Girls retreat, homestays, and countless more adventures in Ecuador!

Sometimes I get really lazy with writing this blog, so I am going to try and do a better job this time :). But if you want to stay updated with my recreational blog which sometimes I spend a little more time articulating my heart on and those types of experiences you can go to meganspradley.theworldrace.org But alas, I have much to update you on! So I will try and sum up some of the things I have been experiencing the past few weeks. For your viewing pleasure I will make this list in a bullet-point type format with no particular order 1) About two weeks ago now I moved in my homestay family. This is a month that is completely dedicated to living with an Ecuadorian family that doesn't speak a lick of English. This has been the most exciting month for me yet because I have learned so much about culture, I have learned so much of the language, and have begun to understand my own culture more because of it. Not to mention, my homestay family is absolutely amazing. Patty (my mom) cooks some of the best food I have ever had in my life and they take us to so many exciting places all around the country! This weekend we are getting ready to go on a five hour drive down to the beach! This has been so growing for me even as I think about being a social worker and learning and adapting to different cultures! 2) This past weekend I went on a high school girls retreat as a leader. I didn't know what to expect because I haven't really been spending time with the high school girls at Alliance yet, but I knew I had a HUGE heart for mentoring and for women, so I figured what is there to lose? Right away God worked and moved in amazing ways. I got to know the 7 chicas in my cabin really well and had a lot of heart felt conversations with them, this time and experience with them has lead to a once a week lunch we are all getting together to talk more about who Jesus is, and also a few one-on-ones. I can't wait to see how God uses me to tell these girls about Christ! So many people at Alliance, even though it's a Christian school, don't know Jesus. So my prayer is God uses me to mentor and love these girls and be there for them and also get to tell them about who God is. 3) Sometimes it feels like a lot of my time at Alliance can be consumed by policy editing, paper work, resource research, planning for future events, sitting in on meetings, and more. At first, it didn't feel really exciting, but lately I have come to appreciate it so much. It is really cool to get to begin to form what I want my personal practice to look like and to have the space, time, and resources to do research and put to practice some of these skills! It's also really cool to get to see how a team of counselors work together on case loads and encourage one another when they are dealing with tough client situations. It has helped me grow so much in understanding more about all the different aspects of my major. These are just a few of the pieces of my life out here in Ecuador. Everyday is an adventure taking public transportation by myself through a country that doesn't speak my language and learning more and more about the culture. It's an adventure being with a group of over 32 students from all over the country and building relationships with those people too. It's an adventure seeing how God has used me out here and how He is challenging me in both my faith and my future career desires by being at Alliance, and I would be lying if I were to say that this internship has been totally peachy, because it hasn't. But I am learning so much about myself being here and I am just loving everyone with the love of Jesus and trying to be a blessing everywhere I go. So that's me. I miss you all a lot. See you in a few months my fellow SW crew. <3

