Sunday, April 26, 2009
If you're interested...
I've started a blog (mostly as a result of blogging this semester, it hooked me in) and it's address is simple - kellistansell.blogspot.com
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wow
We're warm and clean here at Base in Bass Lake, CA.
Two weeks in the backcountry of Yosemite not only make you thankful for cleanliness and fresh food but also for the incredible works of the Lord when He is your source of strength and perserverance. These past two weeks have been weeks of struggle, challenge, perserverance, great unmistakable joy and peace, along with growth that only the Lord can orchestrate. This ISAS semester could not have culminated in a more beautiful place, at a more beautiful time, or with more beautiful people and experiences. We are in Base in the midst of the "Board Meeting" getting to chat with folks who are deeply rooted and interested in our experiences and stories. It's been nice to bring up things that seem already so far away... hearing about ISAS, class time at Base, and Ecuador experiences.
This upcoming week will be full of putting into words our collaboration of learnings and things from the semester into our Personal Case Studies, celebrating the semester with our Summit Family, and getting ready to emerge ourselves into old atmospheres with new perspectives and knowledge of life and ourselves... what a challenge we face with the hand of the Lord guiding us.
I get excited thinking of all of the embraces to come - during our Solo time in Yosemite I was picturing all of the different environments I will be returning to and becoming expectant of many different warm embraces. First of all, our smelly but loving welcome back to Base by Graham, Valerie, Jair (surprisingly), and Tom. Later Ryan and Paul both made an appearance and hugged us still in our smelliness. We met members of the board throughout the afternoon with open arms and eager minds to hear our stories. Soon we hope to see Sara, Leigh, Tom's oldest - Justin, and the On the Rock Afterschool program kids! Once I depart Bass Lake I'll get to reunite with my parents and brother, followed by my grandfather, my church family and few friends at home in Winder, GA. Soon after I will leave there for Berry where I will embark on the chatting & coffee journey of my life seeing and catching up with dear friends at school the week leading up to graduation there. The embraces to come put joy in my heart and I'm anticipatory of those that my mind is forgetting to be excited for! =)
Keep us in your prayers that the Lord will remind us and solidify in us the many things he has taught us this semester about ourselves and life. That those things will be brought back up in our papers and will be strongly carried into our lives elsewhere once we return "home."
Two weeks in the backcountry of Yosemite not only make you thankful for cleanliness and fresh food but also for the incredible works of the Lord when He is your source of strength and perserverance. These past two weeks have been weeks of struggle, challenge, perserverance, great unmistakable joy and peace, along with growth that only the Lord can orchestrate. This ISAS semester could not have culminated in a more beautiful place, at a more beautiful time, or with more beautiful people and experiences. We are in Base in the midst of the "Board Meeting" getting to chat with folks who are deeply rooted and interested in our experiences and stories. It's been nice to bring up things that seem already so far away... hearing about ISAS, class time at Base, and Ecuador experiences.
This upcoming week will be full of putting into words our collaboration of learnings and things from the semester into our Personal Case Studies, celebrating the semester with our Summit Family, and getting ready to emerge ourselves into old atmospheres with new perspectives and knowledge of life and ourselves... what a challenge we face with the hand of the Lord guiding us.
I get excited thinking of all of the embraces to come - during our Solo time in Yosemite I was picturing all of the different environments I will be returning to and becoming expectant of many different warm embraces. First of all, our smelly but loving welcome back to Base by Graham, Valerie, Jair (surprisingly), and Tom. Later Ryan and Paul both made an appearance and hugged us still in our smelliness. We met members of the board throughout the afternoon with open arms and eager minds to hear our stories. Soon we hope to see Sara, Leigh, Tom's oldest - Justin, and the On the Rock Afterschool program kids! Once I depart Bass Lake I'll get to reunite with my parents and brother, followed by my grandfather, my church family and few friends at home in Winder, GA. Soon after I will leave there for Berry where I will embark on the chatting & coffee journey of my life seeing and catching up with dear friends at school the week leading up to graduation there. The embraces to come put joy in my heart and I'm anticipatory of those that my mind is forgetting to be excited for! =)
Keep us in your prayers that the Lord will remind us and solidify in us the many things he has taught us this semester about ourselves and life. That those things will be brought back up in our papers and will be strongly carried into our lives elsewhere once we return "home."
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
We're Baaaack!
Greetings California!
