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!