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...