All This Time

I’m a junior in college. Can you believe it? I look back on time when I first started and a lot has changed since then, new classmates, professors, classes, hospitals, etc. but something that has not changed it’s my passion for this career.

People ask me if I still like it and my answer is always yes! I thank God for putting the desire in my heart to pursue this dream of becoming a nurse and for amazing people like you who are always willing to give and help to make it happen.

Everything has been good here, busy but good. There’s always something going on in my life, either is my family, friends, ministry, studies or personal life but there’s always something that keeps me busy. A lot has happened since my last post, some of you know about this already but for those of you who don’t here’s a glimpse of what I’ve been up to the past couple of months.

I finished my sophomore year of college with good grades (Praise be the Lord for that) After I finished classes my favorite person came to visit and stayed with us for almost 2 months.

While Ben was here he took a Spanish course in my college. I think it was good for him; it helped him learn more about Ecuador, our culture, traditions and helped him improve his Spanish. He learned how to take the bus and go places by himself (I was very impressed) taking public transportation in Quito is not something a lot of people enjoy.

Even for locals is hard having to take the bus every day, there’s always traffic (Similar to Atlanta traffic) the bus’s limit it is 45 people seated and 45 people standing, giving a total of 90 people but I don’t know how the manage to fit more than 100 people in one bus. Is insane! You can ask Ben.

He also helped at Cristo Liberador church and was part of some activities, such as bible studies, English tutoring classes, cleaning up the church, helping in the kitchen and others. It was really good to have some down time while Ben was here. I needed it!

Hope on the Ground

We had two teams coming during the summer. One was St. Bart’s (North Augusta) and the other one was the Upper South Carolina team ( Trinity Cathedral, St. John’s, St. Peter’s and Christ’s Church)

While St. Bart’s was on the ground I got to spend some time with them. They helped with some projects at Cristo Liberador. Painted a few walls, lead bible studies, helped in the house of one of our parishioners, did some home visits and more. Even though it was a small team they helped a lot!

After they left we had a couple of weeks to prepare for the next team. I was one of the hosts for the Upper South Carolina Team alongside with Kelly and Sebas my cohosts. We had a really good time. They were a team of 28, teens and adults. Bishop Andrew Waldo from the Dioceses of Upper South Carolina came too. What a treat was to have him with us!

One of the main projects we had was taking down the wall behind the altar and putting it back a few steps away from where it was. It made the church look bigger and the altar more spacious. They lead bible studies, built some guinea pig cages, painted the house of one of our parishioners, fixed some tables and did some home visits.

The team joined a group of people from Cristo Liberador in their mission trip to “Penipe” a small town South East from Quito, about 4 hours away. We helped in a catholic orphanage for kids with special needs; we stayed there for 2 days. Painted the soccer field, playground, played with the kids, cooked for them and feed them.

What an experience! It made us realized how blessed we were to be born healthy and in a family that loves us no matter what. Most of the time we take everything for granted (our family, lifestyle, people around us, legs, arms, the ability to talk, walk or others) it’s not until we experience this reality when we finally realized how blessed we are for what you have, it some cases it may not be a lot but for others that’s everything.

We also celebrated Bishop Waldo's Birthday with some cake

Bishop Curry in Ecuador

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry honored us with his visit too. For those of you who don’t know who he is. He is the 27th and current presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church (He is the one who preached at the Royal Wedding) He is a great example of the love of God. He is so passionate about the church, discipleship, leadership and ministry. His Joy is contagious!

He visited our church and had a meeting with the staff of education equals hope, who happily shared what this incredible ministry is all about.

He also got the chance to meet some of the kids from the scholarship program outside on the soccer field while we were having our children’s festival. On Sunday he preached at the Episcopal cathedral and a little bit over 300 hundred people attended.

Before the service he had a meeting with the women of the church and the youth. He answered some of the questions they had about leadership and how to join to the Jesus movement of the Episcopal Church.

What an incredible human being! I had the pleasure to meet him back in 2017 in Oklahoma, since then I’ve been inspired by him and his role in the church. I hope I get so see him again in the future.

