pictures

Hi All, Here's a link to some pictures of us and our ministry :-)

http://picasaweb.google.com/brucekev/BruceFamilyMinistry

TTFN
Kevin

Bruce Brief---Believers' Conference

Hi, folks!!! Thanks to the many of you that have commented on our last update and assured us of your prayers for everything from the weather to Milton and his horse to our Believers’ Conference last week. We just wanted to take a minute to update you on how God has answered some of your prayers:

 

·         We just finished up our annual Awa Believers’  Conference on Sunday. Seventy-four Awa showed up, perhaps half of them believers and the other half their relatives and children. Meregildo blessed us with his generous heart in inviting his many unsaved brothers and even his mom and step-dad! We have tried to emphasize for years that the Conference teaching is mainly geared for believers, but Meregildo’s burning desire continues to be for his family to listen to God’s word…so there they were. Our coworker Doug Williams was able to clearly share the Gospel on several occasions, and it seemed that the folks listened. Now is their time to accept or reject….you can pray specifically for Pablo and Francisco (2 of Meregildo’s brothers) and his mom and stepdad, Rosa and Sebastian.

·         God has been working in Milton’s heart during his recent trials. Slowly, Milton is beginning to feel better from the weeks of sickness. (The dr.  suspected amebic liver disease and prescribed a strong medicine and Milton does seem to be slowly recovering.) Kevin had asked Milton to teach the story of Moses and the Israelites coming out of Egypt during Conference. Milton carefully prepared and taught three different sessions. I never knew someone could preach on each plague for 10 minutes or more…but that’s what he did! God really enabled Milton, and he did an excellent job teaching. Everyone seemed to listen carefully, and several other Awa thanked him afterwards for helping to teach. The last afternoon, Milton also taught the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace to everyone (it had been the key story of the kids’ class). Many of the folks had never heard the story, and were anxious to hear how God worked that situation out. We realized that by the end of Conference, Milton had taught more hours than either Kevin or Doug. Wow! We truly see how God is beginning to raise up leaders among the Awa!

·         Doug and Dorcas Williams joined us from Virginia for the Conference, and were a great help, as well as the Shaub family and our Lita coworkers, the Millan and Rosales families. Yesterday we ran into trouble trying to get the Williams back to the Quito airport to fly home….there was a regional strike among the Quichua Indians (over a local health program), and the roads were blocked. Kevin was able to follow some back roads to get them partway, and then turned them over to one of the Liebenzell pastors to finish the journey, and they did make it safely to Quito. The road-blocking strike was a short one, and roads were clearing up by the time Kevin headed home. We again thank the Lord for opening roads before us!

·         The weather seems to have taken a turn for the better! We had prayed for weeks for drier weather for Conference…and we had excellent weather with only light rain at night! Thank the Lord! We don’t know if this is just a few dry days or if we are truly heading into dry season…but we are amazed to see how God controls even those black clouds for His glory.

 

Our next project is receiving Kenny and a work group from our church on March 31^st. We will be working with the group to re-build the front fence on the Lita Awa Center property during the following week. We are now busy making preparations for the group. Yesterday our first delivery of materials (1,500 cement blocks) was delayed by the road strike, as roads between Ibarra and Lita were also closed due to the same demonstrations. We are told the strike is now over, but we would appreciate your prayers that the roads stay open for all the travel needed over the next 10 days.

 

Only because He is able,

Kevin and Kathy

 

Kevin & Kathy Bruce

Liebenzell Mission

Casilla 10-01-692

Ibarra, Imbabura

ECUADOR

+593 9 478-7811

http://brucekev.blogspot.com

 

Kenny & Mammie in NH

Here is Kenny with the snow that greeted him in NH after leaving Ecuador! :-)

Bruce Brief---March

Happy Spring to all! From the news, it sounds like many of you would be quite happy to see an end to the snow and cold…as we are also looking forward to a lessening in our rainy season. This is one year that we are extra grateful to God that He has ordained the seasons…that the earth keeps faithfully on its path around the sun…and that we can trust Him to keep it all going as He wills! So yes…Happy Spring!...I’m sure it’s on the way!

 

TRIAL OF FAITH

About 10 days ago Milton arrived here at our Outpost in tears. He quickly explained that his heavily loaded horse had fallen off the side of the trail just below our house, and a stump had punctured its lungs as it rolled about 15 yards down the steep bank. He cried, telling us…”I’m so sad for my horse, she’s a good little mare and I really care for her. She will surely die now. It’s really my fault since I over-loaded her with naranjilla fruit, so her load was too heavy. I don’t know why God allowed it to happen and I’m really sad. But even though this happened, I’m still wanting to trust in God!” I put my arm around Milton, thinking that he has been through so many trials since the beginning of this year! The weather has been difficult, the rivers hard to cross and the trails deep with mud. He has been sick, suffering from diarrhea, weakness, and dizzy spells that have made it hard to plant and harvest his crops. Several trips to the doctor hadn’t done much to help. His family has put pressure on him to have a traditional Awa ‘curer’ try to help him. But what a blessing it has been to our hearts to see Milton standing firm in these trials. “God knows best and I’m trusting in Him,” we have heard from him many times during these difficult times.

