It’s starting to feel right

It’s starting to feel right. It took a little while, I must admit – two months of homesickness (and not just for friends and family in the states anymore), learning new buses, new smells, a new routine, getting used to living my life in Spanish again . . . but here I am, finally.

Things are moving slowly – no big surprise considering this is still Ecuador. I am still negotiating my place at work with Hogar. We are still waiting for the house, although we have seen some progress in the past few weeks. I don’t think that big piles of dirt have ever put me in such a good mood. I can’t wait until I can say that I actually live in Monte Sinai. Patience is a virtue, and is the lesson that God has been trying to teach me these past few months.

My favorite time of the week here are the weekends (anyone else know that feeling?). Because we don’t live very close to the new neighborhood, we haven’t been able to spend time there during the week – extreme bummer. So, we take advantage of the weekends. Friday morning through Sunday afternoon, it is pretty certain you will find us wandering around Monte Sinai. We have become great friends with a community of nuns who live a few blocks from where we will be living soon and run a small elementary school in the neighborhood. They have taken us under their wings, introduced us to families, fed us, and let us use their home as our satellite place to rest on the weekends between house visits. I have also started teaching catechism there with them on Saturday afternoons. I have been given a group of 20 or so kiddos between 9 and 13 years old. Its nice to be in educator mode again.

So, everything is new – new faces, new stories, new questions, new relationships, but something about it is strikingly familiar. Spending hours in conversation, walking house to house in the sun, hugs, kisses, playing with kids, sharing struggles, laughing – oh man do we laugh. It’s Rostro. It’s comfortable. It’s home. It’s why I came back to Ecuador for another year. The families I have been getting to know are wonderfully welcoming (again, no surprise there). The nuns have helped us out by explaining a bit about who we are and why we are in Monte Sinai in the first place, and between the four of us here, I think people know what we are about (or should I say Who we are about?). And, all in all, it seems that they are excited about having us around. It looks like Rostro really fits here. When we are in the neighbors houses, or when we are at mass, it is impossible to not feel God’s presence. He brings me such peace in the moments when I’m not really sure what I should be doing to best serve Rostro. He has filled my last two months with challenges and grace. Those two tend to come in an interesting pair.

All in all, the time here is full. I think of you all often, which sounds strange considering many of us have never met, but your legacy, the work you have done, or better put – the way you have been in Ecuador – I carry that spirit with me in a profound way in this new year. Being a part of this new step for Rostro makes me think about everything that past volunteers have done to get us to this place. Thank you so much for your prayers and for continuing to hold Rostro in your lives.