Christmas Rainbow

A typical Christmas season for us is busy with traveling and visiting people, but still fairly relaxing since I can usually take a week or more off of work. This year was different though. I worked until noon on the day before Christmas and returned to work the day after. There were no long distance travels, but there were plenty of activities to keep us busy. 

After work on Christmas Eve day, I had several errands to make, including getting paint for the painters to keep painting, buying last minute gifts, searching, finding, and giving out a dozen gifts for our close Ecuadorian friends, passing out the remainder of our Christmas tracts at the newly opened park near our house, and buying some extra groceries for Alesha's awesome Christmas dinner! 

By Monday at 5pm, I was ready for a break. The "break" that I got was to quickly shower and get the family ready for two Christmas Eve activities that night. The first was a Christmas carol meeting with several of the other gringo missionary families. But first!, on our way there we experienced one of the clearest rainbows that we had ever seen, and certainly the best one yet since moving to Ecuador. Since we were on our way to begin our Christmas-time celebrations, we thought it fitting to dub it as the "Christmas Rainbow". We recalled how a rainbow is a symbol, a reminder when God saved a few faithful servants out from a terrible death by water, and how we were driving to remember the day when God was born on Earth to save a few faithful servants from another, more permanent death. These were our thoughts as we sang carols to and about our Savior as well as listened to some selected readings. 

After this, we headed to our local church's Christmas program. It started promptly at 7pm (Ecuadorian time). We watched Levi and Glory act out their part of the play. Glory quoted a verse. We listened intently as a translator spoke in the Waorani language. We enjoyed hearing the gospel. We watched a skit organized by the young people about how living a "good" life still only brings death in the end. Finally, around 10pm we were served an Ecuadorian Christmas supper (which looked very similar to and Ecuadorian lunch). Amazingly, all of our children did great even though we did not return to our beds until 11pm! 

Enjoy!

TaylorH

Of Socks and Underwear

Back in Honduras I bought Levi some much needed socks. They happened to be "Superhero" socks with Superman and Batman on them...of course, my children had never seen Superman or Batman and initially Levi, Dan, and Glory just saw them as fun colorful socks with funny looking people on them. Over time, they have learned that those funny looking people have names and at least Glory remembers which character is which. At the time that I bought them, I had little idea of what I was starting.

When Dan's birthday came around this year, his Grandma sent him some underwear (per our request). When he open the package of colorfully striped, dotted, and checked undies, his eyes opened wide and he finally had undergarments to rival Levi's Superhero socks. So Dan sports his fancy underwear like an Olympic swimmer struts around in his Speedo swimsuit.

As Christmas time comes around, my mother asked me to get something for the kids. When I asked her what type of gift she wanted me to get the kids, she responded with, "Buy them anything but clothes. Clothes are not too exciting for ages 2,4,6,8." Only two days prior, Levi received a new package of whitey tighties, though not as colorful as Dan's undies, he was still proud enough of them to show them to me with a broad smile that stretched from ear to ear.

Are my kids fun or what!

Enjoy!
TaylorH

15 Days! or In The Lord's Time

In a recent e-mail to a friend, I was informing him that I would not be able to make it to his Bible conference in California at the end of December as I had hoped; he nicely responded that we would see each other in the "Lord's time". So that is what I have to say here too.

We DID get our new visas approved. The visa office finally accepted our Passports to stamp the new visa in, but they told me that I would have to wait 15 days before coming back to pick them up. I lightly harassed the nice lady about taking 15 days to put a stamp that has already been approved in my books. She simply smiled back, shrugged her shoulders and responded with "15 days".

At 15 days from now, ticket prices for coming to the States are nearly $2,000! Additionally, I have to be back in Puyo for our busy month at work on January 8th...this would cut our visit to Texas short. Finally, there may still be some more paperwork that we have to do after the visas are back in hand (resident ID cards must be issued, etc.).

