With Thankful Hearts - November 2024

 

Enter His gates with thanksgiving! Ps 100:4 November 2024

This last week we pulled into the driveway of the New Hampshire house we will call home until we return to Ecuador in February! As we unpacked and settled in, our hearts were filled with humble gratitude for the kindness, hospitality, and encouragement we’ve received from so many folks during these weeks on the road. Summing up the last three months in numbers, we are amazed at our Father’s provision:
 

1 car (thanks to Kenny & Sophia!)
8 supporting church visits
15 church presentations
19 states
28 beds 😃
10,000+ miles
Plus….MANY friends and family!!

 
This all definitely adds up to an overwhelming sense of thankfulness both to God and His provision and to so many who have welcomed us into their homes! Here’s some highlights from along the way:
 

CCEF National Conference on REST	A visit to the Ark Adventure
Good visits to our supporting churches	Opportunities to share & encourage
Checking in with the Andersons as they prepare to leave for Ecuador in January	Fun with our Venezuelan friends in the big state of Texas
A trip to Sight and Sound Theater with Kimberly and Zach	Representing Liebenzell at John Brown University in Arkansas

 
Life in Ecuador continues to be challenging with drought and electrical outages. Tensions are running high as the economy suffers. In AwaLand, our coworkers the Shaubs carry on with regular ministry responsibilities, and are thankful that despite their busy schedule they’ve had some good opportunities to work on OT translation of portions of Joshua with some of the Awa. Thanks for your continued prayers that God will give strength for ministry to each of those on the Ecuador team!

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

September 2024 Blessed Reunions!

 Since we left Ecuador seven weeks ago, we’ve been thrilled to spend good time with our daughter Keilah & family in Paraguay, and then our son Kenny & family in Virginia. The end of August we made it to see my parents at their cabin in northern Maine. The good fishing and the beauty of the lake made for an extra relaxing time! We are still looking forward to seeing our daughter Kimberly & Zach and Kathy’s mom and family in the Midwest in just a few weeks!

Here's a quick look at our schedule for the next few weeks:
Sept 22-29 VT and NH (Marlow Village Church, Grace Community EFree Church)
Sept 29-Oct 8 Heading south via NJ, VA, TN (friends and family, CCEF conference)
Oct 8-20 KY and MO (Lighthouse Baptist Church, Living Hope church, and Kimberly!!)
Oct 21-Nov 2 OK (Kathy’s mom and family) and TX (more friends and supporters)
Nov 3-7 John Brown University World Awareness week
Mid Nov we’ll be heading back to New England (more churches and supporters along the way)

Meanwhile, back in Ecuador….
Keep praying for our coworkers Andy & Chrissy as they keep the ministry going in our absence. Pray for God’s grace in daily strength and endurance! Our Awa friend Gloria continues to help them teach the children; please pray for her as she is struggling with her health. And pray for the country of Ecuador—low water levels in the hydroelectric dams are again causing nationwide electric outages.

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

En Route ~ August 2024

 Greetings from Paraguay! Yes, you read that right; we made it to Paraguay! June and July were busy months for us as we scrambled to wrap things up back in Ecuador. The last three weeks were a bit crazy as we finished several classes we were teaching with the Awa, packed up our place in Rio Verde, and said goodbye to our Awa friends and Liebenzell field coworkers. We arrived here in Paraguay July 26th to visit our daughter Keilah and her family. By God’s grace we arrived before Keilah gave birth to our fifth grandchild, Waylon Daniel, who was born on the 30th. Kathy was glad to be able to help Keilah with the birthing process, and was even the step-in-midwife as our sweet little Waylon arrived before the real midwife did!

