Visitors!

Wow! We've just finished up several busy (but very good!) weeks, and are thankful for a few days to catch up with all that we've let 'slide'. We apologize for the emails that we haven't answered...please rest assured that you are not forgotten. :-) I suppose many of you may feel the same, with the school year closing up and the advent of summer!

Over the last few weeks we have so much to be thankful for:

•    Kimberly finished up her senior year, took her SAT test in Quito, and applied to study at New Tribes Bible Institute (Wisconsin).  She also packed, said her farewells, and headed out to Missouri to work at Whispering Winds Bible Camp over the summer. She'll be back for a quick 3 weeks at the end of the summer. We are proud of Kimberly for finishing up well and pray that God will be her Strength as she faces all of the adjustments that lie ahead.

•    Four students from Liberty University (our son Kenny, his girlfriend Sophia, Ben, and Reid) joined us for a 10-day adventure. I'm not sure it's legal to pack so much into a short-term trip :-) but somehow we managed to fit an outreach day at each of two local schools; much hard work receiving loads of sand and gravel; a project of mixing and pouring cement to replace some of our rotting-out house support posts; two more house-shaking earthquakes;  many hearty meals together; and much fun and laughter! Adding four college students to our five resident young people equaled many willing hands to help. We are thankful for God's safety over us in all that we did (especially for His hand in holding up our house as the two earthquakes hit just after we had knocked out our three end house pillars, and had the house temporarily up on wooden blocks as we poured the new cement pillars.)

•    And God's amazing grace in having the privilege to continue ministering to the Awa even in the midst of the busy days. 

This was a month of farewells! Along with Kimberly, we said goodbye to Eli Nelson, the young fellow from our church who stayed with us for the last ten months. We sent Eli off hobbling with eight stitches on the back of his leg, from an accident with a big rock! Another farewell was to Noelle Wagner, our niece who visited the Shaubs over the last two months. Noelle loves birds and enjoyed checking out our great variety of tropical wildlife.

Now our house feels rather empty, with just Kathy and I here. We are thankful for the confidence we have that God is with our kids in the USA, and also for the opportunity we have to take part in their lives through prayer. What a blessing it has been to have our kids with us over the last twenty-plus years--homeschooling here with us, and serving the Lord together as a family! Now we are entering a new phase of life--we pray that God will use us in new ways as parents from afar, and as His servants in the lives of the Awa!

Please pray for the many challenges facing the country of Ecuador. After the earthquake, there have now been over 1,500 aftershocks. The two earthquakes on May 18th were felt across the whole country. Reconstruction is very difficult, and some of the coastal towns will probably not be rebuilt. Many of the coastal inhabitants are living with great fear, as geologists are predicting that the aftershocks will continue.  Many fear that an even bigger earthquake is imminent. Ecuador is also in a time of economic recession; and, like the USA, Ecuador has upcoming elections in 2017, adding some political chaos to the burden the country is facing.

Thanks for your prayers!
In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

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