Update

A few things have happened since the last update so I'll let yall in on what's current.

1. On Monday the 21st we received the papers we'd been waiting on so we could apply for our visas. So that afternoon we went to the city to spend the night and get up early the next morning to apply at the consulate. We were at the consulate office before it even opened and the whole process went fairly smoothly. The hardest part was actually paying for the visas since they cannot accept ripped or torn bills. It's quite hard to get untarnished money here so we did some trading around hahaha. In the end, we can't actually get the visas until we bring plane tickets. Then we can retrieve our passports which they're holding and get our visas. The big fiasco was that nobody knew who was actually supposed to buy the tickets. Because of this, a process that could have been completed all in one day is delayed until Jan 4th because the consulate office is closed until then for the holidays. It was quite funny actually. First we were told that the tickets couldn't be bought until we had our visas...then we explained that this just wouldn't work since that put us in a bit of a catch 22...then after deciding to buy "dummy" tickets, the person in Richmond that was supposedly going to buy our tickets suddenly decided that they couldn't...it was the job of our "language director". This was interesting to hear since we don't really have a language director and the person closest to that job has a budget of $0 for us. So we had to quickly get on the phone with our logistics coordinator in Ecuador to find out who exactly was going to pay for us to get out of the country. This was all very rushed because we were trying to get the tickets the same day so we could go back to the consulate and get our visas and be done. Oh...and did I mention the consulate office is only open from 9am-1pm? So eventually it became clear that there was just no way we were going to get the tickets that day so we gave up and went home. The good news is we have visas but we just can't pick them up until we come back with our tickets. So we will return to the consulate on the 4th when they reopen and fly out the next day. All this has proved to me what I had heard...that the simplest government/bureaucratic matters are incredibly complicated overseas. Also that while we have been here we have disappeared mysteriously into the Twilight Zone or Bermuda Triangle and nobody knows what to do with us if they even happen to know we're here.

2. Last night (Tuesday, Dec 22) we showed the film "La Esperanza". Against all odds it went great. I was expecting trouble because 5 of us had been in the capital for 2 days applying for visas and so we had no time to test things or prepare. We got to the school an hour early to set up and at 7, when we were supposed to start, nobody had arrived. Not to worry...that's par for course for Latin America. So around 7:20-30 people started to pour in. We had invited all our host families and teachers and their friends and family and anyone we happened to walk by on the street that night. In all, we had about 60 people not including the 10 of us. We projected the film onto the wall outside of the school and about froze to death due to the extraordinarily cold weather that night. But we took a break halfway through for an intermission to eat chuchitos (I don't know how to describe this food) and drink ponche (basically a cider of mixed fruits with the fruit still in it). The movie went very well and people actually stayed for the whole thing and seemed to enjoy it. It clearly presented the Gospel from creation to Christ and gave a personal invitation at the end. All without out being cheesy and hokey which is quite an accomplishment based on some of the films I've seen. We don't know if any decisions were made but I suspect it gave them a lot to think about especially as they go about their celebrations the next few days.

3. Christmas here is nuts. First off they don't really get started until midnight Christmas Eve. In fact, nobody eats all day and they have dinner at 12am. Then it gets rolling with fireworks and music and food and lots and lots of booze. So between all that I don't expect to get a whole lot of sleep. The next day there will be dancing in the streets. The theme this year is pirates....and don't ask why because I don't know. But lots of people will be in the streets dancing dressed in pirate costumes. After that I will be heading to a missionaries' house in Antigua to spend the day there where it will be more quiet and hopefully grab a nap, eat American-style food, watch Christmas movies, relax, and call home. The festivities will then be over...until New Year's of course where I'm sure there's lots more craziness to come.