Craig, Leah and Lena have been here now for a month. They are here to work with our teammates and ourselves as Craig completes his Master's degree. His professors agreed to giving him credit for his work here and as well he took a class with Compassion Canada in the town of Otavalo for a week so with those two things, he will have some good credits to his degree. Of course the bonus for us is that Leah, Travis' sister and our niece, Lena got to come with Craig. Of course the cousins are enjoying their special time together as you can see in the picture here. And we are enjoying the extra time with family and of course the extra help. They will be here till the beginning of March so please be in prayer for them as they work here.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Preaching in Azogues
One of the other things that we do here in Ecuador is work with a small church about 30 minute drive from Salvador. It is a small church made up of two families. They have been needing the extra help for awhile as they haven't grown in a long time. One of the men of the families went to the Institute and took classes and he is the one that helped start the work there. We will be heading to Azogues about every two weeks, so that we are two weeks in Cuenca and two weeks in Azogues. If anything, we hope to encourage these families in their work and give them the tools that they need to help their group grow. It is fun getting to be with them as we get to know them much more quickly then we have so far with the church here in Cuenca as there are only a few of them. They have a bunch of young kids as well so our kids enjoy getting to be with them too. Please be in prayer for this group as they struggle and search for ways to influence their city for the better. Pray for growth not just numerically but also spiritually.
Monday, January 16, 2012
BOXES for Boxing Day!
The Box saga is over! We are so happy to say that we finally have all of our boxes. As our last post revealed, we were going to have to hire a customs agent at the airport to take out our boxes after hearing from the lawyer that he had found them. As the kids had started back to school, Travis headed alone to figure out what we could do next. As the boxes were in my name, I hurried downtown to get a power of attorney signed so that Travis wouldn't get there and they tell him that he couldn't claim the boxes. So after he got the power of attorney he headed to Quito to hire a customs agent.
We had been given a name of a well known agent who has worked with the customs for many years so Travis went to talk with him. Travis went early Monday morning and came home Wednesday night. During that time there were many different problems with getting the boxes. One of the main problems is that the paperwork that came with the boxes was not at the airport customs. They were at the original post office that we had gone to the time we all went to Quito. So Travis ended up going back to this post office to pick up the paperwork. Unfortunately he went twice as they discovered that only two boxes had the paperwork with that post office. Travis also had to go to another post office to get the last box's paperwork. With all of that done there wasn't anything else for him to do and there wasn't a for sure date as to when we would be able to get our boxes. So he came back to Cuenca without the boxes and a possible time frame of getting the boxes before Christmas.
Later and after about three phone calls we were told that there might be another hitch to getting our boxes so we thought that we actually wouldn't get them because of a problem with our id's. After a few more calls we found out that this wasn't actually a problem and that they finally had the boxes. All we had to do was pay the customs agent fees, the storage fees for the boxes and the fee to send us our boxes. We were so excited that we would get them before Christmas. We rushed to get it all done but we never heard back from the secretary of the agent and we worried about what was to happen as it was already Friday and Christmas was on Sunday. We also knew that the customs office wouldn't be open the next week. So frustrated that we hadn't heard about when our boxes were to arrive, we tried to move on to the Christmas celebrations. Then Monday morning, Travis thought he'd try one more time to call the secretary and see when we'd be able to expect our boxes. She told us that she had already sent them to us and forgot to call to tell us when they would be here. So Friday afternoon our boxes were sent to Cuenca and we technically we could of got our boxes before Christmas.
However, we find it quite humorous and fitting that we got our three boxes on Canadian Boxing Day! Needless to say, we rushed to the airport the moment we heard the boxes were there and grabbed our boxes. That day was almost like another Christmas morning getting to see all the things that we thought might be lost forever. The kids were excited to get a few extra toys we had packed and we were glad to have some of the trinkets that we got from Brazil to remember our time there. The best thing of it all was getting our books and Travis' notes from his Masters degree that he really needed to be able to prepare classes for CEDI this year. We are so thankful that nothing was taken from our boxes even though there were many months and opportunities for those who came in contact with them. And we are thankful to those who kept us and these boxes in their prayers. God does answer prayers, even simple ones like getting belongings after six months of waiting! So now we can enjoy the other things in life and the work here and not have to worry any more about what else is needed to get our boxes! We are so thankful that this process is over and that we got the positive outcome that we had been looking for! Boxes for Boxing Day!
Midnight Supper
Bolo and Jenny invited us to their home on Christmas Eve for the holidays. They also invited Nuvia and her kids as well as Francesca and her family who a year ago lost their dad and husband. It was a great time of listening to them sing songs, talk and see the kids play. The kids also got to open a few gifts and it was fun to see how excited they were for their gifts. Also in their neighborhood they had a parade of children dressed up as Mary and Joseph, shepherds and king's. There were lots of fireworks and lots of music playing around the neighborhood. The tradition is to have supper at midnight to celebrate the beginning of the day of Christ's birth. The kids' did pretty good staying up late but it was hard for them to wait until midnight to eat supper. Travis brought some snack foods which helped tide them over. It was a great night and fun to celebrate the holidays with friends. Of course we missed spending the holidays with our families but we got the next best thing. We are looking forward to many more holidays in Cuenca and are thankful that Bolo and Jenny shared the day with our family.
Christmas Hampers
This year like the last few years in Brazil many generous people from back home gave us money to be able to buy Christmas food hampers. With the contribution that we got, we were able to buy 15 food hampers for the poorer families around the city. One of the recipients of these food hampers is a lady from church named Gladys. She has a 25 year old daughter and three other children ages 8, 6, and 4. Her husband died not long ago leaving her and the children without anything. Her oldest daughter works part time but doesn't get a lot of money and a few months ago Gladys was diagnosed with cancer. She is now in treatments but these are very expensive and make her very tired and it is hard for her to take care of her kids. We were glad that we could help her family as they struggle daily to put food on their table and to handle all the medical treatments that she needs. Please be in prayer for Gladys and her family, that God would heal her of cancer so that she can take care of her family. Also be in prayer for the other families that we were able help this Christmas. Thank you to all those who gave money to buy these hampers and make a difference in the lives of the people here.
A Sweet King
Calen's daycare also had a program for Christmas. Calen was dressed as King Jasper for his program. I saw he looked great as this king, he did a little dance to a song showing the king's worshiping Jesus. It was such a cute program even when all the little kids started crying or didn't know what they were to do. It was so cute to see them all dressed up as trees, king's, santa', and stars. It was really nice to see the work that the teacher's put into his program. I am so proud at how well Calen is doing with his Spanish and in his class. He seems to really enjoy school which is great! I do miss him during the hours he is gone but I am glad he has friends here outside of church kids. Please continue to pray for openings with the parents of the children that go to school with Calen as well as Ceara.
English Christmas Party
In December we had a Christmas party for the English students. We bought a bunch of foods for the party, decorated, made a few games for them to fill in and even had a gift exchange. We tried the white elephant to see how that went and it was a hit. Many of the students liked bargaining over the presents that they got. One present stayed on the table for the whole time and in the end was revealed by Jaime our teammate. It was a big bottle of shampoo which is hilarious as Jaime is bald, so not a big need for shampoo with him. The students had a great time playing the gift exchange game and learning some English Christmas songs. Some of the students even made 'Cubanos' which is our version of a sub sandwich. It was delicious and seemed to be fun for them to share something that they knew how to make. It was a great time to get to know everyone a little better and to build those relationships that allow for better opportunities to share in each others lives. Please continue to pray for all the English students and the new ones that will come in this next semester.
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