I have been here in Quito, Ecuador for three weeks and I already feel that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I honestly don’t think I would be ready to go straight into college: I want to expand my knowledge about the world and I want to help people find solutions to break poverty in poor countries. Every day I wake up and I thank God for everything that ever happened to me in my life, from having an alcoholic father to my drug problem. I wake up with a strong mentality telling myself that I am here for one reason and that reason is “change”.
Through out my time here I have discovered that I am here for a purpose, I was placed on earth by God to find my mission which is to make people value life and through my stories help them change their mentality about the world. I feel that I am the right person that can offer that support and give someone out there a shoulder to lean on. At this very instance I feel extremely grateful to be here in Ecuador exploring and learning about their culture.
The first time I stepped out of the airport here in Quito I had this little boy come up to me and ask for money, unfortunately I was told not to give any money because it wouldn’t be fair that the other kids would be watching and I wouldn’t have anything for them. This here made me cry inside because I kept telling myself that no kids of age eight should be working so late at night and this really crushed me because I have never experienced something like this, but this made me think of how easy of a life I have and it really just spoke to me. It told me that if a person like me can have all these endless opportunities I should take full advantage of them, I see now how many kids would want to be in my shoes.
I have one more week and I will go to live in a small village, called Zuleta. There I will work at a high school every day from 7:00am-12:00am and then in the afternoons I will be working with my family in agriculture. Knowing what I will be doing during my apprenticeship makes me want to begin that part of the journey already, but I know it’s coming soon and I know I will do great things in that village.
