May-June 2026

 

Seeking the wisdom of God

 

My son, if you receive my words…,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight, if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom;
from His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.  
-From Proverbs 2: (portions of vs1-8)

 
We often pray for wisdom as we make decisions. These verses from King Solomon in Proverbs not only remind us of the importance of asking for God’s wisdom, but also where it is to be found: “For the LORD gives wisdom…” And yes, we want to incline our hearts towards seeking the treasure of His insight and understanding!
 
Pray with us as we seek His wisdom in some specific areas in the coming weeks: 

• In the children’s ministry…We are blessed with many children attending each Sunday! In the community of Rio Verde we have a separate children’s service, but in Palmira, Gloria teaches the class for the younger children during the adult service time. She often has her hands full with 20-25 active little ones! We have recently been thinking that we’d like to separate the children’s class in Palmira, freeing Gloria to be able to participate in the adult service. Will you pray with us that God would give us wisdom to know how to manage this logistically? And pray for the many Awa children that are hearing the Bible lessons, that God would bring understanding into their young hearts and that they would retain a relationship with the Lord as they grow older.
• In AwaLand living...Please also pray for Godly wisdom as we evaluate some security issues having to do with the illegal gold mining in our area. Our Awa friends have told us that strangers are hiking the trails and camping in different areas in the mountains around us. Many of these are refugees from violence in neighboring countries and are desperate individuals. We appreciate your prayers for God’s insight to navigate this present situation!

We were blessed to have our daughter Keilah and Jeremy fly in from Paraguay on their way to the USA May 6^th and spend a lovely 3 weeks here with us. We had not seen them for two years, so family time together was such a blessing! In between weekends in AwaLand, we were able to sneak in some restful vacation time.
 

We enjoyed a wonderful week together at the beach soaking up the sunshine!

 

 Grandparent time! The time with Ronin, Amaris, and little Waylon was pretty special.

 

Waylon loved singing with his Grandpa.

In His grip,

April 2026 I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2 (ESV) We do thank the Lord for His help during the Awa Conference! And thank you for joining us in prayer. As we asked you to pray in our last Bruce Brief, the conference days were indeed a time of bringing God’s light and truth into the Awa communities around us. Thursday April 2nd a good group of youth joined us for preparations, a youth program provided by the Impact team, and a tasty lunch together! Happy faces and laughter were a testimony that the day was enjoyed by all. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of a sunny Easter weekend were our regular Conference days, drawing in a good crowd! Andersons and the Impacts did a great job with the many children who came, while Kathy and I were blessed with a (mostly!) peaceful time to interact with the adults. About 30 adults, mostly believers, were present each day and listened and participated well in the sessions. Questions were answered quickly with good comprehension, and the review ‘exam’ on Sunday brought much laughter as the women won by one point over the men. Prayer was our topic this year as we studied the life of Daniel, Joshua, and then Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” We do trust that more hearts will be finding much needed help as they humbly look to God, the great Creator and our Provider.

Scan or click on the image above to see a short video!

Eliseo is an Awa grandpa who rarely misses a Sunday. He is hard of hearing, and though he sits near the audio speaker, we are never quite sure how much he can hear and understand! Eliseo is quite sound in body, but is experiencing some signs of mental confusion, saying he hears voices and believes that there are many seeking to kill him. Over and over, he has told us that he feels more secure at church, and that he is thinking about God. Eliseo came every day to the conference, greeting us each day with a big smile on his face. Pray that Eliseo will clearly understand the Gospel. Another big thanks to our sovereign Lord: The Anderson family welcomed their new little one, Ellen Elizabeth Anderson, born on March 20th, a sister for their three little boys. ❤️ And finally, we are looking forward to the return of our coworkers, the Shaubs, at the end of April, and a very special visit in May from our daughter Keilah and Jeremy and three very special grandkids! In His grip,

God’s light in the realm of darkness ~ March 2026

 

Logan (10 years old) and I (Kathy) were sitting at a table in the Palmira church doing a lesson he had missed one Sunday in the King of Glory course. The lesson was about Lucifer wanting to be king, wanting his own will instead of God’s will. God threw Lucifer out of Heaven and now as the accuser and deceiver Satan he “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8)
“Oh, I know!” Logan said without much surprise, “The devil and the demons walk around and really bother people.”

