Christmas time in Loja

Christmas in Loja, a sweet time to remember the birth of Jesus, Saviour, Lord and King.

Nativity scene preparation....

Bags of lollies and biscuits to be bought and assembled
(that is a stack of sacks of little animal biscuits, its a serious business here)

Christmas trees to be put up

Christmas lights on

Christmas Eve service with narration of the birth of Christ

Celebrating the birth of Christ, along with Toño's birthday

Cricket on the equator

We inherited some cricket bats from some former Aussie missionaries so John and Mattias have been have a bit of a (small) hit in the (small) back yard.

The other week we had a BBQ with our team mates, so took the opportunity to introduce cricket to them. It was fun to see Bolivians, Germans, Canadians and Australians have a go at hitting with this 'funny' bat.

Earlier this year our SIM 'team' divided up into smaller, ministry focused teams. We are part of the Equipping group, which is aimed at working with pastors and leaders to be able to be better equipped in the task that God has called them to. This means we will continue with what we have been doing up till now with our 'Growing Pastors' focus, but amongst other things we'll be adding another dimension to seeing how we can equip leaders a bit further afield in province areas.

We are a group that brings different life experience, skills, language and cultural understanding to our team, and we all are learning from each other, including how to play cricket!

A land of plenty

The other day John was helping Mattias with his homework, looking up some of Ecuador's main exports and they learned that last year Ecuador exported 6,000,000 tonnes of bananas. I knew they exported a lot of bananas, but man, that is positively oodles, ranking them among the top producers of bananas worldwide.

Ecuador is a land of plenty in many of its foods, I love this store in the central market that solely sells avocados. Who knew that could be a winner, but avocados are always available and are eaten a plenty here, especially in soups!

Anyone for some guacamole?

Diego on learning (Aussie) english and life so far

Here is a quick update on how things are going for Diego after being in Sydney for over four months now...

How are you going with your english studies?

I’m going well, about a month ago I gained Certificate 3 in EFS (English for Further Studies). Last week I passed the first level in the new course, EAP (English for Academic Purposes).

What have been some highlights of Australia so far?

I think something interesting about Australia compared to Ecuador is the number of different cultures that you come into contact with, especially people from Asia and the Middle East. 

What is surprising/different about life in Sydney to Loja?

This is a difficult question for me, every time someone asks me, I never know what to say! It’s the first time I am experiencing different seasons. Loja can be every season in one day, but I arrived in a cold Sydney winter!

What is hard about being in Sydney?

My english still presents a problem in terms of developing a ‘normal life’ and deeper relationships with people .

What is coming up over the next few months?

In December I finish classes at TAFE, and my big challenge is the IELTS exam.

What has God been teaching you?

God is showing me his faithfulness and care in many ways while I’ve been here so far.

How can we be praying for you?

To keep on improving my english, especially in my spelling.

Until we meet again

My dear friend Patty died on 17th September. 

In late January Patty found out that she had stomach cancer. Not the prettiest of cancers to be faced with. These past months have been so very tough for her and her family as they sought treatment and healing.

God’s plan was to bring her home to himself. 

I wasn’t able to see Patty much these past months but in one of the conversations we did have I know that she had entrusted herself to her heavenly Father and was ready to go home, even as much as she desired to stay here and keep on looking after her family. 

Patty was my first friend in Loja. 

I remember stopping on the corner of Calle Bolivar and Azuay with Evie and Alfonsina in prams, having a little chat with Toño and Patty and me and John being so excited to have some contact with someone in the middle of us feeling like fish out of water those first few weeks (months…) we were in Loja, trying to navigate a whole new world of life.

And so, slowly a friendship developed. We ended up at their church during our first term and started hanging out. With Patty, I have sat down the back of church as we ran after our little girls, Evie and Alfonsina, watching them play together. We took on youth group together, figuring out what works and doesn’t work in Loja (games that involve taking shoes off really don’t work). With Patty and Toño and their kids we have whiled away Sundays, spent christmas days together, celebrated birthdays, gone on holidays together.

With Patty I have sought advice, worked on figuring out a bit more of how life works here in Loja, where can I get my shoes fixed, where to find tights for Evie, where to buy good fruit and veggies. We laughed together, cried together. Patty was the one who called me after I said goodbye to my mum when she came to help after Mattias was born. That was a pretty quiet conversation as I couldn’t say much through my tears. We cooked together, we spoke about our kids ups and downs together, we encouraged each other in the Lord. They invited us over to their parents house and we got to celebrate family events together with an extended family.

