Wednesday 9 November 2011

November Praise and Prayers

Dear friends,

Sorry this month I’m late in sending out our report... Ecuador always has the 2nd and 3rd November off as ‘bank holiday’ and as it was Wednesday and Thursday, they extended the holiday to make a very long weekend! We went to Quito and got back yesterday.

My main news is that I have started teaching at the local university. I am teaching English, part time, to the tourism and environmental engineering students. It is a wonderful opportunity to be in a non-Christian environment (as the past few years I’ve been in a Missionary bubble as I’ve not been travelling to communities) and we feel it is God who opened the doors as the director of languages invited us to his house to ‘beg’ me to work! With the salary I receive, our monthly support is now up to the HCJB recommended level (we’ve been at about 50% for the past few years). I will still help in the water projects office, especially with the two student design projects we have on at the moment and with communications.

Alfredo went to The Ecuadorian coast in October to see the projects our colleague has been doing. He travelled with a long-term HCJB missionary Larry Buckman who is Brazilian/American and enjoyed lots of conversations about community development work (and offers to work in Brazil!). A date for the trip to the mountain communities never got agreed on by all the parties involved, maybe this month.

Alfredo helped the hospital with a medical caravan in Banos, an hour up the mountain from Shell. They were late getting home because so many people came to see the doctor and ophthalmologist and the local government organised the promotion and gave them lunch! Pray for more opportunities to promote the hospital and work in partnership with local government.

Alfredo is currently in the jungle helping our friends, the Mead Family, with a camp for the high school’ers in Makuma. Alfredo is translator for the American visitors who came and they are encouraging the students to consider science careers. I have their daughter, Karina staying with me for the week as she couldn’t miss school.

This weekend our Quito church is bringing a mission team down to Shell to help at our little church in Mera. They are planning to bring 40 people (almost more than our whole congregation here) and help with the children’s club, put on a youth event and paint the church property. This is exciting, as we have been trying to get Inaquito church to visit us for 5 years now!

Camila will be 1 on the 17th of November. Hasn’t this year flown by! I have finished my first quilt for her present.

My parents are coming out to visit us in December. If you’d like to send anything (Christmas/birthday cards/presents!!) please contact me if you want to send something. It needs to arrive by the 3rd December.

Praise

Wim and Nienke De Groen arrived in Ecuador and are now in language school in Quito.

Fellow Brit, Lizi, is working in the Shell hospital for the next few weeks

Praise that the first month of teaching has gone well and I can juggle teaching, mothering and ‘wife’ing.

Praise that I got to attend most of the HCJB women’s retreat here in Shell. Alfredo looked after the children.

The Harrogate work team passed through Shell and we got two nice meals listening to people with ‘funny’ accents!

We have put down a deposit on a car and it will be available to us in March.

Prayers

Pray for the camp in Makuma this week. Pray that the students will be inspired by science and by God.

Pray for the Inaquito mission team this weekend. Pray for us as we are responsible for the logistics and keeping everybody busy and happy!

Pray for the conference Alfredo will attend on rural water and sanitation. Pray for good networking opportunities.

Thank you for your love for us and interest in our lives and work here in Ecuador.

Blessings

Alex for Alfredo, Benjamin and Camila.