few days with regards to my behaviour, my thoughts, my actions and anything else that could be challenged.
Participating in this mission’s trip has already been amazingly full of blessings of all types and sizes. Blessings in the form of health concerns (colds, mosquitoes, voices being lost etc. to help us rely more on God and his amazing power), relationships being formed with Ecuadorian campers and leaders, and unity within our own team. God is really amazing and his presence is definitely apparent in this beautiful country.
I feel like this letter does no justice for our actual experience. It is so hard to express in words everything that is going on and it’s also extremely hard to pinpoint all the emotions we are all experiencing through this mission’s trip. But I know for sure, we are all having a blast and learning more about ourselves, God, and this beautiful and unique culture.
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers as we have embarked on this incredible journey – we appreciate it very much!
Mucho gracias! Ciao!
-Alex Smyth
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