Signs To Live By

I wrote this back in March, but couldn’t share it quite yet.  Enjoy this post about my hosts in Ecuador! 🙂

My hosts in Ecuador are devout and godly people.  I could tell from my first encounter with them.  When we first arrived at the Quito bus station, they were supportive and helpful to our squad.  They helped multiple teams purchase bus tickets and find the stations that would provide transportation to their final destination.   And to those staying at the house, we walked for a little and then they provided a truck to relieve us of our big packs.  We were welcomed into their house.  They went over rules for the house and some signs above the couches: Choose Joy, Be Here Now, Give 110%, Challenge By Choice, and Love Covers All. 

These signs are for all of us.  But I think they also represent some seasons in Mabe’s and Fabi’s relationship.  When Mabe and Fabi got married 12 years ago, they chose joy in each other.  They did not want kids and they delighted in the Lord.  Fabi was a pastor at the time, and there was not a lot of income either.  Fabi lost his job and they continued to choose joy and believe that God had a wonderful plan for their life.  Life went on and they gave their lives to Christ and serving him. 

Fabi and Mabe had some characteristics and traits they had to change in themselves, just like we all must challenge ourselves if we are following Christ.  Daily they learned to deny themselves and take up the cross for Jesus.  They became hosts and started running Casablanca in 2011. 

Quinta Casablanca hosts missionaries, pastors, World Race and Gap year teams, and so many more varieties of groups and people who come and go through the area in Quito, Ecuador.  Their hospitality is like none you have ever experienced.  They go way above and beyond giving 110%!  They make homemade meals for us daily, serving fresh fruits, homemade fruit drinks with low sugar, delicious soups, and extra love in every meal!  When over half our team became sick, Fabi brought out a special tea and made sure all of us who were sick drank some.  Then, he came out with Vitamin C tabs for us all.  Wow!  The love of true parents.

Mabe and Fabi are our home away from home parents.  Fabi usually sits down with us on Monday nights before we eat dinner to do a little devotion and challenge us to higher standards.  We have cleaning chores such as washing dishes daily, sweeping the floors, cleaning the bathrooms, emptying the trash, and stripping the beds on Fridays.  Stewardship is a high priority.  The way we honor our resources, honors God.   Fabi and Mabe have high standards for us in our lives and devotion to God– and when we fall short—they love us anyway. 

As Mabe and Fabi have been devoting themselves to serving others and the Lord, a desire came into their lives: to have children.  After numerous struggles (years of not being able to have children, a surgery to fix a fallopian tube that collapsed, raging hormones, counseling, and so much more), having children did not seem to be an option.  Both of them were aging, and when Mabe was praying to God all she heard was silence and God telling her that she was loved.  Besides, her and Fabi have had the pleasure of being WONDERFUL parents to the hundreds of “children” who have passed through their Casablanca home—giving them hugs, crying with them, loving on them, and helping them through life catastrophes. 

Mabe and Fabi continued to pray for a miracle even though they were aging because Mabe had this burning desire for children.  Sometime after, Mabe heard from God (through a friend) and he told her that Mabe had lost two children because they were sick.  Mabe’s heart was overwhelmed, because God knew her heart and knew her fears of raising a child who may be sick.  She then became content with the children coming through Casablanca as her babies. 

Mabe became violently ill a few months ago.  She started losing weight dramatically, food went right through her body, and within 15 days she lost 7lbs.  Doctors thought she had Typhoid, so they wanted to run blood work.  They were also running tests for cancer.  The doctors told her she had positive test results.  For what?  Which one?  Oh, you’re pregnant!  Believe that God is here now.  God blessed Mabe and Fabi with a miracle child and they are going to raise this child with the same love, hospitality, stewardship, and joy that they have been sharing with all the children that have walked through their doors.  And with each patter of Alegría’s little feet, joy for the Lord and for his blessings of mercy and deliverance will run through this house for years to come. 

Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.   Nehemiah 8:10