May Praise and Prayers

We did quite a bit of travelling in April...

· All of us went to Quito for a week for water project and community development meetings, to get Camila’s British birth certificate and her Ecuadorian ‘cedula’ (ID card) and passport. We went for Easter week and enjoyed Alfredo’s great Aunt Lolita’s ‘Fanesca’, a thick soup made of 12 grains that is always eaten at Easter time.

· Alfredo returned to Cangaime to reinstall their ‘solar’ pump that had stopped working. We are getting frustrated that the pumps are having problems and the company/distributer cannot work out why they stop.

· Our friend and MAF pilot David Mead took Alf on a ‘discipleship’ trip to the Saparo community Masaramu. Alfredo found this fun as for once he was able to just go and ‘be’ rather than going to build or evaluate a project. They spent time in bible study, conversation and helping the community maintain their airstrip.

· Alfredo made his final trip to Taisha for a while. He got all the legal paperwork sorted for the projects we have done for the ‘municipio’ and now we have no need to return until a new ‘Alcalde’ (Mayor) is elected as this current one doesn’t want to work with HCJB Global.

· We went to Palora to visit a possible project that has road access! The community has a water system but it has never worked properly and now we are waiting for them to complete their paperwork.

Weekends revolve around the football matches. The team is getting better, but have yet to win a game and are bottom of the tables! Even ‘winning’ the last game by default (the other team didn’t have enough players so we automatically win) didn’t move us from the bottom! I have to keep reminding Alf that it is a ‘social team’ and that it is their first year.

I got up at 4am to watch the royal wedding and Diane arrived at 5 with cucumber sandwiches and wearing her best hat and pearls (I was still in pyjamas!)

Praises:

· We were able to get Camila’s paperwork without problems and thanks to a friend in the passport office we were done in 20 minutes!

· For good office meetings in Quito and fun time with family over Easter

· For the trip to Masaramu and Palora and for relationships with new communities

Prayers:

· For Justin (the boy who lost his hands and sight) as he continues with surgeries on his eyes

· For trips to two communities in Salasaca (in mountains) and to Washintza

· For wisdom as we prepare office budgets and project proposals for the end of the month.

· That my degree is recognised in Ecuador. I have applied but won’t know for at least a month... they have already shown confusion over my ‘masters’ degree in 4 years (as here a bachelors degree takes 6 years and masters 2 years more) .

· That the football team be a good Christian witness (and start winning games!)

Blessings,

Alex and Alfredo, Benjamin and Camila

Teachers Needed!

Nate Saint Memorial School, a small K-8 school for missionaries’ children in Shell, Ecuador, needs teachers for the 2011-2012 school year. We usually have a staff of five teachers and average 25-35 students. Each teacher is responsible for all course work for two grades. We require that our teachers are credentialed, and raise their own support. If you feel called to serve missionary children please contact Margie Grant at rgrant@maf.org <http://www.blogger.com/rgrant@maf.org> for more information.

April Praise and Prayers

March was a busy, but fun, month. Alfredo preached in Mera church and started a Christian football team to play in the Shell neighbourhood championship. Alex baked and sold cakes at the nursery fete, and gave a presentation of our work to a student work-team from California. The guestroom was kept occupied with visits from Ryan Walker (helped us on a project in 2007) and his family, Tannia and the Hawthornes after the course and Alfredo’s brother Guayo and friends for Carnival.

Despite all the fun distractions, we got all our pre-reading completed, had a great course on ‘cross cultural communications’ in Quito and finished the assignments on time. Benjamin enjoyed his ‘holiday’ at the Aunt’s house while we were at the course. Camila loved all the attention in the course and appreciated not having Benjamin stealing all her lime-light! She even got a certificate of attendance as she refused to sleep throughout the course because she was participating!

While in Quito we received sad news from Shell. Our maid Maria’s son Justin and nephew Aaron were in hospital after an explosion. No-one is quite sure what the boys were playing with but they think it was a firework and Justin lost both hands and his sight is damaged. Aaron received cuts and burns and needs surgery for his sight too. Justin is 7 yrs old, Aaron 5. The hospital charity fund is covering the medical costs, if you’d like to help, please donate online at www.hcjbglobal.org.uk and designate it for ‘HVO Justin’.

In April we have more friends from Quito coming to visit, a week of office meetings in Quito and hopefully a little holiday! A jungle community (Washintsa) has solicited funding from their local water company and we have to now prepare the material list for the them to buy and fly in for us. We still need to find the funding for our flights and all the evangelism, hygiene and follow-up work.

The water projects office with HCJB-UK have launched ‘Life Water Churches’ where churches (and other groups like office bible-study groups, youth group etc) link with a specific water project and commit to pray and donate towards that community. Could you get partner with us? Find out more at http://www.hcjbglobal.org.uk/get-involved-mainmenu-125/partner.html .

Praise:

For a great Wheaton course on cross-cultural communication. Over 50 people attended, representing more than 10 different nationalities.

For this new local source of project funding and that the communities themselves are soliciting funds and not just waiting for us to do it for them

That Justin and Aaron survived the explosion and are out of the hospital. Praise God for bringing a specialist eye surgeon to Shell on a workteam that week and that he was able to operate and save Justin’s vision.

Prayers:

That Alfredo’s football team ‘Internacional’ can be give a good Christian witness in the championship.

That Justin and Aaron continue to heal and Justin can learn to accept and adjust to life without his hands. Pray that the next surgeries can restore more of their sight.

For project finances, that we can find the matching funding for Washintsa and that this new relationship with Puyo water/’municipio’ can continue for more projects.

