Traditional

Yesterday evening we went out to hermana Patricia and hermano Pedro's house for dinner. They cooked us up a very traditional and DELICIOUS Ecuadorian meal of Ianpacos (eye-ann-pacos), yucca, rice, and guayusa (why-use-a). Ianpacos is a dish that is cooked wrapped up in a banana leaf or an Ianpaco leaf, of chicken with palm and onions cooked over a coal barbecue. It is absolutely delicious. Yucca is a vegetable similar to a potato in appearance, but not quite the same in texture. Guayusa is a very sweet tea; it almost tastes like pure honey and sugar. It has about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. It is the tea of Macas, and has a lot of interesting stories tied into it's history. The Shuar women used to make the tea by rubbing the leaf against their outer thigh because it was considered to make it sweeter (ha ha!). I was also told that women should drink it when they are trying to get pregnant, because it makes them fertile. Lastly, the legend I have heard the most since I've been here, is that when you drink guayusa, you can't leave Macas (or at least stay away for too long). 

A lot of the older women in the church have already started to tell me they really want me to marry one of the guys here so that I can stay in Macas. It is so funny to me to hear them talk, because they say things like "Ali, the Ecuadorian men are very good men. They are romantics. They will take good care of you." and things like that, as if to persuade me. :) They love teasing me about a specific guy named Manolo after I told them I love piano music, because Manolo plays the piano and sings wonderfully. They said we would be a perfect match, because he wants to be a missionary too. We could serve the LORD during the day, and in the evenings he could sit at the piano and sing to me. :) I always tell them I wouldn't be against marrying an Ecuadorian, but I'm not seeking a husband while I'm here, either. 

I feel flattered more than anything when the women and other people in the church make comments like that. Comments that mean they like me and want me to stay. To know that you are appreciated and accepted so quickly is an amazing feeling. I feel so honored and humbled when someone tells me they are so glad I am here, or they tell me they don't want me to leave. My friend Edwin today told me that he thinks this is going to be a very blessed year. I asked him why, and he said "because we have the blessing of you living and serving here in Macas with us." I tried to say that I was the one who was blessed to be here with everyone, and he just kept repeating " un año bendicida". A blessed year. :)