Saturday, August 30, 2008

2nd visit to Chumillos, pics of Evan and the Olympics in Ecuador

Here's some more pictures of my 2nd visit to Chumillos. We went back for a third time this last Thursday for what was supposed to be a big project. Will write all about this later on. I also want to write something about the Olympics in Ecuador.
This first one is of Marcelina, who I told you all to pray for. We were able to work at her farm and we really had a nice visit with her and had a nice chance to share the gospel. She and her family live right by the church but aren't a part of it yet.
Here's us putting in a seedbed at the pastor's farm.
Here's the cow clinic...we had this lady's cows each one to a post where Ramon would vaccinate them.
Here's Ramon and Jorge, at least I think that was his name (the Pastor's son who went out with us and helped that day).
Just another day at the office...man, God is good for allowing my 'office' to be the Andes mountains. I know we're going to miss the beauty of Ecuador. It is is really a beautiful place, one of the most beautiful places I've seen in the world. This is a view looking towards the Tablon (a mountain that's shaped like a huge table) and Las Puntas (The Points), which are some craggy rocks.
These next four pictures were taken of some Incan ruins that are up the mountain a bit from Chumillos. It's at a site called Quitoloma. It's in a strategic site as these were on the top of a mountain range and was a fort that was used by the Incans to fight against the Kayambis and Karankis (pre-Incan groups that lived in the area). I didn't even know the ruins were there until I went up there. I just wanted to go up to the top of the mountain and then a local guy showed them to me and explained a few things about them. He said that some 'gringos' had come to study the area and were doing some restoration of the site as well. I went home and did some research on the internet and it was quite interesting. These pictures are just some different ones that I took that day.


This is of my friend that took me up there.
Here's a daily scene back at the Pastor's house taken before we left.
As I close this part about Chumillos, I want to write about the last visit to Chumillos (the 3rd visit and I'll have pics of that visit later on). I had asked you to pray for that one and it went ok but it didn't go as well as I had hoped. Gabriel brought a couple of guys down and we were able to go from farm to farm but not have a big event at the soccer field as I had hoped. Another frustration is that the Pastor wasn't able to go with us. It was good that we were able to help a lot of folks with their animals and pray with them. However, we showed a Christian film at the end of the day and only church folks showed up- so that was kind of disappointing as well. There were a couple of young guys that came that weren't church members but they left early cause their horse ran off. This has been one of the big frustrations with missionary work, not always seeing results right away but I know God knows what He's doing and some things take more time than others. I just ask you to keep praying for areas like Chumillos and others, that God would bless and touch these areas...changing people's lives and drawing people to Himself.
Here's a couple of pictures that were taken of Evan a couple of weeks ago.

Well, I know the Olympics have been over for a couple of weeks but I wanted to write something about the Olympics in Ecuador. First, I'll write about the coverage of the Olympics or lack thereof. We have (now, had) cable that included the American network channels, including NBC which showed the Olympics. Well, we were all psyched to watch the opening ceremony and just as it was starting up, something flashed on our screen saying that the cable company didn't have the rights to show the Olympics on NBC. We later found out that it was because the Ecuadorian channels had the rights to the Olympics. The only problem with that is they would only show them from about 1 am-5 am. I guess they didn't know how to record and delay the programming. They had a 30 minute highlight show every afternoon that came on as well and showed a bit more on the weekends but that was about it. Also, at the end of the Olympics I saw part of a show that was explaining how Ecuadorian athletes did and it was pretty pathetic. I know it's a big deal just to make it to the Olympics but they were saying each Ecuadorian was knocked out in the first round or came in last place, etc. There were exceptions to this as you will see but it was kind of sad to see that. The one medal they won belongs to Jefferson Perez (he's front and center and is number 1555), a racewalker. Ecuador has only won two Olympic medals and both of them belong to Perez. He won a gold in '96 and won a silver this year. For those of you who don't know about racewalking, there's a fine line between walking and running...these racewalkers keep that balance quite well. I told Christine that it looks like a guy in a suit in a office that really needs to go to the bathroom and can't run but is going as fast as he can. Otherwise, it looks like they have rubber legs. Well, here's a picture of Perez who is known as Ecuador's greatest athlete ever.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

