Please pray

Saludos de Ecuador! /Greetings from Ecuador/

We would like you to hold up in prayer our neighbors. In our Bruce Brief in November we mentioned that Nestor and his wife had finally had their first baby after many years of miscarriages. The baby now just over a month old is very sick and in the hospital with pneumonia, and the the prognosis is not good. Please pray that they would be able to save the baby's life, and for patience of the parents as they wait at the hospital.

As a side note, another couple from this area also have their baby in the same hospital, in fact they are sharing the same room. Their baby is doing much better and they expect to be release soon. Because of the intense rains right now, many baby's get sick because of being wet when they are carried on their mom's back from place to place.

Thanks so much for your prayers! May you enjoy the blessing of knowing EMANUEL this Christmas season!

In His grip,

Kevin & Kathy

Christmas letter

Click to print or view bigger

Fun on the road

Andy had some fun yesterday on the road (or not so fun). The slippery mud slid him right off the edge. Praise the Lord no one was hurt and after a couple hours work with some help from the neighbors the got the truck out. Thanks for your prayers!

Eyes to see

A slippery visiter

It’s been a full four months since our return in July! The days and weeks have flown past, as we have spent much time on the road between our mountain home and the cities of Ibarra and Quito. We have certainly had our share of adventures since we got back, starting with the girls’ flashflood escape at the river in July; then strikes and political unrest and propane shortages; vehicle breakdowns; some interesting 4-wheeling on our muddy road….and, just in case we have a monotonous day, there’s often a big, hairy spider or a snake that’ll show up just to keep us from getting bored. :-) But, while life can keep us jumping (literally!), that’s not really why we are here.

Keilah with her new puppy

And the paperwork…always a challenge! Looking back over our calendars, we counted 10 multi day trips to the city in order to finally have our permanent visas in hand. Based on having an Ecuadorian-born daughter, our new visas won’t have to be renewed, and have only a few restrictions (like not leaving the country for more than three months each of the first 2 years). This coming week we hope to get our national i.d. cards, the last step, and one more trip to Quito in this lengthy process. We thank the Lord for His help and protection in all of this!

And yet, paperwork isn’t why we are here, either.

Or maybe it is...

It’s the people, isn’t it? God’s heart is in drawing out a people to bear His name, and that must include the clerk and the lawyer in the paperwork offices, and the mechanic at the shop, as well as the many Awa around us. Since we’ve returned, we’ve learned that several of our Ecuadorian friends died while we were in the USA, including Keilah’s dedicated orthodontist, Dra. Correa, who died unexpectedly from cancer, and a fellow who Kevin enjoyed chatting with who ran a radio/electronics store.  We are reminded that this is why we are here…it’s the people that matter to our Heavenly Father.

Kimberly and her cousin
helping with the kids during
the literacy class

There’s Simon, an Awa fellow who has recently come several Sundays to hear the Bible teaching after a many-year absence, even bringing his wife and kids. And the young mothers who come to the Monday literacy classes, bringing a whole slew of not-always-cooperative toddlers along with them. There’s the kids in the community of Palmira that we’ll soon be teaching English to. And our neighbor, Nestor, whose wife just had a baby boy after years of one miscarriage after another. 

We desire to not only teach the Word on Sundays, but to see each face that God brings into our path as one that God loves. Something that’s easily forgotten when we get busy!

In the words of the singer, Brandon Heath, our prayer too is: Give me Your eyes...

“Give me Your eyes for just one second

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken hearted

Ones that are far beyond my reach.

 Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten

Give me Your eyes so I can see”

Thank you for your prayers and support!

