Sunday

I wanted to catch ya'll up on our last week in Shell so far. Sunday was a good (but long and emotional) day. It was Sean's last day to lead worship, since his guitar has to be packed. It was a sweet time of worship and I was so glad to be able to stay (usually the girls just get too antsy).

Our church then surprised us and presented us with a framed painting of a jungle village and a book about the province of Pastaza (where we live and mostly serve). I was holding up fine until everyone in the church came up to us, one by one, and gave us hugs and told us how much they'll miss us and how they will be praying for us. Oh my! It was so precious, and I'll remember it forever. After church was over, our pastor and his family, plus a few other friends from the church took us over to the preschool building to serve us an insane amount of food specially prepared just for us - parrillada (grilled meat, corn on the cob, etc) just because they knew Sean loves it! It was very tasty and we were so blessed by the outpouring of love that day. (We do still get one more Sunday at our church in Shell, for which I am very grateful.)

Later that day, some friends from our church came and gave us these pictures from a while back - so glad to have these to help us remember our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Shell!!

Sean and Jorge. Jorge is a quality guy - he's been working on the church building project from the very beginning (and not always for pay). He also plays the drums with Sean for worship. We'll miss having him over every Wednesday for "worship practice."

The girls. These ladies from our church have been the sweetest and most loving friends and I really regret that we didn't become friends sooner. Now, it is difficult to say good-bye. (Don't you just love how Sean and I tower over everybody?! Yeah, this isn't my best picture either...) I was glad Pamela (in the green) chose to stand by me, so I didn't have to stand out quite so much! She adores the girls and Madison will go to her easier than just about anybody else - Pamela has rescued me on more than one occasion when Madison didn't want to sit still during church. Rita is on the left and has always been so loving and sweet to our family - I'll miss her cheerful face! Her daughter Deborah, in the pink, was one of Brooklyn's teachers at her Spanish preschool.