4:30 a.m. I find myself bidding farewell to my house I’d returned to only three days before. So soon after coming back from six months in Bangladesh, I can’t believe I’m on my way to Ecuador. It’s all happening SO fast! After ten hours on a plane and nearly that much waiting for delayed flights, we land in Quito at 1 a.m. where someone from CADE has been waiting hours for us! Three more hours curving down the hills from Quito brings us back through memories of the past into Santo Domingo and finally—CADE!!!!!!!! Though it’s 5 a.m. and I haven’t slept but three hours in the past two days, I am SO full of energy! It’s a dream coming true to be back at CADE and it is SURREAL! No one knew we were coming except the principal, so we had a few people we had to surprise J First things first, Noemi must know we’re here! We sneak up to our ‘mom’s’ door, anticipation just bouncing me all over the place. Her sleepy face through the door crack immediately turned to one of shock and disbelief as we bombard her with hugs, kisses, and excited squeaks and giggles J Senor desgraciado(‘Chino’, her brother) was next as we just walked into his room and jumped on his bed! Excitement was all I could feel as adrenaline pumped through my body at pulling such a big surprise on these people! Talking for a few minutes with them was just like we went back in time two years ago when we would come over and hang out with our mom almost everyday. Once 6 o’clock came around we went to pull our second big surprise at Vinicio’s house. Seemed like forever before they opened the door, but when his kids finally did—I could NOT believe I was seeing them again! Oh the excitement in his house hugging and talking with everyone again was exhilarating! These were best surprises I’ve ever pulled on someone and TOTALLY worth it!
After stumbling through a few Spanish phrases in front of the staff worship that morning(my Bangla keeps coming out), I had my first Ecuadorian meal then went to sleep a few hours to survive the rest of the day. Later that afternoon we took some of our favorite kids to the river Comira, swam, and had all sorts of fun with them-just like old times!
The campus has had many new developments since we left…new dorms, classrooms, and remodeling can be seen almost all over…many of those we knew before have gone now and new ones have taken their place…it’s a different feeling of CADE. The people we DO still know, my mom, dad, and some of my favorite kids make it all worth it. We even got locked out last night and had to spend the night with our mamacita in her bed J
Coming back is the best surprise I’ve ever pulled and I will enjoy every moment of it I can! I am once again living in a dream. Thank you Jesus for bringing me back to the part of my heart I left in CADE J
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