We are at Summit's beautiful Base in Bass Lake, California preparing for our Sierra Expedition. We have been learning about how to prepare food and gear, and stepping right up to make it happen. It's been a fun and full few days here in Bass Lake. Yesterday Mike and I spent the day in Yosemite valley with Tom and Graham, who we were glad to have some quality time with since it had been quite a while, learning about, setting up, and climbing on top rope anchors. We will be having a similar day tomorrow and learning more about managing a climbing site I do believe... Today we pulled our food "pantry style" for our two week-long backpacking portions that start this Sunday. On Friday we'll be pulling gear and getting all of our odds and ends packed up so we can camp at the Backpacker's Camp in the valley Saturday night and start fresh the next morning on our adventures!
We all had much appreciated and much enjoyed spring breaks in our own different ways, but everyone got at least a peak at the coast! I traveled with my parents from Fresno around California's northern coast visiting all the must-sees and every state/national park around Humboldt County. From there we spent a day in San Francisco before heading back to Fresno for my parents to return home. I spent the rest of the break in Anaheim with a friend relaxing, reading, catching up on sleep, and seeing a few of the LA area sites. Mike spent his time in the Bay Area, Pacifica to be exact, with his good friends biking and playing on the coast and packing in everything he wanted to do within the short time he had to do it!
Now back at our home in our huge cabin filled with two, we are reading up on winter expeditions and expedition planning while getting incredibly excited for the next few weeks ahead!
Keep us and the weather in your prayers - clear skies and beautiful experiences! =)
We are at Summit's beautiful Base in Bass Lake, California preparing for our Sierra Expedition. We have been learning about how to prepare food and gear, and stepping right up to make it happen. It's been a fun and full few days here in Bass Lake. Yesterday Mike and I spent the day in Yosemite valley with Tom and Graham, who we were glad to have some quality time with since it had been quite a while, learning about, setting up, and climbing on top rope anchors. We will be having a similar day tomorrow and learning more about managing a climbing site I do believe... Today we pulled our food "pantry style" for our two week-long backpacking portions that start this Sunday. On Friday we'll be pulling gear and getting all of our odds and ends packed up so we can camp at the Backpacker's Camp in the valley Saturday night and start fresh the next morning on our adventures!
We all had much appreciated and much enjoyed spring breaks in our own different ways, but everyone got at least a peak at the coast! I traveled with my parents from Fresno around California's northern coast visiting all the must-sees and every state/national park around Humboldt County. From there we spent a day in San Francisco before heading back to Fresno for my parents to return home. I spent the rest of the break in Anaheim with a friend relaxing, reading, catching up on sleep, and seeing a few of the LA area sites. Mike spent his time in the Bay Area, Pacifica to be exact, with his good friends biking and playing on the coast and packing in everything he wanted to do within the short time he had to do it!
Now back at our home in our huge cabin filled with two, we are reading up on winter expeditions and expedition planning while getting incredibly excited for the next few weeks ahead!
Keep us and the weather in your prayers - clear skies and beautiful experiences! =)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
More Photos
I've added photos to an album online that uploads more easily than Blogger. So check it out if you'd like:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelli.stansell
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelli.stansell
Pinguino!!!
From Shell we made our way to Banos for a few days of rest, relaxation, and paper-writing. Banos is a town for the tourist. Not only North American tourists, but I found the majority were from the Europe area. In Banos we each spent some alone time finishing up homework, reading books, walking around the town, and whatever else tickled our fancy.
One beautiful Sunday morning I spent hours on a park bench in front of the church reading "Love in the Time of Cholera" which I am now sad that I had to return to a local coffee shop. Every hour the church bells would ring and people would file out while others filed in. That afternoon I took a hike up to a cafe that looks over the whole town of Banos. On the way I ran into a horse and a donkey at different points on the trail blocking my way. It was a nice day off after turning in the second to last paper of this portion of the semester. Mike rented a dirt bike, got a few scrapes here and there, but had a blast while it lasted!
Monday morning we set off for the last leg of our backpack adventure to Hacienda Releche. We took a couple buses and then once we arrived in Penipe hired FireBoy to take us the rest of the way to the hacienda. Ok, his real name was Francisco Luis, but on the radio he's known as FireBoy - Chico Fuego. He was quite the character - talking the whole time like a radio announcer, using our cell phone to call his boss letting him know that he was making a quick buck and would be late to work, and stopping to talk to everyone who was walking down the road. It was pretty interesting but definitely a fun trip to the hacienda!
Hacienda Releche was occupied by no other guests but ourselves, even though it could easily house thirty plus comfortably. The next day Leslie, Mike, and I embarked on a muddy journey to a beautiful valley below Los Altares. The reason for the title of the entry today is because we decided very early on that whoever fell, really fell, in the mud would get a Pinguino ice cream as their reward. I received the victory call of "Pinquino!" first, but later in the day Mike joined in a spinning tumble. Leslie managed to stay afloat, but because she was able to make the most tremendous noise with her boot in the mud - she was added to the list. Right after nightfall we returned to the hacienda for dinner with Corinna and got ready to rest and head out in the morning.
