Navidads! Navidads!! Navidads!!!

Very serious little Ecuadorianita

There is an Ecuadorian tradition where children are given a "navidad" (small toy or candy) before or on Christmas.  For the past three years, we have given navidads out with the Cline family on Christmas day.  As Christmas approached this year we had two problems, first the Cline family had moved back to the states and second we were out of navidads. Along with this, Howard and I also felt God leading us to distribute food bags to the families who were in need.  

We witnessed first hand God provide for both these needs in a huge way.  First, Extreme Response donated 60 food bags left over from their Christmas parties.  Then, Danielle was part of a group who won a contest and those college students decided to donate the money for toys "navidads" for the children in our local barrio, Ryocucho.  She arrived home for Christmas with 2 duffel bags full of toys.  Since we had witnessed God showing up in a big way, Jonathan and Danielle decided to go one step further with the navidads and they wrapped over a 100 gifts.  On Christmas Eve with Howard driving the camp truck, Danielle, Jonathan, Enrique and I got the privilege to play "Papa Noel". 

Duffel bag full of "navidads"

Jonathan and Danielle with all the wrapped gifts

"Papa Noel"

Danielle and our favorite local couple

Enrique and his Grandma (he said she is between 90-100 years old)

Jonny-boy

The navidads had ribbons to tell if it was for a girl or a boy

Children who were waiting for us along the road

Hacienda El Refugio Annual Christmas Party

Juan Carlos, Courtney and Facilitators 2010

On December 18th, we hosted our annual Christmas party. There were over 60 in attendance between the workers, their families and the facilitators who help during the year with our Ecuadorian groups.  The day started with a round of paint ball and "Ecua- volleyball".  We then enjoyed a great meal of fritada an Ecuadorian meal which is fried pork, llapingachos (potato pancakes), and mote (won't even try and explain :)  We set up an ice cream sundae bar for dessert and everyone loved it, especially picking their own flavors of toppings etc.  In an effort to combine both sides of our ministry, operations and programming, this was a great time for everyone to connect and celebrate the past year of ministry.  Thought you would enjoy looking at some of the pictures from the day.

Ecadorian Facilitators

   

Three Generations:  Mecedes, Lorena and Pedro

   

Holgar, our head worker.  Angelica, head cook and family

   

Andres our guard and family

    

Anita our new cook and family

   

Ice Cream Bar - Huge Success!!!

   

Paul Reichert our new Director enjoying "fritada"

   

Marli - besitos (kisses)

   

Vladimir and Kenard

  

"Ecua-Volleyball"

 

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.

Feliz Navidad y Feliz Ano Nuevo

We hosted a Christmas party celebration for the workers here at El Refugio. One thing we learned was that not many Ecuadorians have their pictures taken. Danielle took each of the workers and their families pictures when they arrived, and then while they were eating she printed copies of the pictures and put them in frames; the workers were thrilled.
As with many of you our workers have seen both blessing and tragedy this past year. From left to right of the panorama: Don Victor is our eldest worker at 78 and is really such a steady presence. Next is Enrique and his wife Alicia with two of their nieces. Alicia is waiting for a kidney transplant and travels in each week for kidney dialysis. The money has been donated for the transplant procedure, and they now are waiting for a kidney donor. The next family picture is Holgar, our head worker, and his wife Angelica, our head cook, with their twin boys Vladimir and Kenard. They are expecting a baby girl around the first week of February. Holgar and Angelica both have been very instrumental in working with Howard and I on our Spanish. Pedro is next in the picture lineup. This last year saw tragedy for him as one of his granddaughters died of cancer at the age of 5. We bought a tree as a memorial to her and planted it on the property; we see him there each day paying his respects. Finally, there is Andres and Marlena with their new baby girl Katerine, who was born mid November, along with Marlena's mom Panchita, who is visiting from Peru. This baby girl will be exposed to four languages through her family: Spanish, Kofan, Quinchua and English. I have written frequently about this dear family; you remember Andres is our guard and Marlena is a cook with Angelica.
All the men work with Howard on the operations side of El Refugio and I work with Angelica and Marlena. My proudest moment this last year was seeing both the women receive contracts that allowed for them to be blessed with three months off, with pay, after their babies are born.
These are the people Howard and I work with on a day to day basis. We thought you would enjoy seeing pictures of them and their families and learn a little bit about their lives.
We pray you had a blessed Christmas and our prayers are for a New Year filled with hope.

Happy Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and we want you to know how much we are thinking of you as you celebrate with your family and friends. This is probably one of the harder holidays for us to be so far away. Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays, because each year we are reminded to take time and remember each of the things we are thankful for.

Last week at our team meeting we had a time of proclaiming God’s faithfulness in each of our individual lives and corporately as well. Many people know the biblical account of Moses and the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea and how God parted the waters. What may not be as well known is God parted the waters a second time when they crossed the River Jordan. You can read up on this in Joshua chapters 3 and 4. One act of significance is they were encouraged to pick up a stone of remembrance from the lake bed, so they and their children would remember exactly what God had done for them. So I started thinking about how good it would be to pick up a stone of remembrance for our family to commemorate the year God has just brought our family through.

Just a short year ago, we had arrived back in Lancaster from training with ITEAMS. To be honest we were a little discouraged, we truly felt God’s call on our lives and yet we were waiting for our full support to come in, so we could leave for Ecuador. Now, looking back I can see God’s faithfulness over and over again. From finding a rental for only three months to a job for Howard that also only lasted three months. Just enough time for us to raise the additional support we needed and fly out on the 26^th of February. We arrived in Calacali at a far better time than we could have arranged. There was a team at the camp however the “busy season” had not yet come so we had time to get settled into our home. We saw God’s faithfulness, as He provided for our home to be furnished, completely. Two families were heading home from the field and we were the lucky beneficiaries. On and on I could tell you of how we saw God’s amazing faithfulness to our family.

We also witnessed God’s faithfulness as He put together our support team. We are so thankful for each of you who financially support our family each month. You may or may not realize that each month we receive a statement from ITEAMS which itemizes contributions for that month. Every month without fail, God uses that list with your individual names to encourage and bolster our confidence in the ministry we are a part of here at El Refugio. We have come to think of you, our supporters, as “our great cloud of witnesses”.

On this Thanksgiving Day, we proclaim God’s faithfulness and continue to be thankful for each of you and pray God’s blessing to return to you in abundance.

As God is our Refuge, Mary for the Scholl family