I am back home in North Carolina safe and sound, thank you Jesus. Thank you everyone for all the prayer and support you gave me throughout my time in Ecuador!
As most of you know, as I returned to Ecuador in January, the plan had been to stay another 4 months until May. When I returned from my last trip into the jungle at the end of January, the Lord began to lead my life in a different direction. The thoughts to leave earlier than expected surfaced, and I began to pray and seek the Lord about this possiblity. One night God showed up in such a real way as I spent time seeking Him. I had already come to a point in the days before where I had a peace about the decision to go, but wanted to make sure I had truly laid my own agenda aside to seek Him. Again He gave me an indescribable peace about that decision.
It's so unique because I had gone through a time last year, before I came home for Christmas, where I was seeking the Lord on if I should go back to Ecuador. During that time I was so distraught and confused. I had many many moments that were VERY challenging. In returning to Ecuador, I can say that I finally came to a place where I was OK with staying in Ecuador or with going home; I was willing to work through the hard times and was really enjoying the good times. I say that to let you know that the decision was not an easy one at all!! I had become involved in the projects and could continue to do "water projects", but I felt no true passion and love behind what I was doing. I prayed and prayed and prayed for the Lord to give the passion and I feel He revealed to me that at this point I was trying to do this apart from Him, and Jesus says "Apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5. I want to remain in Him and remain in all He has for me, and I believe that staying in Ecuador just to fulfill what I had perceived as a good time frame was not remaining in Him.
I talked with the girls I was working with and we re-worked the schedule so that almost all the work we said we would get done will get done, minus a few reports we were going to write. I stayed in Ecuador for a few extra weeks to help them out with a some things and now have returned home It was so incredible to see how God worked things out and set things in motion for a very easy transition for the folks there. I praise Him that He is in control and not me!!!
I would not trade the expriences I have had in Ecuador for anything in the world! The Lord used this time in amazing ways. I learned so much in my time there, from doing water projects in developing countries, to relating with so many different cultures and learning about my own culture through that, and how to depend on Jesus as my ultimate strength and provider. I have come closer to God in this time than ever before in my life! I have come home with a renewed passion and dependency on Him. I want to see His glory revealed through my life in whatever way He sees fit. Please continue to pray for me. I am on my face before the Lord as I return home to seek His direction and plans. Pray that the enemy will have no place in my mind or heart to bring about guilt and doubt. I am setting my feet upon the Rock, my Savior, the Love of my life, may His name be glorified through every step I take.
Thank you again for how much your love and support has meant to me in this time. I pray the Lord continues to guide and direct your steps as well as we walk with a renewed passion for Him. Jesus is allowing us to take part in what He is doing on the this earth, so let's not miss out!!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Day 9 in the Big Jungle House
So we just got back from our 9 day extravaganza in the jungle! God was certainly with us protecting us, guiding us and keeping us healthy! Thank you Lord!
We did A LOT in the 8 full days of work. We visited the three communities where we are going to provide clean water by protecting their springs: Santa Rosa, Washintsa, and Karama. This go round we did a lot more detailed study of the springs in each community. We took pictures and measurements, did leveling along the drainage paths, and were able to do tests on the quality of the water. We were also able to work in the schools in each community and teach the kids about the love of Jesus as well as the importance of hygiene. In each community, at the end of each visit, we had hygiene teaching for all the adults in the community and were able to share with them the results of our water testing. I believe it was a wonderful start in ensuring that these water projects will have lasting impacts on the health of the community as they begin to understand what it means to have good hygiene practices so that they can fully benefit from clean water.
The spring sites:
Here are some pictures of the springs we will be protecting.
Water testing with the DelAgua Kit:
It was so helpful to have the DelAgua Kit with us to be able to actually sample the different water sources and to see the difference in contamination. In each community we took samples from the rivers, springs, and the rainwater in one community. The kit includes all you need, including an incubator, to do general water testing to determine the amount of coloforms in the water source. It is charged enough to do 5 seperate tests, which each include an 18 hour incubation. By having the results of the tests, in some cases we were able to describe and SHOW the communities how dirty the rivers were in comparison to the springs. Also we were able to show the importance of protecting the spring and the area around the springs so that their water would actually be clean. It gave us the opprotunity to also share with them how important it is for them to be boiling their water right now since the coloforms were still quite above the recommended levels.
The testing process...
The results: the coliforms can be counted by counting the number of yellow colonies (Good and Bad)...
At our final meeting in each community we shared with them these results and led them in two hygiene teaching courses on microbes and good and bad hygiene practices. It was a wonderful start to the work we will be doing in protecting the springs and later on providing a distribution system in each community
Teaching the adults...
FUND RAISING: We are still in the process of raising money to pay for the Kit as we purchased it in faith that the money would come in. We still need to raise about $1,500 to finalize payment. This testing kit will not only be used in this trip, but in many more trips for the HCJB Jungle Water Projects Team. If you would like to help us in reaching our goal please send a check to HCJB Global (the address in located under "How to Donate") and in the Memo line of the check please indicate "Lizzie White 128028". You can also donate by Credit Card by calling 719-590-9800. Any donation amount is greatly appreciated!!!
