What are you passionate about?

I interviewed Caleb, a five year old Missionary Kid from Colorado, while we sat on a trampoline at our team's annual conference and what a surprise I was in for. I didn’t realise some football fans were so dedicated. To the right is a photo of his favourite player, Peyton Manning who is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL).





It's clear that Caleb is passionate about the Denver Broncos, and why not, I mean they're not cheaters! But what about you? What are you passionate about?

Our passion is to see God's Kingdom grow. We want those we come into contact with to understand the good news of Jesus Christ and his Lordship in their life.



Photo Credits
Jeffrey Beall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/7955629330/

In what language do you hablas?

During our time in Australia for Home Assignment many asked if I thought in Spanish or English while speaking here in Ecuador. In answer to that, here is an example of  how I caught myself thinking the other day…

I need to go to a tienda to comprar una box that would entrar en un space de 28cm. Pensé that there would be lots of opciones but cuando I looked I only saw tres opciones. I thought about the tres opciones y pensé mejor look en a shop that sold muchas things plásticas. 

It puts your mind into overdrive thinking in both languages much of the time, sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish.

Is it hard? As I re-immerse myself into Ecuadorian culture I don’t find it difficult, but I find I’m not translating like I used to either, which is really nice (and less headaches). I think that the more I read and talk in Spanish the more I find myself entering into the Spanish speaking world and forgetting the appropriate word in English.

My thoughts are, my language for now is Spanish (because we are in Ecuador), my head needs to get used to it so the more I speak, the more I read, and the more coffee I drink in Spanish settings will all help me speak clearer and sharper than before.

If you’re learning a language and are frustrated, don’t give up, think of it as the best thing you can do to be understood. Oh, and my thoughts are, you don’t understand until you know you don’t understand (I used to think I understood everything, but then I started hearing clearer and realised I really didn’t understand), until then keep up the hard work.

What’s been your experience of learning a language?

And I wonder why my English is failing so much...

House hunting

The priority upon our return to Loja was to get a house before the kids start at school. Well after a few weeks we have found a place and we are about the move in soon. However, before we show you photos of what we are about to move into I thought a look at some of the houses that didn’t seem right. Here are some places that weren't quite right because of distance from the centre, safety features, space, darkness, and even price!!