You know you are in Shell

You know you are in Shell when a 3 course lunch costs $1

Having lunch with our "big brothers"--Steve and Diane Wilson

You know you are in Shell, when after one day of playing outside your legs are covered with bites from "no-see-ums"

Bites not withstanding, the kids are loving living in Shell.

The move

Cotopaxi--one of the beautiful views on the way to Shell

Thankfully we had a pretty uneventful move from Quito to Shell last week. We ended up traveling with one other family on a big bus--because we were transporting half a house--furniture, appliances and all of our suitcases as well as us.

Mike loading one of our many suitcases onto the bus

Thankfully it all fit and we rode in style as we left the mountains around Quito and descended towards the Oriente--the jungle where Shell is located. We had a beautifully clear day and were able to see many of the big mountains and volcanoes that pass through the central corridor of Ecuador. We spent the next week finding our way around Shell--which is not too big and would be very hard to get lost in--and getting settled. The mess at the end of the trip

We sat in on morning report at the hospital which made us quickly realize that although our spanish has come a long way--we still have a ways to go in order to understand and communicate at such a high and rapid level. But we are so excited to get to work and thankfully we are joining a very welcoming and supportive team of people at Hospital Vozandes del Oriente.

Despedidas y Saludas (Goodbyes and Hellos)

After a week of goodbyes in Costa Rica--with lots of tears once again on my part--we embarked on the next step of our adventure. Ecuador! We were welcomed by many HCJB missionaries in Quito who helped us do all of the shopping for outfitting our house in Shell--driving us around, feeding us, and helping us out with the kids. We are very grateful.Sydney and Sam with Iveth--their wonderful Sunday school teacher

saying goodbye to my wonderful translation class

more goodbyes with Lucia, our empleada

Then we took an interesting 5-hour bus trip down to Shell with all of our stuff and started moving into our house. I'll save those pics for the next blog! Thanks for your prayers--our move has been relatively uneventful and we are thankfully all healthy.