Missionaries to Ecuador
The Volcano "Cayumbe" from the terraza of our new rental house.
the Bond Family September eDiary
I will not attempt to add all the information shared by the eNewsletter, but to supplement it by these pictures.
Please email me if you want to receive the eNewsletter as well. It is a more detailed text-only version of our adventures for the Lord in Ecuador.
A Month of Change (again)
Genesis 12:1 - Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Having no one, the Lord provided. He enjoys when we have to trust in him alone. He provided through the local "English Fellowship Church", where we attend every other week. They learned of our situation, and a dozen volunteers with trucks showed up on September 1st and moved us in from two different locations into our new rental house. What a major blessing!
We were also blessed in two other ways: First, all of the household goods from a previous IMB missionary family were miraculously available for sale, at 1/4th the going rate for things here! We were able to pass on the blessing by purchasing 3 beds, a desk with chairs, and an entertainment center from the Orphanage woodshop at top dollar to help them out (see last month's eDiary for more information about the Orphanage).
The other blessing was finding an old but large house near the girls' school! It is not perfect by any means; almost everything leaks a little, and the one shower has no hot water for example; but overall it is really nice and for the location is about $200 less per month than normal! The only thing available for any less was apartments at half the size. We share this duplex house with an Ecuadorian seņora, who lives downstairs.
We are pretty much settled in now; a month in which we had an incredibly complicated time getting our things from the USA out of customs. We continue with 4 hours a day with Spanish School, while the girls are in their regular school. We have had little time for anything else this month except for building on our relationships with our teachers. Luis Paredes, my teacher, has been doing bible study with me for almost 2 months now and we are in the book of Romans. Deb shares her faith with Maria, her instructor and has given her "More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell.
A snapshot of the culture: The truth is that we live more humbly than we did in Corinth, MS (no car, no dishwasher, OLD house, and laundry dried on the clothesline for instance); even though there are some things different out of necessity and also culturally that we would consider 'better off' than home. For instance, a house keeper is normal here. It is a necessity because of the high crime here to have someone at home always, and it is the cheapest and most normal way to do this. They make $1 per hour. A gardener is also normal here, and they make about $10 per month. The Ecuadorians here look down on people who do their own yard, and it would be a negative signal not to have one. He has worked for our landlord for 30 years, and his name is Fausto. Of course, like many Ecuadorians, he makes a living going around to many houses and offering his services. I tell you this because it is so strange to us, yet I have come to understand that it is also a way to help these people, while allowing them to keep their dignity. It is also a potential relationship for sharing the gospel and the love of Jesus.
Photos
Here are some photos of our house: The neighborhood and is an older residential area in the North end of town, a shot from the street looking at the front, a look at our small yard, the "terraza" (my favorite spot) where you can see the volcano "Cayambe" almost every day, and a shot of me at the front gate.
Here is a picture of Manuela, our housekeeper that we wrote about in an earlier letter. She is great at fixing Ecuadorian meals and my favorite, the "jugos" (juices) from all of the wonderful fruit here.
A shot of Luis and I on the terraza having language class, and shortly after, bible study. We generally spend an hour and a half in conversational class, an hour in learning/testing, and an hour on bible study.
Here is a couple of pictures of the family in the kitchen celebrating Rachel's 9th Birthday.
Last Sunday, we went with some missionary neighbors to an Ecuadorian "Christian" church about 10 minutes away. I was quite suprised to find it meeting in a large building in a "Central Market" area and not in a traditional church building. Equally suprising was to find about 1000 people praising the Lord! We were some of about 12 "Gringo"s and the rest were Ecuadorian.The service was a cross between Baptist and Pentacostal... with banners, tamborines, drums, guitars, and some professional dancers. It was quite interesting and enjoyable. This particular service had a special performance by the dancers.
God Bless you all and keep you - please know that you are in our prayers!
Hasta Luego... Until next month!
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