So, all this is to say that we do not plan to return to Texas for another 3 months. While we are a bit disappointed, we are also excited to see what the Lord has planned for us in these next 3 months. Also, this seems to have put the nail in the coffin, so to speak, for "grandma's" to come see us. Alesha's mother is coming on December 6th and my mother is considering coming sometime in January.

We look forward to seeing you in the Lord's time.
Enjoy!
TaylorH

Sportsmen (and girlie :)

November has been chugging along quite quickly. As I was talking to my mom today, I realized that I had not recounted some of our recent sporting adventures here.

Glory and Levi had their first soccer tournament...in which we were badly beaten, badly sunburned, but had fun anyway. ;)

As always, Ultimate Frisbee is a highly anticipated part of our week. I can't get enough of watching Taylor and his little "apprentice". :)

Last but not least, the surest way to dispose of a rat is to put this team on it's tail. :) They may have missed hunting season in TX, but at least they get to hunt something! 

...though before you hire them, you need to know that they are NOT responsible for rat disposal, floor cleaning, or kitchen reconstruction. All barricades used for entrapping said rodent are yours to dismantle. However! They DID kill the rat. For which I am VERY grateful. I still got a good deal.  :D

The Blackout

While the temperature here in Puyo is fairly constant, the weather is not necessarily. Granted that we have not been here a year yet, and that we are still learning about the "seasons", I was still compelled to tell my brother-in-law recently that, while we have some big rains, nothing here compares to a West Texas storm*.

Last night, Alesha and I were sitting downstairs in the hammocks talking and I mentioned that I heard the rain. After listening for several seconds we realized that the rain that we heard was not hitting the house yet, so it must be still on its way. Even so, it already sounded "torrential". Then with one big crack of lightning that must have come right over our heads, for the sound caused us both to jump, the rain came down on the house, and it came down hard. Since the children had only recently been put to bed, we decided to go upstairs and check on them. They were fine. The metal roof over our heads, though secure and protecting, was very loud. We closed our west-facing windows since the wind was driving the rain inside and listened to the rain.

Then, with another crack of thunder the power went out. I went to the window. It was not just our house, but the whole block. And then I saw that even downtown Puyo was out of power and more. As I scanned the horizon, I realized that the whole town lost power (this was a first for us to see). It was not pitch black since there were still several cars on the road and I could see the faint lights of Shell and other neighboring communities rising over the hills. By the time that I found Alesha, she was in the process of lighting a candle. We left the candle in the bathroom and watched the blackness and listened to the rain.

After about 15 minutes, the power came back on and the street was full of lights again, and with a start I woke out of my semi-hypnotic state. At the time, I had not realized what drew me to gaze out the window with such interest. Later recollecting my thoughts and feelings, I understood how the darkness reminded me of living out of town, in the country, back in Texas. It seemed so much more natural for there to be dark at nighttime and not bright. *sigh* On a more humorous note, during the power outage, I recall seeing my neighbors wandering through their house with a flashlight; I found this humorous only because he and our reactions to the complete loss of power were such opposites.

While Alesha and I still much prefer living outside of the city (and perhaps one day we will do it again), "the city is where the people are" (-J.F.).
Enjoy!
TaylorH


*Nothing that I have experienced in Houston, compares to a big West Texas storm either. Of course, I was too young to recall some of the really big hurricanes that hit Houston when I was young.

October's Progress

A lot has been happening around our house the last several weeks, so much so that we have forgotten about posting to our blog, so here is a quick month-in-review:

Levi's Birthday
Levi turned 6 at the end of September. Highlights from his birthday party were playing Pin-the-Tail-On-the-Donkey (see pics below), and getting a "birthday spanking".

Levi found it funny the his "tail" wasn't even on the board...can you find it?

Jungle Eggs
I took a short day-trip to the jungle this month. A group of people were headed to the jungle, but needed an extra vehicle to get them from Puyo to the river "insertion point".

While stopping at the little Waoroni community of Menepare, some of the locals gave me some turtle eggs to bring back. They were very different than chicken eggs; they had a lot more flavor!

