Bienvenidos a Cuenca!!

I am finally in Cuenca!! I met up with the three other girls that came down here with me bright and early Thursday morning. They are all awesome girls and we've already had so much fun together! We flew from Salt Lake to Chicago to Miami. On my flight from Miami to Quito, I sat next to an Ecuadorian man, Giovanni, who only speaks Spanish. I started talking to him just about his country and what he was doing in the United States and then he asked what I was going to Ecuador for. I explained that I was coming to work in an orphanage for the summer, and he asked if i was a "Mormona" One thing led to another, and I spent the rest of the 4 hour flight speaking to him about our church. I got his information and he is going to email me so that I can hook him up with the missionaries in Quito! It was by far one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. That night we slept in the OSSO (Orphanage Support Services Organization) Quito house and then caught our flight to Cuenca the next morning! Upon arriving, we were given a tour of the absolutely darling house we live in, and met the Roseros. Lorena and Rodrigo Rosero are the project directors here and live in the house connected to ours. They are both truly amazing, selfless people. I then unpacked my ONE suitcase-my other one had a little delay in Miami- and met all the girls here. There are 16 girls including me. They are all so fun and I can tell that I will make lifelong friendships here. While the rest of the girls went to their afternoon shift at the orphanage, me, the three girls i flew here with , and the two assistant directors went on a tour of the city. Cuenca is BEAUTIFUL. It is a mid-sized city in the gorgeous, green mountains. The view we have from our balcony is breathtaking and I plan on spending most of my free time up there:) I've taken a lot of pictures, but the cord for my camera is in my missing suitcase, so I will post all of them as soon as I get it! We walked up and down the main streets of Cuenca- there are so many fun shops that I am excited to shop at during my days that I have one shift off. There was of course a ton of cat-calling and honking at our group of American girls walking through the streets, but I was told that you don't even notice it after a while:) When we arrived back at the house, we had pizza night with the Roseros! Their pizza here tastes the exact same as in America, but one of the pizzas they have available is pepperoni and peaches!! yes, peaches. It is actually really good. I plan on bringing that fad to America. After we ate, we went around the table to formally introduce ourselves, and the volunteers that have been here told us some of their favorite experiences and the new volunteers told them why we wanted to come here. Hearing all the great stories that these girls have had with the sweet children got me so excited! I haven't even met these children and they already have my heart. I am so lucky to be down here to have this experience to completely immerse myself in the work and to love these children. The times in my life when I have been happiest have been while I was serving others and I know that this won't be any different. I am beyond grateful to my amazing parents for letting me have this experience, and I know that I will be a different person when I leave here in 3 and a half months. Tomorrow is my first day in the orphanages- my 7 am to 12pm shift is in the OSSO Pequenitos orphanage and my afternoon shift is in the "Cuna" Pequenitos is ages 5-12 and the Cuna is newborn babies to about 4 years old! I'll keep the updates coming!! Ciao! Love and miss you all.