We are enjoying these special days with our grandchildren here, as well as sweet baby time as we try to help Keilah and Jeremy catch a few winks of sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

With so much to report on, we thought we’d make a photo album showing the happenings of the last two months. Here’s the link for those who are interested:
June & July Photo Album
or scan the qr code below:

We are looking forward to arriving in the USA in a couple of weeks to spend the next several months traveling and visiting family, friends, and churches. Our first stop is at our son Kenny & Sophia’s house to get in some special time with them and their two boys as well. More grandparent time! 😊 (You can tell where our priorities are these days! Ha!) We’ll see my family in New England in September and then we’ll be heading to Oklahoma and Missouri to see our daughter Kimberly & Zach as well as Kathy’s family. We do appreciate your prayers for safety in travelling all those miles!

A special thank you to all of you who faithfully pray for us and to those of you who financially support us. We appreciate you greatly and are looking forward to being able to see many of you in person.

In His grip,

Kevin & Kathy

Of Chickens and Cultural Identification ~ June 2024

 This last month we lost a dozen chickens to a predator! While we were a bit clueless to what was happening, our Awa neighbors and friends jumped in to give us a hand. The whole affair turned into a rousing topic of cultural identification :-) as we heard stories of chicken loss due to hawks, weasels, possums, and ocelots. Different friends showed us the clues that we were missing. “Don’t you see the scratches in the bark of this tree and the feathers on the ground here?” Guillermo asked us. In the end, the predator was pronounced to be a possum coming in the night. Neighbor Delia kindly made us an Awa-style trap and stopped by daily to make sure the bait was fresh. A few nights later in the wee morning hours we woke up to a ruckus in the chicken pen. The predicted possum was out there, trying to get one of our hens! That was the end of that possum, although we have been warned that he was a young one that may have a big family!
 
And now we have much more sympathy when the Awa tell us stories of losing their chickens!

Two weeks ago we lost our faithful dog Toby. After living to the ripe old (dog) age of fourteen years here at the Outpost, he was mostly blind and deaf, although still faithfully announcing with loud barking each visitor that appeared in the driveway. We will miss him!
 
And again, our Awa neighbors and friends were sympathetic to our loss.

Living here among the people full-time is sometimes tiring. Sometimes we struggle to have a smile for the next visitor and energy for the next request for help. And yet living close to the Awa keeps us in their world, understanding their lives, and relating to their struggles. It also shapes our teaching each Sunday as we work to bring God’s truth near to them. Pray for daily strength for this around-the-clock life! And pray for a Jesus-like response as we interact with the many Awa who arrive on our doorstep.
 
In a few more weeks we will be packing up our suitcases and heading out on our travels to Paraguay and then the USA. Pray for our coworkers Andy & Chrissy as they hold down the fort in the months we are gone!
 

Young Families…and a Broken Arm

We love looking out at the Sunday crowd in Palmira and seeing many young families sitting together on one of the benches! There are six of these families attending regularly. While we have usually drawn a good crowd of children, seeing more adults (and especially complete families) among the crowd is encouraging!

One of these young couples is Jaime & Sandra. This last month has been a hard one for their family, as son Jimson broke his arm while playing in the churchyard while his mom helped the Shaubs with translation work. The local Awa bone-fixer man was called, and after rubbing and moving Jimson’s arm this way and that, he said the bone was definitely broken. He tied Jimson’s arm up with a strip of cloth, saying it would probably heal up. Over the next few days Jimson’s arm swelled up and was quite painful, so in the end Sandra and Jaime took him out to the hospital for x-rays. The hospital visit turned into a week-long stay before Jimson finally had surgery to set the bones in their proper place.
 
This has been a real time of testing for Jaime and Sandra. They haven’t returned to church yet and we sense they have pulled away from involvement in the translation work. Pray that they won’t lose their faith in this trial! Pray also for Jimson’s arm to heal properly.
 