In His grip,

Kevin & Kathy Bruce

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

Bruce Brief - Ecuador Adventures

Ecuador Adventures

The character Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings is quoted to say “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Yesterday I jumped on a bus to go to Quito just to get a special copy of Kimberly's Ecuadorian birth certificate from the main Civil Registration office. As the bus headed out of the city toward Quito the news on the bus tv was showing some demonstrations going on in Guayaquil, and what looked to me like Quito. Because I couldn't hear well, I asked the bus helper if he thought there would be any serious problems in Quito, and he assured me not to worry. ;-)

Well the rest you can read in the news. Yesterday turned out to be quite the day here in Ecuador. As we neared the city the road to the northern bus terminal was blocked, so the driver said he was going to try to go to the southern terminal (an hour detour) which worked out fine for me, I thot, as that was closer to the Registration office. Well, he dropped me off two blocks from the office, which to my dismay was closed because of the police strike. On the ride there I had learned that the road between Quito and Ibarra was also closed in places so I didn't have much hope of getting back to Ibarra that night. I flagged a taxi to take me to an area in the city where there are several mission guest houses. There I was able to hole up, and watch in horror as the news unfolded. The president being held hostage, then later as the Army coming in to rescue him, along with the shooting, was all carried live on TV. Tonight, as I traced the route the taxi took in getting me from south Quito to north Quito, I realized that we had unknowingly gone right by the place where the President was being held hostage!

Today as the Army and Police went back to work, things calmed down and I was thankfully able to return to Ibarra. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we are off to our home on the mountain top again which is really where I prefer being when such uprisings happen!

Because I wasn't able to do any of the paperwork that I had hoped during my trip to Quito, that is still on my to-do list for next week. I just hope that the next time I go out my door will not be as dangerous as yesterday, and I'm really glad that I have a God who directs my steps in spite of my plans! Prov 6:19

Thanks for your prayers,
Kevin Bruce

A taste of Ecuador - Recipe for Shrimp Ceviche

Shrimp Ceviche

Ceviche is a popular dish here in Ecuador. In our opinion it’s the best when made with shrimp, but some folks make it with clams or palm heart. Here it’s usually served as an appetizer, like a soup-y salad, before your main meal. Popcorn is often served alongside the ceviche.

1 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 cup of water the shrimp is cooked in (see instructions)

¾ cup lemon or lime juice

1 cup orange juice

¼ cup ketchup

1 cup tomato juice

1 tsp mustard

1 medium white onion, sliced thinly

1 can diced tomatoes (petite diced) with the juice

Fresh chopped cilantro (5-10 sprigs of cilantro…depending on how much you like the taste!)

2 Tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Preparation:

First soak the thinly sliced onion in boiling hot water, with a spoon of salt. Let the onion soak for about five minutes, and then pour off the hot water.  Cook the shrimp in a pot of boiling water with salt for 3-5 minutes, just until they are pink and cooked. Drain, reserving one cup of the water to add to the ceviche.

Combine the water from the shrimp with the lemon juice, orange juice, ketchup, tomato juice, mustard,  tomatoes with juice, and oil. Add the drained onion and mix well. Last add the shrimp and chopped cilantro. Season to taste…you may like a little more salt, or a little more orange or lemon juice. The ceviche sauce should be tangy and delicious!

The ceviche is best if refrigerated until cold. Serve as an appetizer, with popcorn. 

Bruce Brief - August 2010

Greetings from Rio Verde!
We are in the midst of a beautiful dry season here and have been enjoying dryer trails and a reliable road for now. Of course, when the hard rains come again that could all change.  :-) We’ve spent a few hours here and there in our garden out back pulling weeds and preparing the soil as it was completely over grown with weeds when we got here. It feels like we’ve been doing the same as we take care of all the little things in life that we need to as we gear up for ministry. Now that we have electricity, some new outlets need to be put in, as well as I want to build a desk (think rustic) in our room downstairs to use as an office. Even more importantly this week we will be sitting down as a team and planning the next year of ministry. We covet your prayers for direction and unity. Please pray for God to do a mighty work here in the RV valley.
Paperwork:
 In the process of studying out our options for a permanent/resident visa, we discovered there is a permanent religious visa available. We are the first from our mission to try and apply for this type of visa. We are currently gathering and organizing all the required paperwork. Please pray for a favorable outcome as we turn in our application, Lord willing, next week.

