Over the course of our time in Ecuador, Ian and I (Hillary) have been blessed to be able to build wonderful relationships with seminary staff and students, global missionaries, and members of our local church in Carcelen. We feel so fortunate to live and take part in the community life here on the Nazarene seminary campus each day! This semester, though, we've been reminded of the blessing of our friends and family back home in the States--and of just how much you all mean to us.
At the beginning of the year, we were visited by a dear couple, Olivet friends Nick and Katie, who were traveling through Ecuador on a short vacation. It was absolutely wonderful to get to catch up with them over a meal. My sister Lauren was also able to meet with us!
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| Dinner with Lauren and Olivet friends Nick and Katie. |
Then just last Saturday evening a group of Olivet students landed in Quito. They came to spend their Spring Break as part of a Communications and Evangelism Team that would film the fifth season of "Mujer Valiosa" (Valuable Woman), a Christian TV series sponsored by the South American Region of the Nazarene Church. Joining with a communications team from the North Andean Field, the Olivet students filmed sessions of cooking, crafts, personal testimonies, and interviews with psychologists and medical doctors for the series.
What made this visit especially meaningful to me and Ian was the fact that they were led by Brian and Lynn Utter, who, after returning to the States from their missions work in Argentina, began attending our home church, the Manteno Church of the Nazarene in Manteno, IL. We got to know Brian and Lynn a little bit before coming to Ecuador, and they were able to share with us about their experiences here in Ecuador while they were in language school. Seeing them was like being reunited with our Manteno church family.
On Wednesday afternoon last week, the Olivet group came over to the seminary campus to host a soccer tournament and pizza dinner! This was a great time to get to know the students better. And we were also able to reconnect with one of our NILI students from last semester who was part of the group!
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| Our soccer tournament on the seminary campus. |
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| The games were so fun because EVERYONE played: staff, students, missionaries... everyone! |
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| Olivet and seminary students watching the game. |
Also last week, Ian and I got to see Charlotte, a dear friend from our Olivet class of 2009. Charlotte was in Quito all of last week as the special speaker for Alliance International Academy's Spiritual Emphasis Week. Friday night we had dinner with Charlotte, her mom, Lauren, and a couple of other dear Ecuadorian friends from Alliance. What a blessing and encouragement it was to get together with these friends and hear what God is doing in their lives!
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| Dinner with Charlotte, her mom Michelle, Lauren, and friends from Alliance. |
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| Ice cream for dessert! |
These visits from friends have been a great encouragement to me and Ian this semester. It is so good to see such friendly, familiar faces when we're so far away from home. It helps us remember where we've come from -- and where we'll be returning to after we complete our year of volunteer service.
We thank God for His faithfulness to us this year and His provision in even the small things, the blessing of friendly visitors!
