Dearest Blog readers,
I hope you are all very well. Just a little news update. I have officially finished my Ecuador movie and have posted it online. You can watch if you wish by clicking the link below.
http://vimeo.com/39108891
Grace and Peace
Kyle
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Immerse Yourself!
God is so very very good. I feel
blessed to have experienced so many different places and form relationships
with incredible people. I want to rewind time a little bit and go back to two
weeks ago when I had the opportunity to travel out to San Lorenzo with a
surgical team. The week was nothing short of incredible as I split my time
between translating for doctors and working as a scrub tech in surgery. However
my favorite part of the week was after dinner when the team circled up for a
nightly devotional. I cannot put into words how cool it is to hear how God is
working in people’s lives.
Hearing about how God was working
in others, led me to reflect on how God was working in my own life. What I
found was a matter of constant verses variable communion with Christ. The
synonyms for constant in the Thesaurus are eternal, regular, steady,
unchanging, loyal, devoted, true, fast, firm, staunch, reliable, dedicated,
committed, resolute, and persistent.
The word variable gives shifting, fluctuating, irregular, unstable,
fitful, wavering, fickle, unpredictable, capricious, and volatile. It wasn’t hard to pick the set of
adjectives I wanted my faith to be described as. However, it is one thing to
pick a set of adjectives and another thing to live it out. I find that living
in constant communion with the Lord is hard. C.S. said that his desires would
rush at him every morning like wild animals eager to devour him in his own selfishness.
Yet, a couple a weeks ago in San Lorenzo, I saw a group of people wake up each
morning and rededicate themselves to the Lord. They didn’t do anything fancy,
they just asked the Lord for things and then gave Him space to work. Throughout
the day they asked God for big things and for small things and always
remembered to give thanks for the blessings He had already given. They denied
their own story and were willing to live into the greater story of God. Arm,
foot, tooth, and nose, they knew their identity to be part of the body of
Christ doing a work for the advancement of His Kingdom. If a had to guess I
think the Bible might have been advocating this lifestyle when it says “pray
continually.” The encouragement I have received and want to passed on to you as
a brother in Christ is this: be with God, talk with God, read His word, ask him
for things, and give Him thanks for the many things he has already given.
My time down here is coming to an
end faster than I could have ever imagined. I am extremely excited to see all
your pretty faces and hear about your stories when I arrived back in good ole’
Michigan. Sorry there are not a lot pictures, I have started to make a
video of my time in Ecuador and I will definitely post that soon. I promise I
have been faithful in documenting my trip and am extremely excited to finish up
this film, which I think summarizes the two months quite nicely. Well got to
run. My dad and I have a volcano to climb tomorrow so I need my beauty sleep!
Grace and Peace,
Kyle
View from our hike in Banos
Friday, February 24, 2012
CARNIVAL+MINDO
Hello everyone from the little mountain town of Mindo. These last couple of days have been a whirlwind and tomorrow I will be back on the road once again. On my last blog I made the comment that Puerto Lopez was a beautiful, quiet coastal town and it was for the first couple days. However, Ecuador's biggest party, CARNIVAL, was this past week and the population of the beach changed dramatically. The small town turned into Mumbai, India in one day. It was manic! People were literally showing up in truck loads. I kid you not, semi-trucks would back up onto the beach and hundreds of people would climb out. I have never seen so many people in such a small place in my entire life. It made the attendance of a Michigan football game look like a small group Bible study. Absolutely mind-boggling. I spent Sunday and Monday walking around meeting different groups of Ecuadorians and then by Tuesday I was sick of seeing humans, so I went to a secluded beach in a national park.
