February travel…and ‘March’ing ahead in Awaland!

 

Visit to Paraguay

We have just returned from a much-enjoyed trip to Paraguay to visit our daughter Keilah & Jeremy and family! What fun it was to see firsthand where they are living, understand the challenges they face as they settle in and learn language, and get to know Paraguay a little! Playing with our grandkids was also a delight. 😊 While we were there heavy rains caused the close river to flood; we woke up at 5 a.m. early one morning to quickly rising water in the yard! We quickly packed up to leave for higher ground, but in God’s grace He stopped the water just a few inches from entering the house. Returning to Ecuador became a bit challenging with one small bridge out, but God was faithful to open the way before us and we returned on schedule.
Some pictures from our visit:

Wide open countryside!	Treats at the mall!
The trail to the river IS the river!	The back yard became a lake
Ronin keeping an eye on the water level	Getting to the city became a challenge

 

 

Unrest in Ecuador

Please pray for the country of Ecuador as there are again rumors of strikes and demonstrations. We pray that continued dialogues will help find some resolution as many are increasingly disillusioned  with the present administration. Last week a native leader opposing petroleum mining was killed, adding to the unrest.

Visits in March

In just a few days our Liebenzell USA director Chris Matthews and a young couple, Steven & Gwen Anderson and their two young sons, will be visiting us here in order to see the ministry firsthand. Steven & Gwen are interested in perhaps joining us in the Awa work; how we appreciate your prayers for wisdom and God’s leading for them as they experience Ecuador and AwaLand in person. We’d also appreciate your prayers for open roads during the time they are here!
 
Whether we face floods or political unrest, we are so thankful for a God who hears our prayers and invites us with open access to the throne of grace. What a relief to “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 ESV
 
Thank you for your prayers; we also pray for you, knowing that life brings many challenges and trials. May you also find grace from Him in your time of need.
 
In HIS grip,

2023 is here! Happy New Year!!

 January finds us both looking back over 2022 as well as making plans for the new year of 2023. Remembering the many challenges of this last year we are thankful to see God’s faithfulness through each one! January a year ago found us with the main road to the city closed due to a major landslide; in May Kevin had the motorcycle accident which left him with a broken ankle.

In the ministry we spent many hours teaching and discipling the youth with two Bible courses. We thank God for the open hearts we see in so many of the youth; during 2022 we realized that much of our time we poured into this younger generation. God is at work in these young lives; we pray we can keep up with what He is doing!! 😊

This new year promises to continue this theme of the youth…there are now over 50 students enrolled in the two different youth courses we are teaching at the moment. Jeison and Abraham are two teens learning to play the guitar and cajón with Kevin each week; they are helping us with worship each Sunday. One-on-one discipleship time with the youth happens each Friday and Saturday as we do make-up lessons and help with course homework.

Three adults and four youth are coming regularly with good enthusiasm to the Bible teacher training classes. From what we can tell, 2023 promises to be a training and teaching year! Many years ago, Paul told Timothy, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have hear from me…entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV) How we long to pass on that truth of God and the message of His grace to faithful leaders among the Awa. Please pray that God would raise up those faithful ones.

And we sincerely thank you for taking part in all of this by your prayers and support!

In HIS grip,


👁️👁️ Keep reading below to see some picture highlights of 2022! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Picture Highlights of 2022!

It does our hearts good to hear Abraham and Jeison singing and practicing together on the guitar and cajón!

Three cousins Abraham, Daniela, and Jeison going with us to help with a Christmas program in a community west of here.

Kevin with Gloria’s husband Guillermo studying a Bible lesson. Guillermo is the president of the community of Palmira; pray that he would become a faithful church leader as well.

Humberto and wife María are a blessing to us; their faithfulness over many years is a testimony to their family. Pray for Humberto as he studies with us in order to teaches his own family the Bible lessons.

Lucas, a young German friend currently studying in seminary, is spending two months here helping us with the ministry. He recently started a new Bible class in Rio Verde with a group of 11- and 12-year-olds. We are thankful for his help! Lucas hopes to return to Ecuador as a missionary in the future.