Summer in the USA

After a busy summer with teams and projects in the church I went to South Carolina to visit some of my sponsors and churches who have financially supported my education for the past 2 years and also to do some fundraising for my upcoming semesters.

I had an amazing time catching up with friends and making new ones. Even though my visit was short I’m glad I got to visit and help with some programs at Holy Cross church. Thank you to all of you who made my visit an unforgettable one. Thanks for your love, kindness, generosity and help.

VBS at Holy Cross

I also had the amazing opportunity to shadow a nurse for a day in the children's hospital of Augusta, GA. I loved having the chance to go inside different areas, like the PICU, NICU and the OR.

I'm so thankful for friends who make it possible for me to visit hospitals in the States and look at the similarities and differences between the hospitals and health care system of the USA and Ecuador.

Ecuador paralyzed by national strike

As y’all know by now two weeks ago Ecuador had a national strike. It all started with a transportation strike and some protests on the street but it got worst as the time passed by, it all had to do with Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno decision to cancel fuel subsides.

This is a really hard topic for me to talk about. I’m still processing everything I saw during the protest the past two weeks and trying to understand why it happened. Praying every day that God can give me peace of mind and serenity.

I posted a couple articles about the strike on Facebook but I’m attaching the link of some in case you want to know more about what happened and the context.Thank God everything is better now and things are slowly going back to normal after President Moreno agreed to change a law that ended decades-old fuel subsidies for a new legislation that will direct more resources to the poor.

During the protests I had the opportunity to volunteer on a medical brigade. My collage and two more served as a refuge for thousands of indigenous people that came to protest. They were looking for volunteers to help either inside my college or outside where the protests were. I helped outside right were the protest were, a couple of med students and nursing students were on my brigade.

We treated injured people, saw a couple of broken noses, bleeding eyes, broken ribs, broken heads, cuts, and others. We tried the best we could to help but it was hard to do it since we didn’t have a lot of medical supplies.

During the protest I saw a lot of violence from both sides, the police and protesters. It was hard to see. My heart still aches when I remember. The worst part was not being exposed to tear gas and feeling like my lungs were going to explode and feeling blind for a second, the worst part was having to see my brothers and sisters fighting against each other and killing each other. It broke my heart. I could keep on writing trying to explain what I saw and how it affected me and us as a country but it will be hard to understand if you are not living it.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who always wonders why do rich and powerful always oppressed and humiliated the poor and needy? Why the system is so broken and people so corrupt? Why do people get lost on their self-seeking ambition? I don’t have the answers to those questions and many more but if I’m sure about something is that God is in the midst of it all. He is in control and all this time he has been there for us even when we can’t see him.

If something good came out of all of this was a sweet reminder of his love and mercy for us. I’m thankful I’m still alive and can share the gospel with others. I’m thankful I got to use my skills to help people even when I felt helpless at times. I may not understand why this had to happen but I know the Lord has a plan and he will guide us during this time of uncertainty.

Thank you so much for your prayers during this difficult time, thank you for taking some of your time to read this. If you have more questions about what happened or just want to check in feel free to send me an email or message. I would be happy to answer any questions and process this with you. God bless you!

SOMETHING YOU CAN PRAY FOR:

Please pray Ecuador and its people, for all the people who died during the protest, for their family and friends. For all the people who got injured and are still in the hospitals recovering ( more than 1.300 injured) for all the missing people who got lost during the protests and can’t be found.
Please pray for our government and specially the president so he can be wise and make the best decisions for our country, not seeking personal benefits but the good of the country.
Please pray for my studies, so I can passed all my classes and learning how to balance my time between school, church and family.
Please pray for serenity and peace of mind. I found myself trying to find answers that can’t be found, so I can rely on the Lord and rest in him.
Please pray for my ministry in Cristo Liberador and especially with both the programs I helped with, the seniors program and junior group.
Please pray for new sponsors who would like to help me and be part of my journey.

If you would like to help me continue my studies in nursing school and give me hope to a better and bright future you can make a donation by clicking the link below. 👇👇👇

https://educationequalshope.giv.sh/25b3

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All This Time

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