Jesús, Pan de Vida

Today was quite the adventure, and started off scarier than I´d like, being in Ecuador again, but it ended very well :)

Today I went at 7am to a church near Cesar’s mom's house. A woman praying there by Mary told me that they do not have daily mass, only the weekends, so I started to walk back on Av. Americas (this is a busy road!). Two men passed me, and I didn't really think anything of it...they looked, maybe like 20ish, so I was like, "Kids." ha...

It gets less funny because one of them came back and grabbed me! He was like "El teléfono." I didn't really have time to process, a key necessity for a 5, so I was like "No." He had his hand in my pocket, so I grabbed him, and as he pulled out my phone, I was making a big deal about it...I need that phone, you know? It's like the only thing I have here. So, I was like struggling, I fell to the ground, and he finally pulled it out of my hands as I yelled at him, "Es el único que tengo." I was on the ground, he had my phone, but he didn't take it. He threw it down to me and they ran away...

So, I have my phone....and honestly, I don't think it had anything to do with me being American....I think he legitimately thought
A) I was not strong..easy target
B) I'd just let him take it because I'd be scared
No matter what he thought, I was NOT going to let that happen. I know that I should have been more careful...they could have hit me, stabbed me, or worse, but I'm so DANG STUBBORN, and once I thought, "No."...that was my response.

Also, they kind of were young...aunque parecian como de 20 anos, me asustarian mas si fueran mas viejo/fuerte...algo así. Igual, I just wanted to contarles un poquito más! Today I'm in the city again at Cesar's moms...after that, I just wanted to stay here. All I wanted to do was go to mass, dang. Soooo I went to another one close by that was supposed to have mass at 7:30, or so I heard. When I went it was locked, but a woman passing told me that it was at 8 am ...it was 7:20..and I'll didn't want to wait…I was still kind of shaken, but I'll go tomorrow :)

The day progressively got more scary, but then ended well. I went to a little park near Susy’s. I was sitting on a bench; there was finally a little bit of sun. I pulled out my journal to write…and I started to doze off! Two young girls, maybe like 8 and 10 years old came to tell me that there was a man watching me because I did have a purse with me, and I was falling asleep. Their advice for me was to leave, so I did!

I walked over to the Christian bookstore that I had seen earlier, “Jesus, Pan de Vida.” I looked around, and though I have nothing again protestant/evangelical religion, it was very obviously NOT Catholic, so I didn’t find much of anything that completely satisfied me….in the end, I decided to make and astronomical purchase (in Ecuador). For a little button that said, “Yo <3 a Jesús. A worthwhile purchase, I thought. Walked up to the counter, where he showed me more buttons, so I took one more. I do <3 Jesús after all! So he said, “…..” haha I didn’t catch that, so he said it again, this time pointing to the receipts. “Quiere una nota de venta.” Ahora, sí, entiendo! So I told him that I didn’t need one and he asked me why I didn’t tell him before that I was not from Ecuador….haha, because the point is that I am supposed to know Spanish!

So we talked for a while. He was actually born in Newark, NJ and when he was 4 years old, his parents moved back to Ecuador. He and I had a great conversation about how God has been working in our lives, and of course…’vocation.’ He in turn, invited me to church with him. We’ll see what happens, come Saturday!

Also, speaking of "pan de vida," HOW TRUE IS THAT! I was talking to Julie about how odd it is that my favorite "thing," besides people of course, is bread! How symbolic, no?...that places, where perhaps my languange and culture issues may have discrouraged the ways that I was able to express faith, that there was still always a focus on pan...I´d like to hope pan de vida!

Happy Tuesday! :)

Para que sepan..

Just a status update on location! I know that blog posts were....lacking in June, but unfortunately, that won´t get better probably until September! :(

On Thursday, I left to come to Ecuador, where I studied abroad in 2007. I will be here for a month, with the intent of just "being" for a while. This should include about 100 horas de soledad (cien años, no!). I will be leaving for about a week, to retreat, away from Quito where I will be the majority of the time. It will be interesting how the time unfolds, because I have never had so much "time" on my hands! Time to be in the city, time to be with people, old and new...time to pray, time to discern... Your prayers would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!

After the Ecuador, I am returning to DR for two weeks (meeting Julie), to visit the community of people near the boarder of Haiti, where I went for short-term mission in 2008. I am also hoping to get a chance to visit the child that I have been sponsoring in Santiago.

After that I´ll spend the last week and a half in WI. I´m sure that time will be hectic, but wonderful. I am really excited to go home after being abroad for a month and a half! I will hopefully get to see some faces that I didn´t get to see on my shorter trips home in the last year.

AUGUST 31! I can be expected in NYC!! Ha, did I ever think I´d be going back?!?!? Ahhhh, no...but I am so excited for Round 2. I am anxious to see all (and to be intentional about seeing) all that God has in store for me for the rest of 2010 and beyond!!!!!!