It´s almost Christmas?

A few pics, one of thanksgiving of all of us and father ronan the founer of our program.
The next of a birthday bash earlier this year.

Hola from sunny, warm Ecuador during this holiday season!
It has been strange living in a place where it gets hotter as christmas draws near, its amazing how much a climate changes things, people still have the christmas lights here and there, but obviously we´re not bombarded by commercialism as much at this time...there´s actually more talk about new year´s eve here than actual christmas day.
the ecuadorians enjoy a nice dinner of course on christmas, but its more for hte kids is what everyone tells me...new year´s is the crazy time when they actually burn life size paper machea like characters in the streets and light off fireworks all over the place, that´ll be interesting.

thanksgiving was a nice treat going to the house of pat and sonya, principals at a school our organization is associated with, and being with father jim ronan (the founder of rostro de cristo) just enjoying the company and a pretty close traditional thanksgiving dinner (with chicken that i thought was turkey).

the last month has been filled with ups and downs as usual, there´s nothing normal about my experience and neither are my moods, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and body functions....a little sick right now from who knows what i ate, you just have to go with it.

there may be some slight changes for next january, perhaps a little less foreign relations work and more time in the school with the screamin girls who have actually made drastic improvements and its good when they actually want to be helped, they are really doing some amazing things at the school and giving the kids an opportunity to be educated and learn about Christ as well.

i have had some good quiet times, mostly loud times because its ecuador and naturally loud here by nature, of trying to understand myself better and what type of role i have in our community here at rostro de cristo.
i have learned that i cannot fully understand who i truly am and live how i should live unless i spend time with Jesus in prayer, bible reflection and psuedo quiet time which takes me away from worldly thoughts and focuses on the true meaning of my time here, to understand what it means to live as a Christian amongst the people, to see seek the face of Christ, to know that we are brothers and sisters of God with ecuadorians,
believe me, we have had of time of sharing our struggles of living amongst the poor, not getting excited about much of anything but time off, struggling to see the beauty and love around us, not feeling engaged and feeling helpless with what we are doin...it has really helped me to look at the grand scene of my time here and the great opportunity it is to live, work, experience God in a new way and be in a differnt culture for a year of my life.

had a chance to visit the beach last weekend again with my canadian buddy greg (who just left, we worked together, good times) and his host parents, salinas and the ruta de sol, very pretty and nice to see the ocean and take a swim, had a retreat group here recently from de paul university, great group which is fun to show around.

for hte christmas season, planning on a nice dinner with all of us and sister annie who is the boss at the hansen´s disease hospital where some of us work, then heading to quito after christmas to experience more of the sierra and life in the capital of ecuador, perhaps go to the center of the earth as they call it! temperatures there ar ethe same as san diego cause its 9,000 feet in the air and its on the equator!

my parents come in about 5 weeks, jan. 26th! so im already excited for that, i´m looking forward to seeing if they have learned any spanish when they arrive after listening to those spanish help tapes, we´ll see mom and dad.

side notes
my college buddy casey, who´s a youth pastor in san diego, just got engaged, congrats casey and erin!
special thanks to mrs. kugath´s fourth grade class, and my fourth grade teacher, for the encouraging christmas cards, fantastic!

prayer requests
1. People will understand and celebrate christmas for the true reason of remembering Jesus and his birth in the U.S., Ecuador and all over.
2. That families here in Duran who cannot afford to give any gifts to their children will be unified and celebrate the gift of love and family.
3. That the christmas break will be a refreshing time before the new year and as we celebrate here away from family back home that we can still be united.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers and thoughts, I hope for a great Christmas with the fam and friends as we push through the week.

Blessings.
sam