As we worked on Logan’s lesson we were interrupted by shouts, anguished howls, and loud banging noises from a house in Palmira just below us. We went outside to check on what was going on, but realized it was some drunken Awa fellows fighting and brawling at the nearby house where liquor is sold. Going back inside to finish our worksheet, I had a good chance to talk with Logan about how important it is to be God’s child, with His presence to protect us, and to rescue us from Satan’s darkness and deceit. So many of the 450 Awa in Palmira Community live in the realm of the enemy, deceived into a life of slavery to fear, drinking, and many forms of misery; we could hear the living illustration just outside our doorway. 

Lord, how we long to see this community redeemed for Your Name!! Pray for the Awa believers who live in this community to be able to stand firmly in the face of much temptation; pray for the children like Logan who are growing up with the howls of sin so commonplace around them.

In two weeks we will be holding the annual Easter conference right there in Palmira. We pray the Conference may be a time of sharing LIGHT and TRUTH in a dark place! The Andersons and German Impact youth will be helping us with the children during conference; Kathy and I will be teaching the adults. This year the Impacts will also help us with a special day for youth on Thursday April 2nd before the 3 day conference begins. We appreciate your prayers for these days as we gather in His name.

We thank God:

• Our coworkers the Shaubs were present in the USA for the birth of their fifth grandchild; they made it to their daughter’s house on the very day of the birth!
•  An excellent Youth Saturday at the camp in Lita March 14th; 18 youth attended and the lesson about “True Love” was well understood. Most of these youth are not believers, but as we watch their faces we see the hunger for something more than the empty lives they are living.  (click here or follow the QR code for a video) 
•  Rainy season seems to be slowly fading away! The roads have become more stable and travel easier. We are praying for good weather for the coming Conference!

In His grip,

two months into 2026!

 

January/February 2026

Baby Mabel

The highlight of January was the birth of our granddaughter Mabel Moon Burt, born in Missouri on January 14th. It was a blessing it was to be with our daughter Kimberly and Zach for the birth of their first child. We felt God’s presence with us, even in the timing of Mabel’s birth: we flew from Ecuador on Kimberly’s due date, and Mabel was born five days later!

Return to Rainy Season!

Arriving back in Ecuador early in February right at the height of rainy season, we saw what 36 inches of rain can do in one month! Landslides and road washouts met us as we returned to AwaLand. And yet again, God’s timing was perfect….we made it through this landslide about a minute after the road was opened while the cars in front of us had waited most of the night. Thank You, Lord!

Back in the swing of things….

Coming back to green mountains and warm temperatures was rather nice. :-) After cleaning some of the mold from our house (shut up for a month in the wettest season of the year!) we have happily jumped back into the Awa ministry. 

Here are a few of the ministry items we are focusing on in 2026:
•    Sunday teaching: We continue to teach through the book of Acts, encour-aging the group of believers to grow in maturity as we study the account of the early church. We are especially hoping to put an emphasis on the topic of prayer this year.
•    King of Glory course….Another group of 35 middle school children are go-ing through the course. Kathy and coworker Chrissy Shaub are teaching 4 different classes each Sunday as well as make-up lessons on Tuesdays and Fridays. We pray the children understand and take to heart what they are hearing.
•    Steven and Gwen Anderson continue to move forward in their Spanish study and in their plans to join us in the Awa ministry in the future. This week we helped them to reach an agreement on the land where they will build their future home here in AwaLand. Pray for their progress in Spanish learning, and also for the birth of their fourth child in April.
•    Gloria continues to joyfully help in teaching the younger children’s class in Palmira; she goes over the weekly lesson with us each Friday. Many have asked about her health…she continues to struggle with her arm (after the infection and hospitalization back in December). Her hands are also stiff and she struggles to write or to cook. Please pray for Gloria’s continued healing.
•    OT translation is on hold at the moment as our coworkers the Shaubs will be travelling in the coming weeks. Pray for guidance as we make plans to begin working with the translation team again soon. We’ll keep you post-ed.
 

