News from Joel

I haven’t updated you all on any information from my standpoint (and I’ve got some!) so I thought I’d write a post to update you all on various things.

Last week, Simeon and I had a pretty good week without mom around the whole time, though we sure wished she was there!  We had some help from Martita our babysitter during the week as well as some friends when I had some meetings.  But by and large it was a long time of playing together and we had a blast!

We went to Santo  Domingo on the Friday because I had meetings there with the new Camp Committee on the Friday and Saturday.  They were long meetings and unfortunately Simeon got pretty sick again and so he was wanting to be around me a lot of the time even though he has lots of friends (humans and animals!) there at the Camp.  So, that made things a little bit difficult but in the end we had some very productive and helpful meetings.  I feel like God has brought together this new Committee and with its help and God’s leading, the Camp will make many strides this year.

Simeon and I traveled back to Quito on the Saturday and unfortunately he got worse and actually got sick in the car!  Uck!  It was a couple of rough nights and days the next couple of days while we waited for mom to come back with a sick Simeon.

But he is feeling better now so hopefully he’ll continue to be on the mend.

I got some rough news this week.  I had hurt my knee playing soccer a couple of months ago but have been so busy recently that I haven’t had time to check it out.  Well, this week I went to a knee specialist and found out that I had torn my ACL.  I’ll be having reconstructive knee surgery on July 30th.  We were waiting to schedule it until then because we have such a busy schedule until that point.  The month of August is our first real break that we’ll have had in quite a while.

I think that’s all I’ve got at this point.  Thanks for reading!

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Week in the States

The members of the History of the Covenant Class in Chicago

I (Kim) returned from a very quick trip to the States.  I was there for about 8 days.  You may wonder why in the world would I leave my boys at home?  Well, I for sure didn’t want to, but I did because I needed to take a class in Chicago.  It was a bit unexpected so we didn’t have the money in our budget to fly the whole family back to Chicago.  So, hence, it was just me.  It was pretty difficult to be away from Joel and Simeon for a week and I cried most of the way to Chicago, but I realized on the way I needed to give them to God and know that they were safe there.

The class started on Monday and lasted until Friday from 9AM-5PM.  I had good times visiting with friends, professors and co-workers during this week.  I stayed with good friends Mo and Zach Smith, fellow missionaries to Ecuador, Chris and Jenny Hoskins, during the week and then with our home church pastor and family, Paul and Mary Thompson.  Paul actually picked me up from the airport at midnight on Sunday the 3rd so he gets a gold star for sure!!!!!

On Saturday, I traveled to Mt. Prospect, where we used to live and where our church is.  I connected with a couple of friends that day and got CHIPOTLE!!!!!

On Sunday, I spoke in church, updating everyone on what we are doing and plans for coming back to the States in the Fall.  After church there was a church picnic and I got to see and connect with so many friends that we miss.

It was a great trip, but I was so excited to get back to Ecuador to be with Simeon and Joel.  It was a great reunion.  Simeon even had  a balloon for me!

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Operation Visas: APPROVED!!!

We got our passports back with the approved Visa Extensions today.  Just in time for Kim to leave for Chicago on Sunday.  Praise the Lord!  Thank you all for your prayers.  Here’s a little Visa Victory Dance from Simeon:

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Update on Visa Renewals

Just a quick update on our Visa Renewals because we know you all are praying for us.  We were able to get into the offices and meet with the official to go over the possibility of renewing our Visas!  Things went seemingly well.  She said that everything looked in order.  At this point we are just turning in everything and we paid to apply for the Visa Renewals.  On Wednesday, Joel will go back to the office to meet with the officials again and if everything looks good then we just need to pay for the Renewals themselves and then wait two days for them to be processed.  We will hopefully have our passports with the Renewals on Friday, which is good because Kim leaves on Sunday for Chicago.  Please keep praying!!!

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Special Prayer Request and This ‘N That…

We just wanted to give you all an update on what we’re doing.  This has been another BUSY week of preparation and for Kim, ALOT of reading!!  She is working on the book By One Spirit which is a 700 pager about the history of the Evangelical Covenant Church.  Joel has been preparing for his trip to Santo Domingo as well as many, MANY other things.

One request we would like to give you to pray for in this next week is the renewal of our VISAS.  Our current Visas expire in July so we need to renew them for our extended stay until October or November.  As we have probably discussed before, these government processes are never quick and can at times be difficult with the amount of paperwork and that the paperwork changes often.  Please pray with us that this process will be rather painless and very quick as we have many things to get done this coming week as well.

