This is a book that Joel and I just started reading. We will be blogging about what we are learning and hopefully inspire and encourage you to read this book as well.
Our book selection for this month (hopefully it will only take a month to read!)
OFFICIAL
Well, I (Kim) can say OFFICIALLY that I can drive in Ecuador. I got my license on Friday. It was such a huge relief off my shoulders. I was very nervous about taking the test only in Spanish, even though it was only 20 questions. Things are totally different here when it comes to government offices such as the ‘license bureau’ here. There was a line of probably 50-100 people, but since we had Simeon, we were able to jump ahead of all of those people and jump right in to registration. After registration, I took the test (and got 100%). Then they take your picture, another place where I jumped ahead of about 10 people because of Simeon and then we were out the door. 1 hour MAX and then a celebration mint chocolate shake from Baskin Robbins! YUMMO!
Tags: Ecuador
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March Newsletter Released
Newsletter_March_2011
Our March newsletter is available for download (Just click the link above!). You can see what all has been happening with us since our last official update in December. Also, please note the address for Covenant World Mission has changed. If you are sending checks, please send them to:
Covenant World Mission
Joel & Kim Delp STM Support
8303 W. Higgins Rd.
Chicago, IL 60631-2941
Categories: Ministry, Prayer, Updates
Tags: Answered prayers, Blog, Ecuador, FACE, IPEE, Language Study, Prayer Requests, Spanish Lessons, Travel, Trips, Updates
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New Roles with IPEE
We just recently realized that we have never posted on the Blog what specific roles we have at this point. Here is our list of responsibilities that we currently participate in: Joel is in a project manager role at the Covenant Camp in Santo Domingo, Kim will be doing disability diagnostic work in Tena (more information on this to come), we share a position on the FACE (the Social outreach branch) board of IPEE, Joel has a position on the committee in charge of the Camp, Joel serves as the treasurer for the Mission (all the U.S. missionaries) , we attend and help out at three different Covenant churches and Spanish classes (of course!)
Categories: Ministry, Santo Domingo, Updates
Tags: Churches, Ecuador, Ecuador Info, FACE, IPEE, Language Study, Santo Domingo, Spanish Lessons, Travel, Updates
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Agua Potable
Rueben (left), Edgar (right) and two ladies from the nearby community during our meeting
The family and I (Joel) just got back from a trip to the camp in Santo Domingo. Thank you for your prayers for safe travel. All went well in that regard. With this trip, I was doing some work for the camp, mainly in visiting some other camps in the area as well as some eco-lodges to get an idea as to what they are doing well to attract customers and utilize their facilities.
But another major reason for this trip was that I was to be part of a meeting over “agua potable” for the camp and a nearby community called Santa Marianita de Jesus. So what is “agua potable”? Well, it basically translates as “clean water” or we usually say drinkable water. Currently, the community of Santa Marianita de Jesus (around 300 people), the Covenant Camp, as well as 30 or so neighbors that live nearby but not in a specific community all do not have drinkable water. The camp has a well and a few of the families in the community have wells but even this water needs to be boiled before it can be consumed. The only real primary source of water there is in the community is a river that runs through it. Unfortunately, this water is not consumable but, as you would probably guess, people get thirsty and drink it anyway. This then leads, of course, to sickness and even more problems.
Well, one of the new roles that Kim and I have taken on is to serve on the Board of Directors of FACE. FACE stands for “Fundacion Accion Comunal Ecuatoriana” or in English the Community Development Foundation for the Evangelical Covenant Church of Ecuador. We will be sharing one position but will probably both be attending the meetings. An example of what FACE does is shown in my recent trip to Pacto Sumaco (see “Pacto Sumaco” post below). Something else they do is help in bringing basic resources, like clean water, to communities that don’t have it.
The community of Santa Marianita de Jesus has been wanting clean water for some time, as you might expect. They’ve just been lacking the ability to organize themselves and follow the steps needed to request such a thing. Then after this is done, the government will have the power to decide what will be done. It can easily be denied for lack of funds or other such reasons.
The meeting that we had this last Friday night involved myself, Rueben, the Covenant Camp administrator, two ladies from the community, and Edgar, the current president of FACE who is also a local church pastor in Quito. Edgar will soon be leaving his position as president, so it’s good that I could be there to help with the continuity of the project with the next leadership. Also, it fits as I am so heavily involved in the work of the Camp. As you would guess, this will be a great help for the Covenant Camp to have clean water as a part of what it offers to its customers.
Categories: Ministry, Santo Domingo, Sumaco, Travel, Updates
Tags: Agua Potable, Churches, Ecuador Info, FACE, IPEE, Prayer Requests, Santo Domingo, Sumaco, Travel, Trips, Updates
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In Santo Domingo
Joel traveled to Santo Domingo yesterday and will be there through Saturday. He arrived yesterday safely with no problems. This is a trip that got rescheduled from last weekend since the country was in a State-of-Emergency caused by the waves of the Japan tsunami that were coming. Please pray that he will return home safely and that his trip will be productive and successful.
