Mom Visit!

Friends and Family:

Greetings from Loja! I'm sitting here in the computer nook outside of our bedroom listening to a neighbor blaring the Flashdance soundtrack from his terrace.  I have to wonder whether he understands any of the songs.  While the lack of space between houses here has its downsides, it certainly creates funny moments!

A few weeks ago, Doug and I were blessed with the arrival of our Moms to Quito (one with her luggage intact, one without).  We had flown up from Loja earlier that day, so we could be there to meet them at the airport.  As they each came through the door from the baggage claim area, they brought with them the comfort of home.  Their presence definitely eased the homesickness that each of us was feeling (whether we admitted it or not!).

The Basilica in Quito

We spent the first few days of their visit touring Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  We stayed at a wonderful mission guest house run by a very friendly couple from Texas.  During the days, we exhausted ourselves with vigorous sightseeing.  Even though the Moms had gone from sea level to 10,000 feet in just one day, we showed no mercy (just ask them).  They were excellent sports and even climbed countless stairs inside the towering Basilica on our first full day in Quito.  We saw museums, churches, and plazas and ate some melt-in-your-mouth Argentine steak at Los Troncos.  The best museums (in my opinion) were the watercolor museum, which featured the work of a single artist (whose name escapes me at the moment) and was set in an old renovated house in Quito with an interior courtyard, and the Museo del Banco Central, which houses astonishingly well-preserved artifacts from the Incas and other indigenous civilizations, including a whole room dedicated to their gold and silver works.

At the top of the Teleferico

On our second day, we rode the "Teleferico" (like a gondola) up the side of a mountain that looks over the valley in which Quito lies.  The altitude at the top is about 14,000 feet, and temperature dropped probably 20 degrees during the ride up (which I, in my thin windbreaker, had failed to consider earlier).  Oh well.  The view from the top was just gorgeous, and we spent some time walking along a trail overlooking Quito.  The Moms were definitely struck by the altitude and had to take the walk one step at a time.  Again, they were great sports!  The best part of the view was that we could see the snow-covered summit of the Cotopaxi volcano (elev. 19,307 feet) peaking out between the clouds.  From the ground in Quito, it isn't visible when there are clouds.  After coming back down the Teleferico (and thawing out), we took a taxi outside of Quito to "Mitad del Mundo," a park that lies on the equator.  We took the obligatory pictures straddling the equator and enjoyed some time walking around looking at the artisan shops.

In two different hemispheres!

After thoroughly exhausting ourselves in Quito, we flew down to Cuenca.  Cuenca is another large city in Ecuador, though not on the same scale as Quito.  It lies in the South of Ecuador between Quito and Loja, only about a 4-hour drive from Loja.  Its architecture is reminiscent of Spain, and the combination of its beauty with its low cost of living has in recent years attracted large numbers of foreigners to retire there.  Personally, I don't blame them.  If I were to retire anywhere I've visited so far in Ecuador, Cuenca would win hands down.

We had more time for leisure in Cuenca and could easily walk most places from our hotel.  Taking advantage of the variety of food, I think I ate more during our 3-day stint in Cuenca that I had eaten in the previous month in Loja- not a grain of rice for 3 whole days (except for one meal when rice was served with the curry I had ordered, but try finding curry in Loja...it was worth it!).  Thanks to a couple of friends from our mission team, we had one of the best meals I've ever eaten at Tiesto's- remember that name if you ever come to Cuenca.  Thanks a million Chandra and Anna!  (Note: In the past, I never would have devoted an entire paragraph to food, but this is what 6 months of white rice every day has done to me).

Sporting our newly-purchased Panama hats

One of the non-culinary highlights from Cuenca was the Panama hat museum and factory, where we got to see how the hats are made.  "Panama hat" is actually a misnomer- they're Ecuadorian.  Somewhat like the French fry, I guess.  Fran went home sporting a lovely white hat, and Doug and I each bought one for ourselves.  My mom opted out but bought one for my Dad.  We also visited the workshop of one of Ecuador's most famous ceramic artists, Eduardo Vega (www.ceramicavega.com).  His pieces were amazing, and the Moms each bought a ceramic tile to take home.  Finally, we took a day trip out to Ingapirca, a well-preserved site of Inca ruins.

After three days in Cuenca, we piled ourselves and our luggage into a van en route to Loja.  The driver, in typical Ecuadorian fashion, made the 4-hour trip in 3 hours.  While being thrown from side to side in the van along the windy road, we admired the beautiful mountain scenery.  Thanks to the abundance of rain in Ecuador, the mountains always seem to be green.  Once in Loja, we got the Moms settled in their guest apartment at the ministry building and enjoyed cooking dinner together.

