God is faithful!

It is an incredible blessing to see how faithful God is in aligning dreams with His will. When I think back to when this desire to do missions began it was the summer after my senior year in high school when I went on a mission trip to Peru! Since then I have had many opportunities to serve, but never in the way that this journey is about to unfold. I have been praying about where I am supposed to be and how I am supposed to serve God, but I was waiting on His timing. There are so many unique pieces that have fit together to get me to this beautiful place and if one hadn't happened, I wouldn't be here in Ecuador. After Christmas everything with preparing to arrive at Casa de Fe happened really fast. Once the paperwork all arrived, it was time to meet with the Ecuadorian Consulate and they were incredibly helpful, they did everything they could to give me pointers and help the process go faster than I could have ever asked them to! God heard my prayers and far surpassed the what I could have hoped for in this process. Since they were so awesome, I was able to coordinate with my future roommate and book my plane ticket on Saturday. The departure day was set for January 23^rd and there wasn't time to waste! The time in between Saturday and Wednesday was spent with my family, extended family, friends, packing, and running errands. I enjoyed doing some of my favorite things such as playing games with my family, eating, watching my cousins play basketball, thrifting, and participating in the Concordia Alumni Meet! I was overwhelmed by the love and support from all of you around me, I seriously could not have asked for a more positive and encouraging time, THANK YOU! I know the Lord has gone before me, and when Wednesday morning came I was still filled with peace and excitement to go. I got to spend the night in Quito with a missionary family and it was nice to have a place to sleep where I could lay down, it is important to remember the simple joys!

View of Quito, Ecuador

When I woke up this morning Cheralyn and I found out that we had a group to go validate our visas and ride to Shell with which was great news. This whole experience has been a sweet opportunity to trust God each and every step of the way! Since I haven't known what is coming next and haven't control over the circumstances it has been great to see how He works things together for good!!! The wait to get our visas approved was quite long, however, we were able to get them submitted that day which was a huge blessing that didn't look very promising at first! We arrived at our apartment in Shell pretty late tonight, but we had good company and a nice comfortable ride there. Once we brought all of our stuff in to the house we got a little tour and I started getting settled in. I have a cute little room towards the back of the house with a bunk bed! My room reminds me of three great things; first sharing a room with my big sister way back when we were little, second bunking with Bethany in college, and third of camp! It also smells a lot like camp here in the house which is really kind of nice :) I have gotten settled in by unpacking, hanging up pictures and encouraging notes, and organizing my stuff. I was so very excited to find a lovely card from my family hidden in my bag as I was unpacking, it was such a lovely surprise! There will definitely be some small adjustments to make while I am here, but I am excited to embrace them and see what the Lord teaches me through each one. A few of the most noticeable things to me right now are throwing my toilet paper in the garbage (I am doing pretty good so far), not drinking water out of the faucet, and getting used to little ants running all over the place!