Empanadas and Sunburns: A Day in the Life of Ministry

6:00 AM – I am awaken by my alarm and the creaking of bunkbeds as the soft blue light of morning pours into the tall windows our little home. I sleep hard and good here so the process of getting out of bed is always a bit of a battle, but what’s new. 

6:15 AM – I finally get myself to the dining hall upstairs where I spend my some time with Jesus. The soft blue lights gently changes to yellow as I get some coffee and always bring my Amor Vanilla Wafers that Fabi bought us. This time with Jesus is sweet and filling, everything I need. 

7:30 AM – Breakfast time! There are three incredible cooks that make us food every day. Their names are Anita, Angélica and Doña. This morning we had a fried egg and plantains with pineapple juice. Pineapple juice is my new found addiction and is the standard for breakfast juice here in Ecuador. Breakfasts are filled with laughter and light and love to begin our days. 

8:00 AM – We all hurry off to apply copious amounts of sunscreen and meet at the carpenters shed where Aurelio, O’hare, Enrique and Jorge are waiting for us. We grab our tools and gloves and are off to work. 

8:00 – 12:00 AM – Our jobs consist of several different things but hard work is always the constant. Recently we’ve been cutting down trees and hauling off branches or working on tiling the new roof. Today, it was just me and Jorge on the roof. We hauled up buckets of concrete and electric saws. We cut the tiles were the drains where and started to concrete the tiles down. Today was extra special because it was Empanada Wednesday, meaning the cooks found out real quickly that the gringas LOVED their homemade empanadas and could pay good money for them. So, every Wednesday, they bring in dozens of Empanadas, this savory filled fried dough. Some have rice and beef and some have cheese and plantain. We always rush off of work for a few minutes to scarf down some empanadas and then return with happy stomachs and full hearts. 

12:00 AM – Jorge usually says with excitement, “¡Almuerzo!” and we slowly go down the roof and part ways as I rush to wash my hands and arms of all the accumulated dirt. We all pile into the dining hall with hungry stomachs and tired hands. Lunch is a blessings and usually consists of some sort of sauce with rice and soup. We pack our stomachs as full as they’ll let us and then spend the next 30 minutes laying on the floor of our room because our bodies are too dirty to touch our beds. We giggle and snack on Fabi’s famous peanut butter he made us. Some of our funniest jokes and craziest moments are born during those sweet 30 minutes. 

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM – We’re back to work and back on the roof. Jorge and I made small talk with him pretending to fall and me responding with an enthusiastic, “¡Cuidado!”. The dust from the concrete saws cover my forearms until I’m three shades darker, and the hot sun beats down with promised sunburns. It’s hard, exhausting and repetitive work, but it’s all good and it’s all worship. 

4:00 PM – We all drag our dirty and tired bodies back to our rooms where we immediately collapse on the floor where we talk and wait for showers. The showers are sometimes boiling hot and sometimes ice cold, it’s always a fun surprise! I spend most of my time in the shower scrubbing my limbs and emerging from the shower three shades lighter again, maybe a new sunburn if I’m lucky! 

5:00 PM – My team sits down to have our “team time” which consists of different things such as, Bible studies, feedback, fun or debriefing. Team Ecclesia never has a dull moment of team times with laughter being abundant and love being a priority. 

6:00 PM – The best part of the day, in my opinion, dinner! Dinner is always a joyous event with fresh bodies eager to eat. The cooks never fail and always come up with a dish meant for the Gods. Last night we eat this marinated chicken, rice and plantains with potatoes. 

6:30 PM – The cooks leave and we take their place in the kitchen to do dishes, also my favorite part of the day. We steal a big pot and put the phone playing music inside it to project the sound. We sing and dance and clean and feel like kids all over again.

7:00 PM – Once our fingers are sufficiently pruned and our voices sufficiently lost, we spend the rest of the night playing card games with each other. The staff at El Refugio taught us an Ecuadorian card game called Cuarenta, which is insanely addictive, there are four players to each game so all the tables are full with different groups of people playing, shouting and laughing. And wherever Cuarenta is found, so is our chocolate and peanut butter. Fabi was kind enough to bring us chocolate bars from the store, so we pull out our peanut butter jars, a delicacy in Ecuador, and our chocolate and play. 

8:30 PM – We play until our eyes get heavy and our chocolate is gone. 8:30 PM is usually when my body says that it is time for sleep and I oblige ( I know, I know, it’s so early). Everybody is out of the dinning hall and in their beds by about 9:00 PM.

9:15 PM – The lights go out in our room, not by instruction but by exhaustion. It takes me approximately 1 minute from when my head hits the pillow to be in deep sleep. 

And then it repeats. Another day of delicious food, exhausting work where we return looking like Cole miners, broken Spanish, Cuarenta, peanut butter and laughter. Who knew serving the Lord could be so fun.