Not a whole lot of new things to report, except that yesterday all of us Taylor students decided to explore the city all by ourselves! We were very proud that we took all the right buses and everything! It was a great time of group bonding, and "following our hearts" around the city. We stopped by a gorgeous little flower market and bought flowers for our families. Flowers here are dirt cheep, and I have a feeling I will be taking advantage of that fact as often as I can. (I included some pictures on facebook, sorry blogwhatever is still being silly.) We also found our selves in a Panedaria (bakery) trying a variety of different breads and such. SOoo good! OH! And I also must report that our group was ATTACKED by some Carnival-ers throwing Bombas de aguas (water balloons).
Note: Carnival is a HUGE holiday here. It's similar to Mardi Gras, in that it is a time of celebration before the beginning of Lent. However, here, they celebrate by throwing water balloons, shooting squirt guns, dumping water on people, and pushing people into pools. I have been warned by my host dad, that he will be pushing me into a pool this weekend....hahaha. Apparently, I am going with my family and their extended family to the country this weekend, for Carnival. I am told that we're going to swim, play volleyball, and "play carnival." So exciting! And, one of the other Taylor girls, Claire, is staying with my host-dad's sister, so she will be there too!
I would like to share that last night I watched my first Spanish tele-novela (soap opera). It was so funny. After dinner, my mom came into my room saying, "Lindsay! Vamos a mirar tv. Quires?" (Lindsay, we're going to watch tv, do you want to come?) Well, of course I did! In short, it was HILARIOUS. This show, Peptio Feo (Ugly Pepito) was like the O.C. in South America, except all the girls looked about 13 and all the guys looked about 25. Ridiculous.
This morning, we all got together and talked about our schedule for the semester. It's really exciting to see it all down on paper finally. Before, we really had no idea what was going down, but I think I speak for all of us in saying we're really pleased. We will be starting our Spanish classes next Wednesday (after Carnival) and Physiology will start the next Monday. I guess, for the first month we will have our physiology class in English, and we will cover the entire book. But then, we will begin the physiology class again in Spanish with other Ecuadorian students who are taking it for the first time. Yikes! They also have numerous trips planned for us such as going to Quito, the Galapagos Islands, Incan Ruins, and...the JUNGLE (I have ALWAYS wanted to go to the jungle)!!!
I think that's all for now. I am going to go with Sarah (another Taylor student) to reload our phone cards...I ran out when I was talking to my mom last night...sorry mama!
~Linds

For some reason the world wide web is not my friend today. I could only load my pictures to facebook!!?!? and not here.... If you do not have facebook, I'm sorry. Maybe someone you know does!

Buenos Dias,

Before I write anymore, I would like to ask you all to please be in prayer for my host family. I did not really understand what was going on until my mom explained it me the other day. Last week, an MRI of my sister, Carolina’s, brain revealed a 2mm tumor on her pituitary gland. It was discovered because she is missing a growth hormone which was shown by some blood tests that she had done. And also, on top of that stress, my mom, Maria, has had an awful cold/flu which Carolina caught as well as of yesterday. Thank you for your prayers.

Ok…aside from all that, we have had some great experiences so far. Let’s see, where did I leave off? Oh! So, I arrived in Cuenca on Saturday around noon. We were all picked up by our host families and taken home. My home is beautiful. WARNING: I will be using that word a lot, because there is no other English word that I know of to use to describe things that I see here. So, I will include some pictures I took of my home, so you can picture it better. It is a very cool split level home, that all sort of flows together. My room (I have my own room and bathroom!) is tucked away behind the kitchen and it overlooks the backyard and yes, the BEAUTIFUL mountainside.

After showing my around the house, and letting call my mom, who, let me just add, EMAILED them saying, (in naggy mom voice) “Pleasssee have Lindsay call me when she gets there…I need to know she’s safe…” hahahah. Oh, mom, I wouldn’t forget… ummm, oh yeah, so after that, they took me to their Grandma’s house for lunch. Lunch is a big deal here. Lunch is like family dinner in the states. So, my first authentic Ecuadorian meal: chicken, rice (of course!), I forgot the name but it was this big corn stuff with eggs and other things in it, avocado (yum!), tomato juice (but NOT our tomatoes, they are very sweet, kind of taste like oranges, and they told me they grow of trees), and potatoes. Muy delisioso. Afterwards, I just sort of sat and talked with my brother Sebas (it’s short for Sebastian). He is a lot of fun, and is really good about talking slow for me and asking me questions. Once we got home, I unpacked my things and such, and then we had “dinner.” Do not be deceived. Dinner is actually a cup of hot chocolate and perhaps a piece of bread. I really like the meals here. I am hungry when we do eat, but it just makes more sense not to eat so much in the evening. Later that night, I watched a movie with Sebas and Carolina. It was in English, but we had Spanish subtitles. It was actually very helpful to read along in Spanish.

