Tuesday, February 27, 2007

hi again

Well, I was finally able to get some pictures on the blog. I had to go to a internet cafe to do it, though. I'm not sure what is up with our internet connection at home. At least I got some on. These pictures are still from the time that William and Jan were here. These pictures are from when went north to Otavalo/Laguna Yahuarcocha/Chota. The first one is of them at a lookout point with Imbabura volcano in the background (an extinct volcano). The next one is of them on a boat ride at Lake Yahuarcocha. This lake has an interesting history. Yahuarcocha means 'blood lake' in an indigenous language and is named so because there was a huge battle there between the Incas and a pre-Inca group. The pre-Inca group lost and were buried in the lake by the thousands. The rest of the pictures are from Chota, which is an area where a lot of Afro-Ecuadorians live. They grow a lot of sugar cane in this area and the Afro-Ecuaoorians were originally brought in as slaves to work the sugar plantations. This is also where a lot of the great soccer players come from. I put a story about one of them a while back in a blog. That was the one where one of the players playing in England came back to do various projects in his home area. Ecuador has about a 10% level of Afro-Ecuadorians. There's another group that lives up on the northern coast in and around Esmeraldas/San Lorenzo. These are mostly descended from slaves that got there via shipwreck and then were free. They have quite an interesting culture and have kept quite a bit of their African traditions. Anyways, here are some pictures from the Chota area. They are mostly of people I saw there. One of them was taken of the people washing and drying clothes down at the river. The others are of some boys that I saw there. They were quite boisterous and really wanted their picture taken. I now ask that you would pray for the Afro-Ecuadorians and that the light of the gospel would shine among them. There's been some evangelical work in the past, I think more in the San Lorenzo area but not much in the Chota area, as far as I know.
The last bit I will write here is a small update and prayer request. It is that we will be travelling to Santo Domingo for 3 weeks. I'm not sure what kind of email/computer access we might have so I may not be able to do much with the blog/email. Please pray that we will have a good time there and will be able to do some good work there-mostly, that we'll point people to Jesus.
Ephesians 3:20-21-'Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.'
This is just a prayer request for us and our work...that God would be at work in our lives more than we could ask or imagine...

Friday, February 23, 2007

The love and goodness of God

I know it's been a while but it seems the blog doesn't want to post pictures these days. I don't know when it will start working again but I do have a lot of pictures to share yet. For now, I will share a couple of verses and thoughts.
Psalm 119:64, 68-'The earth is filled with your love, O Lord; teach me your decrees. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.'
These are just a couple of words about the love and the goodness of God. These realities should affect our reality and change our lives. Indeed, the earth is filled with the love of God. We can see that in all the blessings we've received. We can see it in the beautiful creation God has made. We can see it in the hope that is available to us. We can see it in the fact that God sent His Son to reach us and rescue us. Our duty now is to accept this love and then share it with others.
The other reality is about the goodness of God...not only is He good himself, in His character-in His very being or essence. What he does is good. What He has done and what He will do all are good. Both of these realities about the love and goodness of God should give us a desire to learn his decrees or His word. This is why we have the Bible, to see the story of God's love for us. As I close, I challenge you to meditate on the love and goodness of God. Again, accept it anew and share it with others.
Thanks again, we covet and need your prayers...keep praying!
Happy birthday Dad & Happy anniversary Dad and Mom!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Evans family visit, part 3

Here's some more pictures from the Evans' time in Ecuador. The first one is of a lady (our friend Maribel) at a loom doing horse hair weaving. This is in Guangopolo, one of the towns we work in. This town's traditional craft is horsehair weaving. Traditionally, they made sifters, but now they make different crafts out of the horse hair (like bracelets, placemats, hat bands, etc). The following picture was taken of us out at the school in Tingo. They had a good time meeting the kids and William helped lay some flooring.
The last picture is of William and Jan meeting some llamas. Guess this is all for now. I still have some more pictures and hope to put those on later.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Mindo and Equator

Psalm 104:24-'How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.'
The following pictures are from our recent trip to Mindo and the equator. Mindo is a place that we had never been to before and it was quite nice. It is in a lower elevation, in a cloud forest with lots of bird and butterflies. The first picture is of a hummingbird we saw there. There were hummingbird feeders set up in a garden behind our hotel and there were tons of them, 50 at any given time. It was pretty amazing to see all the different colors and details of each different type of bird...and we're supposed to believe that all of this evolved from a primordial swamp? It was so amazing and colorful, this picture doesn't even do it justice. We could see the hummingbirds buzzing and humming around. I took video of it and hope to figure out a way to put it on here. The second picture is of a butterfly we saw in the butterfly garden. The third picture is of Christine in her parents in the garden and the last picture was taken of them at the equator.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Evans family adventures continue...

Well, the adventures continue with the Evans family...We've done more sightseeing the last few days and met and visited different families that we've worked with over the last year. Here are some pictures some of the things we've done so far. The first one was taken in the 'Centro Historico' of Quito or the Historic center. This is where many of the churches and museums are located. Behind them, is the tower for one of the churches. It is called Catedral Primada, or the First Cathedral. We ended up going on a tour of the La Compania church-also known as one of the most beautiful in Quito and even Latin America. Don't have any pictures of that because they wouldnt allow any to be taken. However, I imagine you could see some on the internet if you searched for 'photos of La Compania Church, Quito, Ecuador.' The next picture is of some friends that we have a Bible study with. This is the Guacho family and they are all believers.
The next one is from a visit to good friends and neighbors Angel and family. The last one here was taken at our 'cuy', guinea pig dinner with the church out at Ascaubsi, with Ramon and family. We went on another trip to Mindo and the Equator. I will have to put these pictures on later.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Evans Family visit

Well, Christine's parents (the greatest in-laws in world) have made it to Ecuador ok and we've been having a good time. The first picture is of Jan, Christine and William up on our roof with Mt. Ilalo in the background. The second one is of me with the in-laws and was taken on the way to the hot springs at Pappallacta. This one has Mt. Cotopaxi in the background. The last picture is a magnolia tree that I took in Tingo. The magnolia tree is homage to my Mississippi roots. Tingo is the town where a new Bible study has started. We met again this last Wednesday and things went well.