car destroyed after Cusuimi visit

hi there,
we've just got back from visiting our latest project community Cusuimi. unlike our normal communities, we can access Cusuimi via road and canoe rather than having to fly or walk. However, after this gruelling trip, I think I'd rather fly! we left 7am Tuesday and arrived in Cusuimi on 2pm Wednesday. it was quite an eventful trip... the car is looking sorry for itself with

• both front indicator lights falling out,
  
• one headlight lost,
  
• leaking radiator
• flat tyre
• leaking valve on spare tyre
• lost mud flap
• various screws found in the car that we don't know what they belong to
• many new rattling noises
• mud inside and out

Flying is much easier, quicker and less damaging... just costs much more!

we had a good time in Cusuimi. we taught hygiene classes, had lots of community meeting to make sure everyone know what they had to do for the project and Alfredo walked the whole community making measurements for where the pipe will be going. We now have to buy all the materials and they have to start collecting all the stone and sand for the cement and start digging the trenches for the pipes.

we are off to Amazonas and Santa Rosa tomorrow to prepare them for their projects, this time in airplane!

April Praise and Prayers

Thank you for your encouraging emails these past weeks. Please keep us in your prayers!

Praise:

We have made progress on the convenios with ECORAE and the Municipio. We are waiting for the Municipio to transfer the money and we are reviewing the draft of the convenio with ECORAE.

Alfredo's sister graduated last week with a degree in infant psychology.

I have made it to 14 weeks of pregnancy without morning sickness, a true blessing!

That HCJB have been able to help the victims of the flooding on the Ecuadorian coast. They sent medical teams and radio listeners donated clothes and food items to be distributed.

Prayers:

With convenios signed, we have to start construction work! Pray for the logistics, the traveling (10hours from Shell to where the canoe picks us up!) and for our health.

For the pregnancy. I will reduce my jungle traveling and only supervise the Amazonas project where I can stay in missionary housing in Makuma. Pray that I don't get parasites or malaria.

For Alfredo's Dad, Fernando. He resigned from his job last month because he was being forced to sign corrupt contracts. Pray that he can quickly find a new job.

Foe extra staff in the Shell office. Alfredo would like to have another engineer in the water projects office to share the load when I stop traveling. (If you know of any engineers who might be interested in a short or long-term placement let me know!)

Hugs

Alex and Alfredo Leon

Two become Three

We are expecting a baby! The due date is the 26th September. We plan to stay in Shell and give birth in the HCJB Global hospital where Alfredo was born! We will be moving into a larger house on the hospital compound in the summer so that we have space for baby and visitors. For those worried about all our travelling… the doctors have given the all clear for the moment and I will only supervise the ‘easy’ project in Amazonas where I can stay in ‘luxury’ with the missionaries in Makuma.

Helping Partners in India

I (Alex) joined the medical team sent from Ecuador to India in January. The purpose of the trip was to encourage HCJB Global partners in India and research the possibilities of future work in the country. I thought I was going to investigate the need for water projects in the country, but when we got there I found that the area we were in had very good water supplies: one village had 15 water pumps installed by the government! The only real sanitary engineering I got to do was unplug the toilet! However, I was not bored or idle! While the doctors and nurses saw patients in the villages and ran the pharmacy, I taught hygiene classes to the people waiting in line and helped Dorothy entertain the children.

The evenings were packed with classes to the nurses school and playing with the children in the orphanage where we were staying. At the end of the trip we were able to do a little sight-seeing and visited the Taj Mahal and Jaiphur.

In the beginning I found it difficult and frustrating not being able to communicate with the people without a translator and having to be careful what I talk about as Jesus is not accepted in the Muslim areas. How I take for granted in Ecuador the ability to freely talk about God in Spanish and people being receptive.

I feel very privileged to have been invited on the trip and it was a lovely opportunity to get to know better the lovely Ecuadorian doctors and other missionaries who were on the team.

While I was gone, Alfredo kept busy in Shell and Quito: sorting out details for the next projects, meeting government officials to decide contracts and preparing for the class in February. The original plan was that his brother would be in Shell with Alfredo, but Josue got a job in Quito just as I left, so Alfredo was forced to find new friends in Shell to reduce the boredom! He had a fun holiday with his family over ‘Carnival’ (the weekend before pancake day) when they all came to Shell to visit.

sorry for taking so long!

hi all,
sorry for not writing for so long, but things have been busy! I got back from India a week ago and went straight into a 3 day course to prepare for the course this week! did a quick trip down to Shell to celebrate valentines day and my birthday and then we returned to Quito sunday for the Wheaton course on Theology of Development. Very interesting, although very intense! just spent the last 3 hours writing my presentation of ideas for tomorrows class and we each have three assignments still to write before monday.

when back in shell I´ll upload some India photos and tell what I was doing there.

got to go and get some sleep
hugs alex

January praise and prayers

dear friends,
it was lovely catch up with so many of you during our month in England. We had a great time and arrived back tired but well (except for Alex's cough) in Ecuador last Friday night. after a weekend in Quito we got to our little house in Shell Tuesday night.
praise:
- for a wonderful time in England and Europe
-for the new people who have joined our prayer and support team
- that our house was safe while we were away and that Alfredo's brother looked after it for us.
- that Alex's Moody distance learning material finally got out of customs
-That the dates have changed on the development course in Quito so we can both attend in February


Prayers:
-that ECORAE and the Municipio will give us the money for the agreed projects without too many problems or delays
-Alex will be joining Sheila's healthcare team to India to visit a clinic and neighbouring communities. pray that the trip is safe and productive. Keep Alfredo in your prayers as he is being left to hold down the fort in Shell. Alex will be away 20th jan-10th feb.
-that we are able to move into a bigger house. we have found one we like but the rent is higher than we want to pay...if this is where we should be pray that the conversations with the landlady are positive.
- that Alfredo's brother Josue (who is currently living with us) can find a job - an ecuadorian couple are interested in joining us in the shell office. she is an architect and he is an environmental engineer, so they will fit in well. we don't yet know how to finance them as our current budget cannot pay them salaries. either we need to find alternative paid work for gaby in the area so Pablo can volunteer in the office or raise the funds to pay them salaries. Please prayer for wise decisions the provision of resources.

thanks you for keeping us in your prayers,
Alex and Alfredo

Back in Ecuador

sorry, we weren't very good at keeping this updated while we were in England! we had a great time, visiting many friends, two new church groups and spending Christmas with my family on the Isle of Wight. For new year we went on a holiday around Europe... backpacking... we visited Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. We spend new Years Eve with the thousands in Dam Square in the middle of Amsterdam, great!
When I get my photos onto a computer that has internet I'll upload some of the pictures.
:-( we didn't get to see any snow.
Alex