here is our current diary: contact us if you see a space and want to come visit us. You are welcome to come midweek to Gloucester for dinner if you are close enough.
June and July are basically empty and we'll have finished college so can travel during the week for cellgroups, presentations etc... let us know!
20th 21st march coventry, park fellowship
27th gloucester (Chu family)
2 april - ? isle of wight
11th - Barrow in Furness
12-17th? easter break ?
17th- 18th Leamington Spa, (Wiratunga family)
24th - 25th Gloucester (Hext)
1 may - hull, hcjb prayer group afternoon and st aidans church evening
2nd may - hull, westhall baptist church
8-9th - cambridge (Sheilds family) sat presentation in church
15th 16th, Frodsham, presentation (Tim Coad)
29th-31st devon, wedding
1-6th june half term break where?
12th june Redcliffe graduation
3rd july isle of wight, presentation st albans, ventnor
11th July Alfredo leaves UK
24th July, wedding, Isle of wight
27th leave UK
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Thursday, 14 January 2010
dear all,
just a brief message as my internet is not working properly...
Alfredo has his visa issued and we are just waiting for his passport to arrive back in Ecuador so we can buy the ticket for England.
Benjamin and I are in Gloucester studying at Redcliffe Mission College.
We had a nice new year with my family in Stroud and we are settling in to the routine of study and creche.
get in contact via facebook or email if you want to see us while we are in the UK.
blessings alex
Sunday, 13 December 2009
december prayers and praises
photos are us at Richard and Ma. Fernanda's wedding last Saturday and The people in Santa Rosa celebrating their finished water project
Hi all,
We are having a minor panic now with so much to do before we leave, but we know it will all come together in the end!
Alfredo’s visa was denied… we applied for the wrong type. We have applied for the correct type and we are waiting for the results, hopefully we’ll know by the 20th (or at least before we want to leave the country!). Alfredo is treating the whole things as a lesson in humility as he was so sure he’d get it, he didn’t give it to God.
Plane tickets are bought; we leave Ecuador 29th dec and arrive in Heathrow on the 30th. We plan to spend new year with my parents in the Cotswolds and then start classes in Redcliffe College in Gloucester on the 6th January.
The projects in Cangaime and Santa Rosa are finished and Alfredo is trying to get the Municipio engineer to sign all the paperwork before we leave. I have been working with Lizzie, Steph and Stefy to try and get them up to speed on how things work so they can survive while we are gone.
I traveled with the girls and Miriam to see 6 communities last week for possible projects. We had a good trip and Benjamin loved the jungle, running off with the local children any chance he had and even liked the ‘chicha’ (the fermented drink made from yucca).
Alfredo’s brother got married last month. We were able to celebrate ‘Quito days’ this weekend as we had to go up for the visa application. Steph invited us to an English tea party (at our house) with croquet on the lawn.
If you want to send us anything, please use the Gloucester address now:
Alfredo and Alex Leon, Redcliffe College, Wotton House, Horton Road, Gloucester, GL1 3PT. WE have a pigeon hole so you can send stuff even though we are not there yet. We plan to buy a mobile phone when we arrive in country and will send the number when we know it!
We haven’t organized our traveling schedule yet for visits, so if you’d like us to come your way please write so we can work out the best route and time for traveling. We already have plans to go to Bradford, Isle of Wight, Hull, Birmingham/Coventry… but no fixed dates yet. Please write to me with ideas/requests.
We are looking forward to spending time with all of you, are faithful friends, prayer warriors and supporters.
May you have blessed Christmas season
Alex, Alfredo and Benjamin
Monday, 9 November 2009
praise and prayers November
AAghhh! November already. My list of things to do before we leave for the UK is large, but we are making progress on some stuff.
we are having electricity rationing in Ecuador at the moment as the droughts have reduced the hydroelectric power so there isn't enough to go around. tomorrow we'll be without 10am -2pm and it looks like it might continue for two more months! pray for rain!
Praises:
Beginning of November is a double public holiday and as it fell Monday/Tuesday we had a nice long weekend. The whole of quito left for the beach, so we went to Quito! Alfredo’s brother Rodrigo had his civil wedding and then we went with most of the family north to Cotocachi etc. It was a nice break and good time with the family.
Alfredo went for his visa and didn’t have any problems with his paperwork and didn’t need have an interview. The paperwork is now sent to the embassy in new york so we won’t know if he has the visa for three weeks, please pray!
Alex went with Tracey and Tannia to do our first parasite study in the jungle. Tannia did the hygiene teaching in Amazonas, Tracey spent her time looking at the samples in the microscope and I tried to keep Benjamin from eating the mud (I quickly gave up trying to keep him out of the mud!). We found the 68% of the school children had parasites. We gave medicine and hope that the number will go down next time we do the study. This is a good measure for a community to see how clean water, sanitation and hygiene can improve their health.
We took a group of 7 ‘Safe Water in Ecuador’ members to Mutints to see the project they funded. It was an adventure, with a 3 hour walk each way and a rain storm that meant the river was too high for us to cross so we couldn’t leave the community for a few hours! The group enjoyed themselves!
Alfredo, Lizzie, Steph and Stefy have installed the pump system in Cangaime and are currently in Cusuime reinstalling the pump.
Prayers:
That Alfredo is given his visa for our trip to the UK.
That we can train the girls enough in these two months so they feel confident in continuing in the jungle while we are gone and that we can find enough work for them to do!
That we can find ‘cheap’ air tickets to return to the UK.
That we can finish Santa Rosa project and get all the paperwork sorted for Taisha
For our work in the Mera youth church youth group and for preparing a puppet sketch for the Christmas program.
For our time in the UK. We start classes at Redcliffe on 6th January. We won’t have much time after our studies to visit people so need to plan our weekends and half-terms well. Information on how you can get involved is in the newsletter I’ll send later in the week.
Thank you for being faithful prayer warriors for us. We look forward to seeing you all soon!
Blessings,
Alex, Alfredo and Benjamin
Saturday, 7 November 2009
latest trips: Mutints
hi all,
we've been travelling a lot over the last few weeks...
we took the 'safe water in Ecuador' group to visit Mutints. It was an interesting trip as we had to all fly in little planes to Makuma and then walk 3 hours to the community. It rained so hard that we couldn't leave the next day until the river had gone down a bit (it was still up to thigh level when we crossed). There was a lovely thankyou celebration where the community showed their thanks to the SWIE group for their funding and gave gifts of necklaces and spears in recognition, and the SWIE thanked the community for working so hard and doing such a good job on the construction and gave a tool kit and volleyball. Alfredo and I took turns to carry Benjamin.
Monday, 5 October 2009
october praise and prayers
Dear praying friends,
September was quite a month…
Benjamin is now trotting around the house at quite a pace and keeping Mummy nice and busy! He turned 1 on the 22nd and had a big party with family in Quito and then another party with Aunty Loida in Puyo the Saturday after. There was the full works with piñatas, party bags, cake, and balloons, all on the theme of Liga, Alfredo’s football team.
Steph, Stephy and Lizzie all arrived safely and are currently in Quito for some intensive Spanish review. Jippy tummy has already hit, so pray for strong stomachs as the start to travel in the jungle and that they feel confident communicating in Spanish.
Alfredo, Steph and I visited Cangaime to prepare for the installation of the solar pump system. Pray that the system we install can pump enough water, and the existing system isn’t too badly damaged so they can all receive the benefits of piped water. (We are not responsible for the state of the existing pipe work, but we feel responsible to provide a successful project and not just complete our contract)
Alfredo and Steph went to visit the Mutints project. They got a shock when they returned to Makuma to find stakes in the runway and a large group of people with arms protesting. See the previous entry for more info.
We had some good meetings in Quito: The HCJB missionary annual meeting, water projects discussion group and Community Development meeting. It was good to hear what how God is using the mission for his kingdom in other parts of the country and world.
Alfredo attended the local government assembly where community leaders meet with the local government officials to decide projects for next year. The mayor wants us to continue working with his government and Alfredo was able to talk to a number of different communities about possible help in the coming years. Please keep these relationships in your prayers as we cannot build them until we return from England.
October is a month full of travelling, with trips planned to Santa Rosa, Makuma, Mutints, Papallacta (women’s retreat) and Cangaime. Pray for safe travelling, strong stomachs and good relationship building in the communities.
Sorry for not getting a ‘real’ prayer letter out for months… you'll get one at Christmas, if not before!
Blessing,
Alex, Alfredo and Benjamin
September was quite a month…
Benjamin is now trotting around the house at quite a pace and keeping Mummy nice and busy! He turned 1 on the 22nd and had a big party with family in Quito and then another party with Aunty Loida in Puyo the Saturday after. There was the full works with piñatas, party bags, cake, and balloons, all on the theme of Liga, Alfredo’s football team.
Steph, Stephy and Lizzie all arrived safely and are currently in Quito for some intensive Spanish review. Jippy tummy has already hit, so pray for strong stomachs as the start to travel in the jungle and that they feel confident communicating in Spanish.
Alfredo, Steph and I visited Cangaime to prepare for the installation of the solar pump system. Pray that the system we install can pump enough water, and the existing system isn’t too badly damaged so they can all receive the benefits of piped water. (We are not responsible for the state of the existing pipe work, but we feel responsible to provide a successful project and not just complete our contract)
Alfredo and Steph went to visit the Mutints project. They got a shock when they returned to Makuma to find stakes in the runway and a large group of people with arms protesting. See the previous entry for more info.
