Hi, folks!!! Thanks to the many of you that have commented on our last update and assured us of your prayers for everything from the weather to Milton and his horse to our Believers’ Conference last week. We just wanted to take a minute to update you on how God has answered some of your prayers:
· We just finished up our annual Awa Believers’ Conference on Sunday. Seventy-four Awa showed up, perhaps half of them believers and the other half their relatives and children. Meregildo blessed us with his generous heart in inviting his many unsaved brothers and even his mom and step-dad! We have tried to emphasize for years that the Conference teaching is mainly geared for believers, but Meregildo’s burning desire continues to be for his family to listen to God’s word…so there they were. Our coworker Doug Williams was able to clearly share the Gospel on several occasions, and it seemed that the folks listened. Now is their time to accept or reject….you can pray specifically for Pablo and Francisco (2 of Meregildo’s brothers) and his mom and stepdad, Rosa and Sebastian.
· God has been working in Milton’s heart during his recent trials. Slowly, Milton is beginning to feel better from the weeks of sickness. (The dr. suspected amebic liver disease and prescribed a strong medicine and Milton does seem to be slowly recovering.) Kevin had asked Milton to teach the story of Moses and the Israelites coming out of Egypt during Conference. Milton carefully prepared and taught three different sessions. I never knew someone could preach on each plague for 10 minutes or more…but that’s what he did! God really enabled Milton, and he did an excellent job teaching. Everyone seemed to listen carefully, and several other Awa thanked him afterwards for helping to teach. The last afternoon, Milton also taught the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace to everyone (it had been the key story of the kids’ class). Many of the folks had never heard the story, and were anxious to hear how God worked that situation out. We realized that by the end of Conference, Milton had taught more hours than either Kevin or Doug. Wow! We truly see how God is beginning to raise up leaders among the Awa!
· Doug and Dorcas Williams joined us from Virginia for the Conference, and were a great help, as well as the Shaub family and our Lita coworkers, the Millan and Rosales families. Yesterday we ran into trouble trying to get the Williams back to the Quito airport to fly home….there was a regional strike among the Quichua Indians (over a local health program), and the roads were blocked. Kevin was able to follow some back roads to get them partway, and then turned them over to one of the Liebenzell pastors to finish the journey, and they did make it safely to Quito. The road-blocking strike was a short one, and roads were clearing up by the time Kevin headed home. We again thank the Lord for opening roads before us!
· The weather seems to have taken a turn for the better! We had prayed for weeks for drier weather for Conference…and we had excellent weather with only light rain at night! Thank the Lord! We don’t know if this is just a few dry days or if we are truly heading into dry season…but we are amazed to see how God controls even those black clouds for His glory.
Our next project is receiving Kenny and a work group from our church on March 31st. We will be working with the group to re-build the front fence on the Lita Awa Center property during the following week. We are now busy making preparations for the group. Yesterday our first delivery of materials (1,500 cement blocks) was delayed by the road strike, as roads between Ibarra and Lita were also closed due to the same demonstrations. We are told the strike is now over, but we would appreciate your prayers that the roads stay open for all the travel needed over the next 10 days.
Only because He is able,
Kevin and Kathy
Kevin & Kathy Bruce
Liebenzell Mission
Casilla 10-01-692
Ibarra, Imbabura
ECUADOR
+593 9 478-7811
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