{Originally posted April 13th, 2013}
Hello my friends,
I am writing to you from Salem, in the United States. I got here on Friday the 12th at 12:30 p.m. after a long journey when I left Quito on Thursday night at 11:30 p.m. It was a journey full of mixed emotions, longing for the people who stayed in Ecuador, and wanting to get here to see our old friends in Oregon.
I spent Friday night in Portland in the house of Carol and Jim Cure. We were remembering the times in Ecuador, planning the activities, and of course thinking of how we can help FEDICE. There was time to put together a puzzle and thus share some of their family activities.
Saturday I was in Springfield in a meeting with the churches of Oregon, and I had two opportunities to speak and present the projects of FEDICE, but especially “Maca Atápulo”, which will be the project for Oregon. Thanks to God, there was much interest, and they were able to make a collection of 10% of the project, or $1,000 dollars.
In the first meeting, which was a small group, I had the opportunity to talk about FEDICE and its projects. In the second large meeting, I was able to present the power point of FEDICE, Maca Atápulo, and then to give out the gifts that I had brought for this region. There was also a very special moment in remembrance of the life of Victor Vaca and his work.
On Sunday I will go to the church in Salem in the morning, and in the afternoon at 4 o'clock there will be a special meeting in memory of Victor with one of his best friends and a collaborator of FEDICE, Mr. Rick Ikeda.
During the week, there will be opportunities to visit with old friends and make new ones. I thank God for all these people who not only open the doors to their houses to me, but above all, they open the doors of their hearts.
In addition, I want to tell you that Mrs. Bev Ikeda is working on making a quilt for us. It is a quilt raffle, and she is selling the tickets, and all that is collected will go to FEDICE. When she finishes selling the tickets, they will raffle the quilt among all the people who bought tickets. I am going to ask Bev to write more about this later on. I will keep in touch.
Blanca Puma