We had a wonderful few days visiting, reconnecting, traveling and just spending time together in fellowship with friends Fabio and Johnna and Sophia Muniz. They are currently raising support with the Evangelical Covenant Church as short term missionaries in Japan. They will be working with Latinos in Japan. To find out more about their ministry, click on their names above. Johnna and Joel went to seminary together, ran a marathon together with another good friend Jodi Moore and we have been friends since. It was good for our souls to be with old friends. Share life together, even if for just a short time. It was difficult to say goodbye as we know we will not see them for a long time. Such is the life of a missionary. Friends, good friends all over the world. It does seem to make the world smaller somehow. We are thankful for good friends who encourage and love us and who we can pick up right where we left off as if no time passed. Although it was the first time meeting Fabio and Sophia, it seemed like we knew them a long time. It was great to get to know them better. The kids enjoyed playing together. As Johnna and I watched the girls together laying on the play mat, I realized that these girls are similar. Both pastor’s kids, missionary kids and sweet girls. Life won’t be easy, but it is special to know there are others out there that are similar. They are not alone. So, we thank God for sweet friends who encourage us and love on us (they brought us goodies from the U.S. and took us out for Joel’s birthday). It is good to know we are not alone in our missionary journey.
Esther’s Dedication
Yesterday we had Esther dedicated at church. Our friends Henry and Olga are her “padrinos”. Both families came up on stage and our pastors were wonderful in the dedication. Here are some pics!
ROAD OPEN!!!
We’ve gotten some great news in the last couple of weeks: the road is open!!!! That’s right! The Pan-american Highway heading north of the city to Cayambe that had been closed since the big earthquake has recently been opened. It’s not totally open as they are still working on it during the night, but at least it’s open during the day. This has made our trips to Cayambe much, much quicker. We just wanted to let you know the good news!!!
The past week in pictures…maybe a few words too!
This past week, Esther and I (Kim) went up to Cayambe to observe and help as we could with a Medical/Dental team from Florida. This team has been coming to Cayambe for many years so we were excited to see how they did things and take some notes. The members of the team were very kind and for some it was their first visit to Ecuador! Around 590 patients were seen during the 5 day trip. For me, it was SO exciting to see the clinic open and helping those in the community of Juan Montalvo which is the vision and mission of the clinic. It was a privilege to be able to serve next to great doctors and nurses and to see the heart to help those in need. Additionally for me it was wonderful to create deeper relationships with those at the Compassion center at Iglesia Imanuel as well as parents and other family members of the kids. It was truly a blessing and I am grateful for the opportunity we had to go. Here are some pictures from the week!
Article on the IWU Alumni Page
Here’s an article that was recently posted on he Indiana Wesleyan University Alumni Blog:
Update on Kim’s Licensing
If you recognize the document pictured here, you are probably either a missionay or at least have lived internationally at some point. This week we received some documents from the States with this form of legalization called an Apostille. An apostille is basically a legal notarization that says that the document attached can be recognized internationally. A normal notary is only good within the State that is notarized. The apostille gives the document international notarization.
Back to the news… we received this week some paperwork from Rush University that explains what all Kim accomplished in her internship while at Rush. We are hoping that providing this documentation will make it so that she doesn’t have to do her one-year Rural (internship) here in Ecuador for her licensing. We will see this next week when we go back to the Ministry of Health to see what they say. Your continued prayers are appreciated!!!
Oh and Special Thanks to Eugenio and Pia Restrepo for all of their help in getting us these documents with all of the legalization!
Talk to the Beard
I have received some questions as to what’s up with the beard. For many of you who have known me for a long time, seeing me with a beard is a bit surprising. I’ve pretty much never had one before besides one summer when I was taking Intensive (“Suicide”) Greek. Well, the reality is that I’ve never liked facial hair and still don’t for that matter… even currently at this very moment! So.. the natural question is…. why do you have a beard??? Well, the answer isn’t quite as trite and simple as you might expect. Here goes nothing…
All Souls Day Celebration
On Tuesday, we had a special “Dia de Difuntos” (All Souls Day) Celebration at the IPEE offices on Tuesday. All Souls Day is a special and unique holiday here in Ecuador in which we are basically celebrating the lives of those who have passed on before us, kind of like All Saints Day in the church in the States. What’s different is that it is an incredibly popular holiday here which pretty much everyone celebrates. The typical family will take time to visit the graves of the loved ones who have passed on to pay the respects and remember their lives.
One neat part of the holiday celebrations are the special treats of “Colada Morada” (Purple fruit drink) and “Guaguas de Pan” (Bread in the shape of Children – kind of like the “Gingerbread Man”) which are both pictured here.
We also had the opportunity to celebrate the Birthday of our beloved Martita. Martita is the Secretary for IPEE and has held that position for many, many years though she will soon be retiring so we need to take this opportunity to celebrate here when we can.
Where are Kim and Esther???
Kim and Esther are up in Cayambe this week. There is a Medical/Dental Team working at the clinic this week and so she went to help out, getting to know them and learn from them. The team comes from a church in Palm Bay, FL and has traveled to Ecuador the last 12 years!!! They go through an organization called SIFAT. They have had a long standing relationship with Pastor Jose and and Iglesia Emanuel and were part of the reason as to why Pastor Jose has dreamed about starting a clinic for quite some time.
Joel and Simeon are staying back in Quito so that way Simeon can be in school all week. Please pray for Kim and Esther that they are ok up there without the rest of the family and the same for us down here. Pray that Esther is happy so that way she is able to help out without too much work going towards Esther. Pray that Joel & Simeon don’t starve throughout the week! (That last one was a joke!)
Iglesia Misionera de la Valle
I (Joel) finished up my short, 2-week sermon series at the Covenant Church – Missionary of the Valley today. It was an incredibly positive experience and it ended with having the folks from the church offer to come help at the construction site as well as taking a free will offering for the project. The church took up an offering of almost $175 which was incredibly generous. We will never forget this church and its hospitality and generosity.