Categories: Ministry, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Santo Domingo, Travel, Updates
Tags: Answered prayers, Ecuador, Ecuador Info, IPEE, Prayer Requests, Santo Domingo, Travel, Trips, Updates
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Pacto Sumaco
I (Joel) had the wonderful opportunity to visit the jungle town of Pacto Sumaco this last Sunday. Pacto Sumaco is a community that began or at least transitioned because of natural disaster. There was a earthquake in 1985 that caused a landslide that destroyed a community of Indigenous folks in the area of El Chaco. Since the town was destroyed, the government went about giving them new land to start up again. This is when they transitioned to the area near the volcano named Sumaco. Unfortunately, the government didn’t give them much of anything else. This is where the Evangelical Covenant Church of Ecuador (IPEE) stepped in and really helped them out. The went about assisting with building a well for clean water, helping set up the government, and eventually helping bring electricity. They helped the community out so much that the eventually renamed themselves Pacto Sumaco, the “Pacto” meaning Covenant as in Evangelical Covenant church. Pretty cool, eh?
Right now, IPEE is helping them out with suggesting new ways to farm. It is basically a farming community which for the most part produces Naranilla, which is a small orange like fruit. The problem with farming Naranilla is that it only has a two to three year life cycle before it destroys the earth that is producing it. IPEE is recommending that they do two things. Switch their primary crop to one that is more long term sustainable, as well as trying to show them that personal gardening is possible. Because of their poverty and lack of variety in crops they produce, their nutrition is very poor. If each farm would create a personal garden with a variety of produce, their level of nutrition would be significantly increased.
You can see pictures below of Sumaco as well as a picture of the personal garden that IPEE has created to demonstrate to the other farmers.
Fellow missionary Chris and a giant leaf in the rainforest in Pacto Sumaco
The garden that IPEE has setup in Sumaco to show the other farmers.
State-of-Emergency Lifted
The State-Of-Emergency was lifted today for Ecuador. We had been under a State-Of-Emergency while we were preparing for the waves from the Japan tsunami to hit the Pacific Coast. Over 200,000 people from the coastal areas of the country had been moved further inland to prepare for the worst. Thankfully very little damage was done and there were no casaulties to report. You can read about it here:
Minor Damage in Latin America
Please join us in pray for the country of Japan as it is dealing with the terrible devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Thankfully none of the Covenant Missionaries were affected by the natural disasters.
The Prodigal Son – No Story Book Ending
Luke 15:11-32 (New International Version, ©2011)
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
When reading this passage for probably the millionth time this morning, I had a bit of a realization – the Holy Spirit tends to do that. After finishing it, I so wanted to know the end of the story. We hear the father’s response of compassion and forgiveness as he explains them to the older brother is telling of his concerns for justice, but that’s where the story ends. We never hear what the older brother has to say back. I so wanted to continue to read that the son was overcome by his father’s compassion, love and forgiveness and his bitterness and anger was quickly transformed by his father’s example and the work of the Holy Spirit.
But that probably wasn’t the case was it? More than likely, the older son was not transformed in that moment. He probably remained angry and would not enter to greet and celebrate with his brother. Possibly, he remained angry until his dad passed away and then maybe realized his hardness of heart many years later.
Really, we do not know. Jesus doesn’t tell us this part does He. I think I wanted this story book ending because my experience with stories tells me it should have this kind of ending. As I read stories to Simeon at night, read books myself and as I watch movies and tv shows, I am being conditioned to expect “the story book ending.” And especially with having a Christian worldview and reading a Christian story, it ESPECIALLY should have a story book ending, right?
But life tells us otherwise. And the Bible tells us otherwise- have you read Ecclesiastes recently? Life very often doesn’t have the story book ending in many instances. However, we have faith that God is at work in the world and in control of all situations that even though the ending isn’t as we had hoped it is His will and it is good. So why doesn’t Jesus tell us the ending to prepare us for the fact that life doesn’t always have story book endings.
Well, that is point of his teaching style. He is teaching through a parable as he does through much of this part of Luke. Parables always have a point and the point wasn’t to show us life isn’t always perfect. The point of the parable is, as you know, to show an example of compassion and forgiveness for the lost. If Jesus was to tell the whole story, then we would have all missed the point.
Do your best to not be like me and always look for the perfect ending even though our world tells us that there needs to be one.
Simeon’s FIRST Birthday!
Here are all the people that attended Simeon's party
We had the opportunity to celebrate Simeon’s FIRST birthdayon Saturday with friends from Ecuador. At exactly 8:34 AM when he was born, Joel, Cheryll and I sang Happy Birthday and Cheryll prayed for him. It was very special for us. It was a great time with quite a lot of highlights. Simeon actually took his first steps on Saturday too! It was a great day of celebrating and thinking back over the last year. God has truly blessed us with a wonderful son and we are so thankful for him! Here are a few pictures of the day. There are also a couple of videos below that you might like to see too!
Martita (Simeon's babysitter) and Simeon
The decorations for the party
Simeon's birthday cupcake
Simeon eating his cupcake
Simeon and mommy opening presents
The Santiago Partnership