It’s harvest time in Ecuador. Last year, I chronicled the steps of our choclo harvest at the Calacali property in this post, including the age old tradition of planting and harvesting the South American corn by hand. We again celebrated the bounty and blessings this past weekend by hosting a good ol’ fashioned “all you can eat” choclo and sloppy joe feed at the Calacali campus for the AAI faculty, staff, and their immediate families.
One of our areas of ministry has been hosting (almost) monthly events at the AAI Calacali campus. Often, they are camp-style worship gatherings with the intent to provide a place of peace and rest from the day to day routine, fellowship with other believers, and an escape from the city with an opportunity to be refreshed. These reunions also provide an opportunity for us to work together as a family and focus on serving others. But, as you can imagine, getting ready for an event such as this takes some coordinated efforts. This past weekend, the kids and I were on our own initially as Brad had an all day VISTA education program going on at the AAI campus in Quito on Saturday. Let me just say, these kids of ours stepped it up…For fun, we documented some of the prep time in pictures to give you a bit of a back story of what we do to get ready for our guests.
First off, we have the food prep – this time, it was frying lots of ground beef (20 lbs or so) and assembling the sloppy joe recipe from scratch…no dry packets of mix available here!
Part of the challenge in this step is figuring out how much each pan can hold and how we can still stir the mixture…We start with one pan, realize it is not quite big enough, move to the one we originally wanted to boil the corn in, realize the spoon barely reaches the bottom, decide to split the mixture into two large pans to cook, and, voilá, never ending dish duty.
~Next, there are mayonnaise containers to fill (Ecuadorians tend to lean towards mayo on their corn versus the North American counterpart of butter), 
~Chairs and tables to wipe down and set up
~Breaks to take
~Music to jam to while you’re working…(God’s Great Dance Floor by Chris Tomlin)
~And, for some reason, these kids still think they have to be fed so we have to prepare food for our own meals (AAARGH!)
~Bean bags to be repaired for corn hole games to be played…
~Hugs for the dad who has arrived via bus and is ready to work
~More arranging
~And, quality assurance checks for how the choclo tastes
Sunday arrives, and it is time to move the corn, almost FOUR HUNDRED ears of it…
Make lemonade, get some help to cut the queso fresco (white cheese – another Ecuadorian tradition),
And get a jump start on shucking the corn (with a cup of coffee) to have some ready when everyone arrives to enjoy the beautiful day!
Time to start the water and cook that choclo!
Let the festivities begin!
Shucking corn…
Eating…
Conversation…
.
Game playing…
Holding baby Matias…
Looking good…
And hanging out with friends…
God has truly blessed us with the opportunity to be intentional in celebrating God’s provision, sharing time with the AAI community, and being a part of Calacali. Our prayer this year has been that the Calacali campus could be a place filled with God’s presence, one in which merely setting foot on site would allow each individual a time of rest and relaxation in order to recharge for continued ministry. Whether it be for individual retreat, or corporate times of worship and fellowship, Calacali has become a special place to feel God’s presence.
But as for me, God’s presence is my good.
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
so I can tell about all You do. Psalm 73:28
Praying you will find rest and refuge in the only One who can sustain our every need…
Sarah