Dinner at home with Fredy and Maria

The weather in Loja is notoriously unpredictable.  It will go from morning sun to afternoon rain (or vice versa) on any given day.  However, the weather was surprisingly consistent during the week of the Moms' visit: rainy.  Fortunately, there isn't much to see in Loja in terms of sightseeing, so we were able to spend more time together indoors reading, talking, etc.  We took the Moms to work with us as well, and they willingly pitched in!  They washed dishes and chopped veggies at El Sendero, colored pictures with the kids at our Saturday-morning kids' club, and led a group discussion at our Wednesday-night English class.  Our host family was hospitable beyond words and cooked a nice dinner in the Moms' honor.  They also took us out to their vacation home in Vilcabamba on Saturday to spend the afternoon relaxing.  On the Moms' last night here, we went to a Superbowl party at a friend's house in place of our Sunday night English group.  Even though the power went out about 5 minutes into the first quarter and didn't come back on until half-time, we still managed to enjoy ourselves in the dark.

Coloring with the kids.

Thanks to the Lord, the Moms made it home safe and sound!  For me, their visit gave me some much-needed refreshment after being away from home for 6 months, as well as additional energy and motivation to finish out our last three months here.  Thank you God for bringing them to see us!  It was a tremendous blessing to have them here for two weeks.  The time is still flying by, and before we know, we'll be back in California with them and the rest of our family and friends!

In the meantime, we will continue our work here!

Lots of love from Loja,





Kim

Temporary and Eternal . . . Faith

Living, temporarily, here in Ecuador has given me a chance to better understand what our time here on Earth is supposed to be like.  Compared to eternity our time here is short and yet we all invest so much effort in trying to be comfortable and cozy during our time here.  It is easy for us to hold on to what we have, especially when we don't know what is on the other side.  I know I am just as guilty as anyone else, but I now have caught a glimpse of the perspective of short versus long term desires.  I know what it is like to live in a temporary place thinking ahead of things to come.  I know that we are going to be headed back to the United States soon and I can think of the things I look forward to, our own bedroom, our own kitchen, toilets that flush, drinkable tap water, you know the simple stuff.  But just like our time here in Ecuador may be temporary, I am sure we all know our time here on earth is temporary.  The older you get, the more I believe you realize this.  Just as I have faith and knowledge that as we head back to live in the US (as long as that is God's plan for us) we can have some of these comforts, I also have faith that in heaven, for eternity, everything will be that much greater.  Paul wrote this in his second letter to the Corinthians:

"While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2Ch 4:18

"For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2Ch 5:1

"For we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." 2 Ch 5:7,8

Or ambition is to be present with the Lord.  The spiritual body we have from God is eternal and far greater than what we have here.  We put our faith in the promises that the Lord has given us and we long to see Him face to face.

How does that change our lives now?  We are to live for Him and buy from Him gold refined in the fire.

"and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." 2 Ch 5:15

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" Titus 2:11-13

"I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed" Rev 3:18

I encourage you all to trust in the Lord.  Buy from Him gold refined in the fire and look to store up your treasures in heaven.  Look to Him for that coming time when your tent passes away here and you go to be present with the Lord.  I can't even imagine what it will be like, perhaps looking back on the sillyness of things here.  We can put our faith in the Lord and know that He is preparing a place for us.

God Bless you all
Douglas

Like the Kids

Doug, Kim, and Gaby in front of the wall of kids drawings

The kids love to use the crayons to draw

This past week we had a great time with the kids at our kids club.  Since it was Gaby's last week to teach before she heads down to Bolivia we all got to share some tasty chocolate cake.  Yumm.  But before that we each painted a little picture for Gaby to put together in a book using water colors and we got to hear another story about King David.  Watercolors are amazing!  I love watching kids paint because they come up with some of the coolest stuff.  And when you have something that always looks great, like watercolors it is even better.  The story we listened to was about Mephibosheth and how David had made a promise to Jonathan.  It is an amazing story of grace that gives us a taste of things to come for us.  We, like Mephibosheth, are the lame outcast people and Christ is the one that comes and searches for us.  He invites us into His presence and has us eat at the table with him.  He blesses us with gifts beyond our imagination.  How great is our God.

