R&R in the Jungle

This past weekend Peter, German and I went with Gonzalo Morocho and his family to the jungle. Gonzalo is the pastor of a small Lutheran church in the city of Paute. He and his family had never been to the jungle before. We had such a neat time of fellowship, and enjoying the beauty of God's creation.

We went to a zoo, walked 3 hrs through the jungle, and spent a lot of time swimming in the rivers. The most difficult part of the trip was that their car broke down on the way home.



My family back in WI had their own adventure this past weekend. It's quite a contrast to the jungle, but it looks like just as fun!  Here are some of their pictures.



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Jungle Flowers

Every time I go to the jungle, I see new more varieties of flowers and plants.  Here are some of the specimens I found this time.

Jungle Fruit

One of the highlights for me of being in the jungle is the exotic fruit.  This time the zapotes and caymitos were in season.  Zapotes are a brown fruit that are just a little larger than a softball.   Inside they have about 5 large seeds and are bright orange.  They taste a little like a mango, but are not quite as juicy.  Zapotes are fairly common in the markets, but I had never harvested them before.  What fun to climb up the tree to look for ripe ones.  It was loaded!

 

The caymitos are even more exotic.  I've hardly ever seen them even here in Cuenca.  They are the size of a small orange, and yellow/green.  Inside they have one black seed with white flesh that has a mellow, very sweet flavor.  The best part of this fruit is 10 minutes after you finish eating it.  Your lips start to stick together.  It's a very strong glue that sticks to your lips and will not wash off with water.  You can either wait it out or rub it off with oil/lard.  We brought home a whole bag of caymitos and I took some to the youth Bible study today.  Hardly any of the youth had ever tasted one before.  It was so much fun to watch their expressions as they began to notice their lips stick together.  We all had a good laugh.  What amazing creativity our Lord has!

Spiritual Emphasis Week

Here's a compilation of all pictures form this last week.  PTL for open hearts, and an awesome time!!!

More pictures from spiritual emphasis week

Spiritual Emphasis Week

It's spiritual emphasis week at the Bilingue school this week.  There are special crafts, activities, chapel services, and movies.  It was a full day on Monday as week kicked off the week. 

 

Please be praying the children would be open to the message and that the Lord would touch hearts.  The focus of the week is our identity in Christ.  In the pictures you can see the story/skit about Gideon's pot.  Through the story the children learn that the Lord wants to use what we think are defects (cracks) in our lives to let His light shine through us.

Sunday afternoon with friends

On Sunday afternoon the Saris invited us over for cui and tripa mischqui.  OK, let's make this clear... the invited us to EAT cui and tripa mishqui.  Cui is guinea pig and tripa mishqui is grilled pig intestine.  While maybe not the typical meat at an American grill-out, they are both typical for Ecuador.  It was wonderful fellowship and tasty food.  I so enjoyed the time.

 

Dario Sari is an elder in the Paz de Dios church, and we've known their family for years.  In fact, my parents worked with Gloria's family before Dario and Gloria were married. 

 

I've included some fun pictures of jumping over a pond and Peter and I posing next to the girls for a size comparison.