There are a few things in life that really change things… I mean like the entire direction of your life. One motivational speaker I once heard says that you will be the same person you are now in five years except for the books you read and the people you meet. Well, there is one person I have met here in Ecuador that has changed my life in a significant way. Her name is Maria Augusta Echeverria although she will often introduce herself as Agus.

Agus works as part of La Red Juvenil, roughly translated as The Youth Network, training, networking, and supporting those who work with and pastor youth. Since graduating with a degree in theology she has been part of this ministry which is one of the five branches of Youth World, or Mundo Juvenil, El Refugio being another of those. Obviously we met as a result of that connection. Agus patiently invited me to one event after another for about six months before I accepted an invitation, that just so happened to be her birthday party at her parent’s home last year. Although we did things together here and there it wasn’t until she moved to Quito to live with one of the El Refugio staff members in January of 2009 that we really began to spend time together on a consistent basis.

And then there was the night where things clicked, 14 February. We had gone out with several friends and there I realized that I actually had more than a small interest in this woman. The next day we went to a park to talk things over and there we decided that we were officially a couple.

Just over six months later I asked her parents for permission to marry their daughter and a few weeks later we celebrated that fact with dinner and a carriage ride in the historic district of Quito.

We plan to be married the 16^th of January here on the outskirts of Quito. From there we will continue to serve in our respective ministries, hopefully being people that influence the direction of the lives of others for Christ, both individually and as a couple.

A day in the life…

Recently my days have become quite an interesting mix. Here for instance is the rundown for Friday 15 May:

Greet the workers in the morning, make sure everyone knows what they are doing.
Ask Andres to help bring down recently cut poles (trees) with the tractor.
(Andres tells me we are out of diesel for the tractor)
Remind Enrique to give antibiotic injection to the dog.
Set a few cabinets in the apartment.
Run into town to get the remaining bath tile we need for the shower.
First stop – machinist to drop off a part to be modified for our compactor
Second stop – to another ministry (Extreme Response) to drop off extra conduit we had on hand.
Third stop – tile shop that winds up being too expensive
Fourth stop – hardware store to buy a range hood
Fifth stop – a tile store I had scouted the day before. Success! left with tile and grout.
Gave Enrique money to get diesel and gas from the gas station with a reminder to get a receipt.
Lunch with a few team members in Calacalí. Saw on the news that the first case of swine flu, or H1N1 whatever, was confirmed in Ecuador.
Answer a few emails on some legal and finance issues.
Finish details on the cabinets set in the morning.
Talk over details of having our trails cut with a neighboring missionary.
Pay workers.
Talk over details of Holger’s house project with him.
Check in with a man who had come to purchase alfalfa from us.
Take care of receipts and cash I wound up with.

Clean up to go to a birthday party of a Youth World team member. I was pretty tired but it was fun.

Hasta la proxima...

~MWL