No I don't want no grub, a grub is a bug that can't get no love from me

Our final jungle trip of this year was a success!  We traveled into 6 different Shuar communities that are in need of clean water.  The communities had all submitted requests to our Clean Water Project office about 2 years ago, and we are finally staffed and ready to take on some of these projects.  The plan is for the 3 of us here until April/May, myself, Steph and Lizzie, to take on 3 of the 6 communities and each take the lead on one of the projects.  The projects will consist of only the first phase for supplying water which is actually getting a clean water source.  Once that is accomplished, the possibility of pumping the water to each home will be considered.  Most of the communities have springs that are relatively close to the centers and can be protected to provide clean water.  Other options that are being considered are rain water harvesting and wells.

The Travelers:
*Me 
*Steph - Civil Engineer from England
*Lizzie - Civil Engineer from England
*Alex - Alfredo's wife and our teacher, teaching us all she knows before she heads to England the end of the month, from England and has been doing Civil Engineering work here in Ecuador for 5 years
*Benjamin (Alfredo & Alex's son) - 14 month old Civil Engineer in training
*Miriam - fellow North Carolinian, a nurse who has been serving in Ecuador for the past 25+ years

The Communities and our work:

As I mentioned above, we visited 6 communities, San Carlos, Santa Rosa, Washintsa, Karama, Iwia, and Wusui.  All these communities currently get there water from a river or an unprotected spring.  In each community we had a community meeting to explain our thoughts and expectations and then we went and looked at the different water sources within the community.  We then would have a final meeting to give our thoughts on what options would be available based on the water sources we saw.  We have spent some time this week in the office reviewing the projects and deciding what 3 communities we are able do projects in the new year.  The Lord has been giving us wisdom and clarity about the communitites to help us see where He is opening the door for us to work.

This trip was a bit different because we had Miriam along with us.  It was such a blessing to work with her.  She would meet with patients during the day as we went and looked at the water sources and had our meetings.  She challenged my attitude many times as she was up late seeing patients, up early seeing patients, hiking our long treks with bad knees, and still having a smile and a zeal to know that God has brought us there for a purpose and wants to use us in every moment.  Many times the heat, bugs, sleeping arrangements and the like would drive my attitude down, but to learn to grab hold of all that God want's to do through us even when things are hard.  I pray that the Lord continue to teach me how to react with His love and His strength in not so ideal situations.  I want to be His hands, His feet, and His love in this place!

On Thursday and Friday we were in Wusui because we could not get a flight until Friday night.  God did so much in that time.  On Thursday night we were able to talk to a young girl who wanted to commit suicide.  We were able to talk and pray with her, and she prayed to accept Jesus in her heart!  We continue to pray that the Lord will do such a work in her.  On Friday I was sick with a fever, but Miriam was still able to see patients all day.  She had the opprotunity to share hope and scripture with a lot of people and pray for them.  Steph and Lizzie took time to teach and sing with the kids of the community.  It's wonderful to be able to bring Jesus into that jungle.  When we hike we sing praises to the Lord to usher in His presence, to proclaim Jesus as Lord in that place.   Thank you for your continued prayers for these people and for the work we are doing here.  We are praying for the Lord to do the unexpected through us in this time! 

The Hiking Experience:

Our daily hikes ranged from 30 minutes to 3 hours.  It normally took us about twice as long as the Shuar's to navigate the trails.  We actually had some really nice trails to hike on at some points.  I almost felt like I was hiking back at home, well until I actually looked around and saw all the jungle plants, beautiful!  We also had the not so nice trails that were covered in mud and where we had to hike over logs.  One day we had 2 river crossing... we were praying for no rain because the rivers can become uncrossable with too much rain.  The Lord answered our prayers and we were able to cross with water level only just past our knees.

 

 

The Food:

Many many interesting meals this time around.  We were in 6 different communities so we got a variety of different delicacies of the area.  One morning for breakfast we were served a bowl of chicken soup and a bowl of duck soup, snails, papachinas (white potatos), and some kind of fruit.  Another breakfast was heart of palm (good) and GRUBS (not so good) along with some papachinas.  The grubs had been cooked somehow, but were cold when we ate them.  They were about 2.5 inches long, chewy on the outside, and soft and mushy on the inside... I finished my whole grub but not too easily.  When I took the first bite I must have had a really weird look on my face because the guys of the community sitting around were laughing at me :)  They actually don't have much flavor, but it's just the concept of it all.  Unfortunately we had brought no camera with us to breakfast that morning.  Another meal was chicken inerds with heart of palm wrapped in a palm leaf (see pictures below), it was actually pretty good.  When we arrived in Wusui on Thursday the men of the community were gone, supposedly they had left on Tuesday to go hunting for us.  What they came back with was a master piece, wild bore!  They grilled it over the fire then put it in some broth.  It was such good meat!  Well if you know me well you know why I just spent all this time explaining all this food, I'm pretty into food so I hope you enjoyed :)

The BEAUTY of the jungle...

The BEAUTIFUL Children (the little one has a little monkey on his head!)...

The view from a Latrines and creepy crawly tarantula

Thank you so much for your prayers and thank you so much for being a part of this time in my life as we continue on this adventure with the Lord!  I'm headed home for Christmas next week so I will see some of you then!!