Painting - Phase 1
Glory's room got a face lift. Perhaps it is because she is the only girl. Perhaps it was because the "burnt orange" walls did not look very girly (sorry, Longhorn fans). Now we just need her matching curtains from Texas!

Settling Down
We have made several trips to Quito in hopes of finishing our visa process, but there always seems to be something new. Since our visa process is still on hold, we are no longer planning on coming to Texas in October. Thanks to my mom and some friends, we should have the remaining paperwork by the end of the month! Instead we have been settling in more here in Puyo: painting, some minor electrical rewiring, building new beds for the boys, installing a fence around part of the property so that we feel safer letting our kids "roam", attending a Bible conference, etc
.

Levi really enjoys spending time with his baby brother, Noah.

Sorry about the lack of pictures of the others, I suppose that they were not very photogenic this month.
Enjoy!
Taylor

The many faces of Noah

 He smiles!!!

 He wails...

 He watches his beautiful shoes.

Good Night, Noah.

Last week in pictures

Life is getting fun, and really BUSY around here. To start with, this past week began the first of (we hope) a weekly Hymn Sing/Bible Study at our house on Tuesday nights. :) We were really encouraged to have 8 young people last Tuesday. 

We've started school back for the year, included in which is that the kids are learning how to swim. We try, weather permitting, to get to the pool twice a week for about 40 min. (Also in this pic, you can see Ariel, our neighbor who hangs out over here quite a bit working on his English and playing with Nathanael.)

Glory and Levi started playing soccer with a group in Shell and are both seeming to enjoy the practices. (Also twice a week). They are in the same age category, which is really nice; not only for them to get to play together, but more so for their parents, who are glad not to have kids playing on different days. ;) 

To finish up with, the church has started a kids' Bible Club on Saturday mornings,
which we are enjoying being part of.

I'd better go to bed now because tomorrow we start all over again. :D

Happy Birthday!

...Between driving back and forth to Quito, we celebrated 3 birthdays in late August! Taylor's was first...and I guess no one took any pictures. We did, however, have peach cobbler and go out to eat at a grill type restaurant. (and if you'll notice, in the picture of Glory's birthday, you can still see "Happy Birthday Papa!" decorations up. :) Daniel and Glory got to go out to eat as well, picking pizza and fried chicken, respectively. Taylor and I always roll our eyes when we see Dan's pizza restaurant, which they oddly named, "Hut Cheese". Really?! "Hut Cheese"? Oh well. Such is English in Ecuador some times. :)  The kids both wanted to help make their own birthday cakes - Glory would have made hers by herself, except I wanted to play too.! We love you, big kids!

Ministry (?) Update

This morning while I was running on a trail along a river here in Puyo, I found myself thinking, "What are we doing here?" In Honduras, we had a goal of improving our Spanish and for the most part, it was a success. But when we came to Ecuador, our "goal" was not as obvious. We have thought about several things that we want to do and certainly there are needs that we can help with, but to be plainly honest our "ministry" at this point is best understood in these verses:

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake...
-1st Peter 2:13

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
-1st Timothy 2:1-3

Beginning the process to change our visas, renting a house, obtaining legal/notarized rent contract, learning how and where to pay the water bill, learning how and where to pay the electric bill, setting up and paying for phone and internet service, obtaining the proper, legal, notarized documents to process our visa, purchasing a vehicle, obtaining legal documents for ownership of vehicle, obtaining a driver's license,  correcting proper, legal, notarized documents to process our visa, having a baby (Noah), obtaining legal Ecuadorian citizenship for Noah, visiting the US Embassy to obtain US citizenship for Noah, setting an appointment to revisit the US Embassy to obtain US citizenship for Noah, attending a driver's education course so that I can take the driver's license test, recorrecting proper, legal, notarized documents to process our visa since the law changed as of 3 weeks ago (yes, it does not matter that we were in the middle of the process), being the proud parents of a card-carrying Ecuadorian citizen!