Life in the Jungle

A lot continues to happen everyday out here in Qutio, the thought of having to summarize so many experiences is kind of crazy, so alas this blog post will not even begin to do my trip or time in Quito justice, but I will attempt. These past two weeks have been jammed packed and overwhelmed with activities and trips so henceforth my last blog post response. I will start with a de-brief on our trip to the Jungle last week. I only attended two days of my internship last week (2/17-2/21) Monday and Tuesday because we left for the Mishaualli Jungle Wednesday. AHHH. My first two days of my internship consisted of helping with career day which is a half-day students for everyone, and specifically high school students sit through hearing testimonies of 30 different people with different careers (they get to pick their top 3) this is an attempt to help students begin to make a decision about what they want to do and what they want to pursue after high school. I helped with facilitating this and making sure everything was running smoothly and then on Tuesday we de-briefed the event and dug into a few big projects I will be taking on such as creating weekly blurbs on child safety for the parent and staff newsletters and working on an admissions questioner that helps families and students process through what their home life looks like so that the counselers at AAI can have an idea of the clients they are dealing with. The jungle was a crazy culture shock in comparrsion to Quito. In the jungle we experienced much more extreme poverty and a much different culture and demographic. I think one thing though that God really has been teaching me while in Ecuador, is that even though people may appear financially poor, does not mean AT ALL, that they are spiritually, relationally, or emotionally poor. And these things are worth far, far more than money is anyway. One of the most impactful days in the Jungle was working with the children from picha chickta. These kids at first appeared like they were living in poverty and my heart was breaking for them and what they were living in on a daily basis, but after spending time running with them in the dirt and kissing their muddy cheeks I realized that my idea of poverty and their idea of poverty look so incredibly different. These kids were so filled with joy and love and the way they looked at and loved their siblings proved to me that they have so much more than I even understand. Leaving those kids was one of the hardest parts of leaving the Jungle, because spending that time with those kiddos gave me a taste of the Kingdom and the Father’s love. This past week at my internship was a lot of meetings and logistical type stuff. One thing I am learning being at an internship in a school is it is a lot less of direct practice (one-on-one) with kids than it might be at a hospital, addiction home, adoption agency, and more. A lot of my work is sitting in on meetings and getting to observe some of the work that happens in the macro setting. I do some direct practice with children in a macro setting, my supervisor talked to me about potentially running a group for children with divorced parents that would occur during their lunch time. This week otherwise was working on some of my projects and getting to do a lot of research on resources and information I can use for my future practice. I also am continuing to help plan for the big high school girls women’s retreat coming up. I also have been helping volunteer at Pan De Vida which is kind of like a homeless shelter/food shelter, and I have been helping serve people and getting to know them and their hearts. These are some of the opportunities I am seeking out more of to plug into. To all my social work lovely colleagues, I miss you and pray for you all often. <3

Week one of internship

Study abroad. This is something I have been thinking about, mentally preparing for, and anticipating for over 6 months. Well, life came in hot, and alas, I am here! I am a little over two weeks into my time in Quito and everyday has been a new and exciting adventure. The first week in Quito was intense orientation. The four Trinity students were the first to arrive and we were able to spend the whole first day unpacking and mentally preparing for the 28 students that were coming in that evening all from Azuza Pacific University in California. Talk about culture shock times two. I have loved getting to know the apu kids, the staff and R.C.'s, the professors, and some of the Ecuadorians here throughout the past couple weeks. Orientation basically taught us safety, how to avoid being pit-pocketed, what food to eat & what food NOT to eat (#eatstreetanddie), how to maneuver the city, and a break down of what the next 3.5 months are going to look like. Orientation week also included zip-linning, going to mitald del mundo (middle of the world), getting empenadas in Colonial Quito, going on scavengar hunts ( kind of like amazing race), and so much more fun stuff! Week two was when reality kicked in. Most students began their classes they were taking and I began my internship. It is a different and weird feeling to be the only student who actually is in a full-time internship, but my time at Alliance Academy has been rewarding so far! My first day was mostly logistical. I have some paper work to go through and was able to get a tour of the building, I went over my schedule with my supervisor, and we discussed a bit about what my time will look like at Alliance. It is clear that there are a ton of really great opportunities for me here, but a lot of it requires me stepping out of my comfort zone and asking people where I can get plugged in. My supervisor told me about a high school girls retreat coming up in March that I could potentially be a leader for, this was a huge answer to prayer considering leaving my role on Trinity's campus as the leader of the Women's Ministry was difficult, but this is a great opportunity to continue to mentor and poor into girls. This has been a piece of what I've been working on since i've gotten to my internship. A few other things I have done is shadowed the elementary counseling classes in the morning and observe one of the teachers who talks to the students about substance abuse or addictions, eventually she is going to allow me to lead a couple, but for now it is good experience to observe this and see how kids understand these kinds of topics and the difference between American children and Ecuadorian children in the ways they respond and receive has been extremely interesting. Yesterday I helped prepare for a DNA group (discipleship, nurturing, authority?) In this group we had three high school students that we mentored and worked with. I prepared questions that we went through with them and then we did some grown-up coloring pages. They were a fun bunch to spend time with and I felt encouraged by how much they were willing to engage in conversation. As of now, Alliance Academy cannot fulfill all of the hours I need, so starting next week I will be looking into a second internship opportunity. I am eager to begin doing some direct practice such as counseling and working and mentoring students at Alliance. As for now, it is a great opportunity to be learning from other professionals and continuing to grow in my social work skills. Much love all the way from Quito, Megan