Thank God and pray with us:

• Praise for a good day with the youth May 18; and pray for our next Saturday June 22
• For Jaime & Sandra, and for little Jimson’s healing
• Pray for the upcoming medical caravan team coming later this month
• For these last weeks in Ecuador as we wrap things up; and for coworkers in our absence
• For coming travels to Paraguay the end of July and the safe birth of Baby Windler

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

 

May 2024 The Tower of Babel

“Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words,” begins Genesis chapter 11 (ESV). But by verse 9 we are told: “…there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth.” And yes, that’s how God started us all on the tongue-twisting journey of languages!

Since we arrived in AwaLand almost 30 years ago, we have seen the shame many of the Awa feel about their language. Over the years they’ve been laughed at by Ecuadorian nationals who didn’t understand their tribal tongue. On one occasion I remember hearing a national saying to an Awa, “Speak like a human, not like a pig!” As we were studying and learning Awa words and phrases, we found much joy in telling them, “You know, it was God who made the different languages. And don’t be ashamed, your words are good!”

In March we received a request from a group of Awa to teach them how to write in their own language. Thrilled to see this interest, we joyfully began preparing. And how exciting it has been to teach this class each Friday with a group of about 25 students, a mixture of adults and children. We are learning from them at the same time they are learning from us; and we all have fun working out a phrase together. Big smiles erupt when we remind them, “We know about the letters, but YOU are the expert Awa speakers!”

The timing is perfect as our coworkers, Andy and Chrissy Shaub, are beginning to work on translating Old Testament portions that are lacking. How helpful it is to have translation helpers that are also able to write Awa words!

Pray for these students to learn well and that more Awa would be interested; and pray also for the Shaubs as they work on the translation project.

We continue to plan our months in the USA later this year. We now have tickets to begin our journey by flying to Paraguay July 25 to help welcome a new Baby Windler. These are exciting moments for grandparents! :-) If all goes well, mid-August should see us arriving in the USA. Thanks to all those who have responded as we make our travel plans! We look forward to seeing many of you face to face.

In His grip,
Kevin&Kathy

April 2024 - Living Water

 

April 2024 Living Water

We’ve had some unusually dry weather here in Ecuador over the last few weeks. Seeing the dry dusty road baking in the hot sun and our garden plants drooping limply reminds us how important water is for life. Our plants need water, our dogs and geese and chickens need it, and so do we!
 
The Awa Easter conference theme this year was “Living Water”: “If anyone is thirsty, come to Me!” Jesus said. How well the Awa understand that thirst for water as they hike along a trail or work with a machete out in their fields! At the end of one of the Conference teaching sessions, I asked the question, “Are you coming to Jesus for that Living Water?” For us, this was the highlight of the conference as we went around the group Awa-style, and one by one the youth and adults gave their answer:

• “Yes!! For many years I have been believing in Jesus and coming to Him!”
• “When I was little, I believed. But over the years Satan has tempted me to do wrong, and I haven’t always followed. But I am believing in Jesus and wanting to follow Him well.”
• “I am listening to God’s words. As a child I didn’t hear any of this, so it is new and different for me. But what I have heard is good, and I want to continue listening!”
• Three young women, with big smiles on their faces, for the first time said publicly, “Yes, I have come to Jesus!”
• One young fellow with much embarrassment admitted that he had come to Jesus but hadn’t been following Him faithfully. Another young fellow said he couldn’t quite say…. In both cases we appreciated the honesty!

Amidst all the fun, food, games, and fellowship, it was a blessing to us to hear these testimonies. Thanks so much for your prayers for these special days with our Awa friends!
 
If you’d like to see some extra Conference pictures, here’s an album: Conference Photo Album
 

Time in the USA

We are making plans to fly to the USA in mid-August for a six month visit! We are excited to see our family (grandson Miles has a new little baby brother!) and we are also joyfully hoping to visit friends and supporting churches during these months. We definitely appreciate your prayers for wisdom in planning as there are many miles to cover! And please let us know if you’d like us to stop in as we criss-cross the country. 😊
 
In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

Many still need Jesus - March 2024K

 

