We go there every Saturday and have service. Today, after service with one of the families in the community, we walked up the mountain to Manuel's family to visit and worship God with them. 

Now, what you must understand is, from up on the mountain, Manuel's family has a great view and can see the Ranchera when it comes. However, it takes 30 minutes walking to actually get to where the Ranchera is. So, we have to leave their home in time to get down the mountain and cross the river, so as not to miss the Ranchera.

But today, we were having such a great worship and Bible study, that we lost track of time. Suddenly one of the children shouted, "The Ranchera is here!" Oh no!! We can't miss it. It's our only way out. So, we grabbed our things and started hurrying down the mountain, running in our rubber boots, crossing the river, all the while yelling, "Espere, Aguanta (Wait, Hold on)!!" We also sent one of the children ahead to let the driver know we were coming.

However, the driver could not hear our yells, and we could not reach him in time. He left without us. As we watched him drive away from high on the mountain, our hearts sank for a moment. We had walked the 2 hours in and were exhausted to have to walk the 2 hours back out again (it's all up hill). But today, we knew in our hearts we had no choice. So, we said to each other, "We'll just walk out".  We accepted it and were at peace with it, knowing that God would give us the strength to do it.

But no quicker than we'd said we'd walk....a miracle happened! The Ranchera came back! Sis. Gladis was walking down the mountain with us (as they usually do, to see us off), and she said, "It's a miracle! It's a miracle from God!!" As long as they have lived there, she said the Ranchera has NEVER come back! EVER!!!!

You can guess that we were praising God at that moment!! Turns out, someone in the community below knew we were up on the mountain and would not be staying the night, and he insisted that the driver of the Ranchera go back for us. Talk about God taking care of us! It really was a miracle! God had honored our willingness to walk, even though the physical challenge seemed more than we could handle that day, and He sent the Ranchera back for us! A verse I love in Spanish says, "Que Dios es GRANDE como NUESTRO Dios??" ("What God is GREAT like OUR GOD?!!) Psalm 77:10.

It was a very hot day, and we had lots of hard work ahead of us. We were making a lovely walkway to the church door, and had to carry bags of sand that weighed nearly 200 lbs each! We worked so hard and sweated so much. We were proud of the walkway, but the sun was 'whipping' us. We were SO THIRSTY!!!

We rested often so as not to dehydrate. We tried to think of anything that might have water in it that we could eat from the jungle. And we said outloud, "Oh, if we had sugar cane on our land, that would quench our thirst. It has lots of water in it! Oh, just one piece of sugar cane!" But alas, we have no sugar cane on our land.

After nearly 4 hours of much hard labor, and literally ending our work due to our thirst, our neighboring friends arrived home. They saw us and immediately came over to visit. As we chatted with the parents of our day, the 2 older boys ran off for a little while. When they returned, completely unaware of our dire need for water, you'll never guess what each had in their hands!?! Yes, HUGE stalks of delicious sugar cane!!!! We were so excited when they offered it to us!!

We did not pass out or suffer from severe dehydration that day. God provided us with that sugar cane to quench our thirst, just as we had so desired. As we boarded the Ranchera, Charles and I immediately gave thanks to God for always being faithful and never failing to take such good care of us!

The trip to their home is a one hour ride on the Ranchera, then one hour to walk in, treading through knee deep mud, and wading through an almost waist-high river. Therefore, I couldn't so easily turn around and run down to a store and buy them food. Unfortunately, they'd have to wait another day before I could get back to them. My heart ached as I left that visit, knowing the children would all go to bed hungry that night.

Hunger. Such a horrible thing caused by a life of poverty that so many suffer from in this world. We all hear about it, but when it rears its ugly face and looks you straight in the eye, it stares a strong, sad glare that does not easily erase from your mind for quite some time.

So, yes we did bring food to Shirma and her family, and we continue to do so. I like to think that we're playing just a small part in helping to break the ugliness and shame of hunger, helping to release its innocent victims, just a few families at a time.

So, we took them and 4 more siblings on a shoe shopping trip! We had the greatest time. They were so well behaved, and were excited to be getting new school shoes. But it was going to be more of a blessing to them than we knew.

As we waited outside the 'shoe shop' for Charles to pay, the children were glowing and talking about the new shoes they were getting. And Maria said that the shoes Bartolo was wearing were actually 'hand-me-downs' from his older brother and hers, as well, were passed on by a cousin or some relative. I said, almost casually, "Then now, you both will have your own shoes". But they were powerful words to them. Maria repeated them, with her heart aglow, and said, "Yes, we will have our OWN shoes!"

WOW!! We didn't know how much a pair of shoes was going to mean to those children. When many of us have numerous pair, remember the children here who are receiving theirs for the first time ever! 

They were so happy to see us. We had service with them, and what a beautiful move of God blessed them! Then we gave them their 'presents'. As Ecuadorian custom is, you never open your gift in front of the giver. You wait until after they've gone to see what you've received. We didn't tell them what we had brought, just that we had a little something for each of them. As we called each of their names, Gloria, Patricio, Eduardo, Carlos, Mirian, Sarah, Lucia...their smiles got bigger and bigger! And the 'Thank you's' were so sincere.

But it was truly the grins on the faces of Carlos and Eduardo, 4 and 6, that touched me the most. They were absolutely glowing to get that little bag. It didn't even matter to them what was inside it! Just the idea that someone thought of them made their day! Their family is so poor that they don't often receive any types of gifts or presents, as with many families here.

They were literally thrilled over their 'gift' and they didn't even know what it was!! What a lesson for all of us to learn, to appreciate all that we have, even more than we already do. They blessed my heart!

But the sacrifice her parents were making for her, to be given to her as her gift, was the meal they prepared for a late afternoon lunch. As usual, they made rice, and yuca, with fruit juice to drink. But, they also cooked meat. Manuel awoke at 4am to start preparing it, cooking it over an open fire.

When they served it to us, it was very good and we wanted to know what kind of meat it was. So, Manuel took Charles down the mountain to show him the animal. The delicious meat we had just enjoyed was goat meat, from a red goat!!! Manuel had killed it that morning, especially to serve to us, and for Ana's birthday. What a sacrifice her family made for her today, and what a lovely gift it was!