I Made It...

Well we made it to Cuenca! We arrived in Quito 2 hours later than should have so the Quito girls went to their house and we ended up staying at the airport from 2am-7:30am when our flight to Cuenca took off. No sleep at all! We got to the volunteer house, ate some lunch, and then napped. Slept from 9am-2pm! We grabbed some lunch made by Catalina; rice, vegetables, chicken, crepes with whipped cream and liquid jam. Random but pretty usual for South America. After lunch we did orientation, a house and orphanage tour, met all the kids, and unpacked our suitcases.

 

"No Sleep, till Brooklyn Cuenca"

      

 
Half of that luggage is mine!

Ashley Comfort * Cara Gillespie * Mekai McGee

On the OSSO property there is an orphanage, volunteer house, apartment for Katie who is the assistant director, and they are currently building a house for the directors, Rodrigo and Lorena Rosero. Pretty big property. The volunteer house is nice. There are 4 people to each 3 bedrooms, 2 toilets, and 2 showers. There are currently 6 girls here to volunteer. Jen and Vanessa have been here since July and will leave in September. After that it’s just me, Cara, Ashley, and Mekai here. Gwena is only here for 2 weeks. Cara is here until October with me and Ashley and Mekai until December. All the girls are young 20’s with Mekai being 17. I can’t believe these girls are here at 17, 18, and 19 years old. What was I doing at that age?!

 

The children are great! Majority of the children are in wheelchairs and are unable to walk. Not all can speak but will make noises. We read scriptures with the older children tonight; Christian, Laura, Bryan, Luis, Nancy, and Martin. We read Alma 7. My time here will be hard but so worth it. I can already tell these children will change my life. I am here for a purpose. I already love these children and can’t wait to know them better. Tomorrow will be busy. I start out in the young children’s room in the morning then move to the middle age children in the afternoon, and then we go to a different orphanage after our shift. Busy day but Friday we have off and will tour the city. That should be fun! Here’s to making it to Cuenca, unpacking 140lbs worth of luggage, and making new friends with the volunteers and children!