Photo Update!

Hello, Friends and Family!

    Lots has happened since our last blog post, and we're hoping to fill you in on some of the highlights through several pictures!

    We are so blessed to be a part of a wonderful, Christ-centered NILI staff, and we have enjoyed getting to know them better these past few weeks!  Upon our arrival, NILI treated us to ice cream. :)

Lucy Olivo, Director of NILI with her husband Pastor Salomon and their little boy David Israel (or "Davidcito")

Jen, Assistant Director/Ministry Coordinator of NILI; Jana, Student Life Director of NILI; and Kyle, Accountant & Secretary for NILI

And you know these people. :)

    We've also gotten settled into our little apartment! We are truly thankful for this space to call our own. It has everything we need (dishes, blankets, towels, etc), and it's been a great haven for the two of us when we've needed it.

Our kitchen, where we make and eat our breakfasts and dinners. (Mon - Fri we eat lunch in the small cafeteria on the seminary campus with the seminary staff and students.)

A view of our living room from the kitchen. No TV, and we haven't missed it! It has been wonderful reading, journaling, and spending time with others while here.

    Ian and I also have our own office space in the NILI office on campus. This is where I have been working in the mornings, and Ian has been working in the afternoons. (The classroom where Ian takes his Spanish classes is right around the corner from here, and the CENIC office where I work in the afternoons is downstairs.)

 Our office welcome. We've been welcomed with open arms by all of the seminary staff and students here, but especially by NILI staff members.

Our office space with NILI. Note the small "NO English" sign hanging on the bookshelf. As staff, we've been asked to help enforce the Spanish-only policy for students to help ensure that they are being fully immersed in the language while here.

    A couple of weeks ago, Ian and I helped take the NILIs to the TeleferiQo, a cable car that scales one of the mountainsides of Quito, in order to get a view of the city from above.

Quito and active volcano Cotopaxi in the distance. (Cotopaxi is one of several active volcanoes in the Andes Mountains near Quito though none pose any immediate threat to the city.)

Our NILI group: Elysha, Kayla, Lanea, and Miranda with seminary students Christian and Cristina. We try to encourage the NILIs to spend time with seminary students as much as possible to build strong relationships and to help their Spanish.

    One weekend, we helped NILI staff surprise the students with "La Gran Carera." What they thought would be a boring workshop, became an "Amazing Race" through Quito! And yet they still (hopefully) learned how to navigate Quito's public transportation systems: the goal of the activity.

NILIs Miranda and Lanae with seminary students Meri and Nancho

NILIs Elysha and Kayla with seminary students Jeremias and Priscilla  (the winners with their prizes!)

    I (Hillary) have also really enjoyed getting to know the NILI/seminary girls better through fun activities such as painting pictures, cooking/baking, and staying up late playing games during pajama parties. I hope and pray that this shared fun will be the foundation for deeper relationships and spiritual growth in the future.

Pajama party with the NILI and seminary girls on campus.

    One of the most meaningful experiences so far has been Ian's trip with the NILI's into the jungle just last week. We hope to write a longer blog reflecting on this trip very soon!

Our date night before Ian left with the NILI's for a week in the jungle.

     Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! We cannot tell you how much it means to us to have our friends and families behind us. We've shared our testimonies with the NILI staff and students over the past few weeks, and we've told them that your support has been one of the ways in which God has confirmed to us that we are where He wants us this year. And God has been so faithful to us thus far! We've encountered challenges we didn't expect, but He has been here with us, and our understanding of missions and ministry is deepening as a result (more on this in our next blog). We are so thankful for you! And we continue to lift you up in prayer each day.

     As our brothers and sisters here in Ecuador say, "Dios le bendiga" (God bless you)!