Also I need to renew my Ecuadorian driver's license this month. Here in Ecuador you have to re-take the written test every time you renew now, and they use very complicated language in the questions. Pray that I’ll be able to study adequately and pass the test!
Ministry:
I was able to hike up to the community 3 hours' south of us a few weeks ago and it was so good to see everyone. Paulino again expressed the community’s interest in regular Bible teaching up there. Pray for us to be able to come up with a good plan for reaching this community. The grade school there also invited me to teach a simple English course to the kids each Friday. Even though teaching English would not be high on my list of priorities, the consistent contact with the people of that community would be, so perhaps this is an open door.

Here in RV it has been a blessing to us to worship with the believers each Sunday. This last Sunday we had some very good discussions after the service about applying Biblical truth to cultural issues. One question was how we as believers should respond when someone goes to a spiritist to get a curse put on us. Another question had to do with the balance between using herbs and plants for curing and the spiritual ceremony that often accompanies the medicinal herbs. Another area was dealing with social injustices from nonbelievers. The Holy Spirit is at work redeeming their culture for God’s glory!

One more incident that occurred these last few weeks was a conversation with a drunk Awa young man, Armando, on the trail.  We had helped this fellow years ago, when as a young teenager he was accidentally run over by a bulldozer (he was drunk then too, and fell off the bulldozer, and was run over by the tracks.)  Anyway we had warned him many times during his recovery of the danger of that life-style and that he really needed to repent and trust in Christ. When we met on the trail the other day he begged my forgiveness for being drunk, and kept saying that he knew it wasn’t good, and that he should follow God. The thing that struck me is that even though we sometimes wonder if we are communicating anything to them or leaving any impression on their life, deep down they know why we are here, as we stand as salt and light among them. Pray for repentance and faith in Armando's heart, as well as the hearts of the other Awa around us!
In His grip!
Kevin & Kathy

Shaken by His mercy in our lives

Many thanks to all of you who were praying for us on Sunday, July 11th! It was our first full day back at our mountain home, and our friends had a big party in honor of our return. They butchered one of the biggest pigs I have ever seen up here, and another small one just to make sure there was enough meat to go around! People began trickling in, until we were almost 100. While a few of the ladies worked hard cooking large pots of meat, plantains, yucca, and rice, the rest of the people gathered on our porch for a Sunday worship service. I was blessed to hear Sandra and Gilberto sing a new translation of a Spanish praise song that has always been a favorite of mine. Both Paulino and Milton shared and urged their many unsaved family members who had come for the big pig feed to listen to the Word of God. Then Doug shared a gospel message from the Word. It was a real blessing to be among our friends again.

Lunch went well, and everyone had plenty, but the enemy was not without his attacks on the day. One of the young boys was bitten by Brutus, the Outpost watch dog. There were lots of versions as to what happened and what provoked the dog (supposedly the boy had thrown the ball at the dog), but it did dampen the joy of the day. The Williams took the boy to the doctor and he will be fine.


Then we were able to pass out the gifts we had brought up--many thanks to all who donated hats and handkerchiefs! I also used that opportunity to tell them that the reason we came back and left our friends and family was because God has given us an even greater gift than we could ever give them. And that's why we are here!

Our kids had been asking for a chance to go to swim at the river, so as the party began winding down, Keilah and Kimberly, along with their four Shaub cousins, Becky, and David (the 21 yr old young fellow staying with Shaubs to help with their house construction) headed off to the river for some fun. It had been raining upriver so I had warned some of them to watch out for high water. Well, to make a long story short, they were being careful not to get in too far and were out sitting on a rock with about 10 feet of waist-deep water between them and shore. The water had been clear but all of the sudden it turned muddy and began to rise. In a matter of a minute or so the river rose about 5 feet, over the rock, and then a log came down and pushed them off. Keilah said even though they knew to be careful, it all happened so suddenly. Praise the Lord that they were all able to make it to shore, one by one, with David helping Liana, the littlest. Quite a few of them lost their boots that they had left on the riverbank. All of them stopped on the shore and gave thanks to God for His protection. We were overwhelmed at God's mercy in our lives...to protect our precious children.


Thank you again for your prayers! It was quite the day.

In His Grip,
Kevin & Kathy, Keilah, and Kimberly

Made it back to Ecuador!

