More Prayer Requests

Hey everyone,

Well it seems time to give some more prayer requests from the field. So here goes. 1.) The weather here is terrible. Thanks to a La niña year, the rainy season here in Ecuador is unreal according to word of mouth here worst in 15 years and according to CNN worst in 25 years (Read the story here). Flooding is at a new level on the coast with thousands of people displaced from their houses and of the three roads connecting Cuenca to the coast only one is open. One is covered with Landslides and large boulders. Another the bridges are either covered with water or nonexistent and on the one that's open it is one lane in places where they have cut pathways for the vehicles through the mud. The thing is is that this amount of flooding and landslides is unusually high for the end of the rainy season and we're only about 2 months into it and have 2 more to go. SO pleas be praying for this situation.

Another prayer request is a praise and a request. We're getting ready to start a cell group for adolescents here in Cuenca and that will be my main job for my last 4 months here (who can believe I'm already over halfway done!?!?!) This group will be under my supervision and I will directly lead it for the next 2 months and then hand it over and observe and help the new leader the last two months...at least that's the hope. Be praying that it all goes well and that we can begin to help the adolescents here.

Thanks for all your prayer and support. Just so You all know some of the upcoming events, tomorrow (Sunday) we're having 4 baptisms so that is a praise and the first week of March I should be going to the Jungle to help translate for a Medical Team, so be praying for my spanish!!!! Thanks to everyone!!!

More Pictures

Hey everyone,
Here are some more photos from time here.

Thanks everyone,
Blake

http://mhc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009874&l=1115a&id=105600748

Retreat for Carnaval

So in pure Ecuadorian Evangelical form, our church left town yesterday since it was the 'first day' of Carnaval. Often times churches have special retreats to escape the insanity of the city and it just so happened that it was the same Sunday as our Grand Celebration. So we went out Via Machala (towards the coast) just past a place called Yunguilla (where there is a huge eXtreme Sports complex.) All I can say is that it was an amazing Sunday. First of all it was great getting to know some of the church members a lot better. It´s amazing when my knowledge of the language and knowledge of the people coincide enough to be able to joke around and really have a good time. It was also fun seeing the kids enjoying the innocent parts of Carnaval, running around with water guns spraying each other and occassionaly hitting the unsuspecting adult! We all piled into three cars and one truck (thirty people) and the whole being a gringo thing paid off! It was women, children and gringo in the cars, everyone else in the back of the truck. SO I rode in a car with a family I´d met before but really didn´t know all that well. So it was nice to get to see them in their environment and how they interacted and all.

When time came for the Celebration we had a special prayer time where we broke off into different groups. It was a good time to get to know some of the members that don´t come as faithfully or who live farther away so as to prevent their participation in a lot of stuff. After that we met together and had a game to learn everyones names. It was where you had to same the name of everyone in front of you. If you think that is hard in english...try it in spanish! Then we just had a time of sharing, if God had done anything in someones life through the week they were invited to share. Then it was my turn. First I taught them a new song, one I had translated by request of patricio. He told me that a lot of the Christian music here is really shallow in it´s meanings and theology and I had shared one song before and so he asked me to translate a few songs and teach them to the church. So yesterday I taught Third Day´s Give. After that it was message time. It went so well. Since it was a 30 person group and we always try to go for interactive teaching it looked more like a Bible study, just with me asking questions prodding people along to the point I was trying to make. The message was on Matt. 23-23.24. I was talking about how God´s view of the Christian life is one that is balanced between acts of self righteousness (giving the tenth) and acts of Justice and mercy to those around us. I wasn´t sure how that message would work, especially among a people who, while wealthier than many Ecuadorians, sometimes just barely make ends meet. But I knew that it was a message from the Bible, a message of how the church should be different from the rest of society. So I shared, and they were so responsive. I think I was partially just thrilled that my Spanish didn´t get in the way and that now I know that, even with miles and miles of grammatical errors, God can still speak through me.

After the message we went on to play some games, and that was a good time to let down the guard and get to know a lot of the people better as we bobbed for limes, and tried to blow a plastic cup down a string (which i may say, I was the only person who didn´t need to stand on something to get to the cup! Go gringo height!!!)

So, now for a couple prayer requests. I forgot to mention that the AIEE (Association of Evangelical Churches of Ecuador) had their annual meeting and as prooves true for many church organizations, arguing was a large portion of the meeting from what I hear. It seems that in Ecuador, and much of latin america (and in a lot of the human race for that matter), power struggles often get in the way of ministry and of being church. So please be in prayer that the AIEE can come together, forget differences, and work together for Christ of the better of Ecuador and the spreading of Christ´s love and salvation.

Also, be praying for new missionaries on the feild. We have two new missionary families here in Cuenca, studying spanish. It was such a blessing the other day to have lunch with them all. And the best part was hearing all the accents. There were people from various parts of the US, national born Ecuadorians, a man from Scotland, and a family from New Zealand. It makes me wonder if we´ll get to keep our accents in God's kingdom, if so, that may have just been a small glimpse of what it may sound like.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. None of this would be possible without your help!

One more prayer request

So as some of you know, there is an assembly right now in Ecuador to rewrite the constitution. Well, it has come out that there is a part of the new constitution that is on the table that, at this present time, says that it will create a sort of Department of Religion. And if the current wording stays in the constitution, this departments job will be to "control" the churches of Ecuador. There is a special committee put together to look over and edit this, but if the committee has been chosen by the assembly, who knows if they will change it. The committee is made up representatively of the religious groups but for some reason excluded the AIEE (the Association of Evangelical Churches of Ecuador). There are other evangelical groups such as the Methodist but there aren´t many Methodist churches in Ecuador. So no one knows why the AIEE was left off the list. But anyway, the AIEE has made a formal request to this committee asking that the wording be changed so this group is not in place in order to "control" churches.

So the prayer is that this will happen, that it will not be a department to control churches but instead one that will help churches. So please be in prayer. if this passes it would have the ability to greatly change the face of religion and mission work in Ecuador. Thanks.

House Churches and Carnaval

Well, it's that time of year here in Ecuador. Almost all of Latin America is gearing up for a celebration called Carnaval. This celebration is the same as Mardis Gras in New Orleans. It's supposedly the last day of reverly before Ash Wednesday. Except in true Latin American fashion they are milking it for all it's worth. It starts out innocent enough with kids fighting each other with water guns and water balloons. Then it goes to water balloons being hurled at passing cars and buses. Then it excalates more to anyone who ventures out of they're house coming back in as if they'd spent the day in the pool. Then in some places, normally not the cities, the people get really mean by throwing balloons filled with urine and paint. Then the nights are charactarized by parties lasting to the wee hours of the morning. And the most of it is still to come. We still haven't got to the everyman for himself stage yet...but that comes for the next 4 days.

So all of that is going on while the work at the church continues. Patricio and I are trying to keep praying about where to start our new group so that is still a large prayer request. We are now thinking of finding a place where there are a lot of kids and starting the church that way. Reaching out to the kids will be great for the kids of course but will also gain trust with the parents which in Cuenca is sometimes hard to come by. The other churches are still going along. We had an encouraging grand celebration this past Sunday. It was just two of the house churches meeting together but we had about 20 people show up which is amazing. So that is a huge praise and thanksgiving. This Sunday the church will be taking a retreat out of the city (to escape Carnaval for a day) and to have our grand celebration with all three churches. Pray that that goes well, especially seeing that I'll be giving my first sermon in Spanish. Eeeek. And also be praying for the new group start and for the people of Ecuador these next few days, that they will be kept safe and out of real harm during these celebrations.

Thanks for all of your prayer and support!!!!! God Bless.