=)

Hi again! Im at the cyber with Michelle this afternoon for a quick minute. Its 96 degrees in the shade today!! ay ay ay! Although Rosa tells me that the weather in Guayaquil is changing. For example, the first two mornings that I was here it rained really hard for about and hour or two- Im not sure as it was early in the morning and just heard it clanging on the tin roof while I was half asleep, but it never rains when Im here so it was strange for me.

First off- Anna, I saw a few of your kids yesterday!!! Victor and the two girls took me to the church becuase we were going to see Pastor, but he had already left for his house. However, we were walking down the road that the church is on and I caught eyes with Julio. I looked and him...he looked at me... and he didnt say anything so I wasnt sure if it was him, but I said hi and he smiled so I knew it was him. I gave him a big hug and said it was from you, Anna! Then Kayla showed up while I was talking to him. She was suprised to see me too. What a chatter box she is! Julio was quiet as always. =) We walked a little further and saw Manuel- for those of you who went to Guayaquil hes the one that lived\s in the church and is a nurse. As we were talking to him I spotted Betsys mom and ran over to give her a hug. I think I really suprised her but she was happy to see me. The first thing she asked about was you and Josh and "los bebes", Anna. They really love you and wanted me to tell you that. I asked them to come to church on Sunday so I can take pictures for you and give them the gifts that you have for them. She said shes not working so she can come. And then..ta da! Betsy came over. She looked SOO grown up. She was wearing heels and her hair was up and everything. She looked very pretty. I gave all of them that I saw your little thumb kiss, and they smiled when I did that. Besides them, and the people I saw at the airport I havent seen anyone else for the church. I cant WAIT until Sunday so I can see more people. Hopefully Gretchen will be there too.

Last night I finally got to visit my moms cousin Mike and his wife Sue who are missionaries here in Guayaquil. They live in a beautiful part of town! Wacho picked us up and the whole family went. We laughed a lot and they think Mike his really funny. =) He had some peanut butter from the US that he let them try and Rosa is determined to find it in the stores here, but Im not so sure she will. Hopefully when I come back to Riobamba in August I can stay with Mike and Sue to visit with them some more. The´re actually leaving for the US tonight.

A ver...que mas... we really didnt do much yesterday or today. Rosa used my laptop all day yesterday to do powerpoint presentation for her class this morning, so while she did that I played with Sarita. Today we´ve just been hanging out, but I think they´re taking me out again tonight. I have no idea where we´re going. I´m just going with the flow. =)

By the way mom- Rosa and Victor and being very protective of me! They both want to go to the orphanage in Riobamba with me to make sure that its safe- Theyre worried becuase I told them Ive only been communicating with them by internet, but Barb C has spoken with them when Javier was there and I know its a fine place. And they sure are feeding me well. Every morning they tell me "te vamos a poner mas gorda, nina!!" or... we´re going to make you fat while you´re with us! So much for all of that exercising that I did all winter... *sigh* haha..

Oh yeah... for those of you who wanted to talk with me using Skype...the cyber cafes here done have it on the computers so if you want to video chat we´ll have to use MSN messenger from hotmail.

Alright.. love you all! Until next time...

I´m here!

Phew! After a loooooong day of traveling and a quick, but teary goodbye to my parents in the airport I arrived in Guayaquil without any problems. I even had a flight from Atlanta to Quito (5 hours) with a whole seat by myself. I was really thanking God for providing that as I wanted a window seat so I could sleep. I wouldnt have had it if an older woman sitting next to me requested not to sit in the emergency exit seat- as a result I even got to stick my feet up! The airport was much different than the last time I was there, but the airport employees in Ecuador are 50 times more friendly than the ones in the US. (Youll have to forgive my punctuation as I cant seem to figure out how to make the apostrophe work again.) I had several visitors at the airport to greet me including Gretchen, Luis, Carlos, Christopher, Wacho, and my host family, Victor and Rosa and their kids. When we arrived at Rosas house we stayed up until 1:00am chatting and catching up. They asked by name about every single person thats been to Ecuador and wanted to know how they were and what they were up to. I slept on their second floor, where I had to climb a ladder to get into as they havent finished building the stairs. In Ecuador they just build as the money comes in, and sometimes that takes awhile. Theres a wide open window so they put up a bug net and I felt like a little princess with all of the drapes around me. :)

