Sorry for the missed day in posting, yesterday we went to a village out of the city so I didn´t have access to internet.



So after my last post, we made our way to one of the markets in downtown Quito where I was able to buy some really cool handmade items.



Yesterday was by far, the best day here so far. We went to a town about an hour from where we are staying called Muchachi to a church plant out there to help with the vacation bible school. When we first got there I didn´t have high expectations for how the day was going to turn out. I spend the first hour or so sitting the back while some locals talked, and for a couple of songs members from our group helped with motions. After all that we made our way to a park that was a 5 minute walk from the church with a four year old boy in arm. When we got there we began to give away the little bottles of bubbles that I brought with me- such simple things bring such joy to these kids, it´s incredible. After giving away all the bubbles we continued to play with the kids for about an hour and a half. In which time 3 adorable five year old girls became incredibly attached to me and weren´t happy unless I was holding them, they were sitting on my leg or on my shoulders. While extremely exhausting it was such a blessing to be able to show these children love. We then made our way back to the church, of course, not without one of the three girls on my shoulders. On the way back one of the other girls ran into one of the many tiny stores that adorn most streets and gave Heather and I each a lolipop- sometimes the smallest gestures mean the most, especially when from people who have very little. When we got back to the church we gave out toys to the children that we had brought with us, little toy cars for the boys and little stuffed animals for the girls. Once again, I was amazed at how capivated these kids got by the smallest things. After this our group got called to the back of the churchso we could go eat lunch, before leaving I ran upfront to say goodbye to the kids I had spent time with.

We then all made our way to a small detached building of the church where we were fed the best meal we´ve had here so far- a sort of mexican fried rice and chicken. A couple of us voiced our concerns and somewhat guilt that we were eating so well while being unsure of whether some of the children would get a hot meal when they got home. Cecilia, who grew up here(ecuador) but now lives in the U.S. assured us that it is just the hospitality here- that whenever there are visitors they always provide the best that they possibly can for the. After lunch we caught a bus back to Quito- but on our way to the bus stop we saw two of the three little girls standing in front of there house, they ran out to me and hugged my leg, I told them goodbye one more time and we were on our way. Once back in Quito we went to a supermarket so some of us could get some food to bring back to the US (yes Jo, I got your Inca Cola!). After we made our way back to the house and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Today we went to Dulce Refugio and distributed a lot of the clothing that we had brought down with us. It was a joy to hand out clothes to the kids. Some who needed it more than others. It´s acts like this that make you realize the excess of our lives in America. After this we went to the park where a lot of the kids already were, we then gave away candy to each kid. Which started off organized, then turned into the kids surrounding me begging for more. I eventually had to say no mas, no mas (no more) to the kids even though I still had some left. After that we were served our last meal at the church, because sadly, it was our last day of work while down here.

At first I was kind of disappointed at the fact that we were only going to be working for 4 days while down here. But upon giving all of the donations away, I was beyond content with what we accomplished. So much good will happen in the lives of these kids with the supplies that we were able to bring down with us.

Sorry for such a long post, I have to get going, the group is waiting!

With love,
Nick Martino