Patty and Toño had lived out of Loja in Spain for a number of years and knew what it was like to be the foreigner, the one on the outside, the one surrounded by so much unfamiliarity.  When were were so new in Loja, when we  were the outsiders, this family welcomed in the foreigner. This family showed us sincere hospitality, incorporating us into their family. I have thanked the Lord often over these past eight and a half years for his gracious provision of a friend here in Loja, and not only a friend, an extended family. What a deep privilege it is to know this beauty of being part of God’s family, that in a town on the other side of the world from home, I can find another home, in him and his people. 

I can only imagine Patty’s deep joy as she was welcomed home by her heavenly Father, the wonder and awe as she began the rest of her life, along with the saints, praising our wonderful Saviour for all his goodness to her.

And so, not goodbye dear friend but rather until we meet again, at Jesus’ feet. 

We were born for change

There is currently a public campaign in Ecuador for people to switch to induction stove tops. For a country that cooks with gas, this is a major change, a big deal, and probably one that mystifies many.

For this to work, each house needs to be installed with 220V for the stove, this a 110V country. Each household needs to buy a new stove, whether just the stove top or oven as well. Each person needs to figure out how to cook on an induction stove top after a life time of cooking with gas.

There are many reasons that I haven't really investigated why this is all happening but I am enjoying some of the aspects of this campaign.

The other week I happened to be walking past the Plaza Central and saw this cooking demonstration going on, how to cook your base sauce for your meals on the induction stove top, the step by step explanation of the process, live in action. It was great.

There was a whole range of stove tops and oven on display along with brochures, ready for the taking, plus payment plans over many months to make it affordable. There are all sorts of packages, incentives and investment that the government is making in order to make this work.

A few blocks away I passed the electricity company and the tag line caught my eye. 'Nacimos para vivir cambios'. We were born for change, or to live out changes. How to motivate a whole society to radically change their approach to cooking? Get to the heart of the matter....we were born for change, so embrace even this!

But it's true for us also, isn't it, if we are born again in Christ, then we are born to change. Little by little, every day, Jesus is changing us into his image, into his likeness. As children of the living God we can never deny this reality in our lives, we can't say no to change, we can't ever stop working out our salvation with fear and trembling, even as God works in us to will and to act according to his good purpose. May I never assume I have reached a point of no change or of hiding behind the excuse of this is my character, end of story. No, in humility and by God's grace, may change live on in me!

Recent food adventures

I took the kids out for KFC the other day, as a holiday treat. I love the way fast food gets tweaked worldwide to increase its appeal to the local market. Here we have the super combo #1.... plenty of rice and lentils = happy life for the average lojano, including these three!

Our local major supermarket has a healthy selection of most parts of the animal, here we have tripe, tongue, crackling, and pork feet amongst other delights. Just want to add that the other week I did eat a little bit of BBQ pork heart which was quite nice (although rather heavily salted). The presence of the pork heart was mainly due to it being part of the props for John's talk for a church leadership retreat....

Ricuras de Sal y Dulce...always a winner, plus it has a fancy sign saying its part of the cultural food heritage of Ecuador. A big tortilla of fried green plantain, with beef and eggs was Tijs' meal, the girls are having crumbled cheese, white corn, little potatoes (papa chaucha - very delicious) plus a fried ripe plantain on the side. The batidos (fruit with milk) are divine!

Here we have the famous local arveja con guineo (pea and green banana) soup, topped with avocado. Who knew avocado in soup was so good? And the pink drink is horchata, the local tea made with over 20 different herbs and flowers, can be served hot, warm or cold.

Cecina con yuca....a big slab of pork on the BBQ with yuca (or taro)....a wonderful way to fill the belly (this was for Ecuadorian fathers day, will we remember to celebrate the Australian date in September?).

An afternoon snack of yoghurt and yuca bread. Tasty and appropriate in any kind of weather with the cold drink and the hot bread.

And here is part of Saturday's breakfast, mandarin juice. I can never quite get over these beauties. Do we actually get mandarins like this in Australia?

In honour of all those in the construction industry

We passed this sight the other day, I couldn't resist taking a photo out of admiration for the bravery of these two guys!

So much that could be said, but all I'm going to say is that my heart was in my mouth just looking at them while taking this picture.

The wall was very nicely painted the next day when I passed by.

Highlights - the plank of wood they are sitting on, the rope pulley system they have going, the height...

Recent mornings and thankfulness

At church we are studying the book of Colossians, in the current sermon series and also in our small groups. I've been struck by Paul's continued call for us to be thankful, to be overflowing with thankfulness, to be singing songs with gratitude in our hearts to God, and to give the Father thanks through the Lord Jesus. I've sought to put this into action, to be conscious of what Christ has done in rescuing me from spiritual death and bringing me into eternal life, a great source of ongoing thankfulness. And, as I've travelled through my mornings of the past month or so, I've been struck by how they have really been great occasions for gratitude and thankfulness to God in his kindness to us in such practical and concrete ways. They've been varied, kind of hectic but good.

