We were able to sleep in a little bit longer this morning, which was incredibly nice. We ate a lovely breakfast and then headed to the community for our final day in the village. We arrived and got straight to work continuing the trench. It went much more smoothly, and the village worked together much better. We are all very proud of how much we worked and how much we got done that day. There were many fun interactions that happened while working, one of which I shall share later, and we enjoyed getting to know the people of Ecuador and working alongside them.

When we were almost finished, a few of us decided to sing for a bit while the people from the community came down from the mountain where they were digging, which everybody enjoyed very much. A few ladies lingered for a while to listen to the music, and Nancy had a chance to speak to them and tell them about Jesus. And then we all headed to where we were to meet the Mayor of Chambo. He hadn’t arrived yet, so we came and sat down in the seats reserved for us, which happened to be in front of the ladies who had enjoyed our singing earlier, and listened to a guy testing the microphone by saying “hola hola hola hola” for a solid half hour before we decided to go eat some soup while we waited.

Once we began eating our soup, the mayor arrived, so we then finished our soup and then went into the room the mayor was in. We then listened to four or five short speeches, with Nancy and Cesar most graciously translating for us, about the water project and Codeinse. Everyone, including the politicians, looked very bored, but overall, the meeting seemed to improve the relationship between the community and the government. After the speeches, we sang a couple songs for the people and then finished eating a lovely lunch of fish and potatoes.

And then took pictures with the mayor and began setting up for VBS. VBS began soon after and we had a little over 30 kids this time. We made many crafts, including sock puppets, balloon animals, and picture frames with pictures of the kids that we had taken yesterday. The kids enjoyed it very much. And then we did some songs and a puppet skit, and went outside and played jump rope, which was incredibly fun. One kid got up to 45 jumps. And then we cleaned up and said Ciao to all the kids, some of which begged for pictures with all of us. We cleaned up and headed out, but not before touring a small cheese factory and a place where they make bricks. We headed home to Codeinse, where we rested and had a lovely dinner. We had our meeting and heard many more stories. We fell asleep, very satisfied with our day.

Once upon a time, Jeannie was working on a trench. There was a handsome young gentleman who was working a ways away from her, but close enough to notice her, as he began bashfully whispering in Spanish to Jason while gesturing in her direction. As Jason didn’t know Spanish, he called Steve over who then answered the young man’s question about how old Jeannie was. 

A little info on this young man: his name is Edison, he’s 18, and owns a dairy company. And he was very smitten with Jeannie. The word got around on the team that Jeannie had an admirer and we all began teasing her relentlessly and succeeded in making her blush many times. During the meeting with the mayor, he couldn’t stop looking at her as she walked in and out. And then while setting up for VBS, Jeannie, Lydia, and Steve to translate had a lovely conversation with him where he asked about her age and was very impressed with her education, and her musical abilities. He also asked about her marital status. It was an incredibly enjoyable conversation, although amusingly awkward for Jeannie. We invited him to stay and help with VBS for a bit, which he did to our surprise. He then left on his bicycle, to go work at his dairy company, shaking Jeannie’s hand on the way out. But it would not be the last sight he had of her as later in the day we went and visited his place of work at the cheese factory, where he and his friends giggled a lot, seeing her there. Sadly, Jeannie is to leave the country and leave Dairy Man with a broken heart.

The End

The highlights of our day include….everything, from digging with Dairy Man, to making balloon animals and sock puppets (including one of their town dog, Toby), to seeing the kids, to eating lunch. We are looking forward to climbing Chimborazo, having pizza for dinner, and visiting the Equator. We are so thankful for the small but mighty team we are a part of, and we are so thankful for the friendships we’re making that we hope will last for a very long time.