Looking at the crowd of Awa standing around the burial site made my heart sad. Their faces were not just drawn and tired, but also dark and hopeless. Two nights of ‘velorio’ (the wake) had been exhausting as the family needed to stay awake all night. Some were drunk, dealing with their sadness in the only way they know how. One drunken nephew wept loudly; he had been close to his uncle who now lay in the casket ready to be buried. The widow had her head buried in her hands, crying and moaning softly.   Such was the scene that we were called to a few weeks ago. The family, feeling the need to be ‘proper’, had called me as well as the Catholic priest from Lita to make sure some good religious words were spoken over the dead man before he was buried. I shared about a God Who sees them and Who calls to them to come to Him. A few of the family and those gathered around listened half-heartedly. Exhaustion, discouragement, and hunger kept many unable to hear the very message they truly needed.   But unlike the crowd, Kathy and I did feel hope…hope that our friend Marco had understood the Gospel. Years before, Marco had been quite sick and left to die, not eating or drinking for many days. By the time we were heard the news and were called to take him to the hospital, his kidneys were damaged from dehydration. From that day on Marco needed weekly kidney dialysis in order to stay alive. As we helped Marco navigate the dialysis treatments, he started attending church services each Sunday in Palmira. He sometimes listened--and sometimes slept--through the service. On several occasions I sat beside him and shared the Gospel as simply as I could, while Marco would voice his agreement with my words. Did he truly understand God’s love and sacrifice for him? Only God knows! But God did lengthen his days, giving him the chance to hear and believe.   But the crowd of people there burying Marco still need to hear that message. Pray for our hearts and the hearts of the Awa believers to be tender to these hopeless ones. Pray for good opportunities in the days to come to share the hope of the Resurrection!   Over the last few weeks we are thankful to have finished several projects that have been on my To-Do list for quite some time! We now have a gate on our driveway to keep out roaming horses and cows, and the church in Palmira has a fresh coat of paint. We are still in the process of installing the septic for the bathroom there, but thanks to Abraham and his older brother, the hole is now dug!   We would appreciate your prayers for the annual Awa Easter Conference, just around the corner! Good Friday and Saturday, March 29-30, we are planning two days at the Mission property in Lita; so far sixty Awa have signed up to join us there. Easter Sunday we will be back in the mountains to hold our regular services. Pray for wisdom in planning and preparing the teaching and other activities. And pray that God will prepare hearts to share and take part and learn and grow.   And pray for the many Awa who still need Jesus! At least one couple signed up to join us for Conference are not believers, but sent word that they want to “listen a little bit”. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open their minds to understand what they hear.   May you be blessed with hope as you celebrate the resurrection! What a blessing it is to know the hope of the resurrection! In His grip, Kevin & Kathy

February 2024 - Teaching Truth to the Next Generation

 

Teaching Truth to the Next Generation -February 2024

Having worked here with the Awa for close to 29 years, we have seen this next generation grow up literally in front of our eyes! Over the years we have taught many children the truths of God’s word, and find such joy in seeing some of these teenagers and young adults continuing to grow in Truth as they keep listening to and following God.

The beginning of 2024 turned our focus in a new way to this young generation, as God gave several occasions to spend time with some of the Awa teens. January 27th we had our first “Sábado de Jóvenes” (youth Saturday) in Lita, which turned out to be a great time together. We left Rio Verde with 11 happy teenagers maxing out our truck space, and Graciela joined us in Lita. We watched the first “Tetelestai” video in Spanish, and we were blessed to see how well they listened! Playing games and cooking lunch and cleaning up together was all done with lots of happy chatter. March 2nd will be our next encounter and already more youth are interested in joining us.

January 31st our friend (and Word of Life alumnus) Pastor Walter and I took three of Paulino & Manuela’s young adults to Quito to visit the Word of Life campus there. The students and staff graciously received us and showed us around. Rómulo, Abraham, and Anahí went home with much to think on! They have shown an interest in studying there, but at the same time just the idea is daunting! The big city of Quito is scary, education at a higher level is challenging, and having a monthly bill to pay seems overwhelming. I encouraged them that if God has this for them, He will surely open the way before them.

