Odds and ends... and fruit

Hola! Briley here with a couple notes for you, our faithful readers:

First, I want to apologize to those of you who tried to comment on our posts here and were unable to - I've taken off the registration requirement so please feel free to comment!

Second, I've uploaded our first batch of photos online... you can see them in the slideshow to the right and also at this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/103523070806826974607/Quito2010?feat=directlink

My goal is to upload pictures at the end of every day, so check back for more as our experience continues!

Today was our orientation and team-building day. After a beyond-delicious breakfast of french toast and bacon (we're being served breakfast every morning, how awesome is that?!) we headed out to the Youth World office to learn about the organization and the multitude of ministries that they coordinate here in Ecuador. Following our orientation at Youth World we headed to lunch at a local fruteria where we partook in delectable fruit bowls and juices.

Our day continued at El Refugio - a beautiful retreat center located up in the mountains above Quito that's owned and operated by Youth World. We spent the afternoon there playing games and doing various other team-building exercises, some of which we were pretty good at and some of which we weren't so good at. In the end however we all made it out alive and definitely a closer team than we were going in.

On our way back from El Refugio our bus "broke down" (conveniently) outside an old-fashioned homemade ice cream shop and we had no other choice but to disembark and patronize said establishment. Inside we were treated to a wide assortment of delicious flavors made from fresh fruit, and were even treated to a demostration of how the ice cream is made! After sampling the product of said demonstration we boarded the (conveniently) "fixed" bus and returned to our hostel for a delicious dinner of chicken and potatoes (how many times have I used the word "delicious" in this entry? I'm sure there will be many, many more).

Tomorrow we head out to our first of four days at Mision Emaus - I for one am excited to reconnect with the people that I was able to meet last year. Until next time, peace!

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another"

Good evening morning friends! I am happy to report that we have arrived safely in Quito. We were greeted by our team leaders and a crowd from Mision Emaus - hooray happy reunions and new meetings! We've settled into our hostel (no bunk beds!) and are all ready to get some sleep and hit the ground running tomorrow with visits to Youth World and El Refugio. Thank you all for your prayers! I'll leave you with a video of our approach and landing...