Lunch of Mercy: Nate and Cecilia present their vision at Peter's over chili

We presented our upcoming work with Mercy Ships at some great friends' house today.  We met with many of our international friends from Cornell International Christian Fellowship and shared some of the history of how we decided to work with Mercy Ships, and some of the logistics of what we are doing.  It was a great chance to present our vision and mission to some of our closest friends here in Ithaca.  Thanks all who came!

Cecilia and Joyous discussing something important over rice and cornbread.

All together after watching some Mercy Ships videos.

It looks like Peter has found some interesting reading material.  That book, "Ships of Mercy" is a great story about this ministry called Mercy Ships.

Discussing and eating.  Peter really knows how to make some good chili.  

We had some great food, including this beautiful salad that Edith brought.  We also ate chili, cornbread, rice, stir-fried veggies, and some pie for dessert.  

We have about 3 whole months to complete our fundraising before we go.  With your help, we will be able to carry out the desire of our hearts: go to the poor of the world to learn, and provide help and mercy wherever we can.  

Thank you!

ROAD TRIP II

Here's the details: Cecilia and I just finished our basic planning for our Road trip through 19 US States on our way to Mercy Ships headquarters, Garden Valley, TX.  We'll be stopping at many houses on the way.  If you're near our route, let us know and we might be able to meet you!

Take a look, and follow the blue line from Ithaca to Garden Valley!

From Garden Valley, we'll be going directly to the field service and starting our work in Africa.  We are amazed at how fast the departure date is coming.
We leave Ithaca on May 2!  I hope the old VW makes it ok.

That's the VW after a hike up Mt Washington.  If it can make it up Mt. Washington, I'm not worried.

Back from Ecuador

We returned from Ecuador on January 28th to the warm greetings of friends in the cold city of New York. Here are some photos of our time in Ecuador.

My daily literature for the trip. This book is AWESOME! and it has some history about how Mercy Ships got started.

Quito in the morning, fog hovering over the city.

I never thought I would have been ice skating in Ecuador. This is me and John, Cecilia's high school track coach.

We went to visit for lunch, and we ended up ice skating, going to their house, and staying for his son's birthday party. We sang karaoke, ate dinner, and had cake, but we never ended up eating lunch. That was the way our trip went. We made plans, and changed them on the fly constantly.

Truck full o' meat. Looks yummy!

Walking the streets of the "old town" in Quito with Cecilia and Edwin.

Some of the family at the church. It was Jordhy's baptism that day. he's the kid with the icecream cone to his face and the gray suit on. Cecilia and I are his godparents and we are happy to do our best to provide a good influence in his life and to teach him English. He's very interested in learning.

I can't tell if Mauricio is laughing with me or at me. It's probably something I said wrong in Spanish.

The "hermanos" of the church. These are the young leaders who keep the place fun and interesting. It's an honor to know each one of them.

Nate is teaching math! How did that happen?!

Now Cecilia's teaching math!? Edwin invited us to teach his math classes for a day. We taught a basic lesson in arithmetic progressions in English. I think the students understood most of what we said, but I have no idea what they were saying!

Cecilia and Abuelita at Ceci's birthday party. The cake in the foreground was made by Cecilia's mother. It's a Raisin Orange cake, and it was deeeelicious!

I hope you have enjoyed this photo tour of our latest trip.

We had a wonderful time and we will be back someday in a year or two.

We now look forward to our next adventure with Mercy Ships and will be fundraising full time. If you would like to donate to our work, please just click on the donate button at the top of this webpage and follow the links. You can set up a one-time tax deductible gift or make a monthly contribution to keep us going while we are in Africa for our 2-year commitment. We will keep you updated on all our stories and travels. Thank you for your partnership in this work of mercy.