Abandoned Gold.

Today was pretty great, especially in the afternoon. All the kids with september birthdays celebrated in OSSO and the Casas kids were invited. I got to take all the kids and have them see the other locations I work at. We all got together and some of the volunteers dances thriller for the workers, them the workers danced to a dong called something like chiuaua, ad finally Zach danced to firework. Pretty fun. Then, after cake and some delicious jello yogurt crossover, we did the piñata, ate candy, and all got sugar highs. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to be there. I just feel really bad for the worker who had do put them to bed while they were all hyped up.

So this past week I've had a very unique experience. Rex, the founder of OSSO is staying in the house. All the people here love him, and after talking to him I understand why. He is such an awesome charitable person, and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't love him. A couple days ago he told some of the volunteers that the thought of no one wanting these orphans is the same as saying there are bricks of gold laying in the street, and no one wants them. But I know that even if they don't have parents here that want to raise them, there is a father for them up above and he will do everything to raise them right here. I'm so lucky to be a part of helping these kids, and I love being with them.

Paradise falls.

So yesterday I went to waterfalls at Girón, one of the most beautiful places in the world, and in my opinion, a place lost in time. Despite the lack of snipes the trip was a blast. We hiked for 3 hours through open fields, dense trees, and high mountains to find huge waterfalls that we could walk under and jump into. If was a ton of fun and I'm so grateful I got to go. Afterwards we went to Negro's house (our guide for all our trips) and he made us some of the best trout I've ever had, and I don't like fish. The fish apparently came from El Cajas, the Ecuadorian national park. That night we got home did laundry, watched contagion, played bang and went to bed. On days we go on trips we don't get to go to the orphanages.

Today made up for all that though and I got to be with my kids from Casas all day both shifts, so I've got my hands full. This morning I went with Whitney and Zacharie, and we had a blast. After breakfast the Hermanas or the Nuns all left for a meeting so we got the kids to ourselves. We took them all to the TV room and took them on walks as the got rowdy. When walking around with Cristian, Pablo, Edu, Karla, and Jasmine I took them all to the smaller and poor Cristian fell fast asleep slumped over in the swing! I've never seen him so tired. So I took him and put him on the bench and let him use my sweater as a pillow. In the afternoon I went with Nico and my mom. It went surprisingly well, the kids behaved great! We gave them baths and basically had play time for the whole 4 hours. Basically today was awesome.

I love being here so much and it seems everyday I love these kids more. I wish I could stay longer. It's so true that the more you serve someone the more you love them, even if you don't want to. The best way to get rid of a bad attitude or turn a cruddy day around is to lose yourself in service. It's such a blessing to be able to do that for 9 hours a day! Miss you guys so much and I can't wait to see you guys again!

Language barrier bathtime.

So today right before dinner the worker Irene asked me to take the kids for baños y las manos. But my language barrier decided to let through the word: bañarlos. You guys could guess the rest. I took all the Casas kids out and gave them baths one at a time, while poor Irene waited in El Comedor togive them dinner. Sooner or later Zach comes into a room full of screaming, wet, naked boys asking why they were not eating dinner. My response: I'm getting dressed I'll be there in a second. When Irene found out she just laughed about it, which is better than the alternative, I just thought that was the strangest thing that happened today.

So Maite and her brothers are now gone to live with their grandma in New York, Carlitos and Linda are leaving to live with their aunt in Guayaquil this weekend, and Wilson and Mercy will in 2 weeks go live with their grandparents in the Amazon. I hope that in the little bit of time I've been blessed to have with them I've been able to serve them well.

I watched Elder Holland's devotional today with the other volunteers and it was amazing. It made me so grateful that I can build my own spiritual haven from the world by living the gospel and having the spirit with me. I love Elder Holland's dream of being caught by Jesus while serving him. I share a similar hope, that any moment I could be caught by surprise, and I hope to be found serving others. I love and miss you guys so much, and I hope I get to see you soon!

House built from a bus.

On the way to the orphanages in the mornings we drive by 3 houses that are built from some odd materials: a bus, wood, and nails. Someone had taken some old vans, boarded up the windows and parked it next to the other houses. I will try and take pictures to post. Other news is that Carlitos and his ñaña Linda will be going home with their aunt on Wednesday. That's super sad news for me and super happy news for the kids. Their aunt is a super nice lady who trust will treat them well. I'm just gonna miss them both so much. Seeing children leave the orphanage is very bittersweet, you are sad to see them leave, but happy to know they will be with family that loves them.

I've though a lot about the verses in the scriptures which say "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." And the more I think about it tue more the answer becomes clear to me. God wants us to be like him so we can become perfect and live with him again, and God wants all his children cared for and loved, so he lets things happen to some if his children and he gives others the opportunity to serve and love those in need. We are serving God by doing what he wants us to do for his children, and we are doing what he would do in the same situation. We are becoming more like him while doing his work. I can't help but feeling so much love for these kids as I try and act as God or Jesus would be for them. Sometimes a particular child can be frustrating, but it doesn't mean I don't love them as much as the others. I'm so glad I can serve these kids and I can't wait to start my next shift tomorrow. I'm gonna be in Casas for 9 straight hours and I'm hope I can leave them happier and that I can find ways to help them all the day.