This last Saturday we had a work day to earn money for some of the teens who signed up for the Mission’s Carnaval youth camp. For Jeison, Pedro, Anahí, and Jenny this is their first camp and it’s another stretching experience! Pray for the four of them, as well as Abraham, during this coming weekend (February 9-12), that their hearts will be encouraged to know God better. We think just seeing such a large crowd of youth also learning to follow God will really blow their minds!

So yes, please pray for the next generation of Awa who will be the future church here! The modern world is becoming more of a force in their lives through cell phones and high schools; they are facing so much more than their parents’ generation did even fifteen years ago.

Please join us to pray:
that God’s truth, poured into their lives, will be an anchor in the midst of turbulent times.
that out of these youth God would raise up those who would follow Him faithfully.
for Rómulo, Abraham, and Anahí as they consider attending Word of Life.
for Kathy & I to have compassion, patience, and energy! as we walk beside these precious young lives.
Praise – our coworkers the Shaubs are now back in Ecuador!
 
In His grip,

Kevin & Kathy

Jan 2024 - Rain and Sunshine

 

Rain and Sunshine -- January 2024

The rainy season began early and in earnest this year! In both November and December we received almost 2 feet of rainfall each month! January is so far promising to be just as wet. The Awa are happily planting their crops of bananas and plantains, naranjilla fruit, and yucca root. The rain also brings challenges in travel, as mudslides aboun!. In between our house and the community of Palmira there is a place where mud comes down each night with the rain; we are thankful that so far we’ve been able to get by each Friday and Sunday for ministry there! God knows how to open the way before us. 😊
 
We are thankful for each sunny day, those moments to get our laundry dry and to get outdoor work done! Like those welcome rays of sunshine, God has also sent us moments of joy in ministry. To share a few of those moment with you:

•  Seeing Meregildo, wearing a big smile!, waiting beside the road on Sundays to accompany us to the service in Palmira. 😊Years ago Meregildo and his family regularly attended church, but were much hurt by church leader Milton’s unfaithfulness to follow God. But after eight years, Meregildo is beginning to come again….and yes, with that big smile of joy on his face!
• Little 10 year old Nixon, with his brother and three cousins in tow, shouting out Proverbs 3:5-6, our latest memory verse. Nixon and cousin Ronni each proudly recited the verses in both Awa and Spanish and earned two prizes!!
• Getting a big “thank you!” hug from Mindy and sister Yumi last Sunday when they received their Sunday attendance prize. Last fall Kathy began a challenge with the Sunday School kids in Palmira putting stickers on a chart to encourage more faithful attendance. Each Sunday the kids excitedly count their ‘points’ and how much they lack to earn the next prize!
• Seeing mother Nancy show up for church for the third Sunday in a row! Her two children have come regularly for several years, but Nancy has been slow to join them. But little by little she is being drawn in, and it was a joy to see her happily joining in the busy visiting and chatter these last few weeks.

And with the new year arriving, it’s time to draw out a plan for 2024! Please pray for God’s wisdom as we make a few changes and additions to our schedule. We are adding a special youth Saturday each month, a time to gather for fun, food, and Bible teaching. And while we do faithfully teach God’s truth each Sunday, we’d like to put more emphasis on one-on-one discipleship this year. Thanks for praying for God’s help in putting this desire into real tangible moments of purposeful sharing.
 
One last prayer request: Ecuador has been suffering through an intense wave of violence as new President Noboa seeks to corral the rising drug-related gang and cartel presence here. Pray for wisdom for the police, military, and government in this difficult time, for many to turn to God in the uncertainty and fear of these times.
 
Happy new year!! May God encourage your hearts to see His ‘rays of sunshine’ even on those rainy days in 2024. May His faithfulness uphold you in the coming months.
 
In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy