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

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.

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

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.

Benjamin's birthday

on tuesday 22nd september Benjamin celebrated his first birthday! We were in Quito for office meetings so the family organised a party in La Tola for Benjamin. The theme was 'Liga Campion' (Alfredo's football team) and we had pinatas and cake and icecream and ham and cheese on sticks!
Tia Loida in Puyo has planned another party for today (saturday) as she couldn't be in Quito, so I have been baking cakes all morning as it is also tio Josue's birthday today.
here are some photos from the first party.

September prayer and praise

Dear friends,
Sorry for not writing earlier, we were travelling at the beginning of the month.

Benjamin took his first steps on Aunty Loida's birthday (2nd sept) and my new job is to hold his hand as he leads me around the garden in search of puddles and mud. Benjamin?s birthday is coming up (22nd), he's a year old already!

Praise:
We have received the money for the latest contracts and have bought the pipes, pumps and solar panels.

Stephanie Smithers arrived last night, Stephanie Bliss arrives tonight and Lizzie White at the end of the month. They are all engineers coming to work with us in the Shell office for 6 months.

Miriam Gebb has returned to Shell, so we have company in the office!

Alfredo?s Aunt Loida has got a contract to run the 'bar' (cafeteria) in a Puyo high school this year. She has been without work for over a year.

Alfredo's brother Rodrigo is engaged and will marry Miraya in November.

Prayers:
The pump we installed in Cusuimi last year has got damaged with sand. We have had the motor replaced but now need to find a solution so this pump won't also get damaged. The pump technician says it very unusual for a pump to get damaged and at nearly $2000 a pump we don't want it to happen to any of our other installations! Pray for the trip back to Cusuimi to reinstall and for wisdom on how to protect it.

Alfredo's brother Josue's girlfriend's dad died suddenly of a heart attack last Thursday. We see the family almost every weekend and Marco treated Benjamin like a grandson so it was sad for everyone. Please pray for Fernanda's family at this difficult time.

With three more engineers coming to work in the shell office we need to be organized! Pray for the work the girls will do, for quick adjustment to the cultures in and out of the jungle and for strong stomachs so they don't get sick.

Pray for the projects in Cangaime and Santa Rosa that we are just starting.

Thank you for keeping us protected in prayer.
Blessings,
Alex, Alfredo and Benjamin

praise and prayers august

Dear friends,

July was both a productive and relaxing month!

Alfredo was able to get two project contracts signed from Taisha Municipio and then we had to rush to get all the other requirements in Quito and return the documents before the mayors and counselors all changed at the end of July. God was obviously helping us as we were able to get the mission’s lawyer to sign the contracts, get all the notarized paperwork and 2 insurance policies in just over a week… something that could normally take months.

Adeline finished up on the project in Mutints and left Ecuador at the end of July. We have enjoyed having her help us in the Shell office and we’ll miss her!

Alex and Benjamin presented our work to the HCJB Global Vision tour that came through Shell. (Alfredo was in Taisha).

We enjoyed catching up with the Hardin family, ex-Shell missionaries who returned for a few weeks to help out in the hospital.

We did some mountain climbing! We went with some friends from Shell to climb Chimborazo Mountain… from the car-park/first refuge to the second refuge and then Alfredo and his brother climbed up a little further to touch snow. I (Alex) struggled with the altitude so went up on horseback (I know, what a cheat!)
A week later we went with Alfredo’s brother Eduardo, sister Gaby and cousin Daniella, (Benjamin stayed with Granny Julia) to climb Cotopaxi… from the car-park to the refuge and then across to play in the ice/snow. It was a perfect day with clear views of the top.
(See photos on our blog)

While in Quito we were able to spend time with Alfredo’s nephew Alejandro (who normally lives in Guayaquil), taking him to the zoo and buying him new glasses.

We celebrated our 3-year wedding anniversary in a nice Quito restaurant.

This email is late getting sent out because we went with the Covenant Church to visit a possible project in the north of Ecuador with the Cofan Tribe. We joined a Korean-American Team who was going to help the community build a church. Our job was to evaluate the possibilities of a water project/other community development projects that the national Covenant Church and team from Canada can help with. It was an interesting trip and chance to visit another Ecuadorian tribe and another part of the jungle. The access to the community was via canoe in very rough water… I had Benjamin strapped to me and prayed hard that we didn’t capsize! While there wasn’t an opportunity to build a water project, we were able to apply our community development principles and help the community develop plans for future projects.
Prayers for August:

We are without a camera… one got lost up Cotopaxi and the other has succumbed to the humidity in Shell. Pray we can get a replacement and the other repaired quickly.

Pray for safety and good time as we take the youth group from our church in Mera on their summer trip next week.

Pray for Stephanie Smithers, Stephanie Bliss and Lizzie White as they prepare to come to work with us for 6 months. Praise God that they will be able to continue our work while we are in the UK.

Pray for our preparations for our visit to England next January.

Pray for the two new projects in Santa Rosa and Cangaime. Both communities are few evangelical believers so pray for opportunities to testify to God’s goodness while we work with the people.

Pray as Sara Hossman (a nurse who worked with us in April) will return to visit for a week in Mutints and teach hygiene and hold holiday bible club with her friend from Switzerland.

Thank you for making it to the end of this message… turned out I had lots of news!
Thanks for all your prayers and support for our work here in Ecuador.


May you be richly blessed this month.

Alex, Alfredo and Benjamin Leon