Quick update

A quick update on Clemencia and new baby:

 

The Shaubs were able to bring Meregildo, Clemencia, and the baby back from the hospital on February 15^th, after their return trip was delayed by their pick-up needing repairs. Meregildo was able to see God’s hand in even that detail, as Clemencia was still weak from the whole ordeal. The couple came back armed with a bottle and two cans of baby formula, but Meregildo excitedly told us on Sunday that Clemencia has finally been able to nurse the baby some. The baby does have a bit of a cold, but seems to be holding his own for now. Thanks for your prayers for this new little life! We have been so thankful to see Meregildo’s calm and loving leadership of his family during all of this, in direct contrast to the penniless, constantly drinking man he was a few years ago. Praise the Lord for the changes He has worked in Meregildo’s life!

 

Mercedes Galarza:

 

Mercedes has been released from the hospital and is recovering at her brother’s home in the city of Quito. With such a radical surgery, her recovery is slow, but the doctors have been amazed so far at how well she is doing. Since her stomach was completely removed with the tumor, so she will have to be on a special diet the rest of her life. Diego and Mercedes have been a sweet testimony to God’s grace during this difficult trial. Diego not only is the director of Liebenzell Mission Ecuador, but also pastors the church in Atuntaqui and works with our radio station, and Mercedes has faithfully worked at his side in these ventures for many years. They would appreciate your continued prayers as they look to the future. They still face the follow-up treatments and many more tests.

 

Teaching the kids:

 

Our first time teaching ALL the kids in Palm community went well! We hiked up Thursday afternoon and spent the night at Paulino’s house. As we talked and worked out a schedule with the four teachers early Friday morning, there were no negative comments about the Bible teaching, so we took that as a sign to go for it. We divided the kids into two groups--1^st thru 3^rd grades, and 4^th-7^th. (around 70 kids) All the kids love the English lessons, but I was especially impressed with how well the older kids and teachers listened to the Bible teaching! We were also asked many questions about what the priest had taught the week before, so would greatly appreciate your prayers for continued help to answer wisely.

 

Thanks for your prayers

Kevin & Kathy

 

February already?

Happy New Year! We apologize for not writing in January! I’m not sure it’s a very good excuse, but we tackled a long-overdue maintenance project here at the Outpost during January which turned our anything-but-regular schedule into something even less regular. :-)

There are times when the ministry sails along under blue skies, we rejoice in the Lord’s blessings, and we soak up the joyful sunshine. (Both Milton’s, picture on left, and Porfidio’s babies were born safely and without complications, and are thriving!)

And then there are more difficult times of trial, rain, fog, and mud. (Yep, even in the literal sense!) January dumped over a meter of rain (40 inches) on us, making travel either by car or foot more challenging than usual. We were thankful that the government has three tractors working full-time on our road right now, cleaning up the almost daily landslides and putting in drainage culverts at each creek.

Along with the (literal) rain, there are several issues that have come up over the last few weeks that have been difficult. Here’s just a quick summary:

• Mercedes, the wife of our Ecuadorian Liebenzell Mission president Diego Galarza, was diagnosed with a cancerous growth in her stomach on February 2nd, and underwent surgery just five days later.  We were able to visit them in Quito last week, and Mercedes was still in much pain. Her stomach was completely removed and re-constructed. While she is doing as well as can be expected, her situation is still very delicate. The Galarza family is hanging on to the Lord and His promise in Isaiah 41:10.
• Awa believer Meregildo’s wife Clemencia gave birth to a little boy at noon on Saturday in their home, with just her two teenage daughters helping.  There were many complications and she lost a lot of blood, and was carried out by stretcher that afternoon. Kevin immediately drove her out to the city hospital. Clemencia has been in poor health for some time, and apparently won’t be able to nurse the baby.  Humanly speaking, life is going to be very difficult for this new little life.
• A new Catholic priest has begun to make regular trips to Palm community, where we have recently begun to teach the Bible lessons. This priest seems to be of the old school with a dislike for anything evangelical. This is a very complicated situation, especially for Paulino and the other believers in this community. The priest is actually there this week, with a group of nuns, teaching catechism in the school. At the same time we were recently asked to begin again to teach English in the school, not just to the older kids but to all 100 kids. We hope to include the Bible teaching as we did before. We’ll be going next week for the first time teaching in all five different classrooms, but we aren’t sure how the Bible teaching will be accepted with this new development.
• There is another situation that we are dealing with at this time as well, with a couple that has been spreading some divisive gossip. Yesterday we met with the elders for about four hours, talking thru this very difficult situation in which it is hard for the Awa to discern between truth and lie. Please pray for us to have Godly and Bible-based wisdom to share both with them and the Awa believers.

Laura Story’s song “Blessings” says “What if Your blessings come thru raindrops…?” Even the rain serves His purposes. We do rejoice in His daily presence, help, and guidance---what a blessing it is to bask in His grace and mercy! We are so thankful for your prayers as you join in this work of planting a church among the Awa people.
In Christ,

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Total home makeover - jungle style

Bathroom_Fix

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! We wish we could join in worshipping with you all on Christmas Sunday…surely a special day to celebrate God’s gift to us!

Many of you have asked about Milton….so here goes for a quick update:

In the midst of a people that are generally tough and hardened, Milton’s tender heart stands out…which is exactly the character quality that makes him a caring ‘shepherd’ for his people.  And it’s just that quality that makes him so sad over the horse’s death (Paladin). When you spend almost every day with your two horses, carrying loads to earn money, or riding them back and forth down the trails, I guess those horses are like friends! Milton told us the other day that he hasn’t been able to make himself go into the part of the pasture where Paladin died yet, but the Lord is helping him not to feel so sad. He and his wife do have one small horse left, so that helps for travel. He did mention to us the other day that, at some point, he would like to get another horse to replace Paladin (a big gelding). It might take awhile before he can think about it clearly. It just so happens that the week before Paladin died, Kathy was goofing around with Milton’s kids and nephew, taking pictures of each of them sitting on Paladin. Now each week, the kids beg for me to show them the pictures again, to remember Paladin.