In His grip,

 

December 2025

-‘Tis the Season….for the Light to shine! 

Wishing each of you a (belated) Merry Christmas! Here in AwaLand the month of December just seemed to fly by! Looking back at the calendar, we can see why….we were invited to do Christmas programs in six different locations, for a total of nine services. Invitations are pretty normal (as the people hope for Christmas cookie bags and gifts) :-) But this year two different Awa teachers invited us to their schoolrooms “to teach God’s Word, about baby Jesus being born”, which is always a blessing to hear. One of these, teacher Wilo, has a one-room schoolhouse two hours’ drive up into the mountains, at an altitude of over 10,000 feet. This little community is home to about 100 people who earn a living by dairy farming. We were blessed to be invited to share with these mountain folk!

We also were able to plan an overnight outing with the youth to the town of Cotacachi where we joined up with Pastor Walter and some of the youth from his church to hike around Cuicocha lake. Twelve kilometers at 11,000+ feet left us feeling a bit oxygen deprived, but also fun to have that special time with the young folks!
 

 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…..
For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given.” (Isaiah 9:2,6)

‘Jesus is the light of the world!’ was the message that we shared through songs and verses in each of the Christmas programs. We do pray that hearts that dwell in hopelessness would turn toward the Light! In the community of Middle Rio Verde, we have offered to come and teach the story of the Bible if even one person would like to hear. Pray with us that there will be at least a handful with a hunger to know God and to hear His story!

And thanks for your prayers for strength and energy! Over these last few weeks we have felt God’s renewing in the midst of the busyness. We also give thanks for Abraham and Gloria who happily helped us with most of the Christmas programs!

January brings new adventures as we fly to accompany our daughter Kimberly and Zach for the birth of their first child! We appreciate your prayers for the Shaubs as they hold down the fort for two weeks, and our Kichwa friend Angel who will also be covering for two Sundays during the time we are away.

Wishing each of you a blessed and joyful 
new year as God brings us into 2026!

In His grip,

November 2025

 November 2025 ~ Thankfulness

 
We returned from our quick trip to the USA on November 12th thankful that God helped all to go as scheduled. Thanks for your prayers!
 
Hearts of Gratitude
We missed getting this letter out by Thanksgiving but pray that each of you had a blessed time remembering to thank our Lord for His goodness!
 
Our hearts are also filled with gratitude:

Through many avenues, God has encouraged us to faithfully continue in the work of discipling the believers, reaching out to the lost, and working to establish a church here among the Awa. Recently this verse from a daily devotional jumped out at us: He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it! (1 Thess 5:24)
Our quick USA trip for the Liebenzell conference went well! The time with other missionaries was encouraging; the speaker reminded us that we are co-heirs with Christ and have a Heavenly Father who loves to hear us and provide for us! Spending a few days with our son Kenny and family was an added blessing; Grandma and Grandpa time is sure a joy!
Even on short notice, a good group of youth showed up for a Saturday together on November 22nd! We played a Bible review game, and were encouraged to hear the participation of many as they remembered the Bible accounts and what God was doing in each situation. We are beginning to study some lessons from Paul’s letter to Timothy and hope for continued good understanding!
This week we spent many hours with our coworkers the Shaubs, Ethnos 360 consultant Bruce Higham, and eight different Awa doing a check on the Awa translation of Joshua chapters 1-10. Our regular translation team (David, Oscar, and Guillermo) sat and listened as we read through the chapters with Deicy, Ana, Abraham, and Jeison. These four were new to the passages; their job was to listen to the read-through and explain what they heard. This was hard work for the Awa; they would find it easier to clear a field with a machete! But it was good to hear what they understood and helped Andy Shaub, as the main translator, know where more clarity is needed. Abraham was especially quick to share what he understood and helped the others feel more comfortable talking!