Are we still working to improve our Spanish communication? Yes, but we could still be more dedicated to our studies. Are we continuing to look for more opportunities to share the wonderful news of salvation? Yes, but we could certainly be doing more. Is there more that we would like to be doing? Of course! Are we caring for our children and family physically, mentally, and spiritually? Yes, but there is always room for more growth.

Do we sometimes get frustrated that our current outward "ministry" is simply submitting to the government's whims? Yes, but that does seem to be both important and urgent at this point in our life. So if you talk with me on the phone and if the conversation turns to what we are doing, don't be surprised if I simply quote to you 1st Peter 2:13!

Enjoy!
Taylor

P.S. - We return to Quito in a week to (Lord willing) finalize our recorrected documents and apply for new visas, and to apply for US citizenship for Noah.

Happy 4 Weeks, Noah!

Well, Noah is not quite a month old, but as today is 4 weeks since we met him, we thought we should at least put a picture up. :D He reminds us a lot of Glory when she was a baby- big bright eyes; easy baby. He likes his pacifier ("plug") a whole lot. He looks like all the rest of our tribe, with the exception being that his eyes are still gray...we'll see if they change later or not, but our others had completely brown eyes by this point. We're really excited to see what this little person will be like as his personality unfolds. :)

Adventures in Quito

We recently planned a trip to Quito to bring our friend A. Lassiter (writer of the Monkey Reserve guest post) back to the airport so that she could return home. We had a wonderful, yet squished ride from Puyo to Quito on Saturday with 3 adults, 4 children, and 1 baby in a car seat crammed into our Toyota Hilux, which really only seats 5 adults. Sunday morning, A.L. and I headed to the airport at 4:09 AM. Our (the Hollingsworth's) plan was to enjoy the morning meetings with our friends in Quito then return to Puyo in the afternoon.

During a break between the meetings, we began talking about our visa paperwork. The conclusion of the discussion was that Alesha and I agreed to remain in Quito to process some needed documents. You must understand that processing these same documents from Puyo may take between 2 - 6 weeks, whereas in Quito, the capitol, we could have them processed the same day. Since our visas expire at the end of August, giving us just 4 more weeks, we decided to bite the extra expense (downtime from work) and get our documentation done.

I spent all day on Monday running between the office of our visa lawyer, to the notary, to arranging appointments with others whom I needed a signature from, and by the end of the day I had finished none of the two things that I set out to do: 1) notarize a rent contract that shows I have a dwelling place; 2) register Noah as an Ecuadorian citizen.

So we decided to stay yet another day. Since I was unable to accomplish the two items on my list from Monday, I decided to aim for 3 items on Tuesday! In the morning, I met with the needed persons, obtained my notarized documents (through much standing around and waiting on my part), talked with the visa lawyer, and I still had time to bring home some lunch for the family! We had a semi-relaxed lunch, packed up the truck and headed out to the American Embassy to get info about obtaining a birth certificate and passport for Noah, and then to the Ecuadorian Civil Registry office where I *almost* had all of the needed paperwork - in fact, I did have everything that they needed, except they wanted the only original copy of our marriage license, but I could not give it to them because I needed it to change our visas...bummer.

Though I was not able to "finish" the other two items, I now know what I need to do about them. I have someone working to get a legal copy of the marriage license, and we are making an appointment for the American Embassy to process Noah's documents. I was so happy by the end of the day, that we stopped at one of our favorite parks in Quito, La Carolina, to play around for a while before heading back to Puyo.

So we are back here waiting to hear back from the visa lawyer about our visa status.

Enjoy!
Taylor

P.S. - For anyone who thinks that the hassle of a process is any easier in the U.S., I suggest that you talk with a non-US citizen to see what they had to go through to get to live in the States long-term.

Monkey Reserve (GUEST POST)

Hello! Abigail L. visiting the Hollingsworth's in Puyo, Ecuador and guest writing a blog post for you all. :-)

While waiting for baby Noah to make his arrival (see previous blog post for details) we visited the local monkey reserve. You may recall that Taylor posted a while back that they had seen the monkeys outside the reserve and planned to return later for the full experience. 


Before even entering the reserve a monkey observed us parking and unloading. He seemed much less interested in us than we were in him as we snapped pictures. 

Nate felt very unsure about these primates and needed much reassuring from his papa that everything was okay. 
Which it was. Until a monkey got up close and personal!

Glory, Levi and Dan enjoyed walking around and seeing the birds and turtles in addition to the monkeys, some of which were in enclosures and some which were free to roam. Nate remained cautious after his previous traumatic experience and closed his eyes whenever anything was too close for comfort. 

We walked on rough pathways through the jungle area and took pleasure in God's handiwork. 

Overall, we had a fun morning seeing God's creatures and His creation. And if YOU come visit Puyo, I'm sure the Hollingsworth's would be happy to take you to see the monkey reserve as well. :-)

Noah!

Join us in praising God for another boy!

Noah Clyce Hollingsworth

Born in Shell, Ecuador @ 9:33pm on Monday 23 July 2012.

Weight 3.555kg (~7 lbs 13 oz)

Length 55cm (~21.6 inches)

Leaving Hospital VozAndes with the volcano Sangay in the background. 

Noah Clyce Hollingsworth
Noah was born after about 2.5 hours of real contractions. The nursing staff was not ready for such a fast transition from strong contractions to birth. I, Taylor, almost had to catch little Noah but a doctor came in, saw me, then saw Alesha, startled, then rattled off several sentences in Spanish which was way too fast for me to comprehend, but the nursing staff certainly figured it out and in 15 seconds the room was swarming like a bee hive. The birth was perhaps the smoothest we had yet. Though Glory and I were expecting a baby girl, we are ALL very excited to finally see, play with, and enjoy baby Noah.

Noah is named after the man found in Hebrews 11:7 and Genesis 6:8-9, and Clyce was the name of Alesha's grandfather.

Mama and her five little peppers. 

Dressed in "Goin' home" clothes.

Mama and Noah at twilight with El Altar in the background. 

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." -Hebrews 11:7

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. ...Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." -Genesis 6:8-9

Enjoy!

Taylor

P.S. - The images posted here are NOT good for printing. If you would like print-quality images, please contact us. 

The Testing

When you are in school, toward the end of the year, you have to begin thinking about your final exams. Just prior to and during these exams is an extremely stressful time...at the time, this seems to have nothing to do with "real life". Well, this week, rather the Wed. through Fri., was my Final Exam Week.

It all started with an emergency trip to Quito on Wednesday. I had to deliver our official documents, visa, passports, etc. to the government, so that they could process our application for changing our visas. I left at 9am and returned by 7pm that same day - thankfully, the drive is still absolutely beautiful, otherwise, I would have been extremely bored by the end. Having missed an entire day of work during our busiest month this year, and learning that I STILL was missing some documents (why didn't they tell me this before I came to Quito??? Who knows...and YES, I asked and verified my paperwork before leaving: bienvenido a Ecuador!), I decided to make a checklist so that I could get everything done ASAP.
Here is my list:

• Withdraw money. (T)
• Obtain rent contract (T)
• Notarize rent contract
• Print 4 visa-style pics for each person (T)
• Send rent contract and photos to W.C. in Quito
• Finish lab work at Shell hospital for Taylor's driver's license course
• Print 3 visa-style pics for Taylor's driver's license (T)
• Meet with M.M. for banking transaction (T)
• Pay for truck documents (T)
• Wash the truck
• Get ready for A.L. visiting

Come Friday morning, by God's grace, I had actually accomplished most of these items (signified above with a "(T)")! For those of you who have lived in Latin America, then you know that NOTHING is trivial...oh, by the way, I do still work a full-time job. We decided against the notary (it is not the same thing as in the States - it is much more complicated, naturally). By 9am, I had sent my documents to be received by W.C. later that afternoon. After work I planned to go to Shell, but when looking at the clinic's times to be open, I learned that Friday afternoons, they were closed...so, no finishing my lab work and medical exam to start on obtaining my Ecuadorian driver's license this week (this was fairly stressful, because technically my 90-day tourist permit to drive had expired, I had to drive to Quito soon to pick up a friend from the airport, and there are frequent transit police check points looking for correct documentation along the way).