The precious kids:
We had a day with the kids from each of the communities. We were able to teach them the parable of the Lost Sheep and share with them the love that Christ has for each one of them. We also have a hygiene teaching called Clean Hands, Clean Hearts and a Three Pile Sort hygiene training tool to let them think through things that are good hygiene practices or bad hygiene practices.
Teaching little Michael how to write his name :) :) :)
He got the M and the I, yay!!
The "CHICHA" Experience:
OK so I know a lot of you have heard about this Shuar drink called Chicha... pretty much the life of the Shuar people. It is included in every gathering. You remember the drink that is made by them chewing up Yucca, spitting it out, letting it ferment and then adding some water, well I finally got some pictures of this wonderful beverage! (And please don't think in this picture I am actually drinking it, I know better than that ;))
The Spider Encounters continue:
We definitely had some spider encounters this time around. It began in Santa Rosa with only a "smallish" spider in the tent that I discovered. The worst part was that Lizzie reminded me that it probably got in the tent because it was ON me, heebadageebadee!! It continued in Washintsa with two LARGE tarantula visitors in our room. The first we discovered very near our tent and was the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life! One of the Shuar guys got him out of our space. We then discorved another very large tarantula in our "sitting area". We decided to let him stick around and gave him the nickname "Mr. T." He was a pretty good house guest. Here are some pictures that don't really do either of the situations justice. The first one is my attempt to capture the spider in the tent, which failed and then I had to smash him. The second one is the first large tarantula.
Frogs, grubs and more grubs:
Our food experiences this time around were fairly "normal". The only unexpected thing we ate were frogs for breakfast. They gave us a bowl with yucca, plantains, and papachinas of course and then 4 frogs on top of that. The meat tasted a lot like fish so it wasn't bad at all. I only figured out how to eat the legs although they said you could eat the whole thing. The strangest part about them was that their bones were green.
We had grubs on mulitiple occasions. One time they seemed like they had been BBQed which is odd because they have no sauces or seasonings out in the jungle. They were actually almost good if you ate them with a piece of yucca... who'da thought.
My most extreme grub encounter this time was on the day before we left. We had a made a short stop in another community to look at their pump that was not funcioning. We arrived at about 11:30 AM and didn't get any lunch. It was about 3:30 PM by this point and I was HUNGRY! I decided to head back to the school hous (our room) to eat some tuna. As I was eating, one of the main guys from the community comes by to get something from the storage room connected to the school. Since there are opening all in the front of the building he saw me sitting and eating my tuna. He told me the women were busy cooking Watusa (the large rodent) for us for dinner. Well he left for a moment and then comes back and walks into the school. He is holding a large white LIVE grub in his hand. He was asking me about grubs and if I have eaten them before. Well he then places it in my hand. I took it kindly and said I really don't think I can eat this grub without it being cooked. He then proceeds to lead me to his house. It was really neat because there were a lot of Shuar women and children all sitting in the house and they had a small fire going inside. The guy handed the grub to a girl sitting near the fire and she placed it at the bottom of the fire in the ash. They let it sit there for about 3 minutes and then he tears off a bit of a banana leaf, puts some salt and small piece of yucca on it and the warmed grub and hands it to me. Now all the people in this hut are staring at me as I take my first bites of this friendly snack. Thankfully we had eaten them before so I knew what to expect. I was able to get it down with little problems and then thanked them all and continued on to my room. It was a really cool experience in the end :)
So I think that is all the stories I have for this trip. Thanks for taking the time to read and follow the things I have been doing here. I never am able to tell you guys all I want to in these blog enteries, but I hope you have enjoyed the glimpses of jungle life here in Ecuador. Thank you for your support and thank for your prayers! May every step we take be for His glory!
We did A LOT in the 8 full days of work. We visited the three communities where we are going to provide clean water by protecting their springs: Santa Rosa, Washintsa, and Karama. This go round we did a lot more detailed study of the springs in each community. We took pictures and measurements, did leveling along the drainage paths, and were able to do tests on the quality of the water. We were also able to work in the schools in each community and teach the kids about the love of Jesus as well as the importance of hygiene. In each community, at the end of each visit, we had hygiene teaching for all the adults in the community and were able to share with them the results of our water testing. I believe it was a wonderful start in ensuring that these water projects will have lasting impacts on the health of the community as they begin to understand what it means to have good hygiene practices so that they can fully benefit from clean water.
The spring sites:
Here are some pictures of the springs we will be protecting.
