Soul Care Day! Part 1

 Back in May, Dana asked me to lead a Soul Care Day for the Quito Quest interns on July 20.  I began to pray immediately that God would lead and guide my spirit, thoughts and planning in every way that it would really be HIM leading the day through me, and that I would be his vessel.  The idea of what the day would look like unfolded pretty quickly, and the more I prayed, the more the Spirit of God seemed to confirm and affirm that this was His direction.  There were many ideas about location, and I have a favorite spot, that for many years I have dreamed about taking people on retreat, but at this point in the summer, in order to best care for hosts souls and bodies, it seemed most prudent not to have a lot of bus travel (meaning not any) involved in the day.  So, I took them to my absolute favorite spot in the city that can be reached walking--the Botanical Gardens in the center of Parque Carolina.  So at 9:45 we met on the far corner of the park,  I gave a very brief teaching on the benefits of solitude and silence (drawn from a prayer project that I did in one of my classes, my first semester).  Diana helped me with translating some of the concepts that I was a little tentative about in Spanish--and I gave the benefits in both English and Spanish!  This was a huge risk for me in this group as they are pretty merciless jokers about language with each other, and I am not a huge fan of being laughed at!  But I think it was o.k. and they were very gracious.  Then I had them walk in pairs through the park, sharing a hard eucharisteo and a delightful one, and praying for each other as they walked, that God would open their spirits and hearts to what He had for them on this day.
They arrived at the entrance of the Botanical gardens where Brad Miller, a friend, gifted worship leader, and team leader, was awaiting us with his guitar. 

Here we are with Brad praying for our time, and spending time in worship in Spanish and English.  It was a profound time and I sensed God setting a holy tone for our day despite the busloads of children that unloaded for a field day, right on top of us!  

 Brad and his wife Sandi are some of the most gifted worship leaders I have ever had the privilege of being led by.  They really have been annointed by God in this ministry.  It was incredible of Brad to take time on a day that he usually works from home, to come down to the park with us and help us start our day in this manner. 

 I wear many hats most days, but in this moment, as I looked across the circle my heart was full of gratitude and emotion as a mother seeing her grown son with his head bowed in worship, singing to His maker, and Saviour.  Thank you God for this eucharisteo to a mother's heart. 

                                                     Ruth and Sofia, summer staffers.

 Ashley and Laura, full time Youth World missionaries.  Ashley and her husband are working with Quito Quest this summer.  Laura helped with training at the beginning, but joined us because she wanted to spend extended time with God and take advantage of a guided solo retreat.  It was a joy to have someone come of their own free will!  It blessed me in a particular way.  Another of the many eucharisteos of the day!

 The beauty of this place leaves me with few words.  I will allow some of these pictures to stand on their own.

 Reflections continue to be a theme of my summer (and life).  What still water can reflect is wonderous.  Help my life be still enough to reflect you Lord.  This day was about stilling ourselves before the Lord....so He could expose what He needed to, and cleanse, fill, restore, refresh, and allow a pure reflection of His love to those we serve, and those around us.

 We spent time in Psalm 51 and Ps. 139 and with the Prayer of Intention.  Diana translated the prayer projects from English into Spanish, and we had the Prayer of Intention in Spanish too.  This way people could be doing the prayer project in their heart language.  I was grateful to Diana for her help in this, it would have taken me forever, and I still wouldn't have gotten it right exactly with nuances and all.  She has an incredible gift of speaking English flawlessly and Spanish is her first language.  She has lived in the States as well.  Diana works with Semester Abroad during the year setting up the internships, and homestays, and maintaining these important relationships as well as pouring into students.  It has been a eucharisteo for me to get to know this lovely young woman of God! 

                                              Apparently the birds like this bench as well!

 Chance, another of the summer staff, with his Bible and prayer project.  In and of itself, it was eucharisteos abounding for me to walk through the gardens and see interns tucked away, spending time with God.  I prayed throughout the day for each of them, and it was such a wonderful gift to my soul.

 I also got time to sit on one of the many benches interspersed through this secret-garden-like place.  This is my list of eucharisteos!  My little book that I am filling with the gifts that God is giving, on a hunt to be more aware, asking Him to bring thankfulness to this soul of mine, by making me aware of the many things He has already given, and is giving every day.

 In the jungle you often see people walking along in the rain with one of these leaves being used as their umbrella--true story!  That is how huge they are.

 The rose garden, with Pichincha in background, and a glimpse of high rises.  But you can completely forget that you are in the city in this magical place. 

One of my prayers for many years now has been, Lord, make me a river of living water!  I always picture that river having waterfalls just like this, that allow you to hear the river flowing.  One of my favorite sounds is water, either waves, or water in a fountain, or a river!  Another eucharisteo of the day.

Grace Gifts in different sizes and shapes!

 One of the many grace gifts of doing Dana and Andres' wedding flowers was being able to rescue flowers that were going to be dumped, bring them home and play!  I was able to fill our home with flower arrangements that I redid or using left overs.  There were flowers in every bathroom, in kitchen, living room, dining room, and bedrooms.  It was like the good ol' days here.

 On Monday of this last week, Austin and Gaby brought their team over for dinner.  Here they are on our roof, where they got to go see the city at sunset, enjoy a few of the mountains that were out, and spectacular clouds that were full of color.  You will see Ethan and Cody Underwood on either side of Austin in the middle of the picture!  It was nice of Cody to wear Raiders colors!  I guess he wanted to make Phil feel less alone!  :)  Tee Hee!

 Here they are!  The mountain that you can kind of see above Ethan's head is Cotopaxi--a snow covered volcano.  Below Cody is a glimpse of Gaby.

