Six years ago, on a Tuesday actually, we arrived in Ecuador. Below are the photos we have used for our prayer cards over the last six years. We are so very thankful for God's provision that has allowed us to be here. Over and over we have witnessed His faithfulness to our family.
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| First there were 7... |
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| ...then 4... |
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| ...then three and a half because Danielle attended University in the states, but she came home summers to help out... |
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| ...and now, 2, which by the way we love! |
Weekly Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador March 9, 2007
As
we finish up our first week and half, we are so thankful to finally be here
after so long of a preparation.
Our flight went smooth and we spent the first night at the Hacienda
El Refugio or HER for short.
Two
teams were here when we landed.
One group, from Hume Lake is building a huge tree house out of steel
beams. When it is complete it will
really be quite phenomenal. The
second group was training basically in search and rescue techniques. The interesting thing about the second
group is there were some non believers and there was an opportunity to present
the gospel to each before they left.
This is a good example of why we are so captivated with the ministry at HER, because you
have a very non traditional way to reach people who may never hear about the
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
With
these two large groups the water system was challenged because this is the dry
season. Howard was up on the
mountain assessing the situation and knows this will be one of his priorities
to address. Howard met with the
workers and started the process of overseeing these men. He needed to be here, each man has been
basically doing as they saw necessary without an overall plan in mind. Pray for Howard, that the men will
follow his lead and as he works at communicating with them in Spanish.
We
all start our sessions with the Spanish tutor next Monday. We have all felt the need to understand
and speak the language because of the barrier we feel. Danielle went to youth group on Sunday
and they went to the Cinemark to do informal religious surveys. She was so impressed with the language
skills of the American kids here and has a real desire to do as well.
Jonathan
probably feels the most like he has come home. Unlimited mountains to hike and things to discover, we joked
he may never set foot off the property again.
As
I sit and write this I can look out our window and see cows on the mountain,
which looks like a 90 degree angle.
I have no idea how they don’t fall off! Last Friday, we all hiked up the mountain on the property to
see the progress on the tree house and we just kept saying, “Can you believe we
are finally here?”
One
final encouragement from us to you is to do one thing out of your comfort
zone. Bridget and I were talking
last summer and I told her at that time I had no idea what my comfort zone was
anymore. Well this last week our
family had to step “even further” out of our comfort zone. Howard drove alone for the first time
in Quito, without the aid of following anyone and having someone in the car
with him. I grocery shopped in a
store where everything is in Spanish.
Now granted it took me 15 minutes to figure out what cooking oil to buy,
the point is I came home with cooking oil.
We
are thankful for each and every one of you. We are fully aware we could not be doing the work here
without your love and encouragement.
As God is our Refuge, Mary for the Scholl
Family
