Tuesday, February 26, 2008

vision trip pic & mom's visit

Well, mom came and had a nice visit. I just took her to the airport a few hours ago. I have a few pics from her visit. I had hoped to put these on while she was here, but I didn't. Sorry about that. We had a nice time. Mostly, we stayed around here but we did take one overnight trip.
As I post these pics, be forewarned that the text doesn't exactly go with the pics. I tried to sort it out but to no avail. I think you can figure it out... The 1st picture here was actually taken before mom came. This is of David and Scott from Emmanuel Bapt. Church of Weatherford, Okla. They are the guys that came at the beginning of Feb. for a vision trip. They are bringing a group later this summer and are looking at a partnership as well. Please pray for this group and our work together. This is a picture of them out at Ascazubi (Ramon's family's church). From left-right, the guys, Pastor Jaime w/ guitar, Ramon's parents, Ramon and Ramon's brother, Marco.
Now, for the pics from mom's visit. This is eating a traditional Ecuadorian lunch at the Palacio de Fritada-the fried pork palace.
Here's a picture of mom and me in the main park in Cumbaya.
I guess this is all for now. I hope to post some more pics later on...

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Cuenca, part 2

Here's some more pictures from our visit to Cuenca. This first one is of some ladies in traditional dress that we saw downtown.
The 2nd one is of the domes at the main cathedral.
This one's of us on top of the Panama Hat Factory overlooking the city.
This is Christine at the Panama Hat factory. We went on a tour of it and it was quite interesting. FYI- Panama hats are really from Ecuador. This is a little known fact. They picked up the name Panama hat because they were shipped through there.
The last one is one of Cuenca's 4 beautiful rivers.
As for an update, we have news that my (Ben's) mom will be coming to visit us. We are really excited about this and looking forward to her time here. Please pray she'll have a nice visit with us.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Trip to Cuenca & small update

The following are pictures from Cuenca. We went there on our way back home from the retreat at the coast. Cuenca is Ecuador's 3rd largest city and is quite colonial, especially in its' architecture. Many (including us) consider it to be Ecuador's most beautiful city. I hope the pics show that.
These first two pics were taken in Las Cajas National Park. This is a place high up in the mountains that has a ton of natural lakes. I've heard it's good for trout fishing. Too bad we didn't have any time to stop for fishing and hiking. We were really just passing through. The 2nd picture here is of Christine with Mark & Sherry Cody (another IMB missionary couple) who are living and working in Cuenca. They are great folks and we had a nice time staying with them. We had worked with them before on the Volcano feeding project in 2006.

Here's a view of downtown Cuenca from where we stayed.
This is the main town square.
This is Cuenca's famous flower market. I guess this is all for now. I have some more Cuenca pics to post as well. As for an update, the guys from the Church in Oklahoma came on the vision trip and everything went well. We discussed some different ideas and tentavily set out a schedule for this summer's trip. Also, my mom (Ben's) is coming this week. We are excited about that and getting ready for that.