Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December Bruce Brief

María Luisa, along with her two boys, elderly parents, and a young niece, stayed with us for ten days in November. The Lord gave many opportunities to teach, help, and encourage this needy family. During these days we were encouraged to see Maria taking more of an interest in life, as she chatted with Paulino’s teenage daughter, made bead necklaces with Kathy, and even went on several short hikes. The believers in this area were very friendly to the family, bringing gifts of food, inviting them to a cow butchering, and even helping them with a financial loan! Paulino spent time encouraging them to trust in the Lord, and not live in helpless fear of their foes—María’s angry husband, the evil spirits, and the reputed hex from the shaman. It was a special blessing to us to hear the gentle and loving way he counseled and prayed with them--not discarding the validity of what they have faced, but reminding them that God is bigger.

María’s family really struggles with feeling hopeless in the face of the size of the struggles they are experiencing. As we sat down with them each day to go through the Exodus account of Moses’ life, our prayer was that God would ‘grow’ in their minds. He is the Almighty God---He was certainly able to handle mighty Pharoah and the army of Egypt! While the family listened carefully with many nods and comments of agreement, we found it hard to know if they were truly taking it all to heart for their own situation. The true test for them will come as they head back home and face the difficulties again. As they packed up to leave, however, it did seem like their overall perspective was a bit more encouraged. Please pray with us that they will be reminded daily that HE IS ABLE!

There are several colds and viruses going around our area as the cold winds and rain settle in for the rainy season. Many Awa have been sick, and we’ve taken our turn as well! Thankfully, we are now feeling much better, and pray that our friends will, also.

Thanks for joining us in prayer!

• We are missing our two college kids! But we are thankful to see how God is working out their plans for the Christmas break. Keilah is making plans to stay at NTBI over most of Christmas, as she has a house-sitting job for part of the break. Kenny is hoping to travel northwest to spend a few days with Keilah, as well as with his girlfriend’s family, the Meyers. The Meyer family, good friends of ours since Bible School days, continue to seek the Lord as they deal with their son Benjamin’s cancer. 
• Humberto is trying to buy land in our area, in order to live closer to us and the fellowship of the other believers. Sadly, his first deal to buy land has now fallen through. Milton is quite determined to help Humberto out, in spite of some opposition from folks in our area. Please pray that Humberto will lean on God’s strength during this difficult time, and that he’ll be able to find a good piece of land to buy.

Because He is able,

Kevin & Kathy

<for a printable version click here>

New additions to the Bruce funny farm ;-)

Joshua & Jezebel

Bruce Brief - Nov

Thanks for your prayers for Maria Luisa! We have seen God’s hand working in their lives. This week, after hearing rumors from several relatives that Maria’s family was moving her closer to our location, we did some searching and finally located Maria and her parents staying in the common house of a small Awa community north of us. It was so good to see them face to face, after weeks of just passing messages and hearing news from afar! Maria began to talk as Kathy perched on the edge of the bed beside her, and she kept talking and crying for almost two hours straight as she told and re-told all that she’s been going through. I sat on another bed with Maria’s father Alfonso, while he also shared with me the difficulties they are passing through. Their story is full of fear---fear that Maria will die; fear of her husband and his family, who supposedly want to kill them; fear of the hex and the shaman; fear of losing their house and land, as a family of squatters have moved in. At the same time, we saw signs that they are being reminded to turn to the Lord in this difficult time. Maria’s sister Gloria had visited the week before and encouraged them to ask God for help. After going to many different ‘curers’, some of which used marijuana and other remedies that ‘made me worse’, Maria said, they are now going each week to the government health center in Lita. Maria is under treatment for an ulcer, and feels like her stomach, where she feels the ‘snake’, is getting better.
“My father says I need to have faith in God,” Maria told Kathy. “But I’m sick, and for weeks I haven’t been getting better. I don’t know if God is remembering me.” We were so thankful for the chance to encourage them that God never ‘throws us away’ (as Maria’s husband is doing to her), but sees us in our struggles, and is present with us at all times. We prayed together with Maria, and invited the family to come up to stay with us next week for several days. Please pray that we can use the time of their visit to encourage them with God’s truth in many different ways. And pray that the believers in our community will also rally around them!
In other notes of news:
• After a long summer break, we have started up the adult literacy program again! Each Monday we gather with the students to study reading, math, and now something new---an hour of Bible School! Adapting some materials from our national churches called ‘The Good Servant’, we are presently studying the basics of salvation, and memorizing Romans 3:23-24 together. This is an excellent opportunity to work on spiritual terms in Awa, as we begin by talking about such concepts as ‘sin’ and ‘justification’. Last week it brought us great joy to see a new level of understanding dawning in Jaime’s eyes as we talked about how sin separates us from God. As a new believer, there is much that is new to him!
• I was thrilled to finish editing and formatting the portions of Exodus that our co-worker Doug has translated. What a joy to print out an updated version, all ready for use! At this point, the next step will be to read over the portions several times with the Awa, revising any mistakes or misunderstandings that we find.
• Holiday separations as a family are not our favorite thing. But we have seen the Lord’s provision in many ways for Kenny and Keilah as they both are learning and growing in their studies. We are thankful for the many ways to shorten the miles between us—email, Facebook, phone texts, and Skype, to name a few!
In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

Maria

Back in June we told you a little of Maria Luisa’s story.