There was the 4:30am start to make the early morning flight as I accompanied my mum on the start of her journey home.
Grateful for her time here, the opportunities we had for conversation, the time she was able to spend with Evie, Tijs and Annie as 'Oma', for her being able to look after the kids as John and I went to a SIM leadership development conference.

The three loons with Oma

There was the morning driving down to Malacatos with the kids with the rest of their school to celebrate Children's Day at the beginning of June. 

Grateful to see the kids playing with their friends from school, being able to enjoy the warmer weather at lower altitude and a super fun pool.

Yay for a fun day of swimming and hanging out with friends

There was the bleak morning drive to the kids school with a new SIM team mate, Kelly, so that she could check out whether it would be a suitable option for her kids. It was a rainy and rather windy day, similar to many other recent mornings. On the way back down into town we got held up by a tree blocking the road. Out we got to clear as much as we could from the road, and then I was off to see if anyone nearby had a machete to chop the bigger branches off.
Grateful to find a machete-wielding guy plus the extra help from the bus drivers arriving to pick up a class for their swimming lesson, grateful that the tree didn't land on our car or earlier in the day on one of the school buses filled with kids! Grateful to find helpful people around, and grateful for a car with 4WD on that muddy road!

Maybe we need to add machete to the list of required items in the car

There was the morning we moved house, and despite not being our most organised move, we got it done by lunchtime.
Grateful for the generosity of friends who helped move, stack and transport our things down the hill to the other side of the valley. Grateful to have a living space downstairs that should be helpful for ministry, with bedrooms upstairs for the kids to not be too disturbed. Grateful for a little backyard with some grass!

There was the 5:30am morning waiting in the dark for my riding companion (who doubles as fearless protector from fearsome street-dogs), which turned into a 6am solo ride along a non street-dog populated road. 

Grateful for a gorgeous morning on the bike along a rushing river amongst green hills. 

There was the cooking morning at school with Annalise's class. 

Grateful to be able to hang out with the kids and help out in a practical way when asked. 

There was the morning of our team meeting. 

Grateful to be able to play a fun game and work on developing what our 'Growing up' ministry team looks like as we look to a more directed vision for this area of SIM's work in Ecuador. 

How about you, what have you been thankful for lately?

New Equipping Servants Group begun

It was five years ago when I saw my first group of Equipping Servants in operation, and so far, 3 groups in Loja have completed their three year training, that is over 40 people who have spent some serious time wrestling with God's word and how to teach it to others.
We have 3 other groups currently running and just recently begun a new group, that I, along with Pablo who completed ESI with me last year, will be running. You can imagine my excitement when I took the photo below of this new group of guys willing and eager to study God's word together.

It will be a challenging and wonderful road for these guys as they go slowly through Romans, digging deep into the nuts and bolts of the gospel, justification, sanctification and how it relates to the local church and their own lives. Pondering the marvellous grace that is bought with the precious blood of Jesus. Finding out about imputation and how it really means that there is nothing I can personally do to make God happy with me, but it is really about Christ's work that is given to us to make us lovely in His sight. 

Such great truths to be reminded of, I know I'm looking forward to exploring these wonderful doctrines with these guys and helping them to understand what they mean and helping them see what God's word will unpack for them. 

Pray with me as we continue to invest in their lives and push them to work hard in order to be leaders of the church in Loja for years to come. 

A slice of ministry

Here I am sitting on our balcony in Loja, having a coffee and this is work?

What a time to cherish...to be able to enjoy a sunny morning on the balcony, looking at what God's word has to say to us, build up a relationship, hear different joys and struggles, pray together, give advice or question as appropriate, enjoy hearing how God is at work in and through people and see him teaching and encouraging a fellow sister in Christ. Truly a joy.

Just a little fun at the park

We have a major local park, it's called Parque Jipiro, kinda like Centennial Park, but not. It has a rather eclectic collection of architecture and signage. This is a little snapshot from the last few visits, not attempting to do justice the vast array of what there actually is, but for now, it will do.
Enjoy, along with me....

The french influence

Mexican

Super frog, isn't it?

'Children to be supervised by adults'

This sign is up oh, so very high

Turkish?

The thing is, we are in Ecuador, and the street dog population is nothing to be laughed at. 

