Hodge podge of pictures and comments

I haven't been on our own blog in a while, and when I looked at the date of the last post it was early April...so I better get crackin'!

Here is a "mezcla" of different things from the past few weeks:

"Hannah's Bakery" - with a name like that, it has to be good.  This little bakery is near a mall where we sometimes buy our groceries.  Hannah went here with our missionary co-worker and good friend, Kelly.

Women's Event - one of our OMS churches in Quito is called Iglesia Betel.  It is on the south side of Quito and our two empleados attend there.  Last week they had a women's event and the theme was Mother's Day and Kelly was asked to speak.  She invited Hannah and although she was nervous to go, she went.

Kelly sharing a devotional about Hannah (the Hannah from the Bible)

Singing time

Kelly had a game for the ladies to play: match up mothers and sons from the Bible

The women's small groups of the church each had a time to share or present something

This group performed a dance

Hannah with one of the ladies

Around town - here are few pictures around our house and of the streets we walk each week.

 

Store notice - this is what happens when your business doesn't cooperate with the SRI (basically the same as our IRS).  This is a carpentry business beside the Guesthouse.  Th SRI, with little or no advanced warning, will come to the business and put a notice up.  This one says the business is to be closed for 7 days because they didn't pay their taxes.  They are up and running now - they are working late into the night to make up for lost time.

Hannah's friends - as we were going up to our missionary friend's house, Hannah saw this rooster and chicken and wanted a picture with them.

Art in the park

Today we spent the morning at a couple artisan/typical markets.  We went with a short term-mission team from our home church in Fort Wayne, IN (First Missionary Church).  The youth pastor and his wife, along with 2 of the high-schoolers, came to Ecuador to work with Extreme Response.  Our church also supports missionaries with Extreme Response and they have their office in Quito, just a few blocks from the guesthouse.  We were not involved with the team at all, but we were able to spend a little time with them today before they returned to Indiana.

We went with them to the artisan market, where there are rows and rows of shops that sell typical/Indian Ecuadorian "stuff", like blankets, scarfs, paintings, clothing, knick-knacks, and more.  Unfortunately we didn't take a picture of the market, that will have to come in a future post.

After our time at the market, the team left for the airport and Hannah and I walked a couple blocks to a park.  On Saturdays and Sundays many vendors come and set up their booths.  The booths have the same type of items as the market, and there is also a lot of art for sale.  That's why it is called, "art in the park". Below are a few pictures of the park, the booths, and the art:

The artwork is really nice.  We are planning on getting at least one painting for our living room.

After we left the park we had some lunch.  At most typical restaurants, a lunch ("almuerzo") costs $2.50 or $2.75.  The lunch includes soup, main course, and juice...and sometimes even dessert which is usually a piece of fruit.  Hannah had the chicken soup.

Yep, that's a chicken foot.  It adds great flavor to the soup.

The Guesthouse

The Guesthouse is a hospitality ministry primarily for short-term mission teams and missionary families.  Short-term mission teams with many different organizations, including our own (OMS), stay at the house throughout the year.  The house is also used a lot by missionaries in Ecuador who work outside the city - when they need to come to Quito for legal reasons (Visas, Passports, or other paperwork) or they need to stay for a night or two before leaving the country.  We do not use the house for tourist or business reasons - there must be some connection to missionary work or to a missionary to stay here.

Here are some pictures:

Front view from the street

Side view of the front

Stairs to the front door

Stairs up to the front gate

View down the street - no exit this direction

View down the street - this is the way we go anywhere

View of the front door and dining area.  Behind that closed door is a bathroom, yes, a bathroom.

Another view of the dining area

Another view of the dining area, and stairs to the upper hallway

We have a good-sized kitchen:

The black door takes you outside to the laundry room and a secondary gate/exit.

View of the upstairs hallway, usually the girls/women's hallway

Upstairs/women's bathroom

View of the downstairs hallway, usually the boys/men's hallway

Gas tanks are used for the kitchen and to heat the water for the bathrooms - there is no gauge to indicate how much gas is left in the tank, you just have to get a feel for it.

Laundry room

Secondary gate.  Laundry room through the door on the right.

Lower level conference area/ping pong room

Meeting area - this room is used a lot by the mission teams for meetings and debriefing

Some of the guest rooms:

Back view of the house

Another view of the back of the house