 

It’s been a joy to us to be able to help…a little…but really, to just mostly step back and see God work on Milton’s behalf. I was able to take Milton twice to a good doctor in Ibarra, who did many tests and prescribed some medicine which Milton is taking now. (The tests mostly just showed lots of amoebas.) We pray that the medicine will help, and we’ve tried to help Milton understand the importance of having clean drinking water. He has been gradually feeling a little better and is thankfully giving the Lord the credit. Milton’s horse is still hanging in there as well. The day she fell, Kathy and I hiked down a few hours later, and it seemed that if her lung had been truly punctured, it must have closed itself up. We did a lot of praying, cleaned and sewed the wound, and rounded up the medicine for Milton to inject her with antibiotics and vitamins. (We’re no experts, and while missionaries are supposed to be ready for anything, throwing a horse and sewing it up was a first for us! We weren’t really sure she would recover with our quite dubious efforts.) Eleven days later she is still alive, and Milton says she is eating well and seems to be recovering. That, we surmise, must be God’s hand working on Milton’s behalf! Thanks for your prayers, especially that Milton’s faith will be strengthened and that he will be a good testimony to his family.

 

WISDOM TEETH and TREASURER DUTIES

February 11^th Kathy went to the dentist’s office to get her wisdom teeth out, only to find that our dentist had forgotten to make the necessary arrangements with the surgeon. So…we waited another day and finally got it done late on the 12^th. Thank the Lord that all went well, despite the lack of organization and the surgeon looking like he was too young to know what he was doing! We were thankful for Kenny and Keilah and the Shaubs holding down the fort at the Outpost while we were in Ibarra for almost two weeks, waiting to get the stitches out. Kathy is recovering well, and is quite glad to be able to really eat again!

 

Closing the books for Liebenzell Ecuador for 2007 has taken me quite a bit of time these last two months as well. Fighting with a lack of sunshine…which becomes a lack of electricity and computer time at the Outpost…has tried my patience more than once! I’d appreciate your prayers for wisdom as I try to get that book closed…(it keeps re-opening on me!) and as we iron out the budget for 2008. I am grateful that many of the financial duties have been turned over to a certified Ecuadorian accountant. I am thankful for Gisela’s help as she does much of the work of keeping track of the four Liebenzell churches’ finances, as well as our financial responsibilities before the government.

 

KENNY’S TRAVELS, BELIEVERS’ CONFERENCE, and WORK GROUP

 

Kenny flew to Boston February 27^th, on his way to join a group from our church taking a Friends of Israel tour in Israel this week (March 3-13). He was quite calm about all the travelling…(while his parents were a little less so.) It’s hard to ‘release’ this young man who was (it seems!) a baby just a few years ago!! He’s almost 17 years old, and this trip to Israel is a dream come true for him. We pray that the Lord will do much in his heart this week as he tours the Holy Land.

 

Next on the agenda is the annual Awa believers’ conference, coming up March 20^th to 23^rd. Our theme verse this year is “Studying the Word of God”. Our desire is to see the believers studying and taking God’s Word to heart. We’ll do an overview of the New Testament with some interactive Bible drills, memorize 2 Timothy 2:15, and study some portions from Ephesians among other activities during the conference. We are thankful for much help and participation this year in the form of our new coworkers the Shaub family, the Rosales and Millan families at Lita, Doug and Dorcas Williams flying in from Virginia, and several of the believers who will be taking a part in the teaching!

 

March 31^st will find us meeting a group from our home church (Grace Community E Free Church in New Hampshire) who are coming to help out with a fencing project at the Awa Center in Lita.  We are excitedly making plans to receive them and put them right to work! It’s a blessing to us to have such whole-hearted support—in prayer, finances, and even workload!—from our churches.

 

In Christ,

Kevin & Kathy Bruce

Liebenzell Mission

Casilla 10-01-692

Ibarra, Imbabura

ECUADOR

+593 9 478-7811

http://brucekev.blogspot.com

 

 

Picture of Kevin with Wilso

Bruce Brief - Jan/Feb

JANUARY'S OVER

In many ways, January was a somber month for us. We are right at the height of rainy season, and have passed many days with dark skies overhead, along with the rain and fog. It’s a big event to catch a glimpse of sunshine! The trails are muddy, slippery, and tiring. Hiking up to the Outpost with full backpacks has become a real challenge, with each step forward at times seeming like a small victory. (We hear that this is a result of 'El Nino', the weather trend, which is causing flooding in many parts of Ecuador. Perhaps it's a bit of a consolation to know that it has a name!) Also, last week, one of our little goats died, after being sick just two days, making us feel even gloomier. Even the Awa are feeling subdued, especially since there is also much sickness going around. The local ‘curers’ have been busy seeking to cure those who are sick, especially if a trip to the local town medical doctor doesn’t seem to help. Then, also this month, our young friend Wilso (just a little older than our Kenny) committed suicide, casting a dark shadow on the whole Rio Verde community.

