March 2020
Friends
30/03/20 14:45
One of my favorite photos. Having worked with the Quichua for 10 years now, we are entering a new phase. At first we did conferences, and workshops. Now I am learning ever more that the most effective influence you have on another person is the time you spend together, doing whatever. The key is the relationship and the level of confidence you have in each other. The last two weeks we have spent at home, locked in due to the coronavirus crisis. But our Quichua friends keep calling us and sending us messages. Why? We have strong relationships, built over the years. One friend called me because he wanted news. In the rural mountains his internet connection is poor. He knows he can call our phone. Hang up. And we will call him back. Today a pastor sent us a recorded message on Whatsapp, and asked us to send a short video, with a bible message to encourage his church. Wow! Have to get used to this technology. Not my style, but I'll have to accommodate. "All things to all men." 1 Cor 9:22
Wait for the Lord
23/03/20 11:22
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:13-14
To limit the spread of the coronavirus, the Ecuadorian government has told everyone to stay home. It has also imposed a 7pm to 5am curfew, and limited using private cars to every other day. All businesses are closed except hospitals and groceries. So we've spent the whole week at home in El-Tingo. No one knows for how long. Wait for the Lord. He is good!
Be still
16/03/20 18:43
"Be still, and know that I am God."
This picture reminds of the older folk who have gone through a whole lifetime and have learned to be patient.
We are still absorbing the impact of the coronavirus crisis. Saturday, Faby and I just went for a drive and ended up at the tourist train station to take a shot with the llama. Then we went inside the tourist house and made friends with the owner's wife, just sitting and chatting. Sort of a foreshadow of the government's advice soon to come: "Stay home." That afternoon, the children's club at the church in Riobamba had a predictable low turnout. We just sang a few songs, played two games, gave out a snack and sent them back home. Then Sunday I received the call from Alicia, our niece, studying in Quito, who just learned she had to go back to the US within 24 hours. So Monday we drove to Quito to take her to the airport and say goodbye. Now we're hanging out at our home in El-Tingo, and understanding what God wants us to do: be still.
Graduation Flet Level 2
09/03/20 15:02
I finally learned where my most faithful student comes from. I couldn't even find the road to his community on Google Maps! From his community, called "Yuyaute Alto," he either walks or finds a ride into town, seven kilometers away. From there he has to catch a bus on the Pan American Highway twenty minutes to another town called, "Guamote." From there he has to find a pickup truck to take him 15 minutes up the mountain to "Capulispungo" where we hold the Bible Study "Flet" every month. He rarely misses a class, because he really wants to learn. He's older than I am, never finished half of high school, and I can barely understand him when he speaks his second language Spanish. But he, along with eight others, finished level 2 of the Bible Study "Flet!"
This time, "Capulispungo" didn't want to do a graduation like we did for level 1. So what do you do? Just hand them his diploma? Not in this context! You have to do some kind of formal presentation. So I committed to visit his church on Sunday, and present him with his diploma during the church service in the presence of the congregation and the two pastors. I played it up as much as I could, and I could see everyone was satisfied. We slipped out of the service a little early, because the fog on the mountain was closing in, and this was the first time I had driven on these roads. But Manuel, the student, insisted we visit his house "for coffee," which consisted of hot chicken soup and juice, followed by guinea pig and potatoes. We drove down the mountain in the dark and in the fog, but we picked up a woman who was returning to town and she made sure we didn't miss the road.
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Full Recovery
02/03/20 13:02
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14
Since my hernia operation, we've been in Quito for five weeks! I began to wonder about our contacts and ministry in Riobamba. When, out of the blue, a phone call from Alejandro Mullo: "I need help to organize the youth and the Sunday school in our church." That call well summarizes how we've operated for the past few years. We never planned to do this and that. We simply received one request after another. And the ministry continues. We wait on God and He continues to give us direction. We plan to return to Riobamba this week and visit our contacts, beginning with Alejandro.
(Our dog, "Bellita," goes with us wherever we go.)