Then on Wednesday I took a 10 hour bus trip up into the country's northern mountains to a city called Mindo. The city is extremely tiny but full of fun hikes and different nature adventures. On Thursday I met two new friends. Alex from Sweden and Lea from France. We spent the day together zip lining, eating at fun restaurants, and touring a local chocolate factory. Then this morning Alex, Lea and I woke up at 3:30 AM and went on a hike through the jungle. If you know me well, you know that my biggest fear is of dark forests and this morning confirmed that. Equipped with a pair of boots and a small headlamp I headed into the abyss convinced that I would not come out alive. The hike started simple enough. However, around thirty minutes into the walk we met on first adversary, bats! They were everywhere. They would swoop down around us and across our faces by the hundreds. I walked with my arms over my head, praying that I would live to see the sun rise and wondering what the heck I was thinking hiking in a jungle at 4 AM! With my heart pounding inside my chest I developed the mindset of one foot in front of the other. Yet, all that managed to do was put me deeper into the unknown. When we finally broke free from the bats my heart rate began to drop until we found ourselves in a clearing with tall grass. I don't know about you, but I associate tall grass for snake territory. Needless so say, for the next 20 minutes I was on edge. Then we crossed a river and were heading up a mountain side when we came to a part in the trail where there was a rock cut out. When we were almost through we heard a big noise coming through the trees towards us. When it sounded like it was almost on top of us it stopped and I braced myself for the attack. When it didn't come, Alex the Swede, thought it would be a brilliant idea to shine a light in on it. It took a little searching but BAM less than 10 feet away big cat-like eyes glowed in the dark. With my heart now in my throat, we moved up the trail continuing into the darkness. Just about when I thought I was going to explode with anxiety, the Lord sent an angel in the form of two French researchers. Boy o boy was I happy to see them. As it turns out the two Frenchies were living in the jungle, researching the different bird species. It was great to have them aboard because they knew the lay of the land and showed us some spectacular sites. When the sun finally did rise I praised the Lord and was amazed by the beauty of the land. After hiking around for 6 hours we went back to the hotel were we relaxed and reminessed about our crazy jungle adventure. Then this afternoon Nora and Lizzy left for Quito but I decided to stay in Mindo one more night. It has been a good and I just got back from a fun dinner with two German students, Nicole and Ulie, I met in the hostel. Mindo has felt like a United Nations meeting as I am constantly bumping into different groups of Europeans. We are solving the world's problems one coffee at a time!
Well that is it for now. Tomorrow I head into Quito for the day and then on Sunday it is off to San Lorenzo, a coastal town on the Ecuadorian Colombian border. I'll be there for the week working with a surgical team from the States.
Hasta Luego
Grace and Peace
Kyle
THE RESERVE!
Packed beach Monday during CARNIVAL!
Zip Line action
Pictures from the morning hike in the reserve
Then on Wednesday I took a 10 hour bus trip up into the country's northern mountains to a city called Mindo. The city is extremely tiny but full of fun hikes and different nature adventures. On Thursday I met two new friends. Alex from Sweden and Lea from France. We spent the day together zip lining, eating at fun restaurants, and touring a local chocolate factory. Then this morning Alex, Lea and I woke up at 3:30 AM and went on a hike through the jungle. If you know me well, you know that my biggest fear is of dark forests and this morning confirmed that. Equipped with a pair of boots and a small headlamp I headed into the abyss convinced that I would not come out alive. The hike started simple enough. However, around thirty minutes into the walk we met on first adversary, bats! They were everywhere. They would swoop down around us and across our faces by the hundreds. I walked with my arms over my head, praying that I would live to see the sun rise and wondering what the heck I was thinking hiking in a jungle at 4 AM! With my heart pounding inside my chest I developed the mindset of one foot in front of the other. Yet, all that managed to do was put me deeper into the unknown. When we finally broke free from the bats my heart rate began to drop until we found ourselves in a clearing with tall grass. I don't know about you, but I associate tall grass for snake territory. Needless so say, for the next 20 minutes I was on edge. Then we crossed a river and were heading up a mountain side when we came to a part in the trail where there was a rock cut out. When we were almost through we heard a big noise coming through the trees towards us. When it sounded like it was almost on top of us it stopped and I braced myself for the attack. When it didn't come, Alex the Swede, thought it would be a brilliant idea to shine a light in on it. It took a little searching but BAM less than 10 feet away big cat-like eyes glowed in the dark. With my heart now in my throat, we moved up the trail continuing into the darkness. Just about when I thought I was going to explode with anxiety, the Lord sent an angel in the form of two French researchers. Boy o boy was I happy to see them. As it turns out the two Frenchies were living in the jungle, researching the different bird species. It was great to have them aboard because they knew the lay of the land and showed us some spectacular sites. When the sun finally did rise I praised the Lord and was amazed by the beauty of the land. After hiking around for 6 hours we went back to the hotel were we relaxed and reminessed about our crazy jungle adventure. Then this afternoon Nora and Lizzy left for Quito but I decided to stay in Mindo one more night. It has been a good and I just got back from a fun dinner with two German students, Nicole and Ulie, I met in the hostel. Mindo has felt like a United Nations meeting as I am constantly bumping into different groups of Europeans. We are solving the world's problems one coffee at a time!
