Bruce Brief - latest news

Agustin, Salvador, and Mesias
The last few weeks have been marked by many visits to the hospital for us here in Ecuador. Two different older Awa fellows, Salvador and Agustin, were both hospitalized in Ibarra. Agustin had an intestinal perforation, and was in much pain; Salvador had collapsed while fumigating his fruit plants and was carried out unconscious. Salvador is both Paulino and Milton’s father-in-law, so it seemed that most of the Awa believers in this area ended up involved in the hospital care. The Lord gave us many opportunities to help, as the whole city hospital scene is a bit complicated for these mountain people. We, along with Paulino and Milton, had many opportunities to share God’s word and pray both with the sick fellows and their families. Agustin, although still weak, was sent home last week; and Salvador gradually regained consciousness after about 8 days of being in intensive care. His family thought he was as good as dead—so to see him on the road to recovery is truly an answer to prayer! We feel like God is giving these two men another chance to come to know Him before they die.

At Lita this week, the first summer youth camp is nearing its finish. This year the joy of camp is tempered with the loss of Mesias, a young Ecuadorian fellow who died just two weeks ago after a fall while helping to paint the Lita facilities. His death took us all by surprise…the painting had been done with scaffolding and safety harnesses for all the higher walls, and when I passed by the morning of July 13th, I rejoiced to see the project was being finished up and the property looking great with its fresh coat of paint. Just a few short hours later, Mesias was in the presence of the Lord. He had fallen from a step ladder after handing up a bucket of paint to someone higher up. Mesias comes from the Liebenzell church in Ibarra, Puente de Amor, and had recently turned in his written testimony as part of a Sunday school assignment. In his testimony, he shared how he had fallen into sin several times since his salvation, and how he had experienced God’s amazing love and forgiveness each time. He also clearly shared his confidence that at his death he knew he would be with the Lord. When his testimony was read at his memorial service, his sister stood up and asked if someone would please help her to understand, as she wanted what her brother Mesias had. The remainder of Mesias’ family, all Catholic, has been touched by his clear testimony as well, and we are amazed to see God turning such a tragic accident into a blessing.

We thank those of you who joined us in prayer for these folks. We have seen the hand of God in so many ways! (If you are interested in getting our prayer requests you should make sure you are signed up for our newsletters with the form on the left. Also be sure to select the boxes showing your interests!)
Family News
Keilah is back with us after an ‘awesome!!’ summer at Whispering Winds Bible Camp in Missouri. There was a little complication with their tickets, and she and cousin Laura Shaub actually made it here a day later than was planned. But we are glad to see the Lord’s faithfulness to her, both in travelling safety and the grace and maturity God is weaving into the fabric of her life. She and sister Kimberly are looking forward to being at Lita youth camp next week. Kenny is still in the midst of his summer at Camp Spofford in New Hampshire, which he tells us has been both stretching and rewarding for him as he works with the campers.

Friends from our home church in New Hampshire, Tim and Sharon Branand, along with their kids Tori, Spencer, and Matthew, will be visiting us this coming week! We have several projects lined up for them to help with, including painting the school buildings in the RV community. Tori is one of Kimberly’s good USA friends, and it’s a special treat to have her and her family visit. The dry season weather has been beautiful, and Kimby hopes to squeeze in at least one good river trip while they are here!

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

Prayer Requests

Click the following link to some recent prayer requests!
PRAYER UPDATE
Thanks,
Kevin & Kathy

Baby Steps

Baby steps for the Awa church

Here in the mountains of Ecuador, a small church is being born! It’s been 20 years and several missionary families in the making, but at last we are seeing this small band of believers begin to stand on their own. In April we rejoiced to ordain Paulino and Milton as the first elders. They are both taking the initiative to help teach and disciple and reach out in their communities. It’s exciting to see them putting into action what they are learning from God’s Word. This month, on their initiative, they have started an offering. Paulino and Milton had both expressed a desire to be able to help sick people in the valley here, and felt like it was time to begin a cash offering to be able to help with such needs. (They’ve all been giving food and help in other ways for several years.) The offering was a new concept to many of the other Awa, and there were some differing opinions. One Sunday M. voiced some of his concerns, one being that he didn’t always have much money. Paulino’s response was gentle but clear: “Brother, when the day comes that God calls me to Heaven, I won’t take any of it with me. Not my house, my land, my cows or horses, or my money. All of what I have is just loaned to me for now. It all really belongs to God! Now if God happens to allow me to have $5,000, then I can give a lot to Him, like $1000. But if He just gives me a little, I can’t give as much. It’s okay, He knows what I have. And it’s all His anyhow!”