We had some good meetings in Quito: The HCJB missionary annual meeting, water projects discussion group and Community Development meeting. It was good to hear what how God is using the mission for his kingdom in other parts of the country and world.
Alfredo attended the local government assembly where community leaders meet with the local government officials to decide projects for next year. The mayor wants us to continue working with his government and Alfredo was able to talk to a number of different communities about possible help in the coming years. Please keep these relationships in your prayers as we cannot build them until we return from England.
October is a month full of travelling, with trips planned to Santa Rosa, Makuma, Mutints, Papallacta (women’s retreat) and Cangaime. Pray for safe travelling, strong stomachs and good relationship building in the communities.
Sorry for not getting a ‘real’ prayer letter out for months… you'll get one at Christmas, if not before!
Blessing,
Alex, Alfredo and Benjamin
Strikes in the Jungle
Ecuador is in the middle of many protests at the moment. The teachers are protesting because they don't want to be evaluated, the Indigenous are protesting about some new water and mining laws and the Shuar in Macas are protesting for all of the above plus a few extra 'grudges' they want to get of their chest. The Shuar have closed the road to Macas for more than a week and a teacher was killed last week in the protests, possibly by his own Shuar and not by the police.
Alfredo and Steph were in Makuma last week to visit the project in Mutints that Adeline and Sarita were building. They walked to the project and when they returned to Makuma they found groups of Shuar with guns on the airstrip and stakes in the ground to prevent planes entering. The Shuar were striking in support of the protests in Macas (although closing the airstrip only really hurts themselves as they receive air ambulance and food deliveries by air!).
Alfredo was in a precarious situation, because he is Ecuadorian 'Mestizo', currently viewed as the 'enemy' as most of the government and lawmakers are mestizos. Another mestizo in macuma had been beaten up just for living there and was accused of being a spy.
Alfredo and Steph saw God's protection over them as the 5 main leaders of the strike are all from communities that have worked with us building water systems and are all friends with us. despite saying that the airstrip was closed, they gave permission for Alas de Socorro (MAF) to land their plane and pick up Alfredo and Steph! God is Good.
When Alfredo returned to Shell he was a nervous wreck as he thought over what could have happened in Makuma, but while he was there he was calm and felt protected as he represented Jesus and the Evangelical church in that town.
Our prayers are with Tukup, Lois (North Americans)and Miryam (Ecuadorian Mestiza) as they remain in Makuma and feelings against 'foreigners' (non-Shuar in Shuar territory) are being stirred up this week. Alfredo is scheduled to return to Santa Rosa tomorrow to work on the water project.
The government is currently in discussions with indigenous leaders, but protests are still in place as the government is not giving in to the demands. Macas appears to be on the verge of greater civil unrest as the 'mestizos' are now getting upset as the week of protests has meant that there is no food or petrol in Macas and businesses are being affected.
please be praying for Peace.
Alfredo and Steph were in Makuma last week to visit the project in Mutints that Adeline and Sarita were building. They walked to the project and when they returned to Makuma they found groups of Shuar with guns on the airstrip and stakes in the ground to prevent planes entering. The Shuar were striking in support of the protests in Macas (although closing the airstrip only really hurts themselves as they receive air ambulance and food deliveries by air!).
Alfredo was in a precarious situation, because he is Ecuadorian 'Mestizo', currently viewed as the 'enemy' as most of the government and lawmakers are mestizos. Another mestizo in macuma had been beaten up just for living there and was accused of being a spy.
Alfredo and Steph saw God's protection over them as the 5 main leaders of the strike are all from communities that have worked with us building water systems and are all friends with us. despite saying that the airstrip was closed, they gave permission for Alas de Socorro (MAF) to land their plane and pick up Alfredo and Steph! God is Good.
When Alfredo returned to Shell he was a nervous wreck as he thought over what could have happened in Makuma, but while he was there he was calm and felt protected as he represented Jesus and the Evangelical church in that town.
Our prayers are with Tukup, Lois (North Americans)and Miryam (Ecuadorian Mestiza) as they remain in Makuma and feelings against 'foreigners' (non-Shuar in Shuar territory) are being stirred up this week. Alfredo is scheduled to return to Santa Rosa tomorrow to work on the water project.
The government is currently in discussions with indigenous leaders, but protests are still in place as the government is not giving in to the demands. Macas appears to be on the verge of greater civil unrest as the 'mestizos' are now getting upset as the week of protests has meant that there is no food or petrol in Macas and businesses are being affected.
please be praying for Peace.
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