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Published: March 29th 2008
At 3am my alarm went off and I managed to get myself ready to be picked up at 4am by Richard and Howard. Shortly after we met up with Hermann the German, who was driving the other pick-up truck (the semis left the night before because it takes twice has long for them to drive anywhere). The trip took about 6 hours to get to Babahoyo, our first stop. While there we unloaded water, clothing, and food.
As we drove to the Air Force base, which was an hour south, we saw all of the fields and homes that were flooded and damaged. At the base, we met Comandante Juan Valvero (3 stars). He welcomed us and had his soldiers unload our trucks into one of their jet hangers. It was quite the experience standing inside a hanger that was located on a foreign country´s military base. There were a lot of guns around and the whiteness of our skin made some uncomfortable.
A professor had contacted Edgar, the pastor with us, and asked if we could check on a student of hers. Of course because we are the heroes that we are, we went driving into the countryside,
off-roading through banana plantations, dodging animals everywhere, and eventually finding the family back in the hicks of the flooded area. We found the woman we sought and then gathered the families together. We played games with the children and then Edgar taught them about the Heart of Jesus. Along with copies of the New Testament, we gave them each a bag of food (30 pounds). Then the fun started! We brought out bags of clothing and they reacted like it was Christmas. I would hold up a little shirt or some sandals and I had about 1.5 seconds to determine who they would fit and give them to the right person before they were snatched away by someone else. Even though the clothing was second-hand (in a third world country), the looks on their faces were priceless. This was by far the highlight of the trip. As we left, I had fun removing a stubborn or nag off the road. (She reminded me of my aunt Betty.)
Later that night we got a chance to walk through Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador. It was an amazing site for a third world country. Organized, beautiful, and modern. We walked
along the boardwalk on the river and had a lovely view of the weedy and muddy river. Soon after eating dinner all of us fell asleep.
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