Sunday, we went to church. The church is called Verbo Iglesisa. It was started by missionaries about 20 years ago, I think. However, it did not start really growing until about 10 years ago. At that point they grew from about 100 to 200, and then continued to grow exponentially. Now they have about 1800 members, and are one of 2 Evangelical Christian churches in all of Cuenca. They also have dozens of different ministries, including a medical ministry which is where we will eventually be helping out. I will also share how Taylor first got involved with this group; because I think it is such a cool story. Dr. Moore, the director of the biology department at Taylor, and his family decided to host a foreign exchange student for a year when their son (who now attends Taylor) was in High school. The student they ended up hosting, Diego, was from Cuenca, Ecuador. It is evident that God’s hand was in this process because most of the students from Verbo Iglesia are involved in a foreign exchange program in North Eastern part of the states, but for whatever reason Diego decided to try a different one. Diego’s father is an elder at Verbo Iglesia, and also a medical doctor, who is a big part of the medical ministry that they have. So, at the end of Diego’s stay with the Moore family, Dr. Moore decided to ask if there would be any possibility of bringing a group of bio students down to see their work. This led to the Moore’s visiting Cuenca that summer, making an instant close relationship with Diego’s family as well as the entire church family. The next year, the Moore’s brought their first J-term Lighthouse team down to help with Medical brigades. And the rest is history. We are now the 3^rd group of students to come for a semester; the 2^nd group of semester students were actually studying business. Taylor’s ties with Cuenca, Ecuador and Verbo Iglesia continue to grow.

So! Sunday was church! (That was a long bunny trail). Their worship is very lively. It was so cool to be able to (actually understand the words I was singing) but also to worship the Lord in a very new and different culture with a totally different group of brothers and sisters in Christ. It was actually a pretty special sermon that week, because they were welcoming a new elder to the church, so the sermon was centered around the importance and significance of elders. After church, we had lunch at home, and then Sabes took me for a ride around their neighborhood on their moped! The rest of the day, was spent around the house, I took a nap, visited with the family, etc.

Monday and Tuesday were less exciting. We did get to go into the city, eat helado (ice cream), ride taxis and buses, see the university where we will be studying, and a couple of other cool sites. Pictures will better describe them…if I can figure out how to do it. Grr the internet is not doing what I tell it to.

I miss you all! P.S. did I mention that the one thing I forgot was my computer’s battery cord…estoy estupida. Good thing I have the most popular laptop model of the century and one of the other girls has the same one. She is sharing with me.

In Christ,

Lindsay

Hola Amigos!

Hola Amigos!

I will start by saying that I am safe and have been enjoying very much this beautiful country of Ecuador! We arrived in the city of Guayaquil around midnight on Saturday morning (I believe it’s the same time as IN, one hour ahead of MN). We stayed that night at a hotel in downtown Guayaquil. The next morning before we took off, we walked down the street to this park that was full of iguanas! How cool!? Then we made the beautiful drive through the mountains to Cuenca. I have never really experienced true mountains, or driving through them, and although a little nerve racking with their driving tendencies, their beauty is too much for words. For awhile, there was too much fog to see past the road we were on, but perhaps I should be more thankful for that than I know. As we zoomed up the roads, swerving around other cars and piles of rocks that had fallen from the mountain it may have been too much to see actually how far up we were. Eventually, the clouds cleared a bit, and the lush landscape of Ecuador was revealed. By then we were past the tree line, but land was covered with vibrant green grasses blowing in the wind and beautiful trickling streams interspersed about the slopes. Every once in awhile you would see one of the streams cascading off of a cliff as its own single water fall. Que lindas! (how beautiful!)
My family is great. I have a mom and dad (Maria de Lores, and Morris) and younger brother and sister (Sebas and Carolina). They are 16 and 11. They have all been very welcoming and accommodating, but Sebas especially has been a wonderful host. He is really good about talking slow with me and loves to ask me about english words too. On Sunday, he even took me on a little ride on his moped. So fun! And beautiful. Man. I will post pictures when I have more time.
These last couple of days we have been in meetings and getting acquainted with the city. I will post more later, but until then, I love you all!
~Lindsay

I'm posting my first blog!!! AGhhh. Well, I'm still in Indiana. So nothing exciting is happening yet. But I think I'm going to start packing today. Cool!