To leave you with a prayer request: Pray for us, said Paul to the Colossians, that God would open a door for His word, to declare the mystery of Christ...that I would speak with wisdom & clarity and make the best use of my time. We have had many invitations this year for doing Christmas programs, and we appreciate your prayers, just as Paul asked, for the wisdom needed to share that precious story of Jesus' birth in an understandable way!

In His grip,

October 2025

 

God’s grace evident in the mud under a tarp… We were with about a dozen Awa sitting just outside Arturo’s wooden house, under a black plastic roof, with the rain coming down and drizzling through our midst in the dusk. The yard was muddy and rather smelly, with a few chickens meandering through. We had both forgotten our jackets, so felt damp and cold. And the voices around us were angry and full of accusations, as an estranged couple voiced their irritation with each other. The young wife was carrying their 1 yr old son, and had stitches on her forehead where her husband had hit her while he was drunk. Her voice was angry and unhappy as she listed off his lack of help with food and finances, his drunkenness, and lack of concern for her and the children. He, in his turn, talked about her angry demands and complaints, her threats to do him harm by putting poison in his food, and her lack of cooking and caring for him in their home.   Other family members took turns giving counsel, sometimes adding to the general tone of irritation and frustration, and revealing more ugly words that had been said. Our hearts ached listening to this flow of revelation of such darkness. Looking around at the small group, I counted…among the dozen or so Awa sitting there were five believers as well as Kathy and I. “Oh Lord, please allow Your presence to be felt here!” became our prayer. And as the moments passed, we saw Him answer that prayer through the voices of His children.   Several times I was asked to speak and was able to share a little of God’s truth. “In the beginning God made the first couple, and they sinned. Then God came looking for them in the garden. As He talked with them, both Adam and Eve blamed another for their sin, when God wanted them to acknowledge it and be reconciled to Him. Here it is the same, everyone is blaming someone else when what is needed is for each of you to acknowledge your part in this division and to ask each other’s forgiveness.”   Several of the other believers shared good thoughts. “I think you need to chose to follow God, instead of going your own way,” said the brother of the young husband. “For the sake of your children, you need to forgive and get back together, and both of you follow God’s way,” said his cousin, herself a young mom. His mother reminded him, “Your father isn’t here, he is with God, but he didn’t teach you to be drinking and fighting like that! He wanted you to follow God’s path.”   After about two hours, the group broke up. As the young husband began to walk away, I put my arm around his shoulders and reminded him, “You know, God is calling to you!” “I know, I heard your words,” he replied.   We didn’t see any reconciliation that night, but were told the next day that the young man had returned home and the two were working things out. Yesterday we visited the wife, who confirmed that her husband had returned and acknowledged to her that he had done wrong, and that the two of them were talking again. Please pray for this young couple, Luis and Beatriz, to recognize their need for God and to chose to turn to Him. We are surrounded by so many hurting and needy Awa. This week another couple split up after he came home drunk and cut her arm with a machete. Lisandro’s wife committed suicide by hanging herself two weeks ago; his niece encouraged him to come to church this last Sunday (and he came!) How we pray these needy ones will turn to God in the midst of their pain! Our Awa friend Gloria recently told us, “God’s House of Prayer is right in the community and the Awa know we are there and will welcome them; I just keep inviting and praying they will come!”

Prayer requests: For Luis and Beatriz to entrust their lives to Jesus For the many other hurting couples around us For Lisandro, and especially his little sick baby who is now being raised by his grandma For the Awa believers to make a real difference in the lives of those around them For peace in Ecuador - we have had over 3 weeks of national strikes blocking the major highway between us and the capital city of Quito For continued progress as we work on translation of portions of the Old Testament into the Awa language. For our travel plans the end of this month as we fly to the USA for meetings at our Liebenzell USA headquarters in NJ (Oct 27 to Nov 12 – a quick trip!) For our coworkers as they hold down the fort in our absence Many thanks for your prayers! In His grip,