Missionaries to Ecuador

After returning from the States, I am gearing things back up again, with some additions to the ministry. Just before I left, God really put on my heart a new dimension to our ministry that I was really not expecting. I was not able to sleep or think of anything else until I shared it publicly with the pastors, who are excited about it as well. This new dimension is to form a team of missionaries from the churches we have been discipling, to evangelize above "Linaje Escogido" Church in the mountains where there is no Gospel today. This church is the last Evangelical church going up this mountain, and there is spiritual darkness and persecution to be faced even today. One of the keys to the work, is to finish the sanctuary at "Linaje Escogido" Church and help train the members to be prepared to disciple the new converts from the next village, "Cangahua pungo" up the mountain road.

We are also gearing our discipleship back up with the existing churches, continuing the "banquets for the poor", training in specific moral and spiritual areas such as sexuality, morality, evangelism, discipleship, and maturity. We are also continuing with the Men's study groups. Additionally, we are going to hopefully add some new church to our discipleship programs, as well as continually hosting short term mission teams from the States. We have 3 teams scheduled so far for this coming scholastic year. Below are some specifics in some of the areas.

 

Banquet for the Poor
God continues to bless this ministry. Luke14:12 - 14 -- "Then said he (Jesus) also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."Please stop in at the latest Banquet web page with Cusubamba and check out scripture come to life!

Small Groups for Men
We are involved in small groups to build accountability, leadership skills, and Christian maturity in three of the churches so far. This is an interactive format, held during the week to build the men of the church. The men are all progressing incredibly well! We continue praying about the next churches that might start a group.

A team from Alcorn Baptist Association in Corinth, Mississippi (one one person from Philadelphia, PA) came to Ecuador to work at the orphanage "Jardin de Eden". It was a wonderful time, and all received blessings! Please visit the web page to get a complete "picture" of the event. It was especially unique, because there were 5 father-and-son pairs on the trip, and it was wonderful seeing all the relationship building on so many different levels going on! We plan to repeat this trip next year for those who may be interested.

Melissa and Rod enjoyed a brief visit to the States. Here are a bunch of photos from that trip, which cover 6 states. It's not a complete collage of the summer, but it has a good sampling of our adventures.

We are in the midst of moving into a new (different) old house and struggling to get the promised repairs done before moving day. Moving is never fun, but in Latin America, it can be a real adventure! We are also selling our van and buying a 4 wheel drive vehicle so that we can get into the mountains and accomplish our ministry there in the coming year. This too, is much more complicated than anyone from the States can possibly imagine. And finally, school starts up on the 30th of August. Please be praying for all of these things, that they will go somewhat smoothly and be behind us as soon as possible so we can concentrate on our ministry. They are great sources of distraction at the moment.