Hey, this is just a short entry to say that we made it back to Ecuador! We arrived at the apartment in Ibarra at 3AM today and crashed for a while. We hit the ground running tho as I've already been out with Andy to buy supplies for our welcome party and we are off for the jungle tomorrow for the weekend. Many thanks to all of you who made our year in the US such a blessing to us! Thanks also to you who were praying over the last few days of our travels. We had an uneventful trip, and all our luggage made it safe and sound.

In His grip
Kevin & Kathy

Having fun in Oklahoma ;-)

Bruce Brief - June 2010

The suitcases are packed…even Kimberly’s compound bow and arrows, which turned out to be too long for our regular suitcases. We have mastered the delicate technique of getting each suitcase to as close to the 50 lb. limit as humanly possible! J (For some reason our two teenage daughters wanted to bring down w-w-a-a-a-y-y more than they did when they were younger…like clothes and heavy books and jewelry-making supplies….so packing this time was not such an easy task!) J Kenny is getting settled in here in New Hampshire, with an official job (flagging vehicles for road construction) and a ticket to fly back to Wisconsin in August for his second year at NTBI. What fun it’s been to have this month together with him and Kevin’s family! Keilah flew down to Missouri the end of May and is happily settled into her routine there at camp. She did hurt her knee while playing Capture the Flag, so we pray that heals quickly. We plan to head out driving from New England soon after Father’s Day, spend a few days with Kathy’s family in Oklahoma, and then pick up Keilah and her cousin Laura at camp the 3rd of July. Our flight is out of St. Louis July 8th. We are looking forward to jumping back into the ministry in Ecuador! This summer the Luz family, our field directors, will be in Germany for meetings for several weeks, and the Erndwein family will be flying to Germany as well for their year of home assignment. That leaves just seven Liebenzell families on the field. Two of those families, the Galarzas and Millans, have been dealing with health issues. We are so thankful to hear that Mercedes Galarza is recovering from a serious illness (she was hospitalized and almost died due to a mis-diagnosis) and that LuzMarina Millan’s results from a biopsy were negative. The Millan family is carrying a heavy burden as they man the Awa Center alone. The Awa people are excitedly awaiting our return---we hear they are planning a welcome party, complete with a couple of pigs to butcher! (They also sent us a list of gifts we should bring them….we’d appreciate your prayers as we find the right God-honoring way to respond to their requests.) We pray that the Lord will graciously help us with patience and wisdom as we settle back into our responsibilities. While it’s easy to jump back into many things, we sure want to be discerning and keep His priorities on the top of our list! In the months following our arrival, we will be shopping for a vehicle (challenging!) and looking into the possibilities of getting resident visas for our family (doubly challenging!) This will certainly entail quite a few trips to Quito. We will likely need to hire a lawyer for the visa paperwork. Again, we appreciate your prayers for patience as we tackle these tasks. May we rest in His perfect timing! Depending on His grace, Kevin & Kathy & kids

Maine June 2010

A recent work trip to Camp Ruffinit

Hike up Mt Monadnock

Family back together again! :-)

Winding down our time in New England

It's time to bring our year of home assignment to a close! We are ready to get back to Ecuador but can't say that packing and living out our suitcases is our favorite thing. Neither is saying so many goodbyes! But we are thankful for a good year and feel like God accomplished His will for us during these months we have been in the USA.

Kenny....Kenny just finished his first year at NTBI in Wisconsin. He loved his studies and the fellowship with the other MK's and students. God provided him with a good job at a small hotel just a few blocks from the school in order to pay his school bills--a job he should be able to return to in the fall. He plans to spend the summer living with his grandparents in New Hampshire and looks forward to his second (and last) year at NTBI beginning in August. From our perspective as parents, we feel like Kenny has made the transition well, and we feel confident that he can handle life here in the USA as he studies over the next few years. We've seen him grow spiritually and learn to take responsibility for himself. We thank the Lord for His grace in Kenny's life, through so many changes!