 Now you see why Gaby and Austin really are the long and the short of it!  I think Austin was even taller than her when he was on his knees!  She is a dynamic young lady who is engaged to be married in October.  She grew up in Argentina, but is from Ecuador originally.  She talks just like Phil's Dad and Aunts!

 This has been the spot where I have started many mornings with a cup of coffee and my Bible!  It has a breathtaking view of the mountains and a view of the city as well.  The sun streams in in the early morning, in fact this morning it is too hot for me to be sitting there, I had to move.  Below I have allowed you to see what I see as best a Camera allows!  Taking time to connect to God and allow Him to fill me each day is a non-negotiable and it is what sustains and keeps me.  When you pray you engage in such important partnership with people who are doing ministry in a cross cultural setting, because you are like Aaron and Hurr holding Moses' arms up when he became weary.  Thank you to those of you who pray for us, for me.  Thank you to those of you who pray for other missionaries around the world.  Know that your prayers are the reason that they can keep going!

Beauty!

 In the last two years in my program at Talbot, I have learned so much about the importance of beauty, and it's role in our lives.  It has been wonderful for me to realize that far from being unspiritual (as I had long been led to believe) caring about beauty has the power of integrating fragmented parts of our souls, and part of our being made in God's image.  So attending to beauty, enjoying it, soaking it in, is indeed part of the imagio deo in me!  What a sweet freedom this has given me to develop rather than diminish or stifle a big part of my make up, soul, spirit!  I had some fun playing with editing stuff, and special affects with the above photograph.  I just absolutely love this picture.  The pictures I share below were glimpses in my day that were full of beauty and turned my heart to God with thanksgiving for all the beauty that surrounds me all the time.  I was beyond thankful for the opportunity to work with so many beautiful flowers.  I thought I would share a few snatches of the day that took my breath away.  Pictures can never fully capture, the light, and ambience etc.  But this is a shot at including some of those moments for you to enjoy.

 This is one of my favorite flowers!  I love growing hydrangeas in the garden.  But what a treat to work with them for Dana's wedding.

 What my little camera did not capture was the amazing way the sunlight was pouring across this fountain and flowers as the sun was setting late on Saturday afternoon.  It really made me stop and catch my breath as I walked by. 

Again, it was the sunlight that took this scene and made it pop for me!  Such beauty in the simplicity of water in a glass catching rays of golden sunlight!  I stopped my running to take this moment in as I did all of these moments above.  It doesn't cost anything to stop and savor.  Ironically, it can cost everything not to! 

Reception Fun!

 Beth and Carleigh, Paul and Jack!  Dana had little gift bags for each of the kids full of fun things to do to help keep them entertained!  A very thoughtful bride!

 Roberto was the dj and sound guy!  What an incredible job he did.  He knows good music, and how to mix great songs for maximum fun!

 Sarah, myself, Abby, Cameron, and Stephanie!  We were trying to get a pic of Christy and Dana with us as well as Sandi, but that was a challenge. 

 Just as we finished the above picture Dana walked by so those of us still around got to have a picture with the bride!  Yeah! 

 And then we found Christy and Sandi!  But Sarah had disappeared--hard to get everyone at the same time!

 Sandi and Laura and I!  Tired, but happy!  It had been a great night!

 Phil and Austin, definitely tired!  Not much dancing left in these guys!

 Ruby and Edwin cutting it up on the dance floor.  These two host our semester students in their home for homestays and do a great job.  They own a transportation company and had ferried around all Dana's guests for their time in Ecuador!  They are a neat couple, who love to laugh.

The send off!  We had sparklers and lined up in a row, and Dana and Andres ran through the gauntlet and got in their car!  The end of a great evening!

More about last weekend and wedding! Caution:detail intense

 We got to decorate this great fountain with flowers.  This was in the courtyard that the house was built around, and everyone came through this area to get out to the back where the reception was.

 The entrance from the parking lot (large field above the place).  Notice the shepherds hooks with hanging hydrangeas on either side!  The finished product of us having carried around those hooks all over the place (i blogged about it earlier)  Fausto, a friend form here, made these!  He did a fantastic job.

 It is late afternoon on Saturday, and guests are beginning to arrive.  I still was not finished with everything!  Phil was keeping cars going to the right place, and I had just finished some touches on the entry way, and I ran up and grabbed this opportunity to get a picture!  Phil and Austin came out midday to help with chairs, and last minute things.  Amazing!  We ended up having to move all the chairs from out under the trees to inside tents at the last min. as a little sprinkle shower passed by.  They were invaluable.

                                                               My handsome boy!

                                                            My two handsome men!

 This pictures is a little dark, but it is the alter table.  The neat thing about this is that this table is one of my favorite pieces of furniture.  Amber and Derek also used it to hold their communion for their wedding.  I have had this antique table since we first came to Ecuador and Phil and I found it on one of our many outings trying to furnish our home.  I tracked it down and got it out of storage so Dana and Andres could use it to.  It has been fun to have it in the Tassy's place this summer.  A little touch of home.

 One of Austin and Phil's jobs was to move the hanging hydrangeas from the entry way to the reception area after the ceremony.  Their were hanging hydrangeas all along the aisle that got moved into the reception area as well.  They were the little ghosts that helped with this job.

 Dana and her Dad coming down the "aisle"

                       Stephanie and Abby all dressed up!  How beautiful are these girls!

 Sandi and Brad!  Sandi was co-ordinating everything, and this was a moment that I got a chance to see her sitting down! :) 

                                                               Dana and Christy!

                                                         Me with the bride and groom!

Here is the bride and groom sitting in their spots!  Note the hanging hydrangeas!  Another "after" shot to follow the "before" one of earlier!