In other news…

Kim is going to be traveling the the U.S. on Sunday June 3rd for a week long intensive course of Covenant History.  She will be gone June 3-11.  She will be staying with our good friends, Zach and Mo as well as Chris and Jenny Hoskins who served with us here in Ecuador.  She is also excited to stay with our Pastor and friends Paul and Mary Thompson and go to our home church, Northwest Covenant.  Please pray that:

1.) In this next week, Kim can get all her reading done as well as papers

2.) For traveling mercies

3.)Wisdom and attentiveness for the week long history class.  This is a LOT out of her element.

4.)Good visits with friends

5.) Safety for the boys staying in Quito

One other thing to mention is special prayer for Joel.  He is in the process of doing a lot of work, not just for our family, but for the Field Study, meetings, preaching and much more.  Please pray for strength for him as well as rest in the midst of a BUSY schedule.

Simeon's praying. Can you?

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Off to Santo Domingo

Joel will be leaving tomorrow morning (Friday, May 25th) for Santo Domingo.  It will be quite the busy but quick trip.  On Friday, he’s meeting with two different churches to do interviews for the Field Study.  In the morning and in the afternoon, he’s leading for the first time as Camp President the Meeting of the new Camp Committee.  Then in the evening he’ll be having one more Field Visit interview and then preaching at that church (Las Delicias).  Finally, before leaving to come back to Quito, he’s preaching at another church, Dios Es Amor.

Kim and Simeon are staying back because Kim has so much homework to do for the two classes that she is taking over the summer months.  She has to read a bunch of books (including By One Spirit for those of you who are Covenanters) and write a couple of papers before going to her first class on June 3rd, so she is definitely in crunch time for that.

Please pray for safe travel for Joel, good meetings and clarity in his preaching in Spanish.  For Kim, please pray that Simeon is somewhat controllable so that she is still able to get some of her homework done.

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Field Study Visit to the Southern Coastal District

We recently returned from a visit to the Southern Coastal District.  We visited 3 different schools there who are affiliated with the National Covenant Church of Ecuador.  On Tuesday (May 15) we had a meeting with different pastors and lay leaders from the district.  On Tuesday we also met with the directors and helpers at a school called Ciencia y Fe.  Wednesday we visited another school, Teodoro Kelly,  and Thursday we visited Telmo Marquinas and the Compassion Center at the church there.  It was great to see the ministries in the Coastal District and get to meet new people and hear what God is doing in their ministries.

Please pray for the ministries on the Coast, especially Telmo Marquinas as they are in financial difficulty right now.  This church serves a VERY poor community in Guayaquil.

Here are some pictures from our visit..

Meeting with TK administrators

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TK computer lab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telmo Classroom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telmo Classroom

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10th Wedding Anniversary!

 

 

 

On May 11th, HAPPY 10th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!!!

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The Next 2 Weeks

We’ve got quite a bit going on the next two weeks but some of it is good ‘ole family fun.  On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Joel will be in the IPEE offices for meetings with FACE.  Kim will be leading devotions on Tuesday morning at IPEE.  Please pray for her with that.

On Wednesday is when the fun begins!  Two things are happening soon: 1) We are celebrating our 10th Wedding Anniversary on May 11th and we need to travel to Guayaquil for the Field Study in the Southern Coast Conference.  We decided to take advantage of these two things and for our anniversary do a tour of the Ruta del Sol.  The Ruta del Sol is a road that goes down the coast of Ecuador.  On Wednesday we are going to leave and head for the northern part of the Ecuadorian Coast.  The rest of the week and weekend we are going to work our way down the coast enjoying many of the beaches and seafood as a way to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Sounds like fun, eh?

We plan to make it to Guayaquil on the following Monday.  We’ll be doing the Field Study in the Guayaquil area (Southern Coast Conference) all next week.  We’ll be coming back to Quito sometime during the following weekend of the 19th and 20th.  This will definitely be a busy time when we won’t be able to answer email quickly but thankfully a lot of it will be a lot of fun!  Please pray for safety on the roads and for God’s leading and guidance with all of our important meetings.

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Week in Review: Field Study Quito Style

This past week was a very busy week but was nice since we didn’t have to travel anywhere… hooray!!!  Our main task for this past week was to do the Field Study visits in the Central Conference.  The Central Conference consists of the Quito area and the area of Santo Domingo.  Since Santo Domingo is quite a drive away and since we will be going there in a couple of weeks, we decided to visit the Santo Domingo churches in a couple of weeks when we are there instead of making the trip this week.  That means that we were able to just stay home in Quito and visit churches in this area.

Things went well with our visits.  We had the meeting at the beginning of the week with the leaders of the district and then ended up visiting three different ministry sites.  Sorry we don’t have any pictures; our camera had broken down recently and we are getting it fixed.

In addition to doing our field study in Quito, we also were able to visit with our Regional Coordinators, Dave and Wendy Mark, as they were in country visiting.  We met as a mission with them and also met with them individually.  It was nice to catch up with them and receive guidance from them.  They are great folks!!

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