What a fun day we had in mid-December at Humberto’s house for a Christmas program! About 30 of his family and relatives showed up for singing, teaching, a craft and lunch together.

Pizza party in Palmira!! Manuela, Jeison, and Abraham happily learned the art of pizza making, while a small crowd of little folks helped to devour the delicious hot slices. For many it was their first taste of pizza…. they were puzzled and fascinated by the mushrooms and pepperoni.

Pray for compassion and kindness as we live here among the Awa. Whether we are just putting on Band-Aids or helping in some other way, we want to truly SEE 👀 the ones God brings our way.

Paulino’s sons Rómulo and Abraham are two young fellows we love to spend time with. They are both working hard to finish high school, and homework help is often greatly appreciated! Pray that these young men would faithfully follow God.

December 2022

 

We wish each of you a very blessed Christmas! For many of us December is full of programs, preparation of presents, cookies, and songs, and gathering with friends and family. Outside our surroundings are a bit different, with the sun shining on bright green mountains and the lively songs of toucans and ani cuckoo birds, but here in AwaLand we are also in the midst of celebrating the Christmas season! What a privilege to join with you and so many others around the world as with different languages and different cultures we all rejoice together over God’s very special gift to us in the person of Jesus!

December 4th the Impact team did an evangelistic drama in both Río Verde and Palmira. We loved seeing the faces of our Awa friends as they followed the story of a disheartened young man who finally found Jesus. This Saturday we are going with a group to Humberto’s village to teach and share the traditional Ecuadorian cookie bags. We appreciate your prayers for an invitation we’ve received to go to Middle Río Verde community for a program on Friday, December 23rd. Marco Antonio, a teacher in the school there, invited us for this day, saying, “The people in this community need to hear what the true meaning of Christmas is, that it is really about the coming of Jesus!” While perhaps Marco is saying what he knows we like to hear :-) we do appreciate the opportunity in this community to “share the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor 4:4).

 

We had a beautiful day for the baptism of Christian and his wife Ana Patricia and young Jeison on November 5th. A good crowd gathered at the Lita River near Jeison’s grandpa’s house, and after the baptism we shared a picnic lunch together on the nearby rocks. One surprise for us was that Ana Patricia’s father and mother and sister joined us for the day! Ana is the first believer in her family, but she was not ashamed to stand before them on this day publicly declaring her faith.

Gloria continues to struggle to heal from her surgery. Her finger is not healing quickly, and she is still dealing with a fair amount of pain. She is home but has had to make the trip back to Ibarra each week for continued doctor appointments. Pray for a full healing for her hand, and that she will be strengthened in her faith during this trial.

Thank you for joining us in the celebration of Jesus, and for being a part of shining the Light here in the darkness! Merry Christmas!

“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

November 2022 Thanksgiving is just around the corner! We have a fat turkey residing in the freezer and plans to celebrate with some of our fellow co-workers later this month. And our hearts are thankful for a faithful God who daily walks with us in the ups and downs of life and sees both our discouragements and our joys in life and ministry.   The last few weeks have given us much to be thankful for: A good visit in the USA in September and the first part of October! God blessed us with a wonderful time with our families; we greatly enjoyed catching up face to face with my family in NH, our son Kenny & Sophia in VA, our daughter Kimberly & Zach in MO, and Kathy’s family in OK! A highlight of the trip was spending several days with our grandson Miles, who at almost 1 ½ years old is a happy and loveable little guy!

