April Earthquakes

The ground has been shaking here over the last two weeks! Saturday evening, April 16th, a major earthquake hit the western coast of Ecuador, flattening the little town of Pedernales and damaging several neighboring areas. Here at our mountain home, about 120 miles away, we felt the quake quite strongly, and our house was a mess by the end of the shaking as things fell off our shelves and water sloshed everywhere! But we were fine; we spent the rest of the evening cleaning up and looking for news about where the quake was centered. It's sobering to think (as you try to save a few glass dishes from breaking), that somewhere houses are likely falling and people are perhaps trapped and dying. It wasn't until the next morning that we began to hear about the extent of the damage to little towns such as Pedernales. There have been many (over 1000) aftershocks since, many of which we have felt here.

The Liebenzell church in Ibarra has joined other evangelical churches here in the country to send a relief team, taking groceries and other supplies to share and helping to build temporary shelters for the people to live in. Many other organizations have arrived to help, and the Ecuadorian government is coordinating efforts to help the folks rebuild. It's neat to see the Ecuadorian churches pull together in compassion, sharing supplies, finances, work teams, and even those who just go to stand beside those who are suffering. Our friend Pancho told us, "As soon as I heard about the damage, I knew I just had to go and do whatever I could." Pancho helped to dig through the rubble, looking for survivors, a job made difficult by the continuing aftershocks. "Some folks said we were really brave, but I don't think any of us felt brave...we were all afraid to go into the fallen buildings. We just had to believe that God was in control and keep working without worrying too much."

If you would personally like to make a donation to the relief effort, Liebenzell USA has set up an account to channel funds this way. You can find out more at this link:

http://liebenzellmission.org/give/the-bread-fund/

Meanwhile here in our area, the Awa are all fine, although wondering what God is up to..."Is He perhaps punishing our country?" one Awa asked us. These are moments for good conversations! God continues to work in the hearts of the people here. We've had many rainy Sundays, and the roads have been muddy, but the people keep coming Sunday mornings...the other day we realized that attendance has been rising as we have averaged close to 50 each Sunday. But numbers are just...numbers. What makes our hearts rejoice is hearing how God is working in individual hearts. A week ago Gloria shared with us that her brother Milton had asked for her forgiveness for the wrong he had done, and she told him that she was forgiving him, because she knew that God had forgiven him, and she wanted to do likewise. (This in contrast to a year ago, when Gloria and Paulino said they would never forgive their brother for the sin he had committed.) How grateful we are to our amazing God, the great changer of hearts!

We recently shared about Paulino's daughter Sandra and husband Jaime and their wedding. Sandra and Jaime were just told that their daughter Liseth, 8 months old, will possibly need a surgery to correct a skull problem (because of her soft-spot fusing together too early). Liseth also has trouble focusing her eyes and seems to be developing slowly. She will have to be taken to Quito for an appointment with a specialist, in order to begin the process; this is a very scary scenario for Sandra and Jaime. We have promised to help as much as we can. They would appreciate your prayers as they face this trial.


In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

*Photo of Earthquake damage from our co-worker Rainer Kroger's trip to Pedernales

<for a printable copy of this letter click here>

Awa Conference 2016

Greetings from Ecuador!

Despite a wet and rainy start to our 19th Annual Easter Awa Conference, we were amazed with the strong 100 plus attendance each day! The road -- and our trucks--facilitated in transportation this year. (In fact after the conference I had to replace a broken leaf spring from slight overloading...) Praise the Lord with us for the following:

• Great weather for the three days after the initial rainy start
• So many Awa who came--over 100 each day and at least 120 on Sunday (65 kids!)
• Enough food (very important for the Awa)
• Many open hearts as they took in the teaching--believers and new listeners alike

We taught through the passion and resurrection of Jesus focusing on how He loved all those around Him even while suffering great personal agony and physical weakness. He loved us all the way to His death to save us from eternal death.

Following is a picture collage of our time together! (click photo to see bigger)

 

If you are hankering for more details :-) just type (or click) the following link into your web browser for a longer account of the conference written by Chrissy Shaub: http://tinyurl.com/zds9w5k

For those of you praying for Pricilla, she seems to be doing OK, but has had her ups and downs. We haven't been able to see her personally our last few trips to Ibarra, but her aunt who stayed with her just the other night said she is hanging in there. Please continue to pray that we can connect with her, and that the Lord will draw her to Himself through these trials.

Thank you very much for your prayers and support! Looking ahead, April looks to be a quieter month overall. Kimberly is busy finishing up her senior year; we will also be preparing for a visit from a group from Liberty University in May...including our son Kenny! Yay! 

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy 

<For a printable version click here>

A wedding!

What a privilege it was for us to take part in our first Awa church wedding after 20 years of ministry here in Ecuador! The morning of February 7th found us trekking towards Palmira where the festivities were to take place. We had a carload of neighbors joining us for the service. Several times along the way we pulled a little pickup truck, filled with family coming to the wedding, out of the mud. Thank the Lord for good tires and a 4x4! Another praise was the way the Lord provided a beautiful day in the midst of much rain.