Keilah and Kimberly....Adjusting to the USA took some effort for our girls, but we've seen them come to relax and enjoy their American heritage. They are both looking forward to returning to Ecuador this summer, but realize that leaving their friends, family, and some aspects of life here will also be harder than they had imagined a year ago! This gives them something to look forward to coming back to on our next visit! Keilah is spreading her wings a little by heading off to Whispering Winds Bible Camp May 28th, along with her cousin Laura Shaub, to work for four weeks and then attend a Teen Extreme week as campers. Kimberly is saving her money to buy a compound bow to take back to Ecuador with us....she hopes to take up archery along with her new interests in piano and guitar. Our home in the mountains there ought to be a great place for perfecting her varied talents! Visitors, beware! :-)

Renewed vision for the ministry....We are thankful for the way the Lord has renewed our hearts to prepare us for going back. Many blessings have contributed to His work of renewal in our hearts: books we've read, encouragement and growth through Bible teaching, times of prayer and fellowship with friends, and even through special times with our families. We had many busy days, but it came with the confidence that we were involved in exactly what God had for us. We are full of thanks to our God for His mercy and grace that are new each and every day.

The end of June we will be heading down to the Midwest in order to fly out of St. Louis the first week in July. We'd appreciate your prayers as we make the transition back into the different roles in ministry.

In Christ,

Kevin & Kathy

Bruce Brief - March 2010

There are many signs that spring is on the way! Having only experienced the changing of the seasons once every five years, we take great pleasure in watching the snow melt, the temperatures warm, and the trees begin to bud out. We saw a purple crocus in bloom over at my mom’s house the other day! These are such beautiful reminders of Jesus’ resurrection and cause us to look forward to celebrating Easter here in the next few weeks. It seems we have a new appreciation for God’s work of renewal in our own hearts, as well. We have much to be thankful for!

 

Kevin returned from his Haiti trip just in time to visit our friends at Hope Fellowship in Newport, and attend a men’s retreat from our church. A week later we travelled to take part in the missions emphasis week at Lancaster Bible College in Pennsylvania. Our own hearts were challenged with renewed zeal even as we sought to challenge and encourage the students. We were reminded that not only is God worth giving our whole heart, but as we grow in love for Him, our hands will reach out to draw others into His kingdom. What a privilege it will be to someday sit in the mighty bleachers in Heaven with our Awa brothers and sisters in Christ!

 

The last weekend in February we stayed at Liebenzell headquarters in New Jersey, and visited Asbury United Methodist Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania; mid-March found us at Whitefield Christian Advent Church in northern New Hampshire for a weekend missions conference. Again, our hearts were blessed to see God’s people joining in the work around the world! We have a new and sweet appreciation for the family of God, and for the team standing behind the ministry. We do thank all of you for your hospitality and encouragement.

 

We are in the midst of updating our shots and getting our furlough physicals and some dental work done. Since we are now quite officially over 40, we hope it won’t be too discouraging! Heaven, here we come! :-) Kathy has been avoiding wheat for some time now, and confirmed with a GI specialist that she is ‘wheat intolerant’—at least that’s the official term he recommended using. Changing our diet has been a little challenging (but not impossible) and she is happy to have her digestive system back on track. The warmer temperatures have encouraged us to get out walking and jogging as we prepare ourselves for the mountains that await us...

 

Our minds are beginning to turn to our return to Ecuador this summer. The pieces are falling into place, beginning with our tickets for July 8^th out of St. Louis. Kenny is hoping to spend the summer here in New Hampshire, working and helping out at our church, and Keilah has plans to spend a few weeks working at a Christian camp in Missouri. We plan to finish our homeschool year and move out of our rented house by Memorial Day weekend. So we have the rest of March and April before the suitcases come out!

 

In Ecuador, the Shaubs and Williams are preparing for the Awa Believers’ Conference, which will take place over Easter week. Doug has asked Milton to teach the account of Jonah, as they recently finished working on translating that OT book. Please pray specifically that God would bring the Awa that He wants to the conference, and that their hearts would be open to receiving the teaching and convicted by the truths taught. The Millan family has a big load on their hands as they run the Awa Center by themselves, as their co-workers, the Rosales family, recently moved back to Cotacachi. I know they would appreciate your prayers as well. They will be in charge of the children during the Awa conference.