   With Kenny & Sofia and Miles in VA              With Kimberly and Zach in MO

• Faithful coworkers Andy & Chrissy who kept things going while we were gone! It isn’t easy dealing with the daily Awa visits and requests for help, as well as managing Sundays with a large crowd of energetic children. 😁
• For a safe return to AwaLand! Arriving back meant clearing out the cobwebs in our house, wrapping our tongues around Awa words and phrases again, and pulling many weeds in our garden! But seeing the faces of our Awa friends brought smiles to our faces, we do miss them when we are away.
• Three young folks who are getting baptized this coming Saturday: Christian and wife Ana Patricia, and Jeison. Both Christian and Jeison are Paulino’s nephews and have been greatly impacted by his testimony. Two years ago we shared with you how Christian & Ana Patricia had a fight, and Ana drank poison in the night….since then they have had a great hunger for God’s word and have shown a good understanding of salvation. Fifteen-year-old Jeison has come faithfully to the Bible teacher training days, and recently asked for guitar and cajón lessons so he could help with singing on Sundays. We appreciate your prayers for these three young folks for a faithfulness in seeking God in the coming days.
• And another fruitful Bible teacher (& helper) class on the 22^nd of October! Two couples and four young folks joined us and soaked in the extra Bible teaching. We had asked the adults to begin teaching the lessons they have heard with someone else. Humberto has begun teaching his whole family while Gloria has found a large family in the community of San Francisco that wants the Bible teaching (Gloria’s older sister and clan). We are very excited to see their desire to teach others!

 

And we’d like to end with a special prayer request: Today our dear Awa friend Gloria is in the hospital in Ibarra as she is struggling with a flare-up of her medical condition (scleroderma). For the second time she lost a part of a finger to infection. For many months she has been struggling with her hands being stiff and has not been able to do many household chores. She’s been through a hard month with this latest infection, and yet has faithfully come to church each Sunday to teach the children with a big smile on her face. Thanks for praying for her as she recovers from her surgery today!

 
“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story--those He redeemed from the hand of the foe, those He gathered from the lands….Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” (Psalm 107:2,3,8,9 NIV)
 
In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

September 2022

This last month was filled with joyous moments, including an annual retreat with our Ecuador field coworkers and a visit from one of our good friends and home church pastors and wife, Tom & Leslie. Both times we found to be full of good fellowship and encouragement as we continue to work as God’s ambassadors here in AwaLand. How we need God’s enablement to keep on keeping on, seeking to love each person God puts in our pathway with His compassion and truth!
 
Another highlight over the last month was spending two different Saturdays with a special group of Awa….those who desire to be involved in Bible teaching to their own people.
 
Humberto, a believer from a community further west of us, has been asking for some time for a course to help him become a Bible teacher. With our coworkers the Shaubs, we planned to begin this course in mid-August. We also asked the believers in our area if anyone else was interested. To our surprise, 15-year-old Jeison quickly spoke up, saying he would like to come to the course. Later two teenage sisters, Graciela and Isabela, also showed interest in attending. Our good friend Gloria, who helps teach the children in Palmira each week, also promised to join us.
 
Asking God for His wisdom and help, we planned a Saturday to begin the training. Humberto agreed to come on his motorcycle and to spend the weekend with us. Thus, on August 13^th we sat down with six of the believers and began the class. We discussed together why God’s word is so important as a sturdy foundation for our lives.
 
 
Three of the youth participants--Jeison, Graciela, and Isabela (along with cousin Daniela)--have started helping on Sundays with the children’s Sunday School in Rio Verde. This is definitely a new development and we are blessed by their willingness to take part!
 
Early in September we spent another day together, Humberto arriving this time with his grown son Orlando. We were blessed to go over Genesis chapters one and two with them, discussing how God spoke into being the world, and how He created Adam and Eve. This weekend Humberto and Orlando had more urgency in returning to their families Saturday before dark, so after helping with some motorcycle repairs, they took off.
 
Please pray for these precious brothers and sisters in Christ who have tasted of the goodness of God’s truth and desire to share it with their people! This week Humberto had a difficult experience when he was taken hostage overnight by some ‘bad guys’ in his area. We feared for his life, but the next morning he was returned apparently unharmed. At this point we are not sure what truly happened but sense the opposition of the enemy in stopping Humberto from teaching God’s word. Thanks for upholding him and the other course participants in prayer; pray for courage and for God’s protection.
 
We are writing this from an airport in Pennsylvania today, as we are traveling to the USA for a short visit. We will be helping Kevin’s parents who are in the process of putting their home in NH for sale, as well as making a visit to see our children and grandson who are Stateside. Kathy will also have a checkup with her doctor.  Lord willing, we may even be blessed to see some of you in person! 😊
 
In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

Pastor Tom & Leslie

Sweet times of fellowship

Our Ecuador Field Retreat (We have a multi-national team representing 10 different churches and ministries here in the north of Ecuador!)