Our backpacks were packed and ready to rock and roll back to Quito. The bus rides couldn't have been any smoother and we made it safely to our welcoming home at the OMS Guesthouse. An afternoon of paper writing and relaxing was in order. Today, Thursday, we are finishing up our Cultural Inquiry papers to present them after lunch and get packed for our trip to the states tomorrow morning. Ecuador has treated us well - beautiful weather, incredible adventures, and chock-full of learning and growing as the people we are finding ourselves to be...
One beautiful Sunday morning I spent hours on a park bench in front of the church reading "Love in the Time of Cholera" which I am now sad that I had to return to a local coffee shop. Every hour the church bells would ring and people would file out while others filed in. That afternoon I took a hike up to a cafe that looks over the whole town of Banos. On the way I ran into a horse and a donkey at different points on the trail blocking my way. It was a nice day off after turning in the second to last paper of this portion of the semester. Mike rented a dirt bike, got a few scrapes here and there, but had a blast while it lasted!
Monday morning we set off for the last leg of our backpack adventure to Hacienda Releche. We took a couple buses and then once we arrived in Penipe hired FireBoy to take us the rest of the way to the hacienda. Ok, his real name was Francisco Luis, but on the radio he's known as FireBoy - Chico Fuego. He was quite the character - talking the whole time like a radio announcer, using our cell phone to call his boss letting him know that he was making a quick buck and would be late to work, and stopping to talk to everyone who was walking down the road. It was pretty interesting but definitely a fun trip to the hacienda!
Hacienda Releche was occupied by no other guests but ourselves, even though it could easily house thirty plus comfortably. The next day Leslie, Mike, and I embarked on a muddy journey to a beautiful valley below Los Altares. The reason for the title of the entry today is because we decided very early on that whoever fell, really fell, in the mud would get a Pinguino ice cream as their reward. I received the victory call of "Pinquino!" first, but later in the day Mike joined in a spinning tumble. Leslie managed to stay afloat, but because she was able to make the most tremendous noise with her boot in the mud - she was added to the list. Right after nightfall we returned to the hacienda for dinner with Corinna and got ready to rest and head out in the morning.
Our backpacks were packed and ready to rock and roll back to Quito. The bus rides couldn't have been any smoother and we made it safely to our welcoming home at the OMS Guesthouse. An afternoon of paper writing and relaxing was in order. Today, Thursday, we are finishing up our Cultural Inquiry papers to present them after lunch and get packed for our trip to the states tomorrow morning. Ecuador has treated us well - beautiful weather, incredible adventures, and chock-full of learning and growing as the people we are finding ourselves to be...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tiweano, Ecuador
This morning we went and helped some women in the orphanage called Casa De Fe in Shell. 6am -9am is the shortest staffed time, so we went and helped dry and clothed freshly bathed orphans, combed their hair and helped feed them. They are children who are not wanted by their families for various reasons. Sometimes it is because they are disabled and cannot be cared for adequately in the jungle or perhaps they are triplets and the mother can only take care of one. It is a heart breaking place, but it is also a beautiful place.
This afternoon we took a flight in a bush plane out into the jungle where we were given a small tour and a very great welcome by the Waurani people who live in the little village called Tiweano. We listened to singing and saw some spontaneous dancing in praise of God. We were guided by a 31 year old single woman who is a nurse in her community. She lived in Quito for 16 years, learned Spanish then she came back to live and serve in her community. We met her grandmother and her mother. Her name was Mencay. When we first arrived, we were taken down a muddy path to a small church. Inside we were met by a very old man named Dewy. His earlobes were stretched long from years of wearing wooden plugs which he no longer wore. He was one of the oldest people in the community and he welcomed us, prayed fervently over us and shook our hands. He was one of the people involved in the spearing of the 5 missionaries back in the 50s here in Shell. It was a beautiful visit.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Pictures to go with the following post by Kelli
Mike learning a knot from his Ecuadorian facilitator friend, Dani.
Kids from the orphanage Davis Foundation
The edge of the GuaGua Pichincha crater. Thanks to the zoom on my camera.
Corinna, Danni, Mike on a practice fixed line. Pichincha training trip
Mike takes a moment to contemplate the beauty on the Pichincha trip
Kelli gets her hair done by some of the little girls who loved to play estilista at the Davis orphanage.
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