Mr. and Mrs. Jay Morgan Kimbler

Before I start recapping our summer here in Ecuador, some of you have been asking about the wedding and to see some pictures. On the day of the wedding I told the kids to not worry about taking any pictures with their cameras. The photographer said she would take plenty of pictures and then we could just relax and enjoy the day. She did an incredible job, however we arrived back here in Ecuador without a single picture. So I had to wait until the photographer released the CD to Nicole, and then wait for someone to carry them down to us, so I could share them with you. Enjoy!






All photographs by Natasha Burnett of Human Nature Photography

Summer Wrap Up

To be honest...I was absolutely floored when I checked our blog and realized it had been a full two months since I last posted. When I look back, as I wrote the blog for June, I had no idea how the craziness of summer would hit. From that point until now, El Refugio hosted 7 groups who were as varied in size as they were in ministry. The good news is just last week we were able to purchase a modem which increased our internet speed to about 236 k bps from 44. I have no idea what that means, only that in just making the few minor changes I posted today took me a fraction of the time it would have in the past.

So over the next few weeks, lets sit down and catch up.
As God is our Refuge (and surely has been the last eight weeks)
Mary for the Scholl family

DESEMPRE

Thought you might like to read a letter we received from a man named Oscar who heads up DESEMPRE, a group which frequently uses our property for corporations who desire team building. This particular group was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Ecuador. They were here for two days, and camped up on the mountain for the night. One of their activities was as a group figure out how to catch a live chicken and then as a group decide what to do with the chicken, eat it, make it a pet or simply let it go (which meant they did not have dinner that night).

Quito, 13th of June, 2008

This letter is to express a special thanks to all the team from Hacienda El Refugio who helped us during our event on June 5th and 6th.

Your help was very important for the success of the training. We wish to recognize thank everyone of the Hacienda facilitators and staff for being extremely helpful and collaborative with us. Thank you for being such a good example of Christian brothers. In a special way we want to thank the extra effort and time given by Lorena, Juan Carlos, Abby, Howard and Mathew.

Every one of clients was impressed by the organization of the training, and amazed by the beauty of the place. You really are doing a great job at keeping the place in its best shape.

Additionally, I want to let you know that during those days three people of the Sanduchitos Pura Vida Team received Jesus Christ as Savior, and 112 people were exposed to at least some Christian thoughts.

It was great to see our both teams working together as one team, and we look forward to continue to organize events that would glorify God and enhance our professionalism.

Best regards,

Oscar M. Aguirre

GERENTE INTERNACIONAL

DESEMPRE S.A.

Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

Have you ever uttered the words, “There is no way I am going to do such and such?” This is exactly how I know God has a sense of humor, because any time I have the audacity to say that phrase, He always finds a way to draw me to do exactly the “such and such”.

Last year, the suggestion was made that I should take over the kitchen here at HER, of which I promptly replied, “Are you kidding me, I can barely take care of my own kitchen!” And then the conviction and prompting of the Holy Spirit started to settle in.

The first of May, I took over the position of Guest House Manager for an interim period. With this position, I oversee the Kitchen and the cooks, the care and cleaning of Casa Grande and the dorms and finally, the coordinating of the interns here at El Refugio. Proving God does have a sense of humor and He can manage to get a job done, using even the most unlikely people.

For starters, thirty days in May we closed the work team kitchen and thanks to our hard working interns we completely emptied, inventoried, cleaned and painted the kitchen. Our goal was to open for our first group the last weekend in May for La Red, a ministry affiliated with Youth World. From that point on there has been no looking back. Since the first of June, we have hosted the Youth World team for lunch, a training day for the Quito Quest interns, and most recently our first work team of the summer. We have only just begun, by the end of summer, we will have welcomed five more work teams and fourteen Quito Quest Groups. Fun, no really, Fun.

Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

Many exciting things have been happening at El Refugio. We have known our Director Bob Spoolstra and his family will be returning to the states June of 2009. Recognizing the team is in transition, a leadership team has been put into place to navigate the next 14 months. As Director of Operations, Howard will be one of the members on the team. Pray for them as they articulate the vision for El Refugio. Our mission is clear:

A training and retreat center which facilitates a deeper relationship
with Jesus Christ, through nature and outdoor adventure

The team has spent the last several weeks expressing how we as individuals and corporately carry out this mission. Now, the challenge is to articulate what our vision will be for the next year, five years etc. and how we proceed from there.

For a little background, the team here at El Refugio either serves on the Operations or the Programming side. In an effort to integrate these two areas, some training has and will continue to take place. Programming started the training with the whole team this week, illustrating how they train the facilitators who serve with us. Juan Carlos Cevallos, our new Program Director has developed a program for young Ecuadorians to come and serve as facilitators at El Refugio for our many retreats and programs. For those of us on the Operations side this was a very beneficial time.

Juan Carlos and Paul Reichert, who is now our Program Developer, explained how they teach the facilitators how to use Experiential Education with the different groups. This starts with Experience, then reflection, generalization and finally application. Basically it is: What – So What – Now What. The idea is the experience should change you. If you step out into the front of a bus and it almost hits you and the next day you do the same, you have not learned anything. However, if the next day you look both ways, the experience has left you a better and wiser person. Which is exactly what our high and low rope elements are designed to achieve when a person participates in each activity, teach the individual something about themselves and hopefully they will grow.

Biblically, this is illustrated how Christ spent time with the disciples. If you will peruse through any of the gospels, and notice when Jesus sat the disciples down and “debriefed” with them after an encounter. He did this, so that by the time He ascended into heaven, each disciple was prepared for their individual ministries, to the extent each one died professing their belief in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I challenge you to look through the scriptures and see examples of this concept, What – So What – Now What. As always, we understand and appreciate we could not be serving here without the love and support of so many of you.

As God is our Refuge, Mary, for the Scholl family