It means “Hills of the North,” and it’s a special place in the hearts of our Ecuador mission team. In years past the team has worked with the children at the daycare here. The kids are ages 2-5. We visited them on our last work day, and they managed to touch all of us in just a few minutes.

Whenever I have a bad day, from now on I will think of these kids. They made me laugh and hit a spot of pure joy I didn’t know even existed in my heart. But they also made me cry as I finally saw with my own eyes how unfair life really is. The teachers told us the kids had no friends and that we were the only ones to visit them. Some of the kids are orphans who live with families who can barely support themselves.

Miss Alice, a lady at our church, crocheted about 100 hats to give to the kids. They loved them and were excited to find out they could take them home. The hats were adorable and brought smiles to all of our faces.

One of the kids’ favorite activities is dancing. The teachers turn on the music and the kids go nuts. We danced with them until the altitude stole our last breath (so we danced about 5 minutes hahah). I shot a video of the kids before a teacher pulled me into the dancing madness with them.

Someone on the team said they left a piece of their heart at Colinas del Norte. I feel the same.