Another week in Ecuador has flown by! Writing these weekly reports is a lovely way to reflect on how God has been working in our lives here, and we’re thankful for his daily blessings. We stayed at the campamento at the weekend instead of going back to Santo Domingo, to allow any unrest to settle down (explained in the previous report), and although we would’ve liked to go back to the city to attend church and work with the community there, we’re grateful for the rest time that we’ve had here together.

We’ve definitely eaten well this week – after showing Hermana Nelly a picture of traditional British fish & chips, she cooked up a storm with Lily, serving a delicious Ecuadorian version of our much-loved classic! I think Nelly noticed how much we enjoyed it (especially the chips!) and made fried chicken that would rival a KFC for lunch on Sunday. We’ve all loved learning how to cook with Nelly and are excited to make some traditional Ecuadorian dishes for our families when we get home!

We’ve continued working to get water connected to the house this week, and the progress is quite promising – hopefully, there won’t be too many more river washes before we can have a proper shower! When it’s finished, we plan to start building new fences in and around the campamento.

There have been a few very rainy afternoons where we’ve entertained ourselves by playing 4 square and Uno – which gets very competitive! On Wednesday, Kate and Charlotte shared some of their Welsh culture with us by making Welsh cakes for everyone, they went down very well! It’s been lovely to learn about lots of different cultural traditions in the last few weeks.

As we were at the camp on Sunday, we watched a live stream of Lily’s home church in Reading. Milton and Nelly were eager to see what an English service was like and we think they enjoyed it! After church, we went for a swim in the river and played some ball games together in the sun. It was great to relax and re-energize ready for another week of work.

Another highlight was meeting the newest member of the campamento – Leo, a calf who was born on the farm on Monday morning. He was so sweet!

We’re thankful for continued good health and lots of time together as a team this week. Please pray for our safety as we return to Santo Domingo this weekend, energy for working at the campamento and progress with our Spanish speaking so that we can build friendships with the university students from church. Also for God’s guidance as we start teaching in local schools next week and work with the kids’ groups in the local community. Pray that everyone around us will see the light of Jesus through everything we do.

¡Gracias!

Abi, Charlotte, Kate, Lily and Jessie