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

Mum and Benjamin

Mum conversing with Camila

Dad after the Christmas dinner

Benjamin in his 'Im the big brother' t-shirt, playing trains

Dear friends, Happy New Year!

We had a lovely Christmas with my parents here, and the Christmas dinner included Birds trifle and Christmas pudding (made by Steph) and custard...yum! For New Year we had a house full of Alfredo’s family and he spent his birthday (1^st Jan) in the swimming pool and then watching Top Gear on our new satellite that can get BBC Entertainment!

Benjamin understood the concept of presents this year and enjoyed opening everyone’s parcels (and has since tried to claim most of Camila’s toys as his own). We are now being forced to watch endless Thomas the Tank Engine and play with his new train set. Camila is growing fast and no longer fits her tiny newborn clothes which started out so big on her! She is sleeping well though the night with usually only one feed (our main problem is getting her to sleep in the first place!)

On the work front we have been forced to re-evaluate how we work. Alfredo went to Taisha to finalise the project for Samikim in December and the Mayor decided he no longer wants to work with HCJB. He said it’s because it isn’t unfair to the communities that we make them work for their project and that we should pay them... this is against the community development principles we try to follow (and we also understood behind this is that we don’t pay the Mayor his part either). So we currently have no funds for projects and almost no communities to work with as they have all got government projects planned. As always God’s timing is perfect... The girls have been doing evaluations of projects to help us improve the program, Alfredo has work in the hospital maintenance team so he’s not twiddling his thumbs until projects are found and as Steph and Fraenzi are leaving in the next month, the lack of money is not preventing people from travelling. Please pray with us as we redefine the jungle water projects program, start talking with new communities and begin to write project proposals to apply for funding in other areas.

We are planning on taking another Wheaton College course in March on Intercultural Communications so we are now trying to get the books we need to read ahead of time. This time all the reading is in English so Alfredo will be working extra hard.

Praises:

· For a lovely three weeks with my parents, a fun trip in the jungle and a a kitchen stocked with English goodies.

· That my allergic reaction to an insect bite/sting in Makuma wasn’t too serious and I only looked silly for a few days!

· That the vegetable garden Fraenzi planted in front of my house has been producing great food.

Prayers:

· For new sources of funding for construction projects, flights and follow-up work

· For wisdom in knowing how to better the program while we have the chance to change

· For time to study for the Wheaton course and that the books will arrive quickly.

· For Alfredo’s Dad as he recovers from a severe infection in his foot which has hospitalized him twice in the past two months.

Wishing you all a prosperous 2011. Let us know if you want to come visit us this year!

Blessings

Alex and Alfredo, Benjamin and Camila Leon

The hospital has a new postal box… so try sending post to the address below as post appears to arrive quicker than direct to the hospital address (the hospital address still works too)

APARTADO POSTAL 16-01-844, PUYO, PASTAZA, ECUADOR

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 for more information.

Camila

photos taken by Fraenzi, 22nd Nov 2010

Camila has arrived

Camila was born wednesday 17th November 2010 at 3.37pm. She weighed 6 lb 7oz and was 48cm long. We are back at home and doing well. Benjamin is coping well with the new arrival and is trying to be gentle and helpful!

November Praise and Prayers

This is my second attempt at writing to you all... the first was out of date before I was able to post it.

Those on Facebook might have been following our saga with Alfredo’s cousin Daniella. At 21 weeks pregnant her waters broke. She went into hospital to be induced but found that despite the lack of amniotic fluid the baby still has a strong heart beat so was put on bedrest... in our guest room. The baby fought for two weeks but Dani was finally taken into surgery last Friday. Little baby Trinity Renata was buried in Puyo on Saturday. Thank you for praying with us during this hard time. Renato (Dani’s husband) was able to find a job and we all had a peace as we waited out God’s plan.

As for my pregnancy, we are waiting for the contractions to start! Due date is the 15^th Nov, but Benjamin came early so it could be any day. Praise God that I have had an easy pregnancy because with all the people in the house I haven’t had much time to rest!

Alfredo, Steph and Fraenzi went to visit the community Samikim and after various meetings the community decided they do want the water project. Alfredo has to now get paperwork with the local government sorted for the finances.

A work-team from the Harrison’s Harrogate church came through Shell and we got two nice meals listening to ‘funny’ UK accents!

On the 30^th October we went to the dedication of the rebuilt ‘Nate Saint’ house. Nate was one of the 5 missionaries killed by the Aucas (now Waorani) over 50 years ago. The house has been turned from a termite hotel to a museum and meeting room and is beautiful.

Praise:

· For the care Dani received at HVO and that Renato found a job.

· For time with family over the long weekend

· For the good trip to Samikim

· For the work the Harrogate team did in a Chimborazo community.

Prayers:

· For Daniella, Renato and the family as the mourn their loss.

· For the quick and painless (?possible!?) birth of our daughter

· For Alfredo as he works in hospital maintenance this month

· For Steph and Fraenzi as they visit communities in the Makuma area to evaluate the finished projects

· For the Samikim paperwork and for the government to give the finances without problems.

We’ll let you know when the new Leon arrives!

Blessings, Alex, Alfredo and Benjamin.

The hospital has a new postal box… so try sending post to:

APARTADO POSTAL 16-01-844, PUYO, PASTAZA, ECUADOR and we’ll see if it gets here quicker than recent packages.