Water testing with the DelAgua Kit:
It was so helpful to have the DelAgua Kit with us to be able to actually sample the different water sources and to see the difference in contamination. In each community we took samples from the rivers, springs, and the rainwater in one community. The kit includes all you need, including an incubator, to do general water testing to determine the amount of coloforms in the water source. It is charged enough to do 5 seperate tests, which each include an 18 hour incubation. By having the results of the tests, in some cases we were able to describe and SHOW the communities how dirty the rivers were in comparison to the springs. Also we were able to show the importance of protecting the spring and the area around the springs so that their water would actually be clean. It gave us the opprotunity to also share with them how important it is for them to be boiling their water right now since the coloforms were still quite above the recommended levels.
The testing process...
The results: the coliforms can be counted by counting the number of yellow colonies (Good and Bad)...
At our final meeting in each community we shared with them these results and led them in two hygiene teaching courses on microbes and good and bad hygiene practices. It was a wonderful start to the work we will be doing in protecting the springs and later on providing a distribution system in each community
Teaching the adults...
FUND RAISING: We are still in the process of raising money to pay for the Kit as we purchased it in faith that the money would come in. We still need to raise about $1,500 to finalize payment. This testing kit will not only be used in this trip, but in many more trips for the HCJB Jungle Water Projects Team. If you would like to help us in reaching our goal please send a check to HCJB Global (the address in located under "How to Donate") and in the Memo line of the check please indicate "Lizzie White 128028". You can also donate by Credit Card by calling 719-590-9800. Any donation amount is greatly appreciated!!!
The precious kids:
We had a day with the kids from each of the communities. We were able to teach them the parable of the Lost Sheep and share with them the love that Christ has for each one of them. We also have a hygiene teaching called Clean Hands, Clean Hearts and a Three Pile Sort hygiene training tool to let them think through things that are good hygiene practices or bad hygiene practices.
Teaching little Michael how to write his name :) :) :)
The "CHICHA" Experience:
OK so I know a lot of you have heard about this Shuar drink called Chicha... pretty much the life of the Shuar people. It is included in every gathering. You remember the drink that is made by them chewing up Yucca, spitting it out, letting it ferment and then adding some water, well I finally got some pictures of this wonderful beverage! (And please don't think in this picture I am actually drinking it, I know better than that ;))
The Spider Encounters continue:
We definitely had some spider encounters this time around. It began in Santa Rosa with only a "smallish" spider in the tent that I discovered. The worst part was that Lizzie reminded me that it probably got in the tent because it was ON me, heebadageebadee!! It continued in Washintsa with two LARGE tarantula visitors in our room. The first we discovered very near our tent and was the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life! One of the Shuar guys got him out of our space. We then discorved another very large tarantula in our "sitting area". We decided to let him stick around and gave him the nickname "Mr. T." He was a pretty good house guest. Here are some pictures that don't really do either of the situations justice. The first one is my attempt to capture the spider in the tent, which failed and then I had to smash him. The second one is the first large tarantula.
Frogs, grubs and more grubs:
Our food experiences this time around were fairly "normal". The only unexpected thing we ate were frogs for breakfast. They gave us a bowl with yucca, plantains, and papachinas of course and then 4 frogs on top of that. The meat tasted a lot like fish so it wasn't bad at all. I only figured out how to eat the legs although they said you could eat the whole thing. The strangest part about them was that their bones were green.
We had grubs on mulitiple occasions. One time they seemed like they had been BBQed which is odd because they have no sauces or seasonings out in the jungle. They were actually almost good if you ate them with a piece of yucca... who'da thought.
My most extreme grub encounter this time was on the day before we left. We had a made a short stop in another community to look at their pump that was not funcioning. We arrived at about 11:30 AM and didn't get any lunch. It was about 3:30 PM by this point and I was HUNGRY! I decided to head back to the school hous (our room) to eat some tuna. As I was eating, one of the main guys from the community comes by to get something from the storage room connected to the school. Since there are opening all in the front of the building he saw me sitting and eating my tuna. He told me the women were busy cooking Watusa (the large rodent) for us for dinner. Well he left for a moment and then comes back and walks into the school. He is holding a large white LIVE grub in his hand. He was asking me about grubs and if I have eaten them before. Well he then places it in my hand. I took it kindly and said I really don't think I can eat this grub without it being cooked. He then proceeds to lead me to his house. It was really neat because there were a lot of Shuar women and children all sitting in the house and they had a small fire going inside. The guy handed the grub to a girl sitting near the fire and she placed it at the bottom of the fire in the ash. They let it sit there for about 3 minutes and then he tears off a bit of a banana leaf, puts some salt and small piece of yucca on it and the warmed grub and hands it to me. Now all the people in this hut are staring at me as I take my first bites of this friendly snack. Thankfully we had eaten them before so I knew what to expect. I was able to get it down with little problems and then thanked them all and continued on to my room. It was a really cool experience in the end :)
So I think that is all the stories I have for this trip. Thanks for taking the time to read and follow the things I have been doing here. I never am able to tell you guys all I want to in these blog enteries, but I hope you have enjoyed the glimpses of jungle life here in Ecuador. Thank you for your support and thank for your prayers! May every step we take be for His glory!
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