Friday, April 25, 2008

Chimborazo, part 1

Here are some pictures that I took from a trip to Riobamba (Chimborazo province) just the other day. I just went for a day but took quite a few pictures. It is a really beautiful area. I went with a couple that lives pretty close to us. I don't have too much time to write now, as we're about to leave to head to the conference I mentioned in one of the last posts. As I mention this conference, I ask you all to pray for it again.
This first picture is of a group of people that are from my friend's (Miguel Guacho) community but have moved to the city of Riobamba. Most of the people in Chimborazo are from an indigenous background. They are known as Quichuas and are descendants of the Incas (really pre-Incans but were incorporated into Incas not too long before the Spanish arrived here). They have their own language (Quichua) and traditional dress, and I had never heard so much in my life as I heard the other day. We visited the folks in Riobamba for a while before going on to visit another family and then going out to my friend's community. I'll tell you more about it next time but at the 2nd family's house, there was a girl that made a decision to receive Christ. I ask you all to pray for her and her husband (Ruben and Valeria), who rededicated his life to Christ.
These next two pictures were taken out in the country near Miguel's community. As you can see, it was quite beautiful there. There were fields of barley and wheat, among other crops. I guess this is all for now but will put more pictures on next time and let you know more about Miguel and the community there.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Uganda prayer requests and a happy bday for my mom

Hello all, I don't have any pictures today but I do have a couple of prayer requests to share and an image of the Ugandan flag. The prayer requests are related to some of my best friends that I know from my time in Uganda. One prayer request involves a couple of friends that are getting married- Gerald and Cynthia. They will be getting married tomorrow on April 19th. I ask you to pray for them as they start their lives together...that God will bless them and use them together.
I also ask you to pray for another Ugandan friend-Solomon, and his wife-Cissy and their baby as they will be on their way to the States for him to train in neurosurgery. I don't know too many of the details yet of when he'll going or how long he'll stay but I ask you to pray for him and his family as well. I'm really hoping that when we get back we'll get to visit him. These were all students that I knew and worked with in the student ministry in my time in Uganda. They became great friends there and we've kept up until now.
As I close, I want to wish my mother a Happy Birthday on Sat. April 19th. She's the greatest mom ever and is about to become the greatest Grammie ever!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

last pics from Ibarra, lyrics and another prayer request

This is overlooking the city of Ibarra. Along with this, I want to put these lyrics taken from a song by Bebo Norman. I was listening to this song recently and the words really touched me and I wanted to share this part of the song with you. I also thought these words go along w/ the picture above.
from 'Deeper Still' by Bebo Norman-
"Tonight I rose up with the moon, and looking down from high above
I saw a world carved and confused into valleys deep in need of love
And falling down all thick with grace, Heaven's cloud of mystery
Was filling every empty space, down to the depth of human need
This love that heals, it's deeper still"
Here's a lake in the area.
Here's a scene from the countryside where we (or John) did some filming.
Here's a mural which I suppose describes the history of Ibarra. I took this one afternoon we had to walk around and see some sights. Ibarra is an interesting city and we had a good time there.
prayer requests- As I close, I want to mention that I had a nice visit with Diego and hope to see him some time again. Just continue to pray for him that God will guide him and show himself to Diego. Pray that Diego will have faith and that he will accept Christ and become a Jesus follower. I also have a prayer request related to a training that will be going on the weekend after next, April 25-27. It is a training related to strategy and I plan on going and taking three guys that I work with-Ramon, from the Northern valley, Jose, from the southern valley and Pastor Mario from Guangopolo. I also invited some guys from Santo Domingo (Bernardo, William and Uriel) and think that they will meet us there. It will be in the Ambato area, which is about 2 hours south of here. One main prayer request is that everything would be ok with Christine and the baby while I am away. She will be staying with another missionary and I won't be too far away in case I'm needed. I ask you to pray for the training and teaching time, that we'll be open to learning and putting into practice what we'll learn. Besides the guys I've invited there will be many coming from different parts of the country. Also, pray for the people that will be teaching and leading the training. As always, thanks and God bless.

Monday, April 14, 2008

recent pics of Christine/baby and some more pics from Ibarra trip

Here's the latest sonogram of the baby. In the left picture, you can see a profile of his face. In the picture on the right is a 3-D picture of his face. They didn't get a picture of it but we saw him smiling at one point. He continues to grow and move around. It won't be too long until we get to meet him.
Here's the most recent picture of Christine. She's getting to 8 months. We ask you to keep praying for her and the baby.
Here's Pastor Gabriel and his wife and baby Ben. Pastor Gabriel helped us a lot with this project and was the focus of the film project. Ben is the Heard's son. The Heards live and work with the Quichua in the Ibarra area. I ask you to pray for them and their ministry. Pray especially for their language learning as they are in language study. Here's Big Ben and Little Ben. He is a happy little guy and was my little buddy. Here's John who filmed everything, me, Adam (who helped John) and Guillermo (who helped and translated.) These are most of the pics from the Ibarra trip but I think I have one more round. As I close, I ask you to pray for a friend Diego that is going through a lot right now. I won't explain all the details of his situation right now but will say he is going through a rough time now. I plan on visiting him this evening, actually will be leaving in a few minutes. Guess this is all until next time.

Monday, April 07, 2008

some new prayer requests and more recent pics

Here's a picture with Dave and Ana in the middle (they run the La Fuente program, he is from England and she is from Ecuador), then there's Samuel and his family to the left (he and his wife are studying at a seminary here and are planning on doing missions in Colombia, Samuel has also helped me in my ministry, they are from Kenya), then there is Jonathan and Elisa (they are both teachers, he is from England and she is from Ecuador). With everyone we have a group that meets for Bible study, a meal and encouragement. We usually meet at Dave and Ana's but everyone came to our house a few weeks ago. Here's Mary and Christine. They are both pregnant and due about the same time.
These guys are impostors...we really don't have pregnant men here in Ecuador like you do back in the US. But we like to have a good time.
Here's a picture of me, David, Marta and their son Joshua. We knew them in our time and Santo Domingo. They have now returned to England and they stayed with us for a couple of days on their way out. Pray for them in their new lives in England.
As I close, I would like to put a couple of prayer requests. The first one is related to a good friend and ministry partner in Santo Domingo. His name is Bernardo and we worked together in our time there last year (you can see pictures of him if you look in the archives in April of 2007.) He's a barber that has a great heart for God and serves Him in some amazing ways. It turns out there is a new church there in Santo Domingo and he is the Pastor of it. This is his first time to pastor. Please pray for him and this new church. Pray that this church would be a lighthouse and a place of peace. Pray that it will be a place of outreach and discipleship. The other prayer request is for a strategy conference the mission will be having at the end of the month. I plan on going with 2 or 3 guys from here and I also invited the guys from Santo Domingo. Please pray that this would be a blessed time and that we could learn and put in practice what we will be learning. Guess this is all for now. Take care and God bless.
Psalm 17:7-"I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing to the name of the Lord Most High." I just read this verse yesterday and wanted to share it with you all.