North/South American Four Generations

Extreme Response hosted their annual Christmas parties here in Ecuador this last week. They ministered to approximately 10,000 people over the course of five days. El Refugio hosted one of the parties which had over 400 people in one afternoon. As always, it is an afternoon of fun and enjoyment. The difference in Ecuador though is everyone, young and old, play the games and participates. I love to watch the people at the Santa booth, everyone wants to get their picture taken. What a treasure for this Ecuadorian family to take home a picture of all four generations.

Really, people are the same in all cultures. Just before we left the states to return to Ecuador we made sure we also had a picture taken of the four generations in our family. Now that I am so far away, what a treasure this picture is to me as well.

This last week I witnessed how easy it is to meet people's needs. Think about the significance that over 10,000 peoples basic needs were met with food and their whimsical needs as well as each child was given a "navidad" (small gift). Of course if you asked the team who came from North America and Canada they would say it took a lot of hard work and sacrifice on their part to make it happen. They were willing to be God's instrument for a time here in Ecuador.

Would you be willing to do the same in your neck of the woods this holiday season? Fill a need whether basic or whimsical and allow God to use you as a blessing to those in need.

Return from Furlough

Howard Jonathan and I have been home now for about ten days. As always, we jumped right back into ministry, work and life. Ecuador is powered by hydroelectricity, we arrived home in the middle of their worse drought in forty years. What this means is everyone is put on a rotating schedule for power outages. Quito city dwellers have their power down from 11-2 each day, while ours has been out every other day from 7-10 in the evening.

As I was walking around the property I was struck by the tree you see in the photo above. As you can tell from the berm, the drought has taken its toll, things are really brown and dry. Yet, in the midst of it, this tree has actually "bloomed". How is it, in the midst of rough circumstances there always seems to be something which, in spite of the times thrive? I have observed this in people we talked too as well. We had an intern here last winter that was probably the most positive person I've met. Her story, however is one of trial, abandoned as an orphan, adopted and moved to an entirely new country and culture and lost a parent to cancer. However, that is not her focus. Her focus is completely on the provision by the hand of God. In spite of circumstances she has actually thrived. While she was here she applied too and was accepted to Seminary. Always pursuing ever thriving.

The first and last lines of my devotion this morning were, "Problems are part of life. They are inescapable woven into the very fabric of this fallen world.....Remember that you are en route to heaven, and let your problems fade in the Light of eternity."(Young, Sarah "Jesus Calling") Can I do that? Can I be a person who thrives "in spite of..."

Grace Chapel Project Girl's Intern House

You may be wondering what has taken me so long to post pictures of the finished project. The answer is, on the day it was completed we had girl interns here, who moved right in before I could get pictures. So I had to wait until the end of summer. Thank you Grace Chapel Men's team for taking this project on, I know you'll enjoy seeing pictures of the completed house.

Intern house continued

Because it is somewhat tricky to upload pictures I will have to do this in a series of posts. This is showing the front door and the girl's living room area. Before and after.

Compliments of Grace Chapel Men

For those who follow our blog, you'll remember last April, Grace Chapel of Lancaster brought down a men's work team. The men not only started the re-model of our girls intern house, they also had raised all $11,000 needed to complete the project. Kitchen before and after.

Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! Dr. Seuss

Today is the day Danielle starts her college career at Fresno Pacific University. While we were there in May, we did most of the ground work for her to begin today. With that in mind we felt comfortable letting her fly up alone. Today, however my feelings are mixed. My desire is to be with her and walk with her through the process of setting up her dorm room. Yet, I know she is in the capable hands of Nicole and Jay. They will represent us as her parents at a dinner tonight for the Presidential Scholars. Pray for her. Howard and I were watching "Planet Earth" last night where mother birds were teaching their young to fly. In one case, owls simple started by flying from branch to branch and as they gained confidence they increased their distance until they were finally flying. Our girl is in that process right now, please pray for her as she increases confidence to launch into life as God has prepared it exactly for her.

From El Refugio to Quito

Howard joined the programming team along with some of our interns and two guests on a 25 mile hike from El Refugio to Quito. One of the guests is a pastor here in Ecuador and was at Refugio for some needed R&R. He was also to have a period of time where he completely "unplugged". The first two nights he stayed in the cabin and he told Howard he knew God was telling him to slow down and simplify his life. He said he was listening but then came the hike. While on the hike, he felt like God was saying, "No, really I mean it, slow down, simplify and get back to the basics." I wonder how many of us need to heed the same message?

Culture to Culture

When one of our work teams was here we took them to visit Otavalo, an Indian market place. We also visited Cotachachi or "leather town" as we call it. While we were there a parade of the towns people passed by. We tried to find out what they were celebrating, and finally Israel said, "I think because it is a small town, they just have lots of festivals to keep everyone happy and busy." The thought occurred to me how similar our cultures are, because in the town we raised our own kids in, I think they had a festival for every season of the year. And yet, there is the same tension of the colliding cultures, for example the young boy about three rows back in his t-shirt from a North American store. We have our festivals to preserve our cultural traditions and without even realizing it, we have absorbed an entirely different culture into our midst.

Seems like only yesterday...