Maria’s situation has continued to go downhill. The Awa curer that her family took her to informed the family that Maria’s husband is the initiator of the problem because he wishes to take a new wife. The curer went on to say that Nestor has put a hex on Maria. The original snake that supposedly bit her was a spirit-snake, put there by a hex.

She continues to lose weight and cannot eat more than a few teaspoons at a time. The family says she cries for hours at a time, and is cutting and hurting herself. She has episodes where she feels like she can’t breathe, and often faints. The family has heard through the grapevine that the Chachi shaman has Maria’s spirit in a bottle. When the shaman puts the lid on the bottle, Maria can’t breathe and faints, and she only comes out of the faint when he takes the lid back off again. The Chachi have told the family that for this hex, there is no cure, and Maria will surely die.

The situation is very complex, with rumors that Maria’s family is interested in getting revenge on Nestor and his family. Because of this, the other Awa that live near the Chachi village are preparing to move, as they are afraid that they will be killed, such as by poison being put in their water supply.

This week the family moved Maria Luisa to a local Awa community center, where they are calling all the family together to do another evil-spirit-curing ceremony.

In all of this, we haven’t seen Maria or her parents, who are believers, run to the Lord for help. Please pray that as they will see that He is their refuge! It is easy for us as Americans to disregard many parts of Maria’s story. But for the Awa, the world of witchcraft and shamans is very real, and even scarier because they don’t understand the Chachi culture and the implications of what the shaman has supposedly done. And yet the Gospel message that we are here to proclaim is that GOD IS STRONGER! We ache to be able to help Maria and her family, and remind them of this truth.

Maria’s older sister Gloria is a believer, and lives in the city. Last night we had a chance to talk and pray with her. While she is not oblivious to what she has heard of the witchdoctor’s curse, she told us that she knows that God is bigger, and able to help, but fears her family is forgetting this. She has begged for time off work so that she can visit Maria and her parents this weekend. Please pray for Gloria as she visits the family, that she will stand firm and be able to encourage them. We are able to send a message to the family thru Gloria, as well.

Since Maria’s extended family includes many of the Awa in Ecuador, there are many Awa watching this drama unfold. We ache to see God’s glory upheld here among this needy people. Please join us in prayer for this difficult situation.

In HIS grip,

Kevin & Kathy

New Babies

Paulino's granddaughter and son born on the same day

Settling back in

As we get back into a regular fall schedule, once again we are working as a team to ask the Lord to direct us with wise strategy for setting goals for this new school year. We appreciate your prayers as we get the homeschool year going; make plans for beginning adult literacy classes again; set up a schedule for teaching in Palmira; and take part in working with Liebenzell Mission Ecuador to set up priorities and goals for the ministry in the northern part of this country. The last weeks were filled with a short, but refreshing, conference with our missionary co-workers and a visiting pastor from New Hampshire; Mission planning meetings; and Awa Team meetings as well.

Sandra and Jaime on Sunday

Kathy and I visited Palmira this last weekend, teaching a Bible lesson on Sunday morning. Our last words to Paulino’s family as we left to hike home at noon on Sunday were that we would be praying for safe deliveries for the two babies due at their house. Paulino’s son Salamon brought big news on Thursday—both Paulino’s wife Manuela and his oldest daughter Sandra gave birth on Wednesday at their home. The local birthing helper had attended both births, for which they were thankful as Paulino’s little son ‘died’ (as the Awa say) for a few minutes during the birth. Oswardo, the birthing helper, was able to resuscitate him, and we pray all is well with this precious little fellow now. Paulino’s grandchild was a little girl---Paulino says it’s just like having twins! What a joy to receive these two long-awaited babies—Paulino’s 11th child and his first grandchild!

For those of you who wondered how the time went here at the Outpost while we were in the USA:

Paulino’s wife Manuela and daughter Monica did an excellent job watching our houses and animals. We found all in order when we arrived the end of August. One surprise was the dishpan with about 140 eggs they had saved up for us—we had encouraged them to eat the eggs, but they just didn’t consider it good Awa etiquette! Thankfully we found very few rotten eggs in the batch—and yes, we were able to generously share the eggs to everyone who came by in the next few days!

Paulino & Milton

Paulino was able to hold the monthly church service in Palmira, although he said that because of school vacations, it was mostly just his family that came. Milton carefully prepared and taught the three lessons on the life of Christ, although he was also disappointed to see that not many folks showed up for the services. “But the Lord knows their hearts, and I think it was just that they were busy,” he told us. He refused to let it discourage him! The first Sunday we were back, I had Milton do a review of the three lessons he had taught, and was amazed at his thorough knowledge of the passages and material. He had definitely done his homework! We praise the Lord to see his ability to handle the Scripture portions!
In HIS grip
Kevin & Kathy

<FOR PRINTABLE VERSION CLICK HERE>