HEY HEY HEY HEY! It’s your Liders del día: Hai, Josephine, and Joani! We are very sleep deprived after a very fulfilling day at Llacan, where we had an amazing morning with our Community Action Project (CAP) partners, Fundación Betesda. To start off, we had breakfast at Feroz, where our lovely food providers surprised us with tortillas, guacamole, salad, and beans. After that, we took the bus to Llacan, where we finally arrived at the headquarters of Fundación Betesda. Shoutout to our bus driver, Andrea, for her amazing navigation and bus driving skills through the tough terrains of Ecuador. Once we arrived, we finally got to learn more about our new CAP partners, an organization that offers therapy and counseling to troubled members of the community. Through the members’ testimonies of their experiences working through trauma and depression, we were very empowered by their journey to self-love and appreciation for life. Some of the members then put on a skit about not having enough self-worth, to which Joani cried very hard and had to hug it out with Ariceli.

Capping off an amazing experience, our fellow Glimpsers (Hai and Joani included) got to enjoy a vigorous soccer game with the organization members.

After the intense games, we got on the bus, where we blasted Bodak Yellow and Despacito (Justin Bieber version) on the way back to Feroz. There, our food providers served up pasta with meat sauce. After the meal, we headed back and had free time before engaging with the members of Fundacion Betesda once again for a Q&A session. With the information gained from the interview, we used the IMPACT formula (Feasibility, Need, Personal Passion, Community Engagement) to decide our CAP project; laying the foundations for the food shed at Fundación Betesda, so that the members can sustain themselves. After the program seminar, we went to dinner, where we had chicken and rice. After finishing the meal, we headed back to the hotel where we prepped for Monday’s English tutoring session with students of Verbo Divino. Summing up the day, we finished up with our nightly meeting, where we had a surprise cake for the birthday boy Andy. There, we passed the torch to Maddie and Justin, which they earned through their amazing dance routine. Finally, the Glimpsers ended the nightly meeting and prepared for bed.

PS. If Nancy is reading, I didn’t get diarrhea yet. –Joani

PPS. Julisa send my mom the link and I love you <3 -Josephine

PPPS. If anyone at home is reading this, I miss milk tea so much 🙁 -Hai

PHOTOCREDITS: @sharkpricot