Sandra and Jaime had made a marriage commitment several years ago in the traditional Awa way. This commitment was very much a covenant 'til death do us part' agreement made in a meeting of Jaime and Sandra with both of their parents--the correct way to 'get together' in Awa culture. Even back at that time they had shared their desire to eventually have an official government wedding at the civil registry and a 'church' wedding. So even as they started their family together they saved and planned. Finally in these last few months they had enough money to get the paperwork done, buy a dress and a suit, as well as food for the big event. The main course of the wedding meal was a bull they had raised themselves!

It was fun planning with them what things they wanted in the ceremony, and Kevin worked with several people to translate vows into Awapit.  One thing Jaime specifically requested was a skit on the family--not necessarily our favorite thing to do--but something the Awa really seem to love!  

Later, reflecting on the day, we were struck by the Lord's grace in giving us a chance to stand before the Awa communities here and uphold the real meaning of marriage just a year after the Awa church's testimony was so damaged by the infidelity that took place while we were on furlough. God works in wondrous ways.

One note of urgent prayer: A month ago we got a call from Linda, one of Paulino's sisters who lives in the city. Her daughter Prisila was going through a difficult situation and was hurting herself; Linda was at her wit's end and wanted to know if we could talk with her. Kathy visited Prisila then and gave her a Bible and had a good talk. Two weeks later, when we went back to visit Prisila, we found her in the hospital as she had tried to commit suicide by drinking poison. The Lord gave us the opportunity to visit her there in the hospital, and again at her home after she was released. Prisila is a beautiful 16 yr. old with so much life in front of her---we'd appreciate your prayers that she would allow God to bring peace and hope into her life again, and for us to have wisdom as we talk with her.

Thank you for your prayers!
In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

For more pictures click here

Happy New Year - a year in review!

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of our favorite past-times is working in our garden. How fun it is to watch the plants grow! The abundant wet season rains cause the papaya trees, yucca plants, banana trees, and sweet potato vines to grow so quickly. The Awa, who are born with a love of farming, love to come and take a tour of our little garden...although they do wonder why anyone would like to eat radishes! They are much more appreciative of Kevin's many varieties of hot peppers. :-) Miguel and Digna have been our friends for many years. We remember the two of them hanging out as teenagers, in love, coming riding in on horseback to the literacy class in Lita.  Now God has blessed them with four very active boys--Alejandro, Mateo, Alexander, and Alex. Both Miguel and Digna are believers, although family issues have kept them on the outskirts of the church family for the last years. Recently Miguel has struggled with a strange skin disease, something that neither the Awa home remedies, nor the local doctors, have been able to cure. For the last few weeks we've been seeking to help Miguel find some answers, taking him first to a dermatologist who was able to rule out both leishmaniasis and skin tuberculosis. Now we are waiting on results from a culture being done in a lab in Quito. As we have chances to spend time with Miguel, we pray that God would pull him back into the church family. Miguel is gifted with a calm spirit of helpfulness and encouragement, and the days he comes to church are always brightened by his interaction with the group. As we come to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, our hearts are grateful to our Lord: -For the great encouragement each of you has been in our lives! Sharing our joys and our struggles with you has taught us anew about the comfort that it is to be a part of the family of God. -The land issue is settled for the minute, awaiting the next steps of officially dividing up the property. -We are seeing God at work in restoring to us a friendship with Milton again; he has been coming by each week to help Kevin work on lessons from the book of Ruth. His desire to spend time together has been a great encouragement, although he has not yet returned to Sunday services. And...we wish each of you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! May God grace your hearts with an appreciation for Who He is, as well as a thankfulness for the many blessings He has graciously provided. In HIS grip, Kevin & Kathy <For a printable version click here>

Moon set over Cotacachi. When the ball drops the world lights up!

September News

We have entered a new phase as parents! We are now officially in-laws. :-) We made a quick trip to the USA in July to join our daughter Keilah in celebrating her union in marriage with Jeremy Windler. We are glad to welcome Jeremy into the family! Although it was a crazy quick trip, we thoroughly enjoyed the time with family, friends, and our church while we were there.

And, speaking of our church, we brought back a small 'piece' of our church family back to Ecuador with us in the person of Eli Nelson, a young man from our church who is joining us for the next nine months as a short term volunteer. Eli is an energetic young fellow with a passion to serve God. We are thankful for his help!

Among the chaos of the summer, we have slowly gotten ourselves organized into beginning the school year. Kimberly has made a good start into her senior year schedule, as well as teaching her cousin Liana science this year. Eli is also helping to teach our nephew Lee several school subjects. The four young folks have already shared many adventures together---swimming and exploring at the river, a day at the hot springs, youth camp in Lita, and instituting a weekly movie and dessert night. We've also divvied out a work schedule among them! :-)

We've seen something here in the mountains we never dreamed of seeing before...cement trucks driving up past our house to the bridge construction in San Francisco! It wasn't too many years ago that a group of guys from Pennsylvania came down and helped us build a cable bridge there...back then it was a 6 hour hike from Lita!

We'd greatly appreciate your prayers for God's wisdom as we sit down with our co-workers Andy and Chrissy Shaub to plan out some goals and plans for this coming year. We long to be where God's heart is among these people. At the moment change and growth seem slow, but we are filled with confidence that God is able to complete the work of bringing each believer to maturity! (Phil 1:6)

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

For a printableversion of this letter click here