Teaching those who want to teach

Who knew motorcycle repairs were part of the missionary job requirements!

Thank you for your prayers!

👀Looking back at July 2022 👀

By God’s grace we just finished the busiest month of summer 2022! With the strikes lifted the end of June, we were able to put on the calendar many different outings and events. And yes! Looking back over the last few weeks we definitely see God’s hand of provision and strength making each day possible. Here’s a bit of a picture book so you can see what we’ve been up to:

July 6th the interns from Liebenzell USA arrived for their month here in Ecuador.

July is also the month of our anniversary: God has blessed us with 33 years together!

July 10th, we had a full house for the graduation of the King of Glory course students.

Much fun was had at the beach outing for the graduated students and their children.

We had a beautiful day with our mission coworkers as we gathered to say farewell to our German Impact team and the Ruf family (leaving for a year of home assignment in Germany).

The last week of July we had three crazy days of VBS programs….
8:00 a.m. each day in Rio Verde and 11:00 in Palmira.

What a good crowd of kids we had, totaling about 100 in Rio Verde and 50 in Palmira. The kids (along with us as well!) had so much fun! Some of the kids invited their mothers to come; one mother commented to us, “The kids just laughed and smiled and played so much!” We pray that the Bible truths that we taught take root in their young hearts.

A special farewell at the hot springs for Michael and Morriah (along with Faith & Marcel Friess, who work in the town of Atuntaqui and have helped with the interns the last two summers). Michael is from Guam and Morriah is my cousin’s daughter, which made the summer extra fun!

I started the month of July hobbling on my crutches as my broken ankle was still healing. By God’s grace I made it through the busy month, squeezing in my physical therapy sessions wherever they fit in our busy schedule. Thankfully I am now able to get around well, although I continue to do more exercises to strengthen my ankle and leg muscles. I’m now working on losing the limp. Thanks for your prayers for continued recovery!

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

June Happenings 2022

 

The toucans are singing loudly outside my window as I sit down to write this letter, a fitting song for a day of answered prayer in Ecuador. Many prayers have been lifted before our Father’s throne for this country that has been suffering much. After almost three weeks of protests and strikes, this afternoon we heard the good news that an agreement has been reached between the indigenous organization (CONAIE) and the Ecuadorian government. We are rejoicing at the news, relieved to see the country freed up to get back to normal. Strikes in Ecuador mean the roads are closed, gasoline is scarce, grocery stores are empty, getting to the airport is next to impossible, and many families are hungry as moms and dads lose their daily wages.

We thank God for His help during these last weeks! Despite the inconvenience of being stuck on the road waiting to get through road blocks, hobbling around on my crutches, God did help us manage to get to where we needed to be each day. He helped us continue with church services each Sunday, and it seemed that He stretched the gasoline in our pickup’s tank on several occasions! We missed a few of my physical therapy sessions, but earlier this week God helped us to make it to the clinic for the second surgery (removing the long screw holding my broken ankle bone in place while it healed.) Dealing with the uncertainty of road closings, gasoline shortages, availability of supplies, and cancelling meetings and other events is definitely wearing; we are thankful that God has carried us through. Thank you for your prayers!

And yes…the broken ankle recovery continues! After removing the screw, the doctor cleared me to begin rehabilitation. At the first session, I thought the therapist was quite optimistic about what I can do 😊 so please pray that I’ll be able to keep up with the exercises and re-condition my ankle as I begin to walk again.

Re-scheduling dates…July sees us re-scheduling several dates, specifically the graduation for the 36 youth who finished the “King of Glory” course and our outing to the beach. Kathy had hoped to take our Awa friend Gloria to a ladies’ conference but that has now been re-scheduled for September. The two Liebenzell USA Journey Ecuador interns arrive this week and we are so thankful the road to the airport should be open again for their arrival! Later this month we hope to have two VBS programs with the help of the interns, one here in Rio Verde community and one in Palmira community.

Thank you so much for your prayers upholding the ministry here. As we face each new challenge, we are taking heart in the fact that the LORD holds our right hand!



In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy