Here is a recent newsletter update that we sent out to Northwest Covenant Church in Mt. Prospect, IL and just thought everyone might be interested in reading:
“Our first month being back home in Ecuador has been an eventful one. First we just want to give a quick update on Joel’s dad, Earl. He is doing much better and has been home from the hospital for almost a month. He is slowly beginning to return to some of his normal activities such as news watching and going to the granddaughters basketball and soccer games! We are very thankful for this, but ask for continued prayers for recovery as well as for Joel’s mom, Ruth, for energy and endurance as she continues to care for Earl.
We came back to Ecuador in a whirlwind. We were supposed to host our new short term missionary, Mandy Hjelm, but she ended up making it to Quito before we did. She did stay with us the day after we returned for about a week. She was given the full ‘orientation’ to being a missionary as the next day while we were shopping, one of our other short term missionary couples, the Hoskins called saying they needed to bring their son Breck over to spend time with us as they were going in to have their second baby! We weren’t expecting this for at least 3 more weeks or so! That same day, our country coordinator, Cheryll Clark was taken to the hospital and had her appendix and gallbladder removed! Like we said, it was quite a whirlwind, but we praise the Lord for the healthy birth of Elsa Hoskins and for the continued recovery of Cheryll. The next week, Josh Swenson, our final short-term missionary tore his meniscus and had surgery the next day. Please keep all of us in your prayers. You see how important they are in our everyday lives.
Kim continued with 2 weeks of Spanish study with a new school right after our return and through that connection, Joel has been able to play more soccer and hopefully tennis. She, Simeon and the dogs will be spending a week with our babysitter, Martita, and her family to help develop her Spanish even further. Joel has begun doing ministry in Santo Domingo at the Covenant camp there. He has made 3 trips with 2 more planned in February. Two of these trips will include Kim and Simeon. There has already been work started to repair the roof in the main meeting complex and there are continuing discussions about how to improve the camp to make it more family and tourist friendly. Please continue to pray for wisdom as Joel meets with pastors and those in leadership in Santo Domingo.“
The Santiago Partnership