Classes, Friends, Doctors, Etc...

Jon and Anna at the "Top of the World"...Quito is below!

Well, it has been a little while since our last blog, so I thought I would get things started. This is Jon writing, just to let you know, so if you're an Anna-blog fan, then you can just skim.

Actually, you need to read this. So much has been happening here at Casa V. and we are excited to share with you just a little bit through our eyes.

Casa Victoria in all its beauty.

Cursos Vacacionales:
First of all, as many of you know, we have been having a vacation school going on here at the house for the last 4 weeks. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday our house floods with about 35 children and 15 volunteers at 8:00am. It is non-stop from the time they set foot in the house to get their breakfast (usually bread and fruit and juice), to the time they leave at around 1:30pm, when their moms come and meet them at our front gate. Our vacation school directors, Maria Jose Iturralde and Ana Lofredo-Rota have been absolutely phenomenal at organizing this amazing program. They run a tight ship here and do a great job of getting everyone involved while maintaining their own sanity at the same time.

Ana Julia teaching the Art Class

My sweet wife Anna teaches English on Wednesday and Friday mornings. She is stellar at this and the kids adore her. On Friday she was taking them through the old "Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes" routine. They were eating it up like pancakes. The faster she did the little song, the more fun they had. It's great to hear the laughter of children throughout the house. The kids have also been labeling the house with all the English words they can think of...Cafetero = Coffee Pot, Ventanas = Windows, etc. It's been incredibly helpful to everyone! We're learning Spanish and everyone else is learning English!

New Friends:
We also hosted some new friends from the States for about a week. Anna Livingston-Coe Wagner and Mollie Elena Walker came from Costa Rica to spend a week with us at Casa Victoria. After they travel back to the States, they will leave again in a few weeks to embark on a 2-month trip around the world! First, they wanted to come to Central and South America. Good choice girls! We are so glad they did. Annie is from Maryland and Mollie is from Virginia and they were roommates in college. Having just graduated from James Madison University, they were ready to see more of the world. They were such a blessing to us here. They were very encouraging, always seeking the Lord's will and contributed in so many ways to the community here at Casa Victoria. It was so fun to see them teaching English together to the kids at the vacation school (on their first day in Quito!!). They were so brave. They also helped decorate and furnish(!) our guest room. So, when any of you come visit, you will have Annie and Mollie to thank for the nice plush accommodations.

Annie and Mollie in action! English class is F-U-N!

The TeleferiQo (Gondola) ride to the top of Volcan Pinchincha

Medical Clinic @ CV:
About a week and a half ago on a Friday, we had a couple doctors come to the house to give FREE eye/ear exams, and overall checkups for the kids in our community. I haven't seen the house that busy since the inauguration. There were kids everywhere, moms waiting with their children, and volunteers trying to help out in any way they could. It was pandemonium, but there was a method to the madness. Each child was given a number and each one was able to obtain a free exam from the physicians. What a blessing it was to be able to offer this service to the community. Anna listened in on a few few visits and heard recommendations for nutrition and medicine and other great advice to many (single) moms in the community. This day was a great vision of the potential of Casa Victoria. We had over 30 kids there in the morning for the Summer Vacation School. We had 25 visitors from the United States working on Casa Victoria during the morning. We had over 15 Ecuadorian Volunteers helping out throughout the day. And in the evening we had over 70 children and mothers here for the free medical care. It was great to see Casa Victoria being used so well.

The Casa Victoria waiting room

Spanish School 101:
On Monday, we began the somewhat treacherous journey through intensive, 4 hours a day, 1 teacher-2 students, Spanish school. We're about to embark on our THIRD day and we've already (re)learned the past and future verb tenses. For all you non-Spanish speakers, that's pretty much like trying to learn a language in 2 days. It's SO crazy...yet SO good. It's actually exactly what we need. We've needed a teacher to kick our butts into gear and force us to learn to the language. Our maestro is Mario. He's 36 years old and has been teaching for 15 years. He's a great teacher, fairly patient, and straight forward with what we need to learn. The (second) best part about our school is that it's situated on top of the most quaint cafe "Mango Tree". I (Anna) am especially found of the cinnamon rolls that remind me of my grandpa's. (Note to the Blinkinsop family: these really don't come close, but being in a third world country...I'm pretty sure Papa would be proud. They bring back some great memories.) Wish us luck as we continue through school. As fun as it is, it's a ton of work and our brains are so tired at the end of the day, that we barely have enough strength to make a few grilled cheeses and plop into bed (with our new electric blanket!) and watch a movie.

Prayers and Praisies:

* Cursos Vacionales is over on Friday. It's been a great opportunity to be with the kids and really dig into this community. Please pray that the families that have been connected to CV through this program will continue to be present as we continue to open the doors. We're also really excited to be able to have some more one-on-one time with the guys in the house. Cursos Vacionales has been a huge priority and we're really looking forward to a little quiet time.

* Please pray for one of our guys, Jorge Mesa. Jorge has been living here for over a year now and we're ready to see him continue his journey. We're praying that we find an appropriate high school for him - as he is 18 years old and has yet to complete school. Also, his mom, Jenny is struggling financially. As a single mom, she is supporting two kids in school and has a precious little newborn girl, Genesis. Jorge has been helping her out with the small stipend he receives from Casa Victoria, but what he has is not enough. At this point, she is not working and we're not fully aware of that situation. We're going to encourage her to go back to work, but it's very difficult with a newborn and no family in town. Please pray for this situation, as it is heavy on our hearts and we want to see this family get back on their feet.

* The Library: The CV library is undergoing some major work in order to be ready for the new school year. It's been a difficult journey thus far, as we've had three different librarians that have been consulting for us. It seems like once we get all the books inventoried, a new consultant comes in to tell us we've done it all wrong. Then, it's renumbering 900 books. We're on the 4th round right now. It's a bit frustrating and everyone's on edge. Please pray that we would find more volunteers to help us out in these next few weeks. We can use all the hands we can get!

* Our health. Jon and I have both battled a few stomach bugs and are trying to keep one step ahead of the flu. Pray that God would give us the strength to continue on and a little extra time for rest.

* Living in community demands clear communication. The language barrier doesn't help us, and on top of that, no one in the house is GREAT at communicating clearly. So...obviously, there's a lot of room for misunderstanding, confusion, hurt feelings, frustration, etc. This is probably our biggest struggle at this point. We are praying for God's peace and love to continue to seep in and out of the walls of CV and that that peace and love would then fill our hearts. For out of the heart, the mouth speaks. Amen!?

* Financially - our personal needs are being met. Thank you for the financial support that many of you are providing. What we're looking to do, however, is furnish this big empty house. At this point, we have NO couches or sitting areas to "hang out". This has been a huge burden on our hearts. We really want to be able to build into the lives of these guys, but it's very difficult to do that with no where to sit down and talk/watch a movie/read together/play a game, etc. If you'd like to contribute to the Casa Victoria Fund, please email me at: joneshleman@yahoo.com.

Blessing to you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Jon & Anna Eshleman

The view at the top of Volcan Pinchincha. Anyone up for a hike?