Incan Ruins

These past days have been crazy! Every day that passes I love this place more and more. First of all: Casas is a mad house now. In the past week the number of kids almost doubled! We now have little Daniel, Karlita, and her sister Maria Jasmine. All the kids are the cutest little angels and I am uploading pics on imgur while I´m typing. If you still don´t have the imgur username and password just ask in the comments. I´ve learned to love these kids so much just by working with them seeing them through a perspective of service. If you change someone´s diaper just the right amount of times it´s impossible not to love them. 

The whole schedual right now is becoming a great daily routine. My alarm goes off at 6:20 then I wake up at 6:45. The bus leaves for my first shift at 7 then depending on the location I feed the kids, brush their teeth, and bring them outside for an activity. After that I basically hold them off until papilla, or snack, then more acctivities and lunch. Then at noon the bus takes us home to lunch and we leave again at 2 for afternoon shift.  In afternoon shift you work activities with the kids until pretty much dinner, then you leave for home around 6. 9 hours a day, 7 days a week, with three off shifts makes about a 50 hour work week. 

Recently the family went out zip lining in the mountains and toured the museum with some incan ruins out behind the banco central. The pictures are below.  I won´t bore you with a long story and instead just title the pictures!

A parrot that lives out in an aviary hidden in the bank gardens.

Didn´t know why but I took a pic... no real story.

The fountain between el Banco Central and el Museo.

The hillside that leads to the Native American gardens.

Una vaca... what else is there to say? (He´s not stray, this one is on a leash)

Brothers

The view from the mountains.

Some weird native tree.

The view from behind the bank.

After Zip Lining.

While Zip Lining.

Ecuador.

Houses

Car wash by the river,

yep.

Befor zip lining.

A house.

If you look closely, you can see the basketball court also has futbol goals and a volleyball net.

Yep. thats it.

Low Gas Prices

So I wasn´t sure what to write about and I even decided not to write yesterday because I just didn´t feel like it. But today is Sunday, and on Sundays we all get together and have a devotional. Today the message was in the song: I am a Child of God. there is a line in the song that goes something like

¨Thank thee for this earthly home with parents kind and dear.¨

The question that came to my mind, and the others, was why don´t these children have these amazing blessings that we are given? Why does God give one of his children more than an other? God gives his children these blessings so they can act as family for those children without parents kind and dear. The children here look to us as family. We are their family and I´m glad I have the oppurtunity to show them that Christ and I both love them so much. I have a new apreciation for this hymn, number 220. I love verse 3:

I would be my brother's keeper;
I would learn the healer's art.
To the wounded and the weary
I would show a gentle heart.
I would be my brother's keeper-
Lord, I would follow thee.

Love and miss you guys! Good luck to those starting school! See you guys in 6 weeks! Oh, yeah, and gas is a dollar a gallon here.

Truckin´ by the dozen

The rule for trucks in Ecuador is that you can drive as many as you can fit. So today I saw a family of 12 all piled in the back of a pick up. The driving laws here are crazy, it feels as if everytime we bus over to the orphanage we have a near death experience. for example today we crossed over the double yellow heading straight into incoming trafic because the bus in front of us was going to slow for the drivers taste. But we always make it there. At least we have every day so far!

This past week I was made site leader for Casas! I´m super excited! That means I am in charge of telling the  other volunteers about what´s going at the site, make goals for the volunteers and the kids, and make sure everything goes smoothly there. It also means I work at the site at least 5-6 shifts a week (around 20-25 hours) and I go on all the field trips with them. Basically the best job ever. Over the past week 4 new kids have come to Tadeo (the building with both Casas & Cunas), which is very out of the ordinary. A newborn baby was brought into Cunas, and they today named her Maria del Cisne. Three new kids were put into Casas last night! They were apparently taken from their homes by the governmnent, which is usualy for the kids safety. I get to meet them tomorrow in my morning shift. The past couple days I´ve spent my time in in the OSSO houses, where most of the children are handicapped. I learned something important there: 

¨The kids aren´t messy eaters, I´m just a messy feeder.¨

You can quote me on that. I felt like this idea applied to more than just feeding. The more you get to know the  kids the more you learn what they need most and what you can do to make their time here more worth it, to make their life less of a messy bib and more of a nurturing experience. Some people just need to be fed diferently. Christian from OSSO Alegria has autism and doesn´t get along well with the other kids; he doesn´t quite understand why he can´t just take toys from other people and why he can´t hit kids to get what he wants. But the other day when volunteering I noticed he calmed down when he found some puppets and was lining them up into shapes. He was very focused and proud of what he had made. The next time I went over,  I ¨fed¨ him deferently. I brought him some building blocks, gave most of them to him, and the others to the smaller kids so they wouldn´t try and steal the new toys. Christian spent almost the whole time making towers as tall as he could, making sure they were the same deminsions all the way up. He didn´t run around hurting the others anymore. I hope that I, and whomever else that reads this, can, when we meet someone new or diferent we can learn how to treat them in a way that brings out the best in them or in us. Some people need to be treated diferently, and when they are, they become a new person that we can´t even recognize anymore. I´ve had it happen so many times down here and I hope I learn more from these kids throughout my next 6 weeks. Love you guys!