06-01-14 - 06-07-14 Bienvenidos a Ecuador!

Sunday:  After a brutal (delayed) overnight flight, I finally arrived at 11:45am.  Surprisingly, the line to get through customs was short and sweet.  I made my way to the baggage claim and went to get a luggage cart.  Not surprising, I inserted a $5.00 bill for the $2.00 cart and it did not dispense my change.  Fortunately, the attendant returned my money to me a few minutes later.  I quickly loaded my bags and passed through the final security checkpoint.  What a breeze!! Some friends of mine from Quito English had kindly offered to pick me up and they arrived promptly at the arranged time.  It was an hour ride home, but we passed the time quickly by exchanging stories and catching up.  Upon arriving home, I unpacked a few bags and then met up with one of my friends at the new Chile's that just opened up by my house.  After dinner we continued chatting over coffee, then watched a movie at her house.  It's good to be back!!

Monday:  I awoke to discover that my closet was infested with mold.  Drawers, shoes, clothes - you name it, there was mold on it.  I took everything out of the closet and the drawers and began washing it.  I bleached the entire closet and drawers inside and out.  I also scrubbed down the bathroom and organized a few items.  Around 6:00 before it gets dark, I walked down to the grocery store to stock up on food and supplies.  After putting everything away, I continued tidying up and finally went to bed at 11:00pm

Tuesday:  Mold clean-up continues.  Today I completed 6 more loads of laundry and tackled the kitchen; taking all the dishes out, washing them, cleaning the cabinets and finally putting everything back in its place (yes, of course, stacked neat, labels facing forward - you know me).  I also put my new label maker to use and started labeling all my baking supplies and other miscellaneous items. My mother would be so proud!  By evening, my energy was waning and so I took some time to send off a few important emails, update my pictures (on Google + for those of you who follow), folded the final load of laundry and called it a night.

Wednesday:  Today I spent most of the day cleaning and then studying for the meeting.  Walking back into that Kingdom Hall (albeit there were some noticeable changes - like plastic chairs in lieu of benches) felt so good.  The warm welcome the friends gave me was almost overwhelming.  I kept it together though until the song.  I had forgotten how beautiful it was to hear those 55-65 voices belt out the words!  Truthfully, I got a little choked up.  The meeting was in true Quito English fashion, and partway through, a sister sitting behind me leaned forward and whispered "aren't you glad to be back?"  And I smiled and nodded - it was good to be home.

Thursday:  Today I went in service all day until 7:00 at night.  What a great day it was!  I was able to accompany a few sisters on their Bible studies as well as do some informal witnessing.  When I arrived home, it was another load of laundry and another load of dishes and then off to sleep.

Friday:  Today I mixed up one of the streets where I was to meet the service group.  But my mistake let me by a group doing cart witnessing, and the young brother was one I worked with during last year's drama.  He was there with his mom and dad and another sister from their hall.  So I chatted with them for a few minutes and then went on my way, soon realizing my mix up with the streets.  In the end, I walked one hour to the service group and finally arrived at 9:30, rather embarrassed.  I chalked it up to getting "back in the groove".  But when it came time to give my presentation, I rattled it off without even thinking about it.  I was somewhat surprised, but happy that I hadn't forgotten everything.  I met a nice woman from Germany who happily accepted the magazines and then went off with my friends to a couple of studies in the afternoon.  I quit service a little early because I wanted to continue my house clean up before meeting my friend for coffee at 6:00pm.  We chatted for quite a while and on my walk home, I couldn't help but notice there were quite a few stars visible in the sky - a bit of a rare sight in Quito.  One more load of laundry, a quick chat with my mom and it was time to sleep...

Saturday:  This morning a large group of us met at the Kingdom Hall for service.  We stopped for lunch around noon and then went our separate ways.

 Normal (well, sort of)

Crazy (as usual)

I went home and cleaned up some more.  Then I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few items and met up with my friend at the bus station.  We headed about 45 minutes north to our coordinator's house for a Bible study.  Then we had some snacks and enjoyed upbuilding association afterwards.