recent going-ons

Well, I'm sorry it's been a while since our last post. We have less than 3 weeks left now and you can imagine we've been pretty busy. I haven't even had time to put the pictures I've taken on the computer. Well, here's some pictures...
This first one is of some boys we saw when were doing some vaccinations. This one boy is holding Gabriel's goat. They had a homemade kite that you can see there.
These next two are from the last night at Guangopolo. We had hoped to have a parent's night but not too many parents showed up. The kids did a review of the program and we showed a Christian film- 'La Esperanza' or 'The Hope', which is a overview of the story of the Bible. There's most of the young folks of the team up front in the 3rd pic here.

These next three pics are from a recent walk we took around our neighborhood. Christine was talking to Evan in this one and he was just smiling away.
Here's the local Catholic church that they have remodeled. I really kind of liked this shot.
Here's us in our Rangers gear.
Here's Evan waving...
and sleeping...
These last two are from Chumillos. This is a reminder for you all to pray for the agricultural project we're having there this Thurs, the 28th. This is a picture of the church building and the last one is of a dinner on the grounds...consisting of sheep soup. I went to a service there with another missionary family a couple of weeks ago and then Ramon and I returned for a small ag project but we'll have the big one this Thursday.

I guess this is all for now. I know I have a lot to catch up on and owe you all a lot of pics. I ask you all to pray for us as we finish up, pack up and say goodbye. Thanks again and God bless.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

more volunteer pics and a video of Evan

Here's some more pics of the ag project, these are all in Las Palmeras. I also have a video of Evan at the end. This first one is of Ramon vaccinating a guinea pig or 'cuy' as they are known here in Ecuador. They were given this name for the sound they make. As many may know, guinea pigs are eaten here. We've had the tasty rodent treat about 5 times or so. It's not my favorite, but it's not bad either. Well, we vaccinated about 100 guinea pigs or more. The people were quite surprised that we were vaccinating them because that is not a common practice. However, it really helps them a lot, as they tend to get sick and die fairly easily. Here's Ramon vaccinating a goat, along with Gabriel. We saw a ton of goats and sheep there in Las Palmeras. I had probably never seen so many goats and sheep in all my life. We also vaccinated several cows out there. We had a pretty good rodeo in one area as they were a bunch of wild cows in that one area. That was pretty fun but I'm glad no one got hurt. Here's Gabriel with a baby goat that was given to him by the Pastor's family. He carried it around and it followed us around like a puppy dog. Here's l-r, Gonzalo, me & Evan (the reason my pants are wet is that he took the liberty of urinating on me again...I'm glad he hasn't done that in a while!), Ramon, and Gabriel (along with his goat that spent the night at our house).
Well, Ramon and I went to Chumillos the other day as I had mentioned. We had quite a good time out there. We vaccinated about 30 cows and 12 pigs. We also castrated 3 pigs, I got to do one of them. We also put up a couple of seedbeds as well. We had a particularly good opportunity to share with a young woman that I ask you to pray for, along with her family and the whole community. Her name is Marcelina. We prayed with all that we visited and we worked with church members and non-church members. Lastly, we planned to have a bigger project there on Thurs. Aug 28. We ask you to pray for this as well. The pastor should invite the community and everyone will bring there animals and it will be kind of an event. We have invited Gabriel to come back and help us as well. We hope to have the whole community there to do the project and we also hope to show a Christian movie at the end of it. I'll have to put pictures from Chumilllos on another time. We also went to church there last Sun and after the project last Thurs, I went on a little hike to a mountain top and got to see some Incan ruins as well. As I said before, I hope to have some pics of this on another time. I want to close with a video of Evan from a few days ago. He is beginning to make some noises, as you will see. I also wanted to let you all know that we'll be leaving Ecuador on Sept. 15, that is one month from yesterday. While we are excited to go back to the States and see friends and family there, we have a lot to do before we leave...and a big part of that is packing! I ask you all to pray again as we finish.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

