Dear Friends,
We apologize for not being faithful in our communications this fall! In many ways it’s been a stretching time for us, and we’ve really needed the Lord’s strength to get done all that needed to get done. And He’s certainly been teaching us patience and endurance in these times! At the same time, we’ve been encouraged to see all that the Lord has done over the last months. Here’s just a quick (or not so quick!) summing-up of what’s been going on here with us here in Ecuador these days:
· We bought a house (really half of a duplex) in Ibarra! This is the town where we do all our supply-buying, dentist and doctor visits, and Mission business meetings. Kevin’s parents graciously took out the loan for us, since we, being foreigners, couldn’t do it here. This house will be ours, but will also be used by our co-workers, visitors, and perhaps some Liebenzell guests and groups as well. It is a newly built house in a gated community, right across the street from another identical house bought by Rainer and Kathy Kroger, German Liebenzell co-workers. The construction is in the final stages—the windows, floors, kitchen, and bathrooms are mostly finished, while we are still waiting on the doors, closets, and such odds and ends as water and electric hook-ups. We MIGHT be moving over in January….well, Lord willing!
· The kids are getting close to half-way in their homeschool year—Kenny, a high school junior, Keilah in 8th grade, and Kimberly in 4th. It’s always a challenge to keep up with our crazy schedule and travels, but the kids are actually doing quite well. (Usually it’s Mom who lags behind!)
· By request of the Awa, we’ve started an adult literacy program—with seven students to date. Classes are every other weekend—all day Saturday and Sunday after church is over, with Alfonso Rosales coming from Lita to help with the teaching. We started the classes with some fear and trepidation (so many things can go wrong in these close relationships!) but we’ve been amazed at the way God has worked it all out. It’s so encouraging to see the ‘lights turning on’! I’m not sure it was ever Kevin’s dream to be a school teacher, but he’s taken to teaching basic addition and subtraction and beginning multiplication with great ease! The other day Kevin was helping Meregildo sound out his syllables—fa, sa, ca, va—when all of a sudden Meregildo saw a word by putting two syllables together—his first word. Wow! Both Kevin and Meregildo were beaming! Since most of our students are believers (five out of the seven), the time has turned out to be a special time of discipleship as well. Many of the students come with their children and animals (we’ve had horses, donkeys, dogs and puppies, several chickies, one pet squirrel, and a duck all attend our classes) it can be quite chaotic at times! And cooking lunch for 20,or 30, or whoever shows up, is quite a chore! But the time with the Awa has really been precious.
· Besides teaching each Sunday here at the Outpost, we’ve been making the trek up to Paulino’s community of Palmira to teach one Sunday each month. At times there have been close to 30 people crowded into his small sitting room to listen to the teaching! We’ve been praying about separating the teaching into 2 times—one for Paulino’s and Guillermo’s families as believers, and then an evangelistic time for those who are just beginning to listen. Kevin had a good conversation with the schoolteacher, Leandro, last week, and Leandro invited him to teach at the school house, which might be a good opportunity.
· Our interim coworkers, the Smiths, have returned to their job in Colombia, and our new co-workers Andy and Chrissy Shaub (Kathy’s sister) have joined us here at the Outpost. We’ve been helping them get settled, as they learn all those survival skills needed for living up here—especially getting supplies up. Andy’s not sure he’s cut out to be a cowboy, but after lugging up a few heavy backpacks through all the mud, I think the horse is looking better and better every day! (By the way, the horse is really sick this week, we are praying for God’s healing. The Awa thought it was a snake-bite, but we are skeptical as it seems to be something in his belly. Kevin is down giving him a shot right now. We’d be so sad to lose him!)
· We have two new ‘kids’ in our family—the goat kind, that is! Named after our good missionary friends Guy and Jerry, the little twins have spiced up our lives with their crazy antics. We’ve been bottle-feeding them, and milking their mother, GiGi. Goat milk, anyone? It’s really quite delicious! Our chickens are happy in their new and improved chicken house, and we are glad to have found a way to reduce the daily Easter egg hunts by locking them in until after lunch every day. That way we get the eggs and not the local black snakes!
And that’s our news! This week also finds us preparing for a community-wide Christmas program to be held on December 14th here in Rio Verde. We’ll be working alongside the Awa believers to put on the program, including singing, teaching, games, and handing out the traditional Ecuadorian cookie bags. Please pray for the believers to have courage to stand before the large crowd (three or four hundred people) and openly identify themselves as Christians. It also gives us a great opportunity to again remind the community why we are here—because of God’s gift of His Son, Jesus.
Because of His gift to us,
Kevin and Kathy and kids
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