Bradford

we've made it up north and today the car was reading 0 degrees when we got in. Alfredo didn't understand how a sunny day is colder than a horrid cloudy day, doesn't sun mean warm!
we spent Sunday with the Ayres family and presented at Sunbridge Road Mission. on Monday we eventually arrived in the HCJB-UK office (after Alfredo finally got out of bed and enjoyed his first bath). we went to Alex and Helen's house for dinner and sleep.
we are still struggling to wake up in the mornings... a mixture of jet lag and being programmed to wake up to the sunrise and the sun not rising till 8am.

we went via Manchester on our way up from Coventry so Alfredo could tick off another major English city and we got to see the first 'mountains' from the train window (or hillocks in Alfredo's opinion)

tonight we are going carol-singing at an old peoples home with the Thurgoods.

birmingham y leaminton spa

hola a todos

Ha sido dos dias bien cansados ... Ayer estuvimos en Birmingham (a media hora en tren), fue chevere estuvieron mike y su esposa esme; stephanie y lizzie. Comimos en la casa remodelada (les ha quedado chevere) fue una conversa muy larga... hasta la 1 a.m. y nos quedamos a dormir en su casa.

Ahora nos levantamos a las 9 (ya que amanece a las 8) y me dolia la cabeza y los ojos... el doctor dijo que posible es un virus por el frio y viento fuerte que esta haciendo... de ahi fuimos a otro pueblo que se llama Leamington spa ( donde se iba de vacaciones antes la reina a banarse y es muy caro) a un almuerzo con los ex alumnos de la carrera de la alex. estuvieron como 20 (los que viven cerca) y fuimos a un restaurante frances... no esta buena la comida francesa como dicen. es demasiado cosas crudas. Luego fuimos donde rachel (amiga de alex que estuvo en el matrimonio) y nish su ahora esposo (es de sri lanka) y estuvimos hasta la 6 (o sea ya era de noche) de ahi fuimos a una merienda con los taggarts (quienes tambien estuvieron en ecuador, mr. bean y compania) y llegamos justo cuando ellos se habian enterado que el papa de la senora habia muerto... fue muy triste... pero ya tenia 92 anos...

Recien llego a la casa donde nos estamos quedando... y estamos super cansados. manana viajamos al norte del pais, a Bradford a la sede hcjb en uk, y a visitar a iglesias y grupos que quieren colaborar y apoyar con los proyectos en la selva...

ojala me pase el dolor en los ojos ( o las vistas como dicen los manabas, ja ja ja) saludos a todos..

alfredo

un ecuatoriano en inglaterra

hola amigos

esto es antes del aterrizaje, con el amanecer recien a las ocho de la manana. que loco para una persona acostumbrada al amancer a las 6 y atardecer a las 6...que bendecidos somos en ecuador.

saludos desde tan lejos...estoy a ocho mil km. de casa. los reportes del tiempo dicen que es buen tiempo con 14 grados de temperatura en invierno...pero para mi ya es mucho. tengo dos chompas gruesas, guantes y gorro y aun asi sigue frio. y manana pronostican 6 grados...peor que de madrugada en riobamba... ahora sali un poco a comprar algo en la tienda y la farmacia...todo es mas caro para mi, por el cambio que ahora es 2 libras por dolar!!!! estuvimos en un grupo de oracion con unos amigos y estuvo chevere...

lo siento, solo conozco espanol...
alfredo

en el aeropuerto en houston

dicen que el aeropuerto de quito y gquil son modernos... como nos enganan. son caros y estamos a anos de atraso. En quito existen cuatro mangas de abordaje... en houston 110!!!! pero en un terminal, siendo cuatro terminales en total alla. Fue un viaje muy largo,pero a la vez emocionante al pensar lo lejos de estar de su gente, su comida, sus amigos y sobre todo su casa... pero ahi le damos, con la fuerza de dios y una esposa, se puede estar hasta en el fin del mundo.

alfredo

Prayer and Praise December

dear friends,
tomorrow we leave Ecuador and wednesday morning we touch down in Gatwick. we are looking forward to seeing so many of you.

here are some prayers and praises for the month

praise that the Municipio accepted the project reports we presented before leaving Shell. we no just need to negotiate the convenio and do the designs for the additional projects they have asked for.
praise that Alfredo's brother will stay in our house in Shell, making it less tempting for the burglars.
praise that we have got a new truck for the Shell office and that the paperwork has finally been sorted out
praise that a number of people have shown an interest in joining the staff in the Shell office

pray for our time in England, that the trains run on time (a big prayer I know!), Alfredo can adjust to the cold weather and that we enjoy ourselves!
pray for the new office staff... that they are the right 'fit' and that we can raise the funds to pay them
pray that Alex can get a visa for India while in England... I have been invited to join an evaluation team going to India in January to assess possibilities of water projects.
pray for next years project planning


our schedule for england:
5th-8th around coventry area
9th-12 bradford
13th Hull
14th-19th coventry (16th am in Park fellowship, pm in St Johns carol service
20th leicester
21-22nd stowmarket
23rd-27th Isle of Wight
28th-2nd Europe
3rd Isle of wight
4th return to Ecuador

thank you for faithfully keeping us in your prayers

Alex and Alfredo

Earth Moving

I felt my first earthquake yesterday! Luckily it was only a little wobble. It could have been an aftershock from the earthquake in the north of Chile Wednesday. It was enough to make the bed shake and the windows rattle, and I was pleased to only be in a 'bungalow' and not up higher .
Alex

discipling nations

I am reading a very interesting and thought-provoking book at the mo, Old Testament Template by Landa Cope. Christians are called not to just tell all nations about Jesus, but also to disciple all nations... but what is discipleship? a discipled nation should see the influence of Christianity in all domains of life, health, education, government science, education, etc. is this being seen nowin countries around the world, in Ecuador?

one part made me think about what I am doing now... Jesus at the end of his life (his short life) was able to say that
"I have brought you (His father) glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do" (John 17.4)
Jesus knew his job and ensured it was complete.

do I know my job? and am I doing all I can to complete it or am I getting sidetracked?