Small joys

There is a good rubbish removal system here in Loja. It runs 6 days a week, one day is green waste, the next day is regular waste. 

No third day yet for recycling, although there are recycling bins scattered around town nowadays for plastic bottles (and if you drop your rubbish off at the black and green skips around town, people will filter through the rubbish to find items worth recycling). But I diverge.

We moved into our new place here in Loja last August. The owner didn't have any council bins, no drama, thought I, I'll just go and buy some down at the council office. 

But 'no drama' is not something that always occurs in Loja. 

In August, there were no bins available for purchase. I duly returned a couple of weeks later, still no bins. I asked if there might be an indication of when they might be available. Nope. So after that, I made it a habit to drop into the office periodically when nearby to see if any bins were available. 

I also thought I may as well just put rubbish out in our own personal bin (this saw me one day running madly down the street to ask one of the guys if that would be acceptable or not, he said yes), but then my neighbour tells me I might get a fine for not having a council bin. So I scrapped that idea. 

This saw us piling all our rubbish into the back of the ute to make trips to one of the skips to drop it off. The only problem is when the skips had disappeared from their usual spots. 

I was delighted when one day John remembered to tell me that our friend who works in the council told him that....there were bins for sale!

A mere line up in three lines made me the proud owner of these two beauties (plus one extra trip to exchange the non-opening green one I received first go round).

So pleased was I to finally be able to put my rubbish out on the street the other day and see the guy come along and grab our bin, I did a little victory dance. Now here's hoping they don't get stolen any time soon!

El Año Viejo

New Years Eve is always a big celebration here in Ecuador. It is a time for families to get together, share a meal and bring in the New Year. In some ways it’s the same as in many other countries. However there is one custom that seems to be unique to Ecuador, jumping over the old year (saltando el año Viejo o el monigote).

There are many other customs that accompany the saying goodbye to the old year, like wearing yellow undies into the new year for better relationships or red ones for romance, walking around the block with a suitcase so that you have a year of travelling and the possibilities go on.

And how does one exactly jump over the old year? First, you need to build your old year doll (el año viejo). This takes the form of a Disney character made out of paper mache or it could be that you grab a bunch of old clothes that are no good, you fill them with paper so it looks half human, put a mask on it and then depending on who your with, pour diesel or petrol over it and set it alight. This is met with many cheers as the old year is set alight and then it’s time to start jumping.

As you jump you are saying that you are leaving the old year behind and starting a new year, leaving behind all that was good and all that was bad and looking forward to a year of new resolutions, hopes and dreams.

As you can see from the video, we all had a go at jumping over the old year and celebrating with our neighbours and friends across the road. It was a great time to spend with them and the kids really enjoyed it.

We were reminded the following Sunday as our pastor walked around the front of church with el año viejo, that the Christian life is somewhat similar to jumping over the old year and leaving things behind.
He read from Ephesians 4:22-24 where it says.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

He dramatised the fact that we continue to drag our old self around with us (you need to imagine him holding a paper filled man on his back) and we just don’t want to let him go. We hang on to our old habits and desires but really when we understand that we are new creatures, now spiritual beings in Christ’s image that need to put off the old self and live in righteousness and holiness.

I know that for me (John) I find it hard to throw off the old self, just as our pastor said, it is hard work, but as he also said, we are not to hang to the old because we love it so much, we need to be changed, we need to be made anew, we need to live in the holiness that Christ has bought for us.

May you be encouraged this year to look to Christ and live life in response to what he has done for us though his death on the cross.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family, may you seek his face in all you do.

Thyme for tea

I've never been overly adventurous with my choice of herbal tea. The fact is I can't really go past peppermint, it tastes so good (perhaps also the fact that I have a plentiful supply of peppermint leaves after my mistakenly large purchase of leaves on Amazon a while back also contributes to my dogged faithfulness to my nightly cuppa). A rooibos or chamomile may get thrown into the mix occasionally if the mood strikes.

On the other hand, lojanos are experts on herbal teas, there is one for every season, every health complaint, every mood.  Just after Christmas I felt like I was coming down with the same cold John and Annalise had been hanging onto for a few weeks, noooooo was my internal complaint after I'd soaked yet another tissue. So I thought as may as well follow my good neighbour's advice and make some thyme tea, perfect for warding off colds I am told. Mix in a bit of honey and voila, say goodbye to that cold. The best thing is, she was pretty much right, I think I avoided the worst of the whole episode and for now I'm happy to attribute it to my thyme tea.

I continued my resolve to branch out in tea choices the other day by accepting a friends offer of fenugreek leaf tea. Despite possible health benefits, that one I'll give a miss in future.

What's your fave herbal tea?