9am
Yesterday was a cool day. We spent all afternoon at a photoshoot at a Hacienda. David Dobson, the photographer, got some amazing pictures. At one point I was helping with the photoshoot (holding a lens) when Andy O decided to stealth-disco me. (when someone dances behind you in a picture and you aren’t aware)
Andy Osenga stealth-discoing me at a photo shoot
The pics he got as the sun was setting on an old church were some of the best I have ever seen and will surely find their way into the CD liner. (it did, in fact, and here it is)
And right after that picture was taken, this one was:
The Entire Compassion Trip Ensemble
David has also been videotaping footage of everything we’re doing for a DVD that is supposed to come out 8 months after the release of the CD (Editor’s note: never happened). Right now the CD is slated for an early October release. The brothers said goodbye to us at the Hacienda with a song and we all stated our wishes of seeing each other again. Somehow I think it will happen.
We checked back into the Hotel Quito last evening and had dinner. Andy O got stuck rooming with me the last night, but it turned out to be pretty cool. Ignoring our bodies’ pleas to go to bed, we chatted about tons of different things for a few hours before crashing. I’m glad we were able to connect like that. This morning we are headed for a church service, tonight we fly out.
1am
I am seconds from nodding off, hopefully for the next 5 hours of this flight. Church was interesting today. Very Americanized, but still cool to praise God in Spanish. After church we went to Fernando and Liceth’s house for lunch. My stomach had been iffy all morning so I only had a few bites. Christie and Mel (Jeff’s wife) were up all night sick the night before and were still recovering. The steak and shrimp were unbelievably good, but I could only stomach a few bites of each. I finally started to feel better in the afternoon watching the Master’s golf tournament. Cliff and I watched the final two hours rooting hard for Mickelson. When that birdie putt dropped on 18, we both went crazy. It was a great moment. We both decided to put it in our top 5 sports moments of all time. But I digress.
So the trip was wonderful. Seeing Ecuador was a treat. The mountainous landscape was very inspiring. Hanging out with the band was a lot of fun as well. They are all smart and funny, so it’s almost all nonstop laughing. The best part of the trip was probably the Compassion work. Seeing those kids’ faces light up from a hug or a smile made the whole trip worthwhile. Definitely something I would do again. And since Cliff mentioned to me the possibility of that happening next year, I’ll keep my options open.