Classes, Crutches, Caliphones, and the Gospel

Thursday was day one. It was “opening day” for students at Alliance Academy here in Quito. We bounced and rocked our way (with our kids in a van with us) out of our little town square, and then on to the Autopista to head up the mountain toward the toll-booth, while the engine strained like a mixer in a bowl. Then we turn and climb for the next 25 minutes along a fast road called Simon Bolivar, where the hairpin turns make your weight shift from one side of the van to the other in a “not-so-smooth” motion. Now this road, that winds back and forth along the ridge that leads into Quito, is sort of like a Six Flags ride. As Ann Coe put it, “Can we get a bar to pull down over our shoulders to hold on to? ” If you know which direction to look, you can see 5 different snow- covered volcanoes on the way between the clouds in the valley below and the wispy white clouds above. (Birmingham is a beautiful place, but you won’t exactly see this type of scenery on the way down Highway 119 in the morning.)

The last few days have been interesting regarding mobility. Kyndal fractured a bone in her ankle and tore some ligaments about 3 weeks ago, and it took about 7 days to discover this bone issue. Once the swelling went down some and the pain persisted, we had a bilingual helper go with us to a hospital in Quito. Yep- she got a cast from toes to mid-calf. Crutches are obviously needed. I plan on shooting a video of the walk from our newer place to the bus stop here so you can get a feel for the terrain she has had to negotiate on two aluminum sticks. Let’s put it this way. I enjoyed a whole other level of cardio workout for a couple of days where I gave her piggyback rides for some of the rougher parts of the trip.

I may have mentioned the water heater issue at our new spot up the mountain. After a half-day repair process, we got it working to the point that you could manually “light the rocket” and get some hot water. After several days of this practice we decided to spring for a new one. These little machines are called “caliphones”, and after a half-day venture to the local “home-depot” type store, we had our friend Ephraim help install it. Beautiful.  Now only one problem now. It runs about 1 minute and then, surprise! Out comes the chilly mountain water. After about 3 days of experimentation, it was time to take further action. My friends at Alliance helped us get a technician on the phone. The next day I timed my departure from school to get to Conocoto to meet the tech. He calls while I am on the bus and I manage to understand that he is at the gate and I tell him 10 minutes. At bridge 6, I hit the ground running and make it to the gate. No tech. Then 2 phone calls later I realize he is at the “other” gate - the one about ¼ mile down the mountain. So down the hill I go to find him. Wow. He’s at the bottom of the hill all right. No truck, no taxi. It’s just him and a backpack with a few tools in it. Are you kidding me? Okay, we then both trek back up the mountain. Summary- high temp switch is broken (on a brand new machine), it will be Saturday to replace it, but thankfully he fixes it temporarily so we get a treat of automatic hot water for the first time since we have been in this house!

But the Gospel is beyond this, more important than this, and it will outlast all of this. And when I stood in the school on Thursday morning and watched 600 faces of the next generation along with their parents, from all over the world, walk in and begin a year of Gospel influence, it renews in my heart the reason why we are here.

Pray for a Biblical Gospel to be shared here. Pray for a glorious Gospel to be shown. Pray for a righteous Gospel to be taught daily. Pray for eternal responses as we serve the world.

So thankful for all of you!

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”