God's heart for you

A wonderful friend gave me a card with the following words just before I left for Ecuador. They have been read over and over and have become so precious to me!

However, these words work for whatever situation you are in, and I just wanted to share :)

God's heart for you

Think of it... 

You belong to a God who has no limitations.

He is able to do things for you, be mighty in you and bring blessings to you.

All that He is able to do, He is willing to do.

His provisions are endless

His blessings are measureless

His generosity is boundless

All that is in HIS HEART flows out in WAVES OF LOVE.

They are sent to touch you, to fill you, and to cover you.

You cannot contain them, 

for they are more than your mind can imagine, 

more than your arms can embrace, 

and more than you heart can hold.

Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen

Jude 1:24-25

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig (or some fruit and vegetables)

So we went to the Quito market to buy fruits and vegetables. We can only do this when we have an Ecuadorian along because if we, as 'gringos', try to buy things here, they jack up the prices for us, and it no longer becomes worth it to buy here instead of at the supermarket. 

First view inside the market

A local delivery truck

Sweet corn is very rarely seen here. This is the corn you usually see on your plate here.

Herbs and spices

A flower stand. I'm still a little amazed that the quality of flowers is so poor here. Not that it's awful, but I expected to see better quality than what is imported into Canada, but I'm told they export the best quality flowers, so what you see here are usually seconds.

Typical meat stand. All that meat just hanging out in the air for the flies.

Cow hoof. When the kids here saw this picture they licked their lips and said 'yum'. I doubt that same reaction is going to happen in Canada haha.

Cow snout. This the kids thought was delicious ;)

Cow stomach. Not exactly sure how they prepare this. I'm hoping to never find it on my plate though.

This place kind of smelt bad.

Not exactly sure what kind of fish this is, but it's large! They just hack off a hunk for you.

All sorts of eggs and fowl. 

Hope you enjoyed this short tour. It was a great experience for me.

Celebrating the new year!

I'll be honest, for a few years now I've not really celebrated New Year's Eve. It started to seem a little silly trying to pass the time till midnight, so you could wish everyone a happy new year, and then wrap the party up so you can get some sleep. Actually if I'm being completely honest, I've not even attended a New Years party for the last 2 or 3 years. I've opted to get a movie or two, some finger food and just spend a quiet night at home. I had my reasons of course, but this past New Year's Eve may change how I spend any future December 31 evenings :)

I'm not even sure how to start telling you about all this fun. I'm not sure I can do justice to how great of an experience it was!

The party started about 7pm and about 30 members of the church came over, a lot of them showing up with masks or wigs. 

We played games, chatted and just enjoyed each other's company until around 10pm when we sat down for supper. Chicken legs, rice, potatoes and vegetables. 

And a multitude of cakes and desserts.

Then around 11:30 someone dresses up and reads a 'will' for everyone. It is written like a poem and has a sentence or two about each person or family at the party. 

Then they head out into the street to burn the 'old men'. These are paper mâché figures or clothes stuffed with sawdust or newspaper made to look like certain people. By burning these old men, they hope all the troubles of the past year will go away and they will be blessed in the new year. They also had sparklers and firecrackers and some people light Chinese lanterns, it's beautiful to watch them go up into the sky.

Out in the street you will also see people running around the block carrying empty suitcases. This means they hope to be able to travel in the new year. Another superstition is that if you wear yellow undergarments you will gain wealth in the coming year. 

It was such a different experience than New Years in Canada, but I thoroughly loved it!! I suppose having a warmer climate helps, I can't imagine being outside in the street for 45 minutes on New Year's Eve in Canada.