We had a fantastic Saturday. Ron did a leadership training conference at an Assembly of God Church. He taught out of the book of Acts and it was great. Last night was awesome too at the church!

Yesterday we went way up into the Andes Mountains to a Hot Springs. It was so wonderful, getting into the hot, hot water and then into a cold stream and then back into the hot springs, and it was chilly outside so you wanted to stay in the hot water.

Excerpt from Christi’s journal:

At the end of our visit, Chris took us down to the coast (about four days drive) for a couple of days. His mother, who has been a missionary in Ecuador for many years, has a home near the coast. She graciously invited us all to enjoy her home for a few days. The beach is not at all commercialized. It was so much fun to sit on the shore and watch the sand crabs scurrying about, and see a little island off in the distance. We enjoyed taking a boat out to the island to see the unique birds, called the “Blue footed Boobies”. This part of Ecuador seems so different from the rest of the country. Instead of Indians, you see mostly black people and there is more of a “Caribbean” feel. They say slave ships wrecked and that is why the population is more diverse here.

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Excerpt from Christi’s journal:

Becky Ranalli picked us up at the airport in Quito, Ecuador and Chris, although he was still feeling poorly, drove us the two hour trip to Riobamba, in the Andes Mountains. We were happy to see all the Ranalli kids again (except Dana, who happened to be visiting our daughter in Virginia at the same time).

The next day we had breakfast with a small group of pastors and their wives and talked about the “Leadership Training Conference” which was about to begin.

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