At the same time, Milton’s wife Delia who was almost two weeks overdue with their fifth child…since the doctor in Lita told them that the baby isn’t breech this time, she’s just planned to give birth at home. The Lord has blessed them with a baby boy born on the 24th. We are praising the Lord for a safe delivery!  And speaking of babies….the teacher in Palm community, Andrew, has a brand new baby girl, and two other couples in the church, Porfidio & Cecilia, and Meregildo & Clemencia, are expecting in January. Kathy’s Sunday School class is growing! :-)

Thanks for standing with us in prayer!
Kevin and Kathy 

Christmas letter

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we take time to give thanks for our many blessings, we also wanted to thank YOU. We really do appreciate all of you who have put forth the effort to partner with us in the ministry to the Awa people with your time, prayers, and financial support. We have been truly blessed to know and relate with each one of you. God is good and it is truly a privilege to be a part of HIS work in this corner of the world. Thank you for your part in this work as well!

This last month found us right where we wanted to be---yep, here at the Outpost in our mountain home. We praise the Lord that our travel to the city was minimal, actually just one trip! This allowed us to get caught up not only with ministry, but also fun things like our garden.  We find it beneficial to be consistently present for those Awa who come by for advice or just a friendly chat. Some neighbors, like Milton and family, come by every day, often with concerns or news to talk through. Meregildo was by this week with a wooden saddle that he wanted me to drill some holes in. One lady hiked an hour to ask us where to go to get help for her eyesight, and we were glad to be able to point her to a clinic which could help. And so the Lord provides many opportunities for discipling or sometimes just showing His love!

Two weeks ago Kathy and I hiked up and spent the night in Palm community, in order to have our second Sunday gathering there. Paulino’s ten kids love to have us visit, and put on a real show for us. Monica let us play with her pet toucan.  We often see toucans in the trees around here but never close enough to touch! The extra time with Paulino also made the service go smoother as he took a more active role. Kathy noted that I had barely finished with one song and he was spontaneously explaining to everyone the blessing that that particular song had been to him. We were happy to see Andrew and his family again joining in. Please continue to pray for this gathering, as we try to balance teaching for the believers there (about half the group) with the many unbelievers who come!

Another BIG area of thanksgiving is that our coworkers, the Shaubs, finally finished the last of the paperwork that went with getting permanent visas! It only took….well, 18 trips to Quito and 9 months...! During those months they experienced many times of uncertainty and frustration. So please thank the Lord with us for this provision and blessing. Andy is REALLY looking forward to a few months (like we just had) being able to stay PUT and do some serious language study.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

In Christ,

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October Update - Wet Hike!

Rain in the Palm community

Although we were excited to hike up to Palm community for our first Sunday ‘church’ service there, it still wasn’t fun to step out into the pouring rain in the early dawn hours! The rain had awakened us in the early a.m. hours, and we both chuckled as we realized the Lord was testing our resolve…again! (It never seems to fail that it rains the night before we are scheduled to make the trip up…even if the trails are dry the day before.) As we packed our backpacks and grabbed a quick breakfast, we kept waiting for the rain to slow down, but it kept coming down steadily. The rain accompanied us through most of the hike, and gave us the added challenge of making our way across several swollen creeks as well. At one creek we had to resort to taking off our socks and boots and wading through the deep rushing water. Well, removing our boots didn’t make that much difference…we were soaked through anyhow...and soon the rain running down us filled our boots with water anyway! Since we had brought along the story of Jonah to teach…somehow it seemed rather fitting. =) But it was a joy to arrive in the community, and to gather together with over 40 people for our first service there. All of the believers were there—Paulino with his wife and all 10 kids, as well as Paulino’s sister Gloria and son David---and they had invited many others as well. We were especially amazed at the number of children who kept coming in to join us! We’d appreciate your prayers as we continue to teach once a month in this community. As we talk with different folks from this community, it’s obvious that they would like us to come more often—which we hope to do perhaps starting in the new year.

Andrew is an Awa teacher in this community, and has been interested in hearing the Bible teaching for several years now. He and his wife have three cute daughters and another on the way. Last year he sat in on one of our Bible classes in the school, and was interested to find out that God is everywhere. “I thought He was just up in Heaven,” he said, “At least that’s what I had heard before, but I don’t really know that much.” Andrew brought his whole family the other day to hear about Jonah, and was disappointed when I stopped teaching with Jonah still in the belly of the whale! He asked if he could keep the Awa translation of Jonah scriptures that I had brought up, so that he read the rest of the story. Andrew is highly educated for an Awa, actually working on his college degree through a government program. We’d appreciate your prayers that he would continue to listen and understand God’s message. We especially need God’s wisdom in laying a firm foundation for folks like Andrew while continuing to advance the teaching for the believers in that community.

We have many things to be thankful for. The Lord has been gracious to us weather-wise and we have been able to use our new driveway without problems so far. This has been a real help to us as we lead a Bible study once a week in Lita and now are able to drive all the way home even in the dark! We also praise the Lord for granting permanent visas for the Shaubs. This process has been quite a test of patience for them, and they are now on Try 3 to get their new i.d. documents.  Another blessing is that I’ve recently completed the formatting and printing of all that Doug Williams has translated from Genesis. It has been a fun project, and I feel privileged to get it into the hands of the Awa readers.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

In Christ,
Kevin & Kathy Bruce

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