 

Thankyou for your prayers!

In Christ

Kevin & Kathy

 

 

Haiti Trip

I was privileged to be a part of a Mondanock Bridge Builders team of 10 guys going to Haiti last week. This was my first trip to Haiti, so many have asked me what were my impressions. I have tried to write them out here in the form of a report on our trip. Our main purpose was to bring tools and supplies down for the orphanage and aid in removing the rubble of the collapsed top floor off of Pastor Franzli's house. We praise the Lord for a successful trip.

We saw the Lord's hand and provision on us from the very start of the trip. At the airport as we checked in the bags, we were told that we would have to pay an extra $30 per second bag. This was an unexpected expense, but after checking us all in, (and charging us) the attendant did some checking and found that she could refund us all because it was aid for Haiti. So we ended up being able to bring all the bags at no extra charge. We ended up flying into the Dominican Republic because the airport in Port-au-prince wasn't open to commercial flights. This added many more hours travel to our trip as we had to get land transport from the airport to the border and then on to Port-au-prince. I was fine with landing there, as I knew Spanish, and was glad to help the team with translating. Franzli's brother-in-law, Michel, met us at the airport and helped us get taxis to the crossing. It was a long 6 hour trip but we got there after dark, and an hour and a half after the border had closed. At first it didn't seem like we would be able to get through, so while Bob patiently explained our case to the guard, we met to pray behind the vans. The Lord opened the gate for us and we were able to transfer ourselves and the luggage to the truck waiting for us on the other side.

My first impressions of Haiti were darkness. As we snaked our way along the bumpy road standing in the back of what can best be described as a cattle truck my eyes searched the dark landscape or watched what little could be seen from the headlights of the truck. Occasionally we passed through some small towns, but even in those the light was dim. There were just a few lights hanging here and there in the houses or smoky diesel lamps on tables along the road. I remember in one town passing a crowd, where they had someone laying on a table. I don't know if it was a wake or a healing ceremony, but all seemed dim and dark as we rolled on past the crowd. We finally arrived in the city. The only place with bright lights was the airport. As we bounced up the dark streets into the neighborhood where Franzli and Julie's orphanage is, there were just a few houses with generators and lights. That is quite a contrast to all the lights we saw when we flew back here and landed in New York City! We finally arrived at the orphanage at 10:30pm, after having traveled since about midnight the night before. We praised God for allowing us to make the trip and arrive with all the supplies!

The next few days we worked hard along side a crew of Haitians clearing away the collapsed floor of Franzli's house. This was grueling work in the hot sun. Some of the crew got badly sunburned. We were worried that part of the floor would fall and crash a hole into the neighbor's house. The Lord was gracious and it fell little by little and turned on its side instead of puncturing the roof as we chipped away and cut the rebar holding it one by one. The neighbors had been afraid to enter their house with this big chunk hanging over their house and were relieved to have it all cleared away. All the cement was smashed up with sledge hammers, shoveled into buckets and carried down two flights of stairs to the pile in the street, where it was later shoveled into a dump truck. The rebar was cut apart and taken down as well. We praise the Lord for the safety He allowed us to have as we worked.

On Thursday we finished up early and prepared over 300 love-in-action bags to distribute that afternoon. Each bag had rice, noodles, oil, and some canned meat. These we took in the truck to the street in front of Franzli's house. When we got there the street was full of people waiting. These we were able to pass out of the back of the truck to the line of women who were waiting. We drove off just as we came close to the end of our supplies as we did not want to be part of a riot, and there was not enough for everyone. Thankfully everything went very smoothly, in spite of a few people trying to sneak into the front of the line.

Friday the President of Haiti had called for the start of three days of prayer for the city. We were able to ride the truck to the down town part of the city near the government buildings. This was an area of the city that was the hardest hit. In that area almost all of the buildings were severely damaged. There the odor was strong as there were still buildings with the deceased in them. In many different places the Haitians had gathered throughout the city for prayer services. Some gathered under tarps near their churches or on the corners of parks. All the parks and empty lots are now all covered in tents, as many have no home to go back to, and many others were still too afraid to sleep inside a building. As we traveled along we could still see many dangerous places where the buildings look ready to collapse further. Some buildings were leaning toward the streets where people are constantly walking. Electrical wires were down low in many places. It will be many years before they will be able to fully rebuild!

