Friendships

One of the things I love about what we do, is all the amazing people we meet.  Occasionally, deeper friendships are formed which is the case with the McCarts.  Because Geneva First Baptist comes every year we have developed a close friendship with Robin and Kim.  Each year we look forward to them coming and catching up on "life".  We are blessed by them in so many ways,  but mainly it is their generosity of spirit. 

"So many people come into our lives and then leave the way they came. But there are those precious few who touch our hearts so deeply we will never be the same."
— Mary Engelbreit

Howard, Mary, Kim and Robin

Mary, Kim and Shelley, who has also become a good friend over the years

Mary, Angelica and Rebecca
Co-worker and great friend

Danielle, Anna (here for one year) and Ally one of the counselors from Geneva.
These girls formed a bond quickly while Geneva was here.

Jonathan also made some great friends from the Geneva kids.   

Father's Day with Geneva First Baptist

 I have shared with you in the past about First Baptist Church from Geneva Ill., they come and serve every year, bringing with them their high school Juniors and Seniors. The schedule for them this year worked out that we had a work day on Father's Day (I know, I know it was a terrible example of "not" observing the Sabbath, lesson learned we won't do that again :)  Anyway, Danielle decided we needed to figure out a way to honor the father's that were working that day, so she made them "ties" and they were required to wear them all day.  The fun thing was, they actually did wear the ties and seemed to enjoy the extra attention they got as a result.  

Danielle presenting the "ties" to each of the Dads before the work day began

Dad's proudly posing for a picture with their ties

Howard setting a good example by keeping his tie on

Enrique and Holgar following "suit"

Robin McCart and Howard at our final banquet, Robin didn't have a tie so Howard wore his to be "twins" with Robin

The day wasn't all work and no play :)

Jonathan Beier Scholl

Many of you have been asking what is the plan with Jonathan.  Toward the end of our visit last fall, Howard's sister Trudy and her husband Alan offered for Jonathan to live with them for his Senior year and attend Yosemite High School.  They did not realize we had been praying about different possible options for Jonathan.  Since September 11, 2001 Jonathan has desired to go into the military and with the influence of David Jackson had decided he wanted to go into the Coast Guard.  We came to the realization, Jonathan needed a year to transition from living and home schooling in Ecuador to joining the Coast Guard.  As we have witnessed with our older kids, when God is part of the process then doors seem to open, with each obstacle that would come our way, God would provide a solution that at times was "out of the box".  Trudy has been a huge advocate for Jonathan, as well as one of the counselors at the school.  So, today Jonathan started his first day of school for his final year of high school.  Howard and I are excited for him and feel confident this is all part of God's plan for our boy.  Please pray for Jonathan during this time of transition and for the coming school year.   

Senior portrait 

Class of 2012

Jonathan on one of our jungle trips when we first arrived in Ecuador

This summer Jonathan worked with the various work teams that came to El Refugio.

La historia de Estaban (Stephen's story)

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, Who makes things grow.  The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.  For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."                      1 Corinthians 3:6-9

I would like to introduce you to a young man named Estaban Santos.  His family is from Calacali and he is one of our active facilitators.  In fact, so are his two brothers Santi and Wilmar.  We call them the "Santos Brothers" and I can't say enough about their contribution to our ministry at El Refugio.

Estaban's story started years ago when he was 8 or 9 years old and he attended one of the VBS held here on property by one of the work teams from the states.  This was the beginning for him, the seed was planted, where he first heard "La Historia de Jesucristo" or the story of Jesus Christ. 

Years went by and Estaban became a facilitator and then attended our first session of "Aire Libre" (far right).  Over time the saving message about what Christ did for him went deeper and deeper into his heart until it all made sense and he decided to accept Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

Estaban decided to make his testimony public and follow the Lord in baptism.  His story comes full circle, because he was baptized in the jungle with one of our work teams from the States.  Rick Borman (right) and Juan Carlos Cevellos (left) were the ones to baptize Estaban because Rick was there in the beginning and Juan Carlos is the person who, over the years communicated and clarified the gospel to Estaban.

"having been buried with him in baptism..."  Colossians 2:12a

"...and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."  Colossians 2:12b

This is the testimony of one life touched by the ministry of El Refugio.  Last year alone, our ministry  hosted over 2000 people who passed through our ministry gates.  They came on work teams from the states, attended retreats held by churches or participated in one of our events hosted by the programming  team.  They are students, leaders, youth pastors, people of all ages,  and in each of their lives, it is our call to be obedient to the task God has called us to do, and leave the results to God. 

"...but only God..." 1 Corinthians 3:7