Well that is it for now. Tomorrow I head into Quito for the day and then on Sunday it is off to San Lorenzo, a coastal town on the Ecuadorian Colombian border. I'll be there for the week working with a surgical team from the States.
Hasta Luego
Grace and Peace
Kyle
Saturday, February 18, 2012
LA PLAYA
Grace and Peace
Kyle
slice and dice
Some big fellas
Tons a birds trying to snag an easy meal
Our boat in the bay of Island of the Plata.
Beautiful coast line
blue blue blue water
Wave meets Rock. BOOM-BABY
Tortuga decided to pay a visit to the boat while we were eating lunch. TUNA SANDWICHES!!!
Sunset action
yep a little more of that good stuff
Almost down
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Jungle Adventure
Dearest Blog Readers,
I hope this blog finds you all in good health and great spirits. Right now I'm writing to you from the dinning room table watching my grandma kill two chickens in the backyard and listening to the neighbors attempt karaoke. Life is good.
If you remember way back in one of my earlier blogs I wrote about how Shell is the city where Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, and others based their mission organization. If you are familiar with the movie End of the Spear or the Documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor this will be a little redundant, if you are not familiar, WATCH THEM! Now for a little history. Nate Saint and his crew came to Shell to minister to the Huaorani indigenous people. However, because the Huaorani live deep in the Amazon Rainforest it was difficult to come into contact with them. After many flights Mr. Saint spotted a Huaorani tribe next to small landing area carved out by a river. The place is known as Palm Beach and Saint and his men landed their in 1956. Sadly the missionaries were met with hostility and all speared to death by the tribe. Nevertheless, the story does not end there. The wives and other family members of the martyred men continued to reach out to the Huaorani, eventually converting many of them to Christianity. Saints mission still lives on in the form of an organization called MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) that is based out of Shell. The organization services hundreds of indigenous communities, providing them with different medical needs and clean water.
This past Wednesday Chad, the head pilot of MAF, invited me and a couple others to fly out to a Huaorani community in the jungle. The experience was nothing short of incredible. The people were so hospitable and welcomed us as brothers and sisters in Christ. When we got there we where introduced to the leaders of the community and they shared their testimonies with us. Amazingly one of the leaders of the tribe was part of the killing party that murdered Nate Saint and the other missionary men. After the introductions the leaders prayed for us and then took us to the main common area where they performed a dance and song.
It was amazing to see a people whose way of life has been touched so little my modern culture. The daily lives of the Huaorani people are spent hunting with spear and blow darts and harvesting crops. I am at a loss for words for describing what I saw, so I will just go with what I felt. At first I felt a little awkward walking into the community with my fancy clothes and shwanky camera. However, that was all pushed to the side the moment I met the people. Their hospitality and love was inspiring. Every person greeted me with a smile and hug and was eager to hear my story. We were from completely different worlds but through our shared love of Christ there was a bond. I like to think the experience was a little snapshot of the Kingdom of God. A heaven where all kinds of people from all races and cultures will come together as one in Christ Jesus. When we were leaving the man who was part of the killing party put his hand had my shoulder and told me that God is good and that he is looking forward to the day that we would meet again in heaven. How cool is that!
