I’m currently sitting in our plane about to take off from Quito. I have been assigned the task of recapping our day.
Our group boarded the bus at 8:30 a.m. sharp and left for Buen Pastor. Upon arrival, Tommy, JH, and Jack took the altar and conducted a morning devotion. The guys discussed the importance of helping those in need through the use of personal anecdotes. It was quite clear that they were speaking from the heart.
Once the devotion had concluded, next on the schedule were home visits. Basically, we divided into groups and each group would visit the home of a parishioner of Buen Pastor who benefitted from some hopeful moments.
My group visited the home of a 91 year old Ecuadorian woman located not far from the church. Her situation was especially unfortunate. Due to the fact that the woman had owned the home for more than 40 years, the landlord could not legally evict her from the property without paying the woman somewhere in the region of $15,000 to $20,000. Unsurprisingly, the landlord refused to pay this hefty price and opted to go with the alternative option, which is to simply wait for the woman to die. Unable to cultivate plants, the woman depends on her 60 year old son to pay the rent. All things considered, the son does not currently have a steady job, as his only source of income is offering labor at the local markets. He pulls up to the market and asks vendors if he can help them unload rice or skin chickens in exchange for a small wage. One thing that stood out to me about these people was that despite the tough situation they were in, I could detect that they still had faith in God. Looking around the place, the only picture she had in her bedroom was a small black and white illustration of Jesus on the cross.
Once all the groups had returned to the church, we sat down for lunch. Much to the delight of several of my fellow missionaries, the chefs served us fried chicken and French fries.
After lunch, we all went into the church. It was there that the people of Buen Pastor bid their last farewell to our group. The Ecuadorians suddenly began blessing our feet in what would be a very touching display of compassion and prayer. Hugs were exchanged, tears were shed, and before we knew it, we were on our way to the Artisan Market as the bus left Buen Pastor for the last time.
The market was an experience that I’m going to assume the majority of the people on the trip were not used to. There, we were able to bargain with the vendors over the price of their products. Personally, I was impressed with my bargaining skills, as I was able to get a $22 sweater down to $11, but decided not to buy it in the end. Our time in the market would eventually end. We returned to the hostel looking like the true American tourists we are (many of us were dressed in the new Ecuadorian clothing we had just purchased).
After showering up, we gathered for the final debrief of the trip. We spent a good chunk of our time reminiscing on all the things that had happened since we arrived on Friday night. It wasn’t until the end of our final debrief that we started to discuss the serious stuff. One of the questions asked was whether or not we felt as if we were blind before this trip to the harsh realities of poverty. The majority of the group said that they were indeed blind before the trip and this week in Ecuador had exposed them to levels of poverty that are practically unheard of in Tallahassee.
Once again, tears were shed as Pablo and Danishi, our team leaders, expressed how much they have grown to love us throughout our week in Quito. Shortly after that, the bus was here and it was time to go. At the airport we said our final goodbyes to Pablo and Danishi, as more crying ensued (tears were a very common theme today).
We then checked our bags and hoped on this plane, from where I’m currently writing to you. We are now 36,017 feet above Panama going 526 miles per hour. It’s 1:41 a.m. and I’m absolutely knackered. Can’t wait to see you all tomorrow.
(written by Danny Killeen)
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