Giving Thanks

  Hi all, grace and peace to you!!  I hope you all are well after your wonderful Thanksgiving gatherings and have taken some time to give thanks to the Lord for all that He has done and all that He is doing in your lives.  We have been created to worship the Lord and give the glory back to Him.


1 Chronicles 16:29 - “Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him.  Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!”


1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."


1 John 3:1 - "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:"


All is well here south of the equator!  November is officially mango season in Ecuador, and we have been thoroughly enjoying the fresh mangoes!  About two weeks ago, we were invited to the 82nd birthday of Maria's mother.  She has 10 children, so you can imagine the extended family!  All 10 children, as well numerous grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, made it out to the family finca in Vilcabamba for the party.  We all enjoyed a day of hanging out and eating some great food.  It was a great reminder and encouragement to us see how the family has been created to enjoy time with each other.  A few of the highlights of the day were musical chairs, dancing, pinatas, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and picking fresh fruit from the trees.  Kim and I were able to meet one uncle and a few cousins who are Christians.  It is nice to know that there are people placed within this family that can be an example to the rest of the family.  Please be praying that Kim and I will be a good example to the family that we live with and that the power of the Holy Spirit will speak to their hearts.


Thanksgiving just passed, and, fortunately, we were able to go enjoy some great food with the missionary team here in Ecuador.  The “Lojanos” on the team made the 2-hour trek down to a small town called Gonzanama (“Gonzo”), where 3 of our missionaries work.  About 29 of us came together to share the meal and fellowship.  I think this is the first time that I have experienced a fresh turkey at the dining table; it looked a little more alive than the ones I am used to.  It was also the most international Thanksgiving that either of us has ever experienced- our group was comprised of Americans, Ecuadorians, Australians, Swiss, and a German lady.  The history of Thanksgiving was read aloud in Spanish, so everyone would understand why we were taking a day off in the middle of the week to drive out to Gonzanama and eat Turkey, of all things.  All in all, it was certainly nice to celebrate with our extended family here in Ecuador, and it was a little reminder of home for each of us.  


It was a special treat for us to meet a missionary couple about our parents' age who are currently working in Macara, another Ecuadorian town.  The husband is Swiss and the wife is German, and they spent 30 years serving in Panama before coming to Ecuador.  Another treasure from the day was the sunset on the drive home through the mountains.  I think it lasted nearly 30 minutes and was full of amazing colors and lights.  One more thing to be thankful for.  I wish I could share the sunsets here with all of you, but I am sure a picture just wouldn't do it justice.


Our Bible studies are continuing to expand here, which is a blessing from the Lord.  It is a great opportunity to share our hope in Christ with those that are hungering for the Word.  I have three guys that are meeting with me once a week and with each of them I am going through Matthew to highlight who Christ is and how He fulfilled the prophecies that were spoken of before.  During my time here I would like to alternate studying a book from the New and Old Testaments.  So in the remaining months that we are here, we'll see how many books we can make it through.  Kim has started working though the Gospel of John with two women from our Wednesday night English class using the Joy of Living Spanish curriculum.  We both ask that you please pray for the work of the Spirit in the lives of these people, because it is only by the Spirit that they can be changed.


Today is the national census (“censo”) here in Ecuador, so we're house-bound from 7 am to 5 pm.  Stores are closed, and our church met last night instead of this morning.  Students have been trained to go from house to house filling out the questionnaires for each family.  We were duly censoed at about 8:30 this morning and now have the entire day to enjoy our mandatory rest.  Maria suggested putting up the family Christmas tree later this afternoon, so we'll help her with that in between catching up on some reading and honing our board-game skills.  We miss all of our friends and family and, once again, want to thank you all for your love and support!  We have seen God moving in Loja, and it's a blessing and privilege for us to be part of that work.


      Thank you to all those that have and are helping financially.  Also thanks to all those that are praying for us.


Love from Loja,
Doug and Kim

Doug in a guava tree

Maria, Fredy, and Pablo Isaac with the birthday girl!

Taking a swing at one of the "ollas encantadas"

Doug going in for candy from the pinata

Doug and Maria Cristina on the finca

Our First Ecuadorian Feriado

Earlier this week, Doug and I had a chance to escape Loja for a couple of days and get a glimpse of the Ecuadorian jungle.  We took advantage of the 3-day "feriado" (holidays) and hopped on a bus to Zamora, a small town about 1.5 hours east of Loja.  At only 3,000 feet elevation, we definitely felt not only the difference in climate (humid!) but also the difference in landscape.  It was very much like what I had imagined an Ecuadorian jungle/rainforest to be- lush, green, and tropical, with an array of bugs the size of my fist.

We stayed the night at a rustic hosteria ("Copalinga") with private wood cabins, which, unbeknownst to us, turned out to be one of the top 100 places in the world for birdwatching.

Taking a siesta on our porch!

On Monday, we hiked for several hours around the Copalinga trails.  We listened to the bird calls and the sound of the rain on the forest cover above our heads and, fortunately, stayed relatively dry thanks to the abundance of trees.  We found out later that monkeys live in this area, but we weren't lucky enough to see one on our hike.  Maybe next time!

Hiking at Copalinga

On Tuesday, which was warm and sunny, we hiked through Podocarpus national park, just up the road from our hosteria, where we saw some beautiful waterfalls and took a very refreshing swim in the river.  I have never seen so many butterflies as we saw that day at Podocarpus!  They were so beautiful, flying in groups everywhere.  It was a wonderful day to get out of the city and enjoy some of the unspoiled beauty of God's creation!

The river we swam in at the end of our hike

Waterfall at Podocarpus National Park

The hosteria, Copalinga, is owned and run by a Belgian couple who quit their office jobs and moved to Ecuador about 12 years ago in order to be closer to nature.  They bought a huge piece of property (50 acres, I believe) just outside the national park for less than they paid for their first used car in Ecuador.  Since then, they've built their home and about 10 guest cabins, as well as a global reputation among birdwatchers.  Many of us might look at them with a mix of envy and admiration when we consider how they left everything to chase their dream.  This leads to the question of what is our dream.  What would we be willing to lay everything down for in order to chase?

In a recent blog post, Doug encouraged everyone to read the book "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper.  I read it after he was finished, and one of the early topics Piper addresses is the American Dream.  For some reason, this particular passage really spoke to me, probably because I, like many Americans, am guilty of exactly what Piper describes.  He writes:

"I will tell you what a tragedy is.  I will show you how to waste your life.  Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader's Digest, which tells about a couple who 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51.  Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.'  At first, when I read it, I thought it might be a joke.  A spoof on the American Dream.  But it wasn't.  Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life- your one and only precious, God-given life- and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells.  Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: 'Look, Lord.  See my shells.'  That is a tragedy."

Powerful, right? Meeting this Belgian couple during our trip to Zamora and seeing how they had sacrificed to pursue their passion reminded me of this passage from Piper and how we, as Christians, are called to live our entire lives in pursuit of a single passion.  As Piper explains, "God created me-and you-to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion-namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all spheres of life."  He makes it very clear that this passion can and should be lived out wherever you are and in whatever profession God has placed you.

For me, my prayer is that this principle will change every aspect of my life, from how I work as a missionary here in Loja to how I practice law back in the United States, how I interact with my family, friends, and co-workers, how I manage my money, and how I choose to spend my free time, among other things.  Whereas, before, an early retirement on a sailboat in Florida would have sounded ideal to me, God has shown me that I was created for more than that.  We all are!  "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31)

Much love from Loja,
Kim and Doug