Grace and Peace
Kyle
The ride!
My seat as co-pilot
Pilot Chad and I sizing up the landing
Trees lot of Trees
spotted a river in the midst of all the TREES
One of the leaders of the tribe that was a member of the original killing party of Nate Saint
Chief!
Welcoming dance
Blow dart action
My turn
Time to catch dinner
A- form
what crack-a-lackin baby girl
One of the tribes warriors and I poising for a pic
Home sweet home Shell, Ecuador.
I hope this blog finds you all in good health and great spirits. Right now I'm writing to you from the dinning room table watching my grandma kill two chickens in the backyard and listening to the neighbors attempt karaoke. Life is good.
If you remember way back in one of my earlier blogs I wrote about how Shell is the city where Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, and others based their mission organization. If you are familiar with the movie End of the Spear or the Documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor this will be a little redundant, if you are not familiar, WATCH THEM! Now for a little history. Nate Saint and his crew came to Shell to minister to the Huaorani indigenous people. However, because the Huaorani live deep in the Amazon Rainforest it was difficult to come into contact with them. After many flights Mr. Saint spotted a Huaorani tribe next to small landing area carved out by a river. The place is known as Palm Beach and Saint and his men landed their in 1956. Sadly the missionaries were met with hostility and all speared to death by the tribe. Nevertheless, the story does not end there. The wives and other family members of the martyred men continued to reach out to the Huaorani, eventually converting many of them to Christianity. Saints mission still lives on in the form of an organization called MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) that is based out of Shell. The organization services hundreds of indigenous communities, providing them with different medical needs and clean water.
This past Wednesday Chad, the head pilot of MAF, invited me and a couple others to fly out to a Huaorani community in the jungle. The experience was nothing short of incredible. The people were so hospitable and welcomed us as brothers and sisters in Christ. When we got there we where introduced to the leaders of the community and they shared their testimonies with us. Amazingly one of the leaders of the tribe was part of the killing party that murdered Nate Saint and the other missionary men. After the introductions the leaders prayed for us and then took us to the main common area where they performed a dance and song.
It was amazing to see a people whose way of life has been touched so little my modern culture. The daily lives of the Huaorani people are spent hunting with spear and blow darts and harvesting crops. I am at a loss for words for describing what I saw, so I will just go with what I felt. At first I felt a little awkward walking into the community with my fancy clothes and shwanky camera. However, that was all pushed to the side the moment I met the people. Their hospitality and love was inspiring. Every person greeted me with a smile and hug and was eager to hear my story. We were from completely different worlds but through our shared love of Christ there was a bond. I like to think the experience was a little snapshot of the Kingdom of God. A heaven where all kinds of people from all races and cultures will come together as one in Christ Jesus. When we were leaving the man who was part of the killing party put his hand had my shoulder and told me that God is good and that he is looking forward to the day that we would meet again in heaven. How cool is that!
Grace and Peace
Kyle
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Nature and Nurture
Howdy Ya'll
To all my friends at Hope College I hope you are all having a splendid winter break. Keep up the good work you savvy, sharp-witted students.
On the flip side, life outside the world of academia has been stellar. This weeks segment of life in Ecuador is filled with both nature and nurture. Lets start with the nature. The weather down here is starting to make a turn for the best as we begin to exit the rainy season. It came at the perfect time because I needed a little boost for the 5:30 AM alarm this week. As you know from my last post, we had a team from Great Lake Eye Care down here this week and we went out on brigades to different communities to do free eye screenings. This of course meant that Carpe diem was in affect. However, 5:30 is a whole lot better when the orange sun lights up the mountains and the clear sky allows you to see the friendly neighborhood volcano puff smoke. Hooray earth! A second nature point was this past Friday when we traveled to Rio Verde and did a hike to a waterfall called Pailon del Diablo (The Devil's Cauldron). It is one of the biggest water falls it Ecuador and Boy-O-Boy was it powerful. Final nature point was our gondola ride across the valley that gave some spectacular views. Enjoy the pictures!
