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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Operation Visas: APPROVED!!!
Categories: Family Fun, Ministry, Simeon, Travel, Updates
Tags: Ecuador, Ecuador Info, Ministry, Simeon, Travel, Trips, Updates
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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!!!
Categories: Ministry, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Updates
Tags: Ecuador, Ecuador Info, Prayer Requests, Updates
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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?
Categories: Prayer, Prayer Requests, Travel, Updates
Tags: Evangelical Covenant Church, Prayer Requests, Travel, Updates
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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.
Categories: Field Study, Ministry, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Santo Domingo, Simeon, Travel, Updates
Tags: Churches, Ecuador, Ecuador Info, Field Study, IPEE, Prayer Requests, Santo Domingo, Simeon, Travel, Trips, Updates
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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
Categories: Field Study, Ministry, Prayer Requests, Travel
Tags: Coast, Field Study, Guayaquil
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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.
Categories: Family Fun, Field Study, Ministry, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Travel, Updates
Tags: Coast, Ecuador, Ecuador Info, FACE, Family Fun, Field Study, Guayaquil, IPEE, Ministry, Prayer Requests, Travel, Trips, Updates
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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!!
Experiencing the Quechua District
We returned this Friday afternoon after experiencing the Quechua district here in Ecuador. I (Kim) have heard so much about the Quechua district, but never have experienced it myself. Joel has visited many Quechua churches, but always without Simeon or myself. So, it was very much a privilege to visit 6 different Quechua ministries. The Quechua have a rich history as descendants of the Incas. They have gone through much persecution as the native or indigenous people of the Ecuador. The persecution has come from Spaniards, Catholic priests, and most recently over land issues (much like the American Indians of the U.S.).
The Quechua district of the Covenant Church here in Ecuador (IPEE) is in Cayambe and South and Southeast of Cayambe. See where the Quechua area is in Ecuador below on the map. The Quechua district is not the representation on this map according to the church, but you can get an idea…
Map of Indigenous American Indians in Ecuador
We met with all but one of the churches on Wednesday morning in Cayambe. We had a great discussion about vision and mission in the area. There was a lot of excitement and a lot of people interested in ministries to children. We ended up basically visiting all of the Quechua ministries. It’s a very exciting time. On Wednesday, we visited Iglesia Nazareno with a Compassion ministry of 290, Iglesia Emanuel with a Compassion Ministry of 530, and another Compassion ministry in Carrera. On Thursday, we visited Iglesia San Antonio and Oyacachi. On Friday we visited Escuela Francisco Aigaje in 4 Lote.
All in all, we had a great trip. I was so excited to be able to finally visit the Quechua district and meet these beautiful people that are so welcoming and kind. We gathered a lot of good information as well for the field study. Enjoy the pictures below…
Meeting at Iglesia Nazareno on Wednesday Morning
Meeting at Iglesia Nazareno
Iglesia Emanuel with a Compassion Program of over 500 children
A little girl from the Compassion Center at Emanuel
The site of a medical clinic with Iglesia Emanuel
Iglesia Carrera
Iglesia San Antonio (basically the whole church came to the meeting)
Kids from Iglesia San Antonio
This little guy and Simeon were running around the church during the meeting at Iglesia San Antonio
Trip to the Coast (Manta and Montecristi)
We returned last evening from our trip to the Northern Coastal district including Manta and Montecristi. It was VERY different there-super hot and pretty buggy, which is very different from Quito-we don’t really have any bugs here! But, enough about the bugs and heat-that definitely wasn’t the important part of our trip. On Wednesday after arriving on Tuesday (April 17th) we visited the only Covenant Church in Manta, La Victoria. While we were there, we were able to see and experience the vision for this church and the community it serves. They have a vision for opening a daycare for the kids in the community where the church is located. This area has many single mothers who work all day and need help with their children. Some environments where they live are full of alcohol and violence and the church hopes to be able to expose these children to Jesus and his love in the midst of their home lives. We were very excited to see this church and meet Pastor Lauro. See pictures below of the daycare-it is almost completely finished and already has people waiting in line to sign up. Please pray for La Victoria and Pastor Lauro as they are waiting on government documents to be able to open!
On Thursday, we were able to have a little family time at the beach and eat some amazing seafood!
On Friday, we were planning on having a meeting with all the pastors from this district. We still had the meeting, but Joel came down with a very bad stomach bug and couldn’t get out of bed. At the last minute, Kim did her best to lead the meeting. She definitely stepped out of her comfort zone with this, but a lot of information was gathered and processed and at the end of the meeting one pastor said “so when is the next one!” (Sorry we don’t have pictures from the meeting, as you can imagine Simeon would have been taking them and those are very hit or miss!)
Joel had other meetings to attend with F.A.C.E. and the Pastor Advisory Committee. As the camp president, he has a lot more responsibilities and political issues to maneuver. As you can imagine with the stomach bug, he wasn’t able to attend all of these meetings-only some.
Praise the Lord he was feeling better yesterday as we made the 7-8 hour trip back to Quito. Thank you for your prayers. We definitely feel them and see God’s hand protecting us in many ways throughout our trips. During this trip, Simeon was playing and we didn’t realize there was a drop where he was playing. Luckily he didn’t want to check it out and stopped before he fell. Also, recently at the Camp where we visit, they found a snake (an ‘X’ which is very poisonous). We are very thankful nobody was hurt, but that the snake just slithered away. As you know, we make many trips to the camp. Please know that when you pray for us God hears your prayers and we feel them in our daily lives and daily experiences and WE THANK YOU!
Classroom set up at the daycare
Chairs set up for class
SO cute1 They have little toilets, little showers and sinks that are child size!
Kim and Pastor Lauro in the sleeping room with mini cots!
Joel and Simeon enjoying some beach time!
Categories: Field Study, Ministry, Travel
Tags: Field Study, Manta, Ministry, Monticristi, Travel
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