But the biggest adjustment was definitely living and serving my host family. I had a host mom- Mercedes (34), a host sister- Silvana (16), and 2 host brothers- Josue (14) and Anderson (13) and not to mention my host dog- Osita-(4 months) which means little bear. They were very welcoming and added me to their family from the first night I stayed with them. They shared everything they had with me- including their one room wooden house and the bed Silvana and I shared every night. Living without real privacy- i.e. the outside shower which was made every time someone wanted to bathe out of aluminum sheets from the roof or the fact that when i wanted to change I had to go to the outside which still didn't have a door and therefore was still open to a section of the neighborhood- for two weeks was a very hard and challenging experience, especially when I think of that I am accustomed to my own room and bathroom at home in the states. I also had to learn how to save potable water as we didn't have any sort of safe water to use at the house. Sometimes we wouldn't even have any water for days at a time. For example- my last week there we didn't have water for the 5 days and so we had to collect rainwater to use for cooking and cleaning! Watching my host bothers run around the house to find the aluminum shower walls/roof sheets to make a water chute was definitely a different experience for me.
Sometimes their lifestyle was so different than mine I didn't know how to help or serve them without looking like a complete fool. Cooking was in this category since we used the floor as a cutting board and rainwater for soup broth. I also had to figure out what things were ok to ask and what things could come across as rude. I learned early on from observation not to ask if we were eating 'meriendas' or dinner because we just didn't have money for it, food to cook or time to prepare anything. Life in Tena was very much just watching, listening and learning from my host family- if they ate I ate, if they got ready for bed without dinner or even brushing their teeth then that's what I did too. Living a life of watching and copying, for even just 2 weeks, was exhausting since you can't really do things on your time or ways. But God was so faithful and provided me with energy and strength to copy their customs and ways with a open heart and mind. Another difference in lifestyle that I had to adjust to was the pace of the day. I helped my host mom at her little, tiny store in the market that sold household supplies all day. She works there from 7am to 7pm with maybe a total of 15 customers all day and gross daily profit of $50. Sitting in the little 'tienda' or store all day was very hard for me, an efficient and busy minded American. It was hard to just sit there and 'waste my time' and feel lazy, or at least that's how it felt to me, but then I had to remind myself that this business style is a cultural difference and that I am not wasting my time but instead learning how to live in another culture. From my exposure in the market I saw how hard my host mom works everyday without a break or weekends. This time of hard work is foreign to most people who are used to the ways of corporate America. It was good to see this difference and to see how these people are anything but lazy- we go hard all day long to just go to sleep and do it all over again. Working at the market was a good way to culturally re-define the word hard work.
Church was another huge part of my experience with my host family. We went to church almost every other night for about 2.5-3 hrs at a time. The church we attended is a very small but close knit church with a heart to reach the people of Tena. I really appreciated the time we were at church because we got to fellowship with other believers, I got to practice Spanish a lot and lastly for my-human-and-selfish reason because we didn't have to be in the one room house with one small light bulb at night for too long. One Sunday the whole church took a road trip to another city in the Jungle- Macas- for a joint worship service with 5 other churches from the 'El Oriente' region. We had a great worship service at a nice touristy resort and witnessed baby dedications and adult baptisms. It was good to see my family enjoy themselves in this 'upscale' resort.
Taylor and I also had another job to do in Tena besides learning the culture. We were sent to a small, impoverished community called 'Viente-Uno de Enero' or January 21 to do a social needs assessment. We talked with and interviewed a handful of women in the community to hear what the needs, struggles and problems are for them and their children. There are about 200 households in the community with about 5-6 kids per household. We went into Viente- Uno to see and hear about the needs to aid a pastor in Tena who wants to plant a church there. He wants some background information about the community so that a church there can really engage the neighborhood instead of just giving cliche and superficial answers to perceived problems. Working in Viente-Uno was a hard task but we have faith that God will use our work for His glory while we are here in Ecuador or down the road.
My home stay was great because I made good relationships with my host sister and her best friend Sarita, but it sometimes a difficult adjustment emotionally, physically, and spiritually. There were many times when I was in a situation that looked like a snapshot from a national geographic spread on poverty. Two examples of this are when I played soccer with my host brothers and their friends in our neighborhood. The soccer 'field' was a dirt square right next to a pond of stagnant water/ or as some people out here say "malaria water". This pond undoubtedly was fed by rainwater and waste water from the surrounding houses' outhouses. Yet we played soccer and almost every other kick the ball would go sailing into this pond of waste and the boys would fish it out with a branch and just continue to play with it as if it wasn't covered in diseases. I tried my best to not act disgusted but sometimes there were times when I couldn't touch the ball. Needless to say, this experience was something I thought I would just see through a photographers lens. I never thought I would be a part of the game, but it was fun and my team won :) The second 'national geographic' experience was when we didn't have water one day and we had to wash our clothes in the river. The river was about a 15 min walk away and quite murky and brown, but we washed our clothes there anyways. I learned how to find a good stone to use a table to lather the clothes on, how to smack the clothes on the water to get rid of stains and how to rinse the clothes in the murky water to make them appear clean. I didn't know if what we were doing was actually cleaning the clothes but it was a 2 hour duty that was very challenging' especially since we were sitting next to a dirty diaper that was in the river and the bugs were horrible. Again, never did I think I would be washing my clothes down in the river but God was good and allowed me to experience it and grow from it.
Overall my time in Tena was good, but hard and challenging. I am so happy I did it and also very happy to be back home in Quito :) Thanks for all your prayers and support during my time in the Jungle! God is good and faithful!
We are so proud of you, Lea! You helped to further the gospel and to open doors for the gospel by humbling yourself and stepping into the lives of one of His precious families. They will NEVER forget you.
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