This morning when we woke up, little Sarita- who just turned 3 last week was FULL of energy. We were playing hide and seek under the covers, and she would laugh and laugh and laugh. Every once in awhile she would stick in an "ay ay ayyyyy!!" It was funny. This morning Rosa was carrying her down the ladder and Rosa asked her who I was and she replied "My Cousin!!" haha.. She does say my name, but just refers to me as "mi prima." :)

This afternoon Im going to call my moms cousin to see if we can go visit them for a little bit. He lives here and pastors a church, but every time we come down him and his wife are always in the states. I couldnt seem to contact them when I was at home, so we will suprise them. After that we are going to see Pastor Dario and I can not WAIT to see him and his wife and just be in Mapasingue!!! Mapasingue is the neighborhood the church is in, so maybe Ill see some other people I know as well. Before lunch we walked to a little shopping mall nearby and we bought a phone. I didnt know that I needed my passport number as identification to buy a phone, so I bought it under Victors name and paid for it myself. After I bought it I wondered if it was really a good idea to give my passport number out, so Im glad I forgot it. When I get a chance to call Efra, I will have to ask him. By the way- I have a cell phone now and I have free incoming calls, so if you would like my phone number send me an e mail with your phone number and I will call you. Tomorrow Rosa invited me to go to english class at the University with her. It sounded fun to me so Im going to tag along. Gretchen wants me to visit the orphanage she is working at too, so I might go there on Friday, but we will see. Im just going with the flow.

Well, I think thats it for now. It still feels a little surreal that Im here. And I dont think its sunk in yet that Im here for 2 and a half months. Wow.. thats a long time. Victor said he might go with Wacho and I to Riobamba. Some of you still express your fear of my safety while Im here. I certainly understand as you have probably heard stories and I admit it isnt the safest place. However, my friends here are taking good care of me and really watch out for me. Thanks for your concern, and dont forget that your prayers are definately welcome. I love you all! Until next time...

Answered Prayer!

One of the biggest concerns that I've had about Ecuador is the long 5 hour bus ride from Guayaquil to Riobamba that I'll be taking on June 1st. That's really the only piece of the trip that I've been nervous about, and of course it's been bothering my parents enough that one of them hasn't been sleeping well. So, we made it a matter of prayer. :)

Two nights ago I was able to talk to 3 different friends in Guayaquil. First, my friend Gretchen arrived in Guayaquil last wednesday because she's also doing an internship in Guayaquil for the summer as well. I guess her fiance, Luis is nervous about my bus trip. From what I've read online, bus trips aren't the safest for single female gringas. So they decided they were going to ask the director of the orphanage at her internship if they could take the day off to drive me to Riobamba. I thought it was a nice gesture, but that would be much more expensive than my $5 bus ticket, plus a day off from work for Luis, and a day away from her internship for Gretchen. It seemed a bit inconvenient. However, my friend Wacho called that night. He calls every so often and wanted to know my last minute plans about arrival into Guayaquil, etc. Just before we hung up he asked about how I was getting to Riobamba. I told him I was taking the bus alone. He hesitated, and I asked "Is it dangerous?" He replied, "a little" and said "I'm going to accompany you." *Phew* Thank you, Lord for answering that prayer!! I'm pretty sure that made my parents day, and it did make mine!. It was reassuring to know that God's taking care of all the little details for me.

My friends Victor and Rosa, and their 3 children have graciously invited me to their home while I'm in Guayaquil. Their whole family was online Thursday night and I got to chat with their daughter, Michelle. She can't wait to "pasear" (hang out) and stay up late chatting! Ha! I hope I remember my spanish pretty quickly! I can't waaaaaaaait!!

Almost DONE!

It seems strange that for the first time I have no idea what I'll be doing after the next 3 months. I'm praying that God will reveal some sort of plan for my life through the trip this summer. I'm absolutely positive that he'll lead me somewhere...I just hope I have my eyes open when he does!!

6 DAYS UNTIL GRADUATION!!!! Yeahhhhh. :o)