Photos from March are on our blog www.alexandalfredoleon.blogspot.com

Enjoy Easter and the celebration of our Saviour’s resurrection and I’ll be sitting up at 2am to watch the royal wedding!

The month that was March

Ryan and Bethany Walker with Alex and Benjo

Alfredo preaching at mera church

harvestiing carrots from my garden

Benjamin

Camila

Camila's certificate for attending the Wheaton course

Family Photos, as promised

Chad and Andi Irwin, missionaries with MAF here in Shell took some family photos for us the other day. As always, it started raining just as we arrived so they are all under cover... and it is hard work getting four of us all looking in the same direction and smiling! Thanks Chad and Andi!

March Praise and Prayers

Dear Friends,

We saw God’s protection over us this past month when Alfredo had an accident in the truck and walked away without a scrape. On a trip to Macas, in torrential rain, the truck skidded around a corner and Alfredo ended up across the other side of the road with two exploded tires. He was blessed to not be hurt and that the truck didn’t roll and end up down the bottom of the adjoining bank. ‘Coincidently’ he had the hand-held radio with him so sent a message via MAF as he stopped just where there was no mobile signal. The truck was towed back to Puyo while Alfredo caught a bus to Macas to continue his meeting with the ‘Municipio’ engineers. We were able to get it fixed enough to drive to Quito where the insurance covered the proper repairs (steering, axel and suspension work and two new wheels and tires).

I had a lovely 30^th birthday with an afternoon tea party with scones and cucumber sandwiches and lots of friends!

Benjamin has finally had a haircut and Camila has grown out of her 0-3 month clothes now. There are some videos of her on my Facebook page.

Alfredo has been working in the hospital quite a bit last month to give him time this month for the Wheaton course on cross-cultural communications. We are still frantically reading the required books.

We had a good department meeting to define responsibilities and standards of work and we are encouraged that new communities are coming to ask for projects, including a group of communities reachable by road. We’ll be following up these requests with visits in the coming months.

Praises

*For protection during the accident and that the truck is now fixed

*For a blessed year and a fun birthday

*For the maintenance team in the hospital that Alfredo gets to work with

Prayers

- *For productive studying as we take the Wheaton course for credit this month. It is an intense week as we have classes during the day and have to complete assignments and an exam for the end of the week.

*For our finances: we hope to buy a car soon and our regular family support is at 55% what the mission recommends.

*For new communities to work with and new sources of project funding.

Thank you to all who regularly pray for us and the water projects ministry.
In His service

Alex and Alfredo, Benjamin and Camila

February praise and prayers

This past month we have most focused our work time on sewage! One of the current
projects we are involved in now is redesigning the hospital septic tank. We had a team of students from Calvin College, USA come for a week to collect data for their final-year project, so time was spend surveying, water testing and some unsavoury, close-up measurements of the existing tank! Thanks to Steph for organising all the logistics with the group.

Planned jungle trips were cancelled in January as MAF/Alas de Socorro were grounded while they fought the authorities for permission to fly. Praise God that the American pilots have been given an extension and can continue flying while they train more Ecuadorian pilots. Alfredo was able to fly in yesterday to install a pump in Santa Rosa and take out the supposedly broken pump in Cangaime to have it checked in Quito.

We are alone in the water projects office again... Fraenzi finished work in Shell at the
beginning of January and then went travelling with Swiss friends and is now back in
Switzerland. Steph flies back to the UK tomorrow. Please keep both of them in your prayers as they adjust back to cold weather and look for new jobs.

Alfredo preached for the first time in Mera church and di very well. They have now asked him to help lead services regularly.

Our plans for February mostly consist of reading in preparation for the Wheaton course in March and working in the hospital maintenance department. I celebrate my big 30th this month but haven't yet got any plans of how to celebrate!
Camila is sometimes sleeping through the night now and is a quiet, smiley baby. Benjamin love playing with Tori, our 6-yr old neighbour and has worn holes in the front of his shoes from racing down the hill on his tricycle with her.

With the De Groen and Fogg families arriving in Shell this year we can no longer use the office truck for personal use and need to buy ourselves a car. We would like to buy a used, 7-seater, Chevrolet Grand Vitara. Based on our usage of the pick-up truck we know we need a car that has a high wheel-base and preferably 4x4 because of the bad roads where we live and work. With two small children a 5-seater would be sufficient, but (again based on our current usage) we often have to carry more than just our family. Ecuadorian culture dictates that refusing transport is worse than enforcing safety precautions, so the children often get taken out of their car-seats to allow more people in. A large car would allow us to carry the additional short-term workers and Ecuadorians without compromising the safety of our children.

Cars in Ecuador do not depreciate in value like cars in England do, so used cars are
still expensive. The general price for a 5-yr-old Chevrolet Grand Vitara is $17,000 (about £11,500). Ideally we want to raise the full amount within this year, and buy the car in cash using our savings and donations. If we cannot achieve this we have the option of putting down an initial payment of at least $8,000 (£5,500) and paying monthly instalments. Can you help us? It would be great encouragement if you can help us with a donation, towards this one ?off purchase. (send cheques to HCJB-UK or go on line at hcjb.org.uk, remember to say it for Leon family/car)

Praise:
-For the 6 months Steph and Fraenzi were here and the work they did in the office and jungle
-For the Calvin College group and for dry weather that allowed them to get everything
done they came for.
-That MAF have got permission to fly again

Prayers:
-That we get time to read all the books we need for the Wheaton course on intercultural
communication in March. The books are all in English so Alfredo has to concentrate even harder.
-For the finances to buy a car and for our monthly support.
-For wisdom as we write project proposals and seek funds for the office

Thank you to all who regularly pray for us and the water projects ministry.
In His service
Alex and Alfredo, Benjamin and Camila