hello again

Well, here are some more pictures from when the volunteers were here. These are specifically of the agricultural project. I'll also have a couple of pics of Evan at the end and I hope to put on a video or two later today or tomorrow. These first two pics are of a guinea pig cage that Gabriel taught us how to build. These really help with guinea pigs because many people let them run loose in their kitchens or in rooms that house them. These cages protect them from dogs, etc.
In both these pics are Gabriel, Gonzalo and Ramon.
These next two pics are of us castrating pigs. I mainly held the animals during their vaccinations or during the pig castrations but as the next pic indicates, I was able to take the boarhood away from one pig. It was quite an experience and this picture doesn't quite do justice to it. The pigs were screaming like nothing else. I had castrated or helped castrate calves before but pigs were a whole new experience. I still remember watching videos of it back in ag class in high school. It was something else doing it. However, the technique Gabriel showed us was quite good, especially compared to how people do it around here.

This last one is of Ramon vaccinating a pig. The coolest thing about last week is that Gabriel trained Ramon how to do the agricultural project. This way, Ramon can teach others and continue the work himself. It is a great way to get into communities, provide a service and open the door for the gospel. In fact, we are going out to a community today to work with some animals. I'll have to put pics up of that later on, after I finish putting up all the volunteer pics.
These first two pics are of Evan and his buddy Gershom. There is one picture of Christine holding the babies and another one of Samuel holding them. Benaiah and Faith (Samuel and Mary's other children) are there as well. These were taken last Friday.

This last one is of Christine and Evan and it was taken the other day. As I close, I would like to share a couple of prayer requests with you all to lift up. One involves a neighbor who is going through an extremely difficult time right now. I ask you to ask for God's peace and direction in his life. The other request is for Ruth (Jose's wife), as she had to have emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder. She is back home and resting now but pray that she will recover well. She has had quite a few health problems recently and hopefully the removal of her gall bladder will help her to feel better. I guess this is all for now. Keep posted, I will have more pics and a video or two to share later on.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Volunteer, pics part 2 and a video of Evan

Here's the first of some pics from the agricultural project. Here's Gabriel and Gonzalo who came down from Ibarra to help us with the project. Here they are vaccinating a goat. I had met Gabriel last January when I went up there for a filming project (you can look for Gabriel in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering video). Well, we talked about the possibility of doing a project in our area and he came down and helped us on it. The rest of the pictures are of us builing a seed bed or a planter. We planted several different crops that can be transplanted and shared with the community. There are some of Pastor David, Richard and Larry. This last one shows Ramon, Gonzalo and Gabriel. Ramon is from the area and Gabriel was able to train him in the project. He can now vaccinate animals, castrate pigs, we also built a cage for guinea pigs (pics next time) and we built this seed bed. Hopefully, Ramon will be able to share this info as a part of his ministry in the area.
I took this one of Evan the other day. He's starting to make some sounds and noises and I hoped to capture that but he started hiccuping instead. He is really starting to smile and laugh now as well.

Volunteer pics, part 1

Well, here's some recent pictures. Sorry I haven't kept up so much as we've been pretty busy. There are a couple of Evan and some other ones from the volunteers that came last week. I'll be putting on some more later. This first one is of Evan with Scott Hume, who is the youth minister of the group that came and a leader for the trip.
This 2nd pic is of the team at a worship service in Guangopolo.
This third one was taken on our prayer walk in San Carlos. This is of Cotopaxi, which is covered in clouds and Sincholagua.
This one was taken of Evan last week. He's a little 'travieso'- a mischief-maker.
This last one is a sign for a neighborhood and the name of it it Liberty. I guess this is all for now. I hope to put on some more later, along with some videos.