On the nurture side of things, this week was dedicated to an eye medical brigade. The eye clinic was extremely effective as this week we were able to see more than 750 patients from 5 different cities! My primary job was to work as a translator for distance vision tests. The Ecuadorians were such grateful patients. It was really fun to be consistently greeted with the phrase Doctorcito Dios le bendiga (Little doctor God bless you). My favorite part of the week was seeing the reaction of the patients. A majority of the people we saw just needed pair of glasses, but we did get a good number of dense cataracts and other more serious eye aliments. These patients were often blind or very close to it. Dr. Pletcher was the final eye exam station. He would assess the patients and forward them to surgery if he thought the problem was curable. When I had time I would go over and listened because I loved hearing him tell people that their vision would be restored. Reactions to that beautiful phrase were nothing short of incredible. A mother's tears of joy for her blind child, a old man's smile of hope, and a woman's praises to God were precious moments that I will never forget.
Luke 11:33-36
"No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may SEE the light. Your EYE is the lamp of your body. When your EYES are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."
Grace and Peace
Kyle
Pailon Del Diablo (whole lotta of water)
Beautiful morning sunrise
panoramic view of the city of Shell. Volcano Sungay on the left, the alter on the right
Closer view of the alter, volcano that blew its top a view years back.
Close up on volcano Sungay!
It decided to puff
Nora and I with volcano Sungay in the background
Pailon del diablo
Our ride across the valley
view from the middle of the valley
long way down the waterfall
close up on bridal falls
The Brigade!
My old lady friend
Nora and the girl after she painted their nails
Dinner?
Slow down!
To all my friends at Hope College I hope you are all having a splendid winter break. Keep up the good work you savvy, sharp-witted students.
On the flip side, life outside the world of academia has been stellar. This weeks segment of life in Ecuador is filled with both nature and nurture. Lets start with the nature. The weather down here is starting to make a turn for the best as we begin to exit the rainy season. It came at the perfect time because I needed a little boost for the 5:30 AM alarm this week. As you know from my last post, we had a team from Great Lake Eye Care down here this week and we went out on brigades to different communities to do free eye screenings. This of course meant that Carpe diem was in affect. However, 5:30 is a whole lot better when the orange sun lights up the mountains and the clear sky allows you to see the friendly neighborhood volcano puff smoke. Hooray earth! A second nature point was this past Friday when we traveled to Rio Verde and did a hike to a waterfall called Pailon del Diablo (The Devil's Cauldron). It is one of the biggest water falls it Ecuador and Boy-O-Boy was it powerful. Final nature point was our gondola ride across the valley that gave some spectacular views. Enjoy the pictures!
On the nurture side of things, this week was dedicated to an eye medical brigade. The eye clinic was extremely effective as this week we were able to see more than 750 patients from 5 different cities! My primary job was to work as a translator for distance vision tests. The Ecuadorians were such grateful patients. It was really fun to be consistently greeted with the phrase Doctorcito Dios le bendiga (Little doctor God bless you). My favorite part of the week was seeing the reaction of the patients. A majority of the people we saw just needed pair of glasses, but we did get a good number of dense cataracts and other more serious eye aliments. These patients were often blind or very close to it. Dr. Pletcher was the final eye exam station. He would assess the patients and forward them to surgery if he thought the problem was curable. When I had time I would go over and listened because I loved hearing him tell people that their vision would be restored. Reactions to that beautiful phrase were nothing short of incredible. A mother's tears of joy for her blind child, a old man's smile of hope, and a woman's praises to God were precious moments that I will never forget.
Luke 11:33-36
"No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may SEE the light. Your EYE is the lamp of your body. When your EYES are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."
Grace and Peace
Kyle
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)