June News

I’ve been reading through the book of Job recently. In the last few chapters, as God answers Job with a pile of questions of His own, I’m reminded of His omniscience and of His sovereignty. He sees all, He knows, He understands, and what He allows has a purpose….even when we don’t understand. On Sunday May 26th we said our earthly good-byes to Mercedes Galarza, wife of Liebenzell Ecuador president Diego Galarza, as she lost her earthly battle with cancer and made her transition to God’s presence. Mercedes left behind an example of faithful service to the Lord, and her funeral was packed with folks from many different parts of Ecuador who came as a testimony of the many whose hearts have been touched by Diego and Mercedes’ ministry. During the funeral, Diego read a letter to Mercedes, saying that he wants to continue to serve the Lord but wonders how he will do it without her faithful presence at his side. I know he would appreciate your prayers as he seeks to find a way to continue to serve the Lord as a pastor at the church in Atuntaqui as well as fulfill the duties that come with being the head of our Mission here in this country.

The last month has been full---as always, we are thankful for your prayers for God’s strengthening to live out what He puts before us! After several hiking trips to Palm Community, we are now the owners of a small house there, which we bought from Arturo. This little house sits right below Paulino’s house, and is situated right on the church lot. At some point it will need to be moved, to accommodate the church building, but for the moment it gives us an instant place to stay! We look forward to spending more time with the people there after our time of home assignment. Many are interested in hearing the Bible teaching.

Doug and Dorcas Williams joined us for a quick week of OT Scripture translation checking—a good crew of young Awa folk came for the work. These are just preliminary checks, but it’s so exciting to get the Awa words pulled together in such a way that the meaning flows! While the Williams were here, we also had a special youth Sunday. A hearty lunch is a good drawing card, but we were still happily surprised to see that along with the regular local folk, about 20 young people came from several different nearby communities. It was a good opportunity to share with them the importance of making the choice to follow God, instead of falling into the world’s traps of drinking, fighting, and immorality.

Keilah graduated from NTBI in Wisconsin on May 17th. Kimberly went along with her Aunt Chrissy and her grandma to be there, and Kenny drove up from VA for the special day. It was pretty special to have our three kids together in one place! Now Keilah and Kimberly are both beginning their summer at Whispering Winds Bible Camp in Missouri (see links below to the girls' camp letters), while Kenny is transitioning into his new job working full-time for Liberty University. We look forward to this fall when we will be reunited with the girls, and plan to make a bee-line to see Kenny as soon as possible!

Plans for our time in the USA are finally pulling together. We have our tickets for the end of July, and plan to spend several weeks in August with the Bruce clan. Early September we hope to hit the road to see Kenny in VA, then on to Kathy’s family in Oklahoma and Missouri. By mid-October we’d like to be heading back to New England, where, Lord willing, we’ll spend the winter. At the moment we plan to return to Ecuador the end of March 2015, but we’ll make a final decision as we see how things go down here without us. We hope to see many of you, so please drop us a line if you’d like us to stop in to visit!

Thanks again for joining us in the work of planting a church here among the Awa!

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

 

Links:

<Printable Version>
<Keilah's Letter>
<Kimberly's Letter>

PS: if anyone would like to directly support the girls at camp, you can send donations to:
(Write a check to the camp and include a note to whom you wish to support)
Whispering Winds Bible Camp, PO Box 9, St. James, MO 65559-0009 Phone: 1.800.748.7410