The harvest is abundant...

¨After this the Lord appointed seventy others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.' If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.' ¨

-Luke 10:1-9

My dear ones...

Peace of Christ to each of you in abundance. I pray that all is well and blessed for each of you...and I congratulate my Minnesotan counterparts in successfully coming out of the deep freeze! ;) Believe or not, although the oceanside in this sunny weather is marvelous, I do miss the Minnesota winter. I am a crazy girl.

Well, I write with a week delay because there has been much excitement on my side of the equator lately. First of all, many goodbyes with the majority of the children leaving for a month or so of vacations, and second of all, my sister and mum came to visit! It was lovely to share my little Ecuadorian life with them, and they are great travel pals. We hugged children, visited the beautiful city of Cuenca in the Sierra, and spent some time of the beach...it was great. I hope to have pictures up of their time here soon. It was such a gift just to see them after four months of being here but also a great joy to share firsthand with them just exactly what their Mariya is doing down here. :)

With the absence of most the children, my work at the base has drastically slowed down. I am taking a few days to recollect, perhaps have a little self-retreat, and make a plan for this month. I plan to travel to the areas where this foundation has mini-extensions of their work (for example, locations where two or three missionaries live working in parishes in outlying communities). Also, we will be returning to the Amazon to complete the planning for Franciscan University´s medical mission in March. Soon, on February 7th, we will celebrate the arrival of Miss Sara Ogrodnick to our growing gringo population. Much to look forward to in the days to come.

I promise some better stories of the children here in the posts to come...I think the Ecuadorian sun is getting to my storytelling abilities today! :)

Much love and blessings,
m