What to do next? Wash the truck of course...yes, it was raining, but only misting at the moment. I took it to a nearby place that washes and cleans for $10 ($35-value in the U.S.). While waiting and walking around, I passed by a building marked ANT (Agencia de Nacional Transito). Assuming that they would know what I should do about my driving predicament, I went in and asked.

They were the most friendly and helpful "officials" that I had met this far (just ask Glory and Levi about it next time you talk with them). After some discussion a man asked me if I was free to go with him, I was, so I did. He was very friendly. We drove for about 7 minutes and came to a very large complex which I assume houses the bulk of the transit police, general police, and military for Pastaza. He honked a friendly sort of honk at everyone and they always waved back. Once we parked and got out, we were constantly greeting people...Puyo is a small, friendly sort of town, so I did not think much of it.

We entered a building and made our way to an office of "the boss" (at least that is what the doorway title signified, though I cannot recall the exact title). My friend who drove me, E.A. introduced me to another man who spoke English; I'll call him Z. He explained to me that Ecuador DOES, in fact honor valid driver's licenses from other countries, and he gave me the form to complete, but said that it may still take a few weeks to finish the process. This was actually going to be easy! (Thank you, Lord!)

On our way back from the compound, I learned that my first friend (note, that HE used the title "my friend" when introducing me), E.A. was going to get me a temporary driver's permit so that I can drive for 30 days and be perfectly legal. But the most fun part of all of this was when I got a piece of paper that was to be my temporary permit and it was signed by my new friend E.A. who is also the Director of Transit for Pastaza!

Wow, I can only be thankful to God for orchestrating me (1) to NOT go to Shell to get the necessary documents for applying for a driver's education course, (2) get the truck washed next door to the National Transit Agency administration building, and (3) to meet with and befriend the top-dog of the agency.

*sigh* I think I'm going to sleep well tonight...finally!

Enjoy!
Taylor

Backyard Adventures

Welcome outside! (Yes, I know that most people's welcome mats face the other way, but my husband has rarely been accused of being like "most people"...so ours welcomes us out into Ecuador.)

 The kids and I had fun clearing out a little garden spot on the hill below our house. Now, this hill is technically our "backyard", but it is rather wild; secluded, but not secure - meaning that since there is no fence and limited visibility from inside our house, the kids are not allowed to play out there without supervision. It is, however, a wonderful place for adventures.

These are what we call "the ruins". They are in reality, the reasonably stable remains of an old house - in imagination, they can be almost anything, depending on the book you've been reading. :) There are also limes to pick, snails to find, BIG ant nests to avoid, etc. Taylor is already plotting what kind of amazing bow shooting course he and Levi can make out there. (Like I said, it all depends on what kind of book you've been reading. :)

We're back on line!!!

As of this last week, we have internet at the house! (Which also means our internet-based home phone number is set up and working.) We are getting to know the neighbor kids; they like to come over to play with the swords/guns, or to draw on the sidewalk with chalk.

Our kids are getting more confident in using their Spanish... proof being that they bought snacks from the vendor walking down the sidewalk with their own money the other day. :P

Though we are close to "down town" walking one way, we are also only one block from the Rio Puyo and the end of town going the other; the kids tried to "plunk" all the rocks in the other day, but there are still quite a few left.

Between various sicknesses and getting unpacked, school has been a little hit and miss this month, but we are still plugging along. One really fun project has been to learn the dialog between the Lord Jesus and Nicodemus out of the Spanish Bible...the older two acted it out as a skit for Papa today with the "help??" of Dan and Nate, who introduced them. I was the Narrator; Levi was Nicodemus, and Glory said the Lord's answers. (BTW white board marker wipes off chins just fine...in fact, Levi's beard kept sweating off before he was done with it.)