Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

May 18, 2007

Upon our arrival in February, the team started getting together every Tuesday night for pizza at Juan Carlos’ house. (On Tuesday all the pizza places in Ecuador have a two for one pizza deal). After a long weekend and prolonged negotiating, Juan Carlos was finally released Tuesday afternoon. And true to character, Juan Carlos and Courtney insisted we still gather at their house for pizza and fellowship. This was actually good for the team to talk and debrief the whole situation. Although he looked exhausted, Juan Carlos was able to share some very encouraging words as a result of the accident and the time in jail. The scripture that came to my mind is found in Philippians 1:12, “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.” This proved to be true in this circumstance. While the gentleman who Juan Carlos hit was in the hospital, he came to profess Christ as Lord. Then as Juan Carlos was in jail, he was upfront with the other prisoners and told them he was a believer. When I wrote last week that he was going to preach that is exactly what he did. At first they just wanted him to pray for them and then with each day Juan Carlos would do more and more. Time will tell the results of his time spent with the men in that jail cell.

Now, lest this update sound a little too Pollyannaish, know that there are still issues that need to be worked through. On Wednesday, the family of the man arrived at the Youth World offices demanding more payment and threatened to find Juan Carlos and put him back in jail if they weren’t paid. This is an unfortunate side effect of the system here in Ecuador. Please continue to pray for the Cevallos family and continued protection from further harassment.

On a lighter note, Danielle finished the photo album for Andres and Marlene. I am attempting to include a photo of Danielle and Marlene. Danielle learned how to make these albums last spring. The fun thing about this is, one of our Ecuadorian interns who I mentioned last week, David is an artist. So he went through and included all kinds of fun indigenous art work. We told him we knew it looked very American. We asked if he could please incorporate the Cofan culture into the album. He did a wonderful job; I wish you could see the final result.

Paul writes later in Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let our gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” vs. 4-7 NIV.

We are praying for you and that which you find yourself anxious and that you will find the peace Paul writes about.

As God is our Refuge, Mary for the Scholl family

Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

May 11, 2007

A few years ago, a friend of mine and I were taking our two daughters to the airport to attend summer camp. My friend’s daughter was a little nervous about flying alone for the first time. Cathy, my friend said to her daughter, “OK let’s name the things you are worried about.” At the time I was struck by how practical this was and have actually used it in my own life in the subsequent years. All this to say, when we were preparing to come to Ecuador and in the last three months, if I were to name my concerns, they would be as follows, to be stopped by the police, jail in Ecuador and to hit a pedestrian. Now I know the final one seems odd, but when you live here you see first hand how there are people everywhere. They run across the street, run into the street to sell things and jump off and onto buses and taxis all the time.

Unfortunately, my worst fear became a reality for one of our team members yesterday. Juan Carlos Cevallos, our assistant program director at El Refugio was driving into Quito for a staff meeting with two of our interns. Nathan, who is from our home church and is here until September was in the front seat, David who is one of our Ecuadorian interns was in the back. Juan Carlos was in the right lane on a 3 lane road when a person got off a bus from the middle lane. Nathan said it happened so fast that there was nothing Juan Carlos could do but hit the guy. The man suffered a badly broken leg and had surgery yesterday with a 4 – 6 month recovery process. Wisely, Juan Carlos had Nathan get back in the car and not speak to the police when they came. Because David is Ecuadorian, they were able to use him as a witness.

Ecuadorian law mandates that Juan Carlos be taken to jail and remain there until the man is released from the hospital which will probably be Monday. Once the doctor releases the man, the papers will be sent to the judge and Juan Carlos can then be released. His car has also been impounded until the end of next week. I tell you all this just so you will know a little of the craziness of the system here in Ecuador.

Juan Carlos is married to Courtney and they have two small daughters Marli and Lilli. To show God’s amazing provision for this situation, Courtney’s parents and brother arrived the night before so she is not alone. To demonstrate the character of this couple, when I called Courtney to see how she was doing she spent the time instructing me. She said, “Mary, if you get into an accident don’t ever let the police come because Ecuadorian law mandates they take both parties to jail until they clear it all up which could be up to three days. During our staff meeting Juan Carlos sent a text message and said not to worry he would be “preaching in the morning.” This is the kind of people God has called us to work with, truly an amazing young couple.

Please join us as we pray for Juan Carlos and his family, pray for the man he hit to recover quickly so they both can be released and go home to their families.

Also, could you pray for Nathan and David, initially they were both shook up but now seem to be doing well. They are both quiet guys so we just need to know how to help them process the whole situation.

As always we know we could only serve here in Ecuador because of your faithful support and prayers.

As God is our Refuge, Mary for the Scholl Family

Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

May 4, 2007

Last Saturday, a small work team of eleven men arrived at El Refugio from Woodbury Lutheran Church in Minnesota and also a couple from North Dakota. The team had two primary work projects. To relocate the Quy (guinea pig) shed and to put in a septic tank for the new bathrooms located at the center of camp. Howard had a great time of working with these men and spending time getting to know them. As always the people who come on a team are varied in their experience and walk. Truly, that is what makes the time spent here interesting. For instance one of the men performs magic tricks; so he took time to teach Danielle and Jonathan various tricks. However, he wouldn’t teach them how he turned a one dollar bill into a five. (Wouldn’t we all love to know that secret?)

Ultimately, the goal is that God would bless their time here and the experience would impact them forever. On Wednesday, the team toured the various ministry sites and the visit to the dump really impacted them. To the point of physically making one of them ill, while this may seem a harsh reaction, it is real. Our North American sensibilities can not quite grasp that people, particularly children live in the dump in Quito. Yet, God in His infinite mercy has provided for these very people through the ministry of Extreme Response. If you would like to look further into this ministry their website is www.extremeresponse.org. Work trips, like this team experienced this last week are a great way to expose people to live larger than themselves. We all need to live larger than ourselves.

While the team was off visiting the various ministries, a group of about thirty people arrived to El Refugio who work for HCJB (World Radio) for a day of teambuilding. As I was out walking you could see grown men jumping rope and plenty of laughter echoing up the mountain. The point as always is, to impact these people by their time here, and that our staff would facilitate a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

Howard turned 49 yesterday and really had a great day, where I think, they sang Happy Birthday to him at least three times throughout the day. Of course, he enjoys the honor of being the oldest member of the Youth World Team. There are two traditions that are usually carried out on a person’s birthday, to be thrown in the pond and to yes, I know this is hard to believe, a spanking with a belt. Well, Howard avoided both by keeping busy with pouring cement for the septic tank. I guess wisdom does come with age!

As God is our Refuge, Mary for the Scholl Family