Hospitality...

That was definitely the theme of this weekend... hospitality.

Thursday consisted of driving to "Salinas", a town famous for their cheese and chocolate, with the Maust family (minus Andrew). The two hour or so drive consisted of some beautiful sights (Chimborazo, especially) and also some very barren wastelands (or so they appeared- above the tree level). Once in Salinas, we walked down a large hill to the chocolate factory! It was quite interesting... a small building at the bottom of a hill in a small town, and they export to Italy and Japan! Their truffles were fantastic and they also had a unique "chocolate with aji" candy bite. Aji is a very hot and spicy powder, so mixing that with chocolate proved to be interesting, to say the least. We had lunch at a small restaurant that served fish. As you can see, although it will probably be a bit difficult because of the stream, I was served (and bit into) the head. Mmmm...

We explored more of the town after lunch and found some HUGE cheese wheels as well as soy cookies. I actually quite enjoyed the soy cookies, to my surprise! We loaded back into the truck and started back home and John Mark and I were dropped off along the way. We were soon picked up by a bus on the way to Ambato and on the bus ride, John Mark fell asleep on my left shoulder while a Quichua woman fell asleep on my right. I actually felt bad for them (especially JM), because the ride was quite bumpy and my shoulder isn't the softest pillow in the world. It didn't seem to bother him, though... we continued (through Ambato) to Pillaro which proved to be a very up-to-date town! It looked pretty sizable on the map, but it had a pharmacy, a grocery store or two, many electronics stores, and much more! JM and I inquired as to where we should stay the night (looking for a field), talked to some kids who whistled at us and yelled "mister", and then were eventually pointed in the direction of the "Bomberos" (Firemen). They sat us down, told us they were going to "trust us" for the night, and gave us a vacant room for the night. Praise God! We ventured into town, got some dinner (not my favorite food, but I survived), then headed back up to the fire station. We chatted with the three firemen on duty, Javier, Pablo, and Veronica, for an hour and a half! Topics included the price of stuff in America, politics, and camelbacks. At the end of our conversation, I had another one of my "What if I did THIS?!" moments, and what follows was captured on film and can be found below. Look for the firemen dressing me up... Needless to say, once I hit the ground I was told to "HIDE" because the boss came around. This is to explain the scene where I'm chilling in the room alone. It was really funny, because I took off the gear and came out and the chief never knew the difference. There was quite a bit of snickering, winking, and nudging (figuratively) the rest of the night and the next morning between the three firemen and us...

The night passed with good talking, reading, and working out. The morning came (after the alarm rang four times), JM and I packed up and headed out the door. We grabbed breakfast at "El Desayuno" (what an original name) that included some "empanadas with queso" (bread with cheese), a donut (not that great), and then some strawberry yogurt with corn flakes. As I ate the yogurt and corn flakes out of a small cup, I felt like the woman from the "Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" Dannon commercial... you know what I'm talking about? If not, just take the title I gave it, imagine a woman eating yogurt and staring at a bikini on the wall, and you've got the whole commercial.

We hiked a lot on Friday. The first was a 4 km hike to San Miguelito, where we were offered some disgusting looking food. Let me put it to you this way: the woman was stirring her meat (which consisted of what most people don't use from a pig) with a wooden plank in a huge bowl and serving it on non-disposable kitchen ware. Think for a second how often they probably wash that stuff, add to it the lack of health value (and surplus disgusting value) the food contained and you get the meal she was serving. And people ate it.

JM and I hiked back to Pillaro, got temporarily disoriented, then hiked to Marco Espinel where we consumed lunch. I found another playground, so of course I had to indulge in a playground workout (though this one wasn't as flashy as the last one... the camera wasn't rolling!). We hiked the 5 km (mas o menos) back to Pillaro and then headed for what appeared to be an ok hike to San Andres. Appearances can be deceiving... especially when you're not looking too closely at a map. The hike was probably around 3 miles and at least 2 of them were uphill. The first hill we climbed honestly went for about 3/4 of a mile and with all of the curves in the road we were constantly hoping for a flat road around the next turn to only find more uphill. My motto was "Don't stop until the top", but JM eventually asked "What if there is no top", and I actually believed him for a bit. It went on FOREVER. Once in the town, I sat down and didn't move for about 25 minutes. We hiked (approximately) 11+ miles for the day, the majority being uphill (because we didn't hike back from San Andres). We caught a bus to Huapante, found nothing there (literally... hardly anything at all), then caught a camioneta (truck taxi) to Salceda.

