It all began at Reagan National Airport while we were waiting to check in our baggage. Kristina recognized a little girl that she had taught a few years earlier and started talking to her family. "Where are you going?" She asked. Their precocious 5 year old boy piped up, "Ecuador!"
Hearing that we were going as well the little boy asked, "Are you going for three years?" We all kinda chuckled at his question and said we'd only be there a month. We asked them how long they were vacationing in Ecuador. "Three years!" He replied.
It turns out that the mother of Kristina's student works for the State Department and was being relocated to work at the embassy in Ecuador! We ended up having the entire same flight as them and got to chat for quite a while.
Kristina and her past student at the airport in Quito
When we were still at Reagan the little girl that Kristina had taught was not excited about her move. I can only imagine how it feels as a 10 year old to be completely uprooted and sent to another country to live where you don't even understand the language. But by the time we got to Quito she was all smiles. Seeing her teacher, an unexpected but familiar face heading to the same far off country definitely made the transition seem less daunting. Because of that happy coincidence we also have a contact at the embassy, so if we ever need to go running in, Jason Bourne style, we're set.
The gang! From left to right: Nick, John, Lisa, and Kristina
Nick, Lisa, and John with our hosts Alan and Fabiola Gordon
That was by far the biggest 'small world' moment. But a few days later when we were visiting a private Christian school that we'll be leading VBS at next week we met a man whose sister lives in Rockville. Now to put this in context- we were up on a mountain, in the country side of Ecuador, over half an hour out from the edge of the capital city and met someone with relatives within 10 miles of GPC. Crazy!
Also, for those of you who didn't know, this whole trip was kicked off by a small world coincidence. After traveling for two weeks in Ecuador with the youth group four years ago, I really wanted to return to this South American country I fell in love with. I'd been toying with the idea for a while, thinking that the summer after I graduated from college would be perfect, but I didn't know where to start. Then I got to meet our new youth minister, Norm Gordon. We got to talking at the youth Christmas party and I mentioned how I wanted to go to Ecuador. "Really?" he asked, "You know my brother is a missionary in Ecuador, sponsored by GPC." I was blown away! I had not known, but after he told me everything fell into place. The rest, as they say, is history.
Oh! And one last fun coincidence. When we got here Alan asked us, "So why did you volunteer to come down here when I put out the call for interns?" We were all confused- we had been asking Norm to find a way for us to come. We hadn't realized that Alan had been emailing Norm, asking him to find youth to come and intern with him. What a perfect situation! Though, if anything goes wrong, we can both say that we asked for it.
Enjoy the attached pictures! There will be more to come.
God Bless,
-Lisa
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