Day 2 in Ecuador!

¡Hola!

Welcome from day two of Ecuador. Ourfirst  day was considered a success; delicious meals, entertaining welcomes at Damien House, informational tours and an emotional reflection in the evening.

This morning, we met Sister Annie, the "heart" behind Damien House. Like normal at Damien House, nothing goes as planned. We originally planned a surprise party with signs, balloons, cards and a gift. But that quickly got changed when Sister Annie traveled on the bus with us to Damien House. So with quick improvisation and with the help of Ms. Ann Marie's distraction, we were able to pull off a great warm welcome back to Damien House and birthday party. Quickly our small crowd of fifteen turned into at least 40, with workers and patients of Damien House joining in.

Later in the day, we celebrated with cake (la torta) and lots of dancing and music. 

The meal at Damien House today consisted of fried fish and rice (arroz con pescado frito). We are looking forward to the rest of the week's meals, reflections and adventures in Ecuador.

Peace and love,

Lizzie and Carolyn

Day 1: ¡Hola de Ecuador!

After many months of planning, we are finally here-- we can't believe it!

Last night, we arrived around 7:00pm and effortlessly made our way trough customs. All our luggage made it safe and sound! Outside, we had a surprise waiting for us-- Germania (Sister Annie's go-to girl), Abel (our dear friend) and Manuel (our driver) were waiting for us! In addition to Jhonny, a Tangara employee, they welcomed us with open arms. We then loaded a giant private bus and were off!

This morning, after a delicious breakfast at Tangara, we visited Damien House for the first time. The patients warmly greeted us at the gate with balloons and a "Bienvenidos St Joseph Parish" sign. We were instantly fully immersed in Ecuadorian culture, overwhelmed with besos and abrazos. 

After our mini celebration, Jhonatan, a former Damien House patient and current employee, gave us a tour of the beautiful facilities. Cesar inspired us to share love and be the love, the women introduced themselves and shared with us words of wisdom, and the men happily showed us their paintings and hammocks (all handmade by them!). 

While there were many familiar faces, there were also several new faces. Jhonatan, our tour guide, explained that a medical mission team had recently visited Damien House and had performed countless essential nerve decompression surgeries on Hansen's patients. Many of the surgery patients are temporarily living at Damien while they recuperate -- so it's a full house!

After lunch, we split up andspent time   conversing and playing with the patients. Although speaking Spanish was a challenge, the patients explained that everyone understands the language of love. We were smiling and laughing loudly as we loaded the van to return to Tangara. 

Sister Annie arrives late tonight and we are all super excited to see her tomorrow. We are planning a big surprise, so say tuned for more details tomorrow!

Abrazos ("hugs"),

Lauren and Jane

We are here!!

Welcome to Ecuador! Our group arrived safely last night, with the most effortless international travel that most of us have ever seen. We were blessed to not have any plane delays, and the flights were smooth and fast. We found Mitchell right away in Miami (he met us there, since his family recently moved to California). 

We were warmly greeted by Jhonny, an employee from Tangara hostel, at the airport. He led us to a huge coach-style bus-- which we piled onto for the ten-minute ride. Then, to our surprise, out comes Germania (Sister Annie's right-hand woman), Manuel (Damien House driver) and Abel (a Nuevo Mundo student). It was great to have such a big welcome party!

At Tangara, Anny, Antonio and Lucia greeted us enthusiastically. After settling into the rooms, we went up onto the roof for our first nightly reflection. Group consensus is that it still hasn't hit us that we are finally here, but now being here gets us very excited!! We shared for a little bit and then headed to bed.

Thanks again for all your prayers; you are in our prayers, too!

Our shared space at Tangara. 

Almost There!

15 days and counting!  That's right, our trip to Ecuador is only 15 days away.  Everyone is getting excited and we have 2 more events coming up.  On Sunday, July 21, the entire group will be attending 10:30 mass for a Commissioning Mass.  Then on Monday, July 22 at 6 pm we will be having a Potluck dinner.  This is a time for the families and friends to interact and get to know everyone going on the trip.  Please feel free to stop by, talk to some the people going, and enjoy some good food/company.  We hope you all can make it... and remember, 15 days!