In Salceda, we were pointed in the direction of a restaurant to eat named "Asadero Emanuel". We headed inside and this proved to be a very good decision. First of all, the prices were sweet! I got a steak and eggs plate (a thin, but good sized steak, two eggs, a bowl of rice, french fries, and a salad) for $3.25. Oh yes... JM noticed some tracts near the register and I saw that the owner was reading his Biblia, so we ended up talking with him about our faith (for we all share the same faith- praise be to God!). His name is Angel, he got into the restaurant business four years ago and already has two restaurants to his name! Or as he would probably say, to the Lord's precious name. He offered us a place to stay for the night and we gratefully took it. We each got our own room! That's how crazy it was! His second house consisted of a few bedrooms and a bathroom on top of his two-story restaurant (the kitchen and sinks were uptop while most of the seating and cooking chicken was downstairs). We had a wonderful conversation about Christianity and I believe we all came away very encouraged.

Saturday morning he further blessed us by serving us a breakfast of eggs (here in Ecuador most people put veggies in their eggs- no me gusta), rice, chicken, and juice. Please keep him, his family, and his business in prayer, for he truly was a blessing to JM and I! We caught a bus to Mulalillo and then waited (after gathering info) for a bus to another town....... but it didn't come for a long time. The Lord blessed us with someone waiting with us who lived in the town, so he gave us the stats and we bounced back to Salceda. From there we went to Latacunga and on to Pujilí where we consumed almuerzo (lunch). We chatted with some kiddos, caught a bus back to Latacunga, then grabbed the first bus we were able back to Riobamba. JM and I slept most of the ride, but while I was awake the last 30 minutes I read most of Nehemiah and am just blown away at how he so humbly asked things of the Lord! I especially love the verses that say:

"...I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"

The king said to me, "What is it you want?"
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." (Nehemiah 2:2b-5)

He admits to being very much afraid, and when the king asks him what he wants he prays "to the God of heaven" before/as he answers. Many of his prayers include humbly asking the Lord to look upon His servant, Nehemiah, with favor... I desire this respect of the Lord and this true desire to serve Him in every way I can!

Once back in Riobamba, I e-mailed it up for a bit and then was thinking about going to get fruit but decided that I didn't have enough time to head out, buy fruit and still get to band practice on time, so I decided against it, continuing to seek to honor God by being on time. A few minutes later I received a call from Andrew saying that there WAS no band practice that night! Many different other little details of the story make it clear to me that I am SO thankful in the Lord's strength I was able to resist the initial temptation to go out, buy fruit, and go to band practice late for I would have missed the call and gone to an empty church. Thanks, God... all glory be to you.

But anyway, I got off the bus near the usual market I buy from (La Merced) only to find it closed. Great. So I walked around Riobamba, asking for this one market (San Alfonzo) and praying that it was still open (because Saturday is market day in Riobamba- the freshest fruit!)... I power-walked/ran across the city, asking numerous people "Donde esta el mercado San Alfonzo?" and finally discovering the place, still alive with many vendors selling fruit. Praise the Lord. And after all that searching I ended up just bought all of my fruit from the same lady/vendor. Boy did I buy fruit... 7 apples, 8 pears, 6 little bananas, 6 kiwi, 6 plums, 8 tangerines, a cantaloupe, 14 strawberries, and .50 worth of grapes. Oh, and the lady gave me four tiny peaches because I bought so much from her. How am I ever going to consume all of this?! I am looking forward to eating this fruit, especially because all of the above only cost $7.50!!! Oh, Ecuadorian fruit prices, how I shall miss thee...

The night including chatting with my parents, posting a few pics, surfing the net, heavily-delayed skyping with my friend Bryan, and then trying to find this video of Manny Ramirez making a ridiculous play against the Orioles. It was pretty sweet, but not worth the time it took to find it...