As I said above, my first impressions of Haiti were darkness. Praise the Lord that there is LIGHT shining out in that darkness. I saw it in the lives of the Haitian Christians. I heard many of them share testimonies of God's protection and grace in the midst of such great suffering and death. One pastor was sharing how he was in a meeting down town. He felt the Lord telling him that he should go out, and he did. Shortly thereafter the earthquake struck and the others in that meeting didn't make it. Even at the orphanage where we stayed, all the children were in the yard when the earthquake struck and the walls around the property had fallen out away from them instead of in on them. Those walls were a beacon of God's provision and protection for them. I saw God's light in Franzli as he was being very generous to those around him and reaching out in love to his neighborhood. Lastly I saw the light in the fact that for the first time the government was calling on the people to turn to God and pray. Julie shared that this was the first time ever there has been a national day of prayer. As we traveled around that Friday and saw many of the Haitians turning to the only true LIGHT I was struck by the fact that only He can provide a full restoration for the Haitian people.

Praise the Lord for the Hope and Light that He provides!

In His Grip

Kevin

more pictures here

Bruce Brief - Feb 2010

Hello from frozen New Hampshire!

Some of you might think that we dropped of the face of the earth here with as much communication as we have been getting out lately.... But no, we have only been caught up in the whirlwind of the American lifestyle! And although we have been busy, we have been very much blessed.

We are now over half way through our furlough year, and are heading down the home stretch towards returning to Ecuador sometime this summer. We are thankful that we have been able to either visit or have scheduled to visit all but one of our supporting churches. We have really enjoyed being able rub shoulders with many of you over the past few months and receive encouragement from you. I hope that we have also been able to encourage you as well as we’ve shared what God is doing among the Awa!

It has been a pleasure for us to take part in so many activities at our home church. This has been a time of refreshing as we learn new things and are reminded of old. Our batteries are truly being recharged as we look toward returning. Teaching a small group on 1^st John has been challenging me to dig into the Word. Attending a small group on strengthening our marriage has helped Kathy and I see our relationship from a different perspective and identify areas where we can grow. Just a little promo here for the marriage seminar: we are going through a video series by Paul Tripp called “What did you expect”, and it is very good material! Not only has it helped us with our relationship with each other, but also our relationships with our daughters, friends, and others. I think that between Kathy and I, we are involved in over 6 different weekly Bible study groups either together or individually, and we thank the Lord for so many opportunities to ‘tank up’ spiritually!

We continue to enjoy several winter sports, including ice-skating, sledding, and skiing. Kimberly and I are taking ski lessons this year through a school program, which has been a great experience for the two of us. No broken legs yet! Even though I grew up in ski country, I never learned as a kid.

This coming week I (Kevin) have the opportunity of going to Haiti with a small work team through the Monadnock Bible Conference. Our team will travel to Port-au-prince to aid in the re-construction of a Haitian pastor’s home. Since many people were willing and even longing to help in the wake of the earthquake, I feel privileged to be able to be able to tag along. Please pray that we will be truly helpful as we seek to show God’s love to the Haitian people. I am still scheduled to go again in April with a group from our church.

As far as an update on the ministry in Ecuador, the Shaubs returned in December from their short trip, and have started construction on their mountain home. (They are living in our house this year while they build.) Doug and Dorcas Williams were able to purchase a reliable truck, so that is also an answer to prayer. Pray for both of them as they seek to minister to the Awa in spite of some unrest in the area. Also, both of the Williams’ daughters are experiencing some health troubles as we write. God has been working among the Awa. The Shaubs and Williams report seeing some growth in maturity in the believers as Doug has been teaching on Church leadership. Doug says that he sees a desire in Milton to be involved in shepherding his own people. Please pray with us for a strong church among the Awa who will be able to reach out and impact their whole people group like Paul and his motley band of missionaries impacted all of Asia!

Thanks for your prayers!

Kevin & Kathy