A Foreign Life

Jun. 19, 2009

Birthday Party

We have had lots of activity lately that I have wanted to blog about. There are many things that I'd like to write about, but it has been really hard for me to do so. Usually it's late at night and I'm tired so I decide to wait until the next day. Before I know it, the days just fly by before I get back here. Well, tonight, I just decided that even though I'm tired and it's late, I'm going to post an entry and share some pictures.

We went to a party tonight. It was the birthday party for one of my favorite people here in Ecuador. Her name is Julieta. Julieta is one of the most incredible people I have ever met and I consider it a privilege to know her. Her faith in God puts me to shame. I can't even begin to tell you her story. I shared some of it in another entry that you can access here and here. She spent ten years as a missionary to Asia where God did some awesome things through her. She has been unable to get a visa to return to Asia so she is working here in Guayaquil and we are thrilled to have her here!

The party was a pretty typical one for evangelicals here. We were invited for 7:30, arrived at 8:00 and were still about the second or third to arrive. For half an hour I helped cut out materials that Julieta will be using for a Father's Day activity with some children this weekend. As people began to arrive we sat around and visited with them, or tried to over the praise/worship music playing in the background (not a very accurate statement since the music was more in the forefront, making it hard to hear anyone say anything).

Once the room filled up we watched a powerpoint presentation of pictures of Julieta throughout her adult life. Afterwards, we all went around and shared something about what we thought of Julieta. It was a time of real encouragement for her. Sometimes we think that people in leadership don't need to hear that they are doing a good job. That just isn't true and Julieta share later how much it meant to her to hear how she had affected the lives of so many people.

By this time it's after 10:00 and that's when the mariachis showed up. Mariachis are a big entertainment item here and we now have evangelical mariachi groups that can come and keep it "clean." They came into the small living/dining space singing, playing their guitars and tooting their horns. While performing their first song, their "sound man" set up the microphones and speakers so that we could really hear well (don't know if you can hear the slight sarcasm there). They sang songs that all could join in and fun was had by all (except for dh who couldn't get far enough away from the loud speakers). We laughed, sang, clapped, and enjoyed ourselves for more than half an hour.

When the mariachis finished it was time to eat. We all were served a plate of rice and chinese noodles with a small spoonful of chinese veggies on top along with a small glass of coke. We've been cutting back on the carbs at home and quite frankly I enjoyed the whole plate full (I couldn't be rude and not eat, ya know)! (Edited to say that the plate was a small 6" dessert plate and not a big dinner plate) The birthday cake served later was delicious. Cakes have come a long way since we moved here and this one was really good.

Gifts remain unopened until all have left. I can only hope she likes the bath gel and sponge I got her.

It was a fun party- I got to see and visit with friends I hadn't seen for a while. But more than that, I just like to go to parties!