A new group arrived last evening and while we were at church with them today in Calacali, the Ecuadorians who are here training to be facilitators decided to help us celebrate our Anniversary by toilet papering our house. As always, if you click on each picture you can get a better look at the image. Many of us probably consider this a "North American" tradition but I have to tell you they did a very thorough job of covering the front of our house. When we arrived home they were on the other side of the mountain cheering for us. We feel very loved!

The Culprits!

"Hit the Ground Running"

We returned to El Refugio on June 15th and literally hit the ground running. We arrived at the same time as our largest group of the summer (49 people). Geneva Youth, from Illinois has been coming every summer for the last seven years and we have had the privilege of spending time with them the last three summers. Sterling, the Youth Pastor, does an amazing job with the students and every time their bus drives out we are sad to see them go.

As part of their VBS the group put together a craft project where the kids made beaded necklaces that told the redemption story. Danielle is the one who translated the story and instructions to the children from Calacali.

Howard helped out with the craft project as well.

VBS also included field day activities. Jonathan is kneeling down next to one of the children.

Kim and Robin McCart come each year and serve so faithfully with the group. They are known as counselors to the kids and fellow leaders to the church. For Howard and I they have simply become our friends who we love dearly.

Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are??? Dr. Seuss

Our final event before we headed back to Ecuador was Danielle's graduation from High School on June 13th. We were blessed to be a part of the Desert Christian Home School graduation. Fun time for our whole family. Seems hard to believe our youngest daughter is one step away from college. Danielle has been accepted and plans to attend Fresno Pacific University, majoring in Liberal Arts so she can teach elementary education. She received the President's Scholarship for her GPA and her score on the SAT. We are so proud of her!

"Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!" Dr. Seuss

Biola University's graduation was our next event. Kevin graduated with a BA in Fines Arts
Magna cum laude.
And yes that is a chartreuse tie he is wearing :)

"Oh, The Places You'll Go!" Dr. Seuss

May has been a month of events and celebrations. Due to the generosity of a friend who donated his fly miles to us, we were able to attend them all.

Kevin put together a photography exhibit as his Senior project. For Howard and I it was fun to see Kevin in his element. We talked with his professors at Biola, who unanimously voiced their support of Kevin and his talent and vision. He will quite possibly use his work from this exhibit as his application for grad school. The family with Kevin and yes, that is baby Anchor. Bridget was able to join us the next day.

A show favorite

Grace Chapel Lancaster, California

Grace Chapel Men's Work Team

Grace Chapel Quito Quest Team

Recently our sending church sent two teams to Ecuador. The first to arrive was a work team of men, who specifically raised over $11,000 to build housing for our girl interns. The second group came as a Quito Quest Team. They spent their time in Quito, Tena and then spent their final days here at El Refugio.
Both teams were a blessing and an encouragement. Very fun for us to host them and show them a little bit of our world.

Easter Sunrise Service

Early Easter morning El Refugio hosted a sunrise service. What a glorious way to celebrate Christ, our risen savior. We ended the service with the hymn, "And Can it Be?"

And can it be that I should gain,
an interest in my Savior's blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain
For me, who him to death pursue.
Amazing love, how can it be
That thou my God shouldst die for me?
Amazing love, how can it be
That thou my Lord shouldst die for me.

Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Do you ever feel like this?

Baby Anchor

Literally, there are many days I feel much like the picture above. You would think after living at 10,000 ft. for over two years, there would be a certain degree of acclimatization. Yet my heart still races after walking up our driveway. This is also one of the leading "excuses" for any ailment or tiredness here in Quito, we just say "Oh it 's the altitude". Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not. All I know is it is Saturday afternoon. I have reports to file, schedules to figure out and a newsletter to write and you guessed it all I want to do is take a long afternoon nap.

El Refugio was closed over the holidays to give all our workers their vacation time off. This allowed time for our family to travel around Quito with Kevin, Jay and Nicole. As many of you know, Kevin is a photography major at BIOLA University. While he was here, in under 3 weeks he shot over 1000 pictures. Here is a picture of what Kevin was taking pictures of...

The Basilica del Voto Nacional, is an imposing church, neo-Gothic in style, with gargoyles representing the national fauna. It is built on a high spot in the city center. It was started at the end of the 19th century and is yet to be finished. Typically, we take visitors to tour the Basilica simply because it is such a beautiful cathedral.

Contrasting the old with the new. Bridget was not able to visit for the holidays. On December 24th she delivered our first grandchild, a boy named Anchor Viviano. Over Valentine's Day weekend, Anchor's dad, Viviano Aguilar asked Bridget to marry him and we are pleased to announce she said yes! They are planning a fall wedding.

As you can imagine, we are really looking forward to meeting this little guy :)

Extreme Response

Hacienda El Refugio hosted a Christmas Party for Extreme Response for the first time this year. Extreme Response has been involved in celebrating Christmas with over 13,000 in Ecuador, South Africa and Philippines. Our party consisted of 450 of those 13,000, people who came from all the surrounding barrios near the training center. For over three hours, young and old alike were able to simply have fun. They played games, had a picture taken with Santa Claus and just enjoyed themselves. Each of the children were given a navidad, which consisted of a small toy and candy. All were fed lunch and after the event, our team was able to hand out food bags to 50 of the families in the most need. For our team the highlight was to shake hands and greet those from the barrio, who at most times we see only from a distance.