Story time with Gaby, notice the three way hug here

 Likewise Semilla de Mostaza donated some boxes with gifts that had been donated from children abroad to give to the children here.  Gaby got to share the basic message of the gift of Christ before handing out the boxes to the kids.  It is amazing to see how much these little kids retain from week to week about the stories that they hear at our club.  Of course once the kids got their gifts they were more than ecstatic.  They were running around screaming, checking out their new stuff.  I was ready for an outbreak of tears of jealousy, but to my surprise all were happy with what they got and were actually sharing things with the other kids.  One kid was so happy that he was running around and then he ran up to me, wrapped his arms around my knees and gave me a great big hug with such force almost to the point where he was shaking.  Hugs are not custom here so it was quite a treat.  All of this reminded me of what Christ said about the children, remember?  "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."  Matthew 18:3.  Christ wants us to come to Him like little kids running around screaming our heads off with a great big hug for him, because of the gift He has given us.  Sometimes life can be so draining or get you bogged down.  That sucks but Christ is always there ready to lift you up, waiting for that special moment where He can bless you with His gifts.  I hope this message finds you at a time where you can run around and scream your head off and tell Christ thanks for all that He has done for you.

Just as the kids were getting their gifts, thanks to all those other kids who donated

  Our moms are coming down for a visit tomorrow and will be here for two weeks.  Kim and I are really excited about getting the chance to see them and spend some time showing them around Ecuador.  For those that are praying please pray for a new Ecuadorian to step in and fill the void for teaching the kids club.  Likewise please pray for the working of the English ministry here and the people that are in our bible studies.  I feel truly blessed to be in a place where I can share the word and teach some of the things God has taught me about his loving grace.

This girl is great, she always wants her picture taken

May God richly bless you beloved,

Love
Douglas and Kim

2011

Dear Family and friends,

  It has been a while since we have given an update so I just wanted to let you all know what has been going on. We tried to send out a more detailed newsletter about a week ago, so if you didn't get it or want a resend just let us know.

The Cow in Gonzanama

  So the month of December was SUPER busy.  The beginning of December started with a trip to Gonzanama to see the ministries that are happening out there.  Gonzanama is about 2 hours away from Loja and is a smaller town than the one we are in.  SIM has 3 missionaries out there now helping to fill in on the needs that are there.  While there we were able to help with a bible study, kids club, youth group planning, church planning, and attend the church service.  It is always fun to go to a service where you are one of the 10 people in the room.  Quite a difference from our church back home!

5 year El Sendero

  Kim, Dustan, Becka and myself were filling in for the manager position while at the same time we decided to start serving almuerzos (lunch).  Lunch is the main meal here in Ecuador as it is in many Latin countries.  So it naturally made sense to open our food business to lunch customers.  Of course, there were plenty of things lacking, such as a proper stove to cook sufficient amounts of food on for our customers at lunch.  Most of December was spent working nearly 12 hour days and solving problems left and right.  Now that we are in January things are starting to smooth out and Kim and I are back focused on our specific tasks of having bible studies and sharing the gospel.  We also planned a part for the 5-year anniversary of the founding of El Sendero, 3 special Christmas dinners, and a special Christmas eve lunch for some of the homeless people in connection with our church down here.  Watching them eat and enjoy their food was amazing, and to see the smiles on the kids faces was quite a blessing in our lives.  We ended up running out of food and had to squeeze the last little bit for all the people. The special meal here for Christmas is turkey.  Everyone was looking forward to it, and it sure was tasty.  Another blessing in Christmas was getting the chance to have a team meeting with the workers at El Sendero and hear the Christmas story once again.  We had a great time enjoying an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet (courtesy of El Sendero) and encouraging one another.

Christmas Kids Club

 We spent Christmas Eve and New Years Eve with our family here.  It is safe to say that this is the first time I have danced in the house to salsa music at midnight on Christmas Eve.  The tradition here is to stay up until midnight on Christmas eve and exchange gifts then.  Pablo Issac, the 2 year old grandson of the family we live with, was quite excited about the toy truck and shovel that he got.  Of course he also had his cup of coffee at midnight as well with the rest of the family.  Kim and I got a bunch of candy, including some delicious belgian chocolates, and also had the chance to hang our with our missionary team on Christmas day.  It was a great blessing to have friends here to celebrate with and have a little bit of home with us.  New years eve was no different with dancing and hanging out in the streets until midnight.  While there was no real countdown to midnight there were a lot of fireworks and people burning cardboard dolls out in the middle of the street.  More of a tradition than anything else, these are supposed to signify getting rid of the bad things in the past year.

Christmas Eve with Family

  Now that January has started and we have a little more time we are looking forward to keeping you all more up to date.  We want to wish you all a happy new year and blessings in the Lord.  Remember to keep your eyes up and focused on what Christ is doing in your life.

Love Douglas and Kim

Dancing at midnight!