We left at 5:30 AM on July 3! Our first flight was to Miami, then down to Quito, Ecuador, where we had a long layover. After we boarded the final plane to Cuenca, which is only a 45 minute flight, we heard strange sounds coming from the bottom of the plane. After 15 minutes, they announced mechanical difficulties and the flight had been cancelled! 

That set our adventure off in an unexpected direction with an overnight stay in Quito. The airline put us up in a nice resort not too far from the airport. BONUS: The resort had LLAMAS! While we didn't get to our hotel rooms until well after midnight, we were able to sleep in the next morning, which was very much needed.

The unexpected blessing in the midst of the flight cancellation is the realization that this would be a great plan for future trips: take a day on the front end to sleep and see fun things (like the equator!) so that we arrive in Cuenca rested and ready to serve. Unfortunately for this trip, it caused us to miss the delivery of the mattresses at Trinity Cuenca and the first delivery of beds. But here are some pictures of us traveling and having some fun on the first unplanned day in Quito.

We flew into Cuenca , then headed out to deliver beds the next day! We divided into several teams and loaded up trucks with the mattresses, bedding and wooden pallets to make each bed. Each group had an interpreter, which was a huge help!

Every house you deliver to is different. Sometimes you have to carry things a long way, sometimes you have to carry everything up to the second floor, but the child receiving the bed is always excited, and we always pray for the family.

The flights went well until our last one from Ft. Lauderdale to Guayaquil. We left three hours late and didn't arrive at our hotel in Ecuador until 4:00 AM on Friday morning. Yes, 4:00 AM! But we got a later start, ate breakfast, and started to drive to Cuenca! These first pictures will just be of our travel day. 

After 4.5 or so hours of sleep, we met for breakfast and the van ride to Cuenca. It took a little over two hours. Ecuador is a beautiful country with beautiful people! The Andes mountains rose up so high, we could not see the top. As we drove, the weather would alternate between fog, rain, and sun. At one point, we saw the tops of the clouds! It was better to look at the scenery than the roads because we have discovered that the lines setting boundaries for the lanes are guidelines!

We stopped at a little restaurant for a restroom break, coffee and pictures (our first picture with the whole team!). In the two minutes it took for us to gather the team together, fog rolled in and the view was completely obscured!

A delicious lunch awaited us when we arrived at the Cuenca Vineyard. We had a training with Compassion International so that we could deliver the beds and interact with the children. This was followed by a worship service and a scripture reading by several of the children. One little girl who was 4-5 years old had memorized Psalm 23! They prayed for us,. then we headed to our host homes for the night.

We divided into several groups for the first day of outreach: the baking group went shopping for ingredients and experimented making five different cookie recipes in the kitchen at the Cuenca Vineyard, the construction group went to a house that needed a foundation laid to create a bedroom, and the delivery group went to deliver beds to different houses. 

After loading everything up into trucks, the delivery group and construction group headed out to the various locations.

Today was a day of rest. We attended service, napped, and shopped for fun. Gianna and Jonathan joined the worship team and Amy lead the communion devotional. If you watch the video snippet below, notice how they switch back and forth between English and Spanish!

Ruth got a word for the church about being OK with causing trouble for Jesus. We've decided to call our team the Troublemakers!

Today was our first day of baking class! Ruth, Annie and Lilliam taught two groups of 15 Ecuadorians how to make several different kinds of North American cookies, including thumbprint, chocolate chip and snickerdoodle! The ladies (and one man!) were very excited to learn how to cream eggs and sugar, whether they could also make the cookies in a pan, and what the cookies should taste like. They decided the cookies were delicious and so unique for their area that they could probably sell them to more affluent areas of their own town. Fun fact: Ruth made her students say "snickerdoodle" before they could try one! :)

A few of us were also able to meet our Compassion-sponsored kids! They planned a celebration ceremony that included a brief message from the pastor of that church, gifts for us, and prayers for them. We got to see where they have Bible class and eat lunch. 

We also delivered 6 beds to some very excited kids waaaayyy up in the mountains. When we deliver and set up the bed, we also deliver a box filled with goodies for the child. We also get to pray with the family. Today was a really special day!

Today was similar to yesterday. We delivered more beds, we taught two more baking classes, and worked on the roof of a house.

Some of us also got to try cuy!!! We have videos to prove it! 

The Ecuadorian people are very generous and kind. Several of the houses that we delivered beds to offered us bread, drinks or popsicles. They all joined with us in prayer, whether they were Christians or not. Our actions showed them God's love, and the continued outreach by Compassion in Ecuador will reach out and minister to them.