In this three years in Shell I think my job is to train our Shuar water technicians sufficiently that they can work alone and to set up model communities that can be templates for other communities to copy.

am I achieving this? at the moment I feel I could be doing far more to focus on this goal... maybe less is more and we should do less projects but do them better... do more training and less doing!

these are just my initial thoughts... I'll keep you posted as I ponder and develop thinking further
alex

UK Itinerary

here is our UPDATED itinerary for December in england. we still have a few days free so if you'd like to see us please write and we'll fit you in.

5th December: arrive Gatwick 8.30am, going to Howarths, Coventry

6th

7th evening Birmingham

8th lunch EDAT reunion Leamington Spa, evening Coventry

9th evening Sunbridge Road mission, Bradford
10th UK office, Bradford

11th bradford

12th travelling to hull

13th Hull, prayer group afternoon and church presentation evening
14th- 19th Coventry. presenting in Park Fellowship Sunday morning
20th Leicester

21st maybe doing something in the mountains or in Stowmarket

22, 23rd

24th -26th isle of wight,Christmas with family and visit friends on island
27th afternoon London
28th- 2nd holiday in Europe (Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam)
3rd island... packing
4th leave Gatwick 9.30am

see you soon!

Prayers and Praise November

here is our prayers and praise for the month

Praise:

- we now have a truck in shell, and while we were prepared for an old 'bagger' just to get us (and all the materials) around we have been blessed with a nice big, pretty green toyota.

- the design for the Amazonas water system has been finished and handed in to ECORAE

- we were invited to the 'municipio' assemby where they plan the next years projects with the community leaders. it was nice to be included and 5 communities have requested funds for us to work with them next year

- Eduardo, Alfredo' brither spent the summer with us in shell doing our autocad drawings and any other work I gave him. he was a real blessing and has now returned to Quito to study 4th year engineering.

Prayers:

- that the Amazonas project is approved by ECORAE. they approached us asking us to complete the design but when we handed it in they said the money was no longer available... so we are waiting for their engineer to review the project and whether we0'll have money this year or next year

- Alfredo's older brother is currently living with us as he is struggling with financial and marital problems and has come to Puyo to look for a new job. pray that we have wisdom to know what to say to him and how to help him.

- pray for our time in England. that we can increase the number of supporters and have many opportunities to tell of Gods work in the Ecuadorian jungle. we'll be there 5th December until 4th January.

alex and Alfredo

lightening visit to Kusuime

On Tuesday I finally got to visit Kusuime, though only for an hour and half! This is a community way down south that has asked for a water system. they have money available in the 'Municipio' (local government) and we have to produce the project budget. We have been waiting for a good flight combination because to pay for the whole flight would cost about $800! Because of rain the previous day the flight schedule was full so I had to wait for the plane to return from another trip before we could go, so I didn't arrive until 2pm and we had to leave quickly to get back to Shell before nightfall. I was able to visit their water sources and talk a little with them about the project and gave them the meter tape to draw me a accurate map of the community with dimensions.

The picture is of the canoe they have built in order to go up stream to 'civilization'. I crossed the river in this and it wobbled a lot, I cannot imagine travelling 4 hours in it to get to the nearest port with road access. we plan to transport the materials by canoe rather than airplane because it allows the community to contribute more to the project and will reduce the transport costs, allowing them to have a bigger water system built.

This project will be our first outside of the Parroquia (parish) Makuma, and by moving south we are moving closer to the communities that have previously rejected the 'evangelicals'. Water projects are opening up new doors for the gospel, please pray that people will not only want the physical clean water but also the real water that quenches thirst, Jesus Christ.

a piece of history is disappearing

For those who have worked in Hospital Vozandes del Oriente or who have visited Shell, Ecuador these pictures might bring a tear to your eye. The old hospital that sits on the main road is being pulled down as we speak. After serving for years as the mission hospital it then became the mission guest house, providing accommodation to all the visitors, work groups and holiday'ing missionaries. After standing nearly 50 years it has become a home to termites who have enjoyed feasting on the wooden framework, so it has gradually become unsafe. Alfredo was born in this hospital!

News on Fernando

Fernando, Alfredo's Dad now has a prosthesis and has a new job in a local government in the northern Ecuadorian Jungle. He started last week and is settling in. He travelled by bus the first time (10 hours) but plans to try flying to Coca instead as its only 1hr away. Please keep him in your prayers: we are worried about him maintaining his diet and looking after his health when he doesn't have lots of family nagging him and he is at least an hour away from the nearest doctor.

well, I have found something else to distract me in the office! At a recent communications meeting we were advised to set up a blog and I managed it. We plan to use this for photos of our work, trip reports, newsletters and our monthly prayer requests. enjoy!