This morning I continued reading in Joshua before church (oh yes, I forgot to mention... I have begun Joshua because I *sniffle* finished 1 Peter. Praise God for all the lessons learned in 1 Peter! I am reviewing them each day and really trying to apply them to my life) and then headed off to band practice at 10 AM. I was surprised to find everyone there on time (happily) and we commenced not 10 minutes after 10! Praise God! We had a lot of fun practicing, church service went well, and I chatted with some friends after the service finished. I went back to my room and then did something I've been wanting to do for a while but never made the time... REALLY cleaned my room.

Those that know me know that I'm not a slob (thanks be to God), but here in Riobamba I have let too many crumbs just sit there, so today I got to work. I took everything off my counters and used the stuff I bought at Akí to scrub the stuff off the counters and in the bathroom. It is SO nice to have a truly clean room. I am praying that I really work hard at cleaning my heart, attitude, and life overall with the same motivation that I cleaned my room today. Oh, Father, may this be a daily effort for Your greatest glory in my life!

An afternoon with the Coupes was followed with time at Andrea's house! It was lovely, like usual, spending time with her entire family, and I had the privilege of helping her prepare for her interview on Tuesday (prayers appreciated!) for her Visa out of the country. We chatted (with her family), read the Word a bit, and had some good prayer time, as well. I caught the taxi home (well, to the Coupes) intending to go outside and play basketball, but then lost motivation and ended up playing with the baby. Good trade :-). Bible Study happened at 7 PM, and we were blessed with another great turn out! Eight people came and we discussed many deep, theological questions, such as "how does God choose people?" (Paul writes "as God's chosen people" in verse 12 of chapter 3 of Colossians) and "why is it so hard to forgive the people around us?" Praise the Lord for such a wonderful, teachable group we have on Sunday nights... I shall miss them, but am very EXCITED for the Bibles I ordered (Spanish-English New Testaments) arrived with the missionary team today! I have already been thinking about who to give them to and want to thank each and every one of you who supported me in this trip, for the Bibles were bought with the money the Lord blessed me with through you... please be praying for each and every person that is going to receive these Bibles... pray for wisdom on my part to know where to distribute them and then teachable spirits from each recipient.

After the Study I walked the five blocks back to my street talking with Luis with JM and Adriana behind us. I had a wonderful conversation with Luis and he shared with me that he might have the opportunity to go to Africa as a missionary! Please keep this in prayer for him... a night of highlighting in Henry's Bible (that will be presented to him tomorrow night) and chillin' happened tonight.

One of the really cool things I found in Joshua 1 was the overwhelming theme of "be strong and courageous" that was preached to Joshua by God (three times) and the Israelites (once). It's very interesting because the Lord tells Joshua how great He is going to bless Joshua and yet constantly is saying "be strong and courageous... do not be terrified." I believe that, due to what happened with Moses (one small tweak to a miracle made him unable to enter the Promised land) could have made Joshua tremble a bit. That was a HUGE responsibility! To lead the Israelites, God's people, at such a historic time! Right after Moses, one of the most significant characters in the history of the world, performed such fantastic miracles and was so close to God! I wouldn't blame him for being a bit frightened... but God said no. "Be strong and very courageous". Even in times of blessing, God calls us to be strong and courageous, for with great blessing comes an even greater responsibility to glorify God in EVERYTHING you do. So while God is piling on the blessings in life (and if you stop and think about it, He really is), we must be strong in the Lord's strength and courageous with His courage... "for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Amen and Amen.

In His strength (and courage) alone...

Luke

PS Please pray that I truly honor the Lord with these Bibles and do rely upon His strength and courage to go on each and every day. Also keep Henry, Andrea, Luis, the Bomberos, Angel and his family, and the many other people/things I mentioned in this novel in prayer...



Captain's Log: Part 4. Buen Provecho (this means Enjoy, but it pertains to enjoying your food... so pretend that watching this is like eating some good meal, like from Asadero Emanuel, and then I can be justified in saying 'Buen Provecho')...