 

WILSO'S STORY

Wilso committed suicide late on January 3^rd, by the Rio Verde River, in the dark and in the rain. He had been suffering for a couple of months with what the Awa called a ‘spirit’ sickness. His family had tried to help him, spending much money on town doctors, witchdoctor curers, and even taking him to the hospital in Ibarra. Nothing seemed to help, and Wilso decided to end his own suffering by drinking poison on that dark afternoon. His body was found by his cousins the next morning, starting a cycle of sadness and darkness in Rio Verde.

 

Wilso’s death was hard for us to take. Several years ago we had taken care of him when he was hospitalized for an infection of his gall bladder, and again a year later when he had another attack. During this time Wilso’s attention was caught by a picture Bible storybook we had, and he spent hours reading and listening to it. “This is so good, God’s Word is so good!” he exclaimed many times. (He eventually saved up his money and bought his own.) Then there was the  day that Wilso heard our co-worker Doug teach about Jesus being the Good Shepherd. After the lesson, I remember Wilso going up to the front and fingering the little fuzzy flannelgraph sheep that had been lost. “I want Jesus to take care of me like that,” Wilso said that day.

 

We are still putting together the pieces of what happened over the last two years. Evidently his parents forbid him to come to our Sunday teaching here in Rio Verde. We invited him many times, and were somewhat puzzled as to why he didn’t show up. Milton, one of the believers, was also faithful to talk with Wilso about the Lord. Milton tells us that last year Wilso had said to him, “Yes, I’m really wanting to follow God’s path!”

 

Then about six months ago, we noticed a change. The believers told us that Wilso was drinking and living just like the other Awa boys. One day Kevin met Wilso on the trail and asked him what he was thinking about God. "Yes, I used to want to follow, but now alot of people are telling me God's way is not good, so I'm not sure anymore. And my family doesn't really like me to go to hear the Bible teaching." To Milton, another day, Wilso said, "Oh, God, He's worth nothing." Then came the time of 'spirit sickness'. We prayed for Wilso all during December, and Kevin talked to him two more times--once during his 'spirit curing' days and then again, a few days later. Kevin was able to remind him that God is greater than the spirits or the sickenss he was experiencing, although Wilso didn't really respond. But in a note Wilso left behind, he told his family, "It's better if I go to live with Jesus in Heaven."

 

The believers have asked us many times where Wilso's spirit is now. Our honest answer has been, "Only God knows."

 

GOD'S COMFORT

And in that we find our 'LIGHT' on the dark and cloudy days. God knows, He cares, He understands our heartaches. "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,.." says Isaiah 53. The phrase "carried our sorrows..." has been a special comfort to us as we remember Wilso.

 

PRAISES and PRAYER

We do have much to thank the Lord for right in the middle of the rain!

• Our new coworkers (and family) the Shaubs are well settled in!
• Kevin and Andy Shaub had a safe trip to Colombia for a week-long conference on tribal work.
• Rainy season, in all its splendor, does end! And we have a good dry roof over our heads here at the Outpost!
• We started up the literacy course again January 19th, and just finished our second weekend with the students.
• We have finally moved our city belongings over to the new house in Ibarra, PTL! Getting the finishing touches on the house was rather a headache, as we made many trips back and forth encouraging the workers to finish up the different projects. We do have yet to do the paperwork, and get the title deed.
• We'd like to ask your prayers for Milton, our Awa friend and neighbor. He has been sick for a couple of weeks now. His family brought him a 'curer' one day, but Milton refused to participate with the fellow. Several trips to the doctor haven't brought much help, however, and it's been a discouraging time for Milton. We do thank the Lord for the maturity He is working out in Milton's life during this time, and also for the chances Kevin has had to really encourage him.
• Kathy would appreciate your prayers as she gets to rejoice in getting all four of her wisdom teeth out next week (Monday the 11th). No fun!

 

In Christ,

Kevin & Kathy Bruce

 

Dedication day

Hi all,

Here are a few pictures of the child dedication we had this Sunday in Rio Verde! There were 55 of us for a fun Sunday together.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/brucekev/20071230ChildDedicationInRioVerde?authkey=n5iwUICtDgY

 

In Christ,

Kevin