We’d appreciate your prayers to know when to come alongside and encourage the believers, and when to let them take the initiative. Milton is beginning to take over more of the teaching opportunities, and Paulino is considering the possibilities for beginning to teach in his community, further interior. Many Awa are coming to the believers to ask for counsel and help. Pray for courage and strength for the many open doors and challenges before this small church.

Family news….Twenty-two years and still holding hands

Today we celebrate our 22nd anniversary, and we thank the Lord for His grace in both bringing us together and giving us these years together. While we were engaged, we were teased for holding hands constantly…and years later, by His mercy, we are still holding tight! Amen. We feel supremely blessed for the joy of serving Him together, not just as a couple, but as a family.

Kenny graduated with honors in May from his 2 years at New Tribes Bible Institute in Wisconsin. It was a blessing for me (Kevin), as well as Keilah and our niece Laura, to attend his graduation, especially since Keilah and Laura hope to attend there in another year. Kenny will spend the rest of his summer working at Camp Spofford in New Hampshire, before heading off to study at Liberty University in Virginia this fall. Keilah is spending the summer working at Whispering Winds Bible Camp in Missouri. According to her emails she is enjoying every minute of her time there! Kimberly has been the only one at home this summer. While being an only child brings its share of perks, she has discovered that it also means suffering with more chores. Ha! She has recently dusted off our sewing machine and spent many hours sewing clothes out of old sheets. At 13, this has been her year to grow, and she has officially passed her mom up now!

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

In HIS grip,

Kevin & Kathy

For a printable copy click here

Keilah's Camp Letter

Dear friend,

I'm Keilah Bruce, and most of you will know me as the daughter of missionaries Kevin and Kathy Bruce. I've grown up in Ecuador, as you might know, and last summer I was able to go to a camp in the US. I had a really great time there, working for several weeks and then experiencing one week as a camper. Some of my favorite activities during my time there were swimming in the river, playing paint ball, and serving meals. I also did a lot of cleaning and other outdoor work, like scrubbing the long water slide and washing cars. It was an awesome couple of weeks that stretched me both physically and spiritually, and throughout those exhausting days I made a lot of close friends.

 This summer, before my senior year of highschool, I have the exciting opportunity to return to the camp in Missouri as a Summer Missionary with Bible Impact Ministries. Bible Impact is a ministry targeting children and young people, and it is the organization that runs the camp, Whispering Winds Bible Camp. I'll have chances to work with the children and teenagers going to the camp, and to do a lot of behind the scenes stuff, like cleaning and washing dishes, as well as some of my favorite things from last year. I look forward to being able to return and serve again, and I hope God will use me in a special way this summer.

I have two requests for all of you, the first being: Would you pray for me? I want to have a servant's heart this summer, and I know I'll need God's help to accomplish that. I would also ask that you pray for the camp and the kids that come, that we would be able to reach many kids for the Lord.

Secondly, it's my responsibility as a Summer Missionary to raise my own support and pay my board at Bible Impact. As I'm a volunteer, the camp will not pay me a salary, but I can earn what comes in as contributions after my room and board is paid. Any extra will go in my college fund. I'll be working six weeks, and the camp would like us to receive about 200 dollars a week. If you would like to help with my financial support this summer, both the camp and I would be grateful for whatever you can give.

Thanks for being a part of my summer, and thanks so much for your prayers! May God bless you, and keep you, as He is faithful to do for me!

 Sincerely,

Keilah A. Bruce


PS from Kevin: 
Donations can be sent to:
Whispering Winds Bible Camp
PO Box 9
St. James, MO 65559-0009
Make checks out to camp and include a note mentioning Keilah's name. 

Cockroaches

We live with a certain number of cockroaches in our house here at the Outpost. (Perhaps no-one will ever visit us again, now that I’ve admitted that openly!) Anyhow, living with those roaches brings many challenges. Cover the food. Beware in the morning if you’ve left dirty dishes out overnight. Check your boots before you put them on each day. Tuck the mosquito net in REALLY tightly around your mattress. My family all knows what it means when they hear me give a certain horrified shriek---that’s just Mom finding out that she put on her pants with a roach in them. No big deal. (The rest of them manage just fine without the shrieking.)

Mind you, it’s not that we share our house willingly. We spray poison, which often seems to harm us more than the cockroaches. Kimberly and cousin Lena have had ‘roach sleepovers’ where the purpose for staying up late was to hunt roaches, armed with flashlight and deadly knife. Of course, the 5 cent bounty we put on each dead roach carcass encouraged such sleepovers.

So, we do try. Flyswatters are placed in strategic locations around the house, so that if any poor roach dares to come out of hiding in the daylight, he will at least be properly scared back into invisibility! At times it seems that our efforts are fruitless. The cockroaches live freely outdoors, and should we be so blessed as to kill every single one in our house one day, I’m convinced that in the night a new horde would move in through all the cracks and crevices in our wooden plank floor and walls.

But recently we’ve found a new challenge in sharing our house with the little beasts. When we returned from furlough last year, Kevin rejoiced in the newly installed electricity and bought a beautiful brand-new laser printer. (I bet you can tell where this is going…) While I’m not blessed with a lot of technological know-how, it’s quite apparent that the laser printer uses heat to stick that black powder on the paper, somehow in the correct form of letters and pictures. (I won’t elaborate further, since that’s the extent of my knowledge, anyhow.) Combine that nice warmth with lots of little hiding places, all nicely packaged in a black plastic case, and presto! You’ve got a recipe for a cockroach’s favorite habitation.

The first time one came through the roller, squashed all over the paper….well, it wasn’t a pretty sight, but we could live with it. I mean, one just gathers all the legs and appendages from everywhere, right onto the paper, and wads the whole thing up straight into the trash can. It was when the copies started coming out with a long blank streak that we got more concerned. It didn’t work very well for literacy classes to have one blank streak down the center of the paper. Hand writing in the missing numbers and letters got old really quickly. So we began the investigation, suspicious that the blame lay with those pesky roaches again. Sure enough, two weeks later, we found the problem—a cockroach’s innards had smeared in exactly the wrong place, across the window where the laser shines down on the roller.  Okay, so once found, we fixed that. Of course, during the extensive investigation, in which we did everything the warranty said not to, we managed to knick a little chip in one of the important rollers, so that now each copy comes out with some little funny black spots on it. Sigh. Well, we can live with the black spots, as long as the blank section is now gone!

And so continues our battle with the little scurrying critters. At this point we feel like we are winning. We’ve poisoned the critters, and we’ve figured out the most important places to clean the smears off. Wait, I smell something…what’s that? Oh dear, there’s a really bad smell coming out of the side of the printer….I hope it’s not melting wires or something. No, not the smell of wires melting, …no, it smells more like, wait, that’s definitely the scent of…yep, you got it. Cockroach on the grill!

Here are some pics from the Conference

Awa Conf 2011

Awa Conference 2011!

Thanks for your prayers! This year the conference had a very different feel.  For one, the place was different, as we held it here at the Outpost. The food was different, as it was all planned and cooked by the local believers. Instead of us providing hospitality, the Awa took care of it themselves. In fact some of the visitors from the lowlands stayed in different houses during the three nights up here because of so many wanting them to come and stay with them!  It was a real answer to prayer to see the maturity of the believers as they took ownership and responsibility for the conference to a new level. Wow!

This year Doug and Milton taught through the first part of Daniel, as Doug just recently completed the first draft translation of that important OT book.  Those familiar testimonies of faith and faithfulness—like Daniel in the lions’ den-- were heard for the first time by many that came.  In the afternoons I taught some simple principles of money and debt from a Biblical perspective, as easy credit and loans have become an increasing problem here in these mountains. Paulino led us on Sunday morning as we remembered Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  This was followed by the official recognition of Paulino and Milton as elders among the Awa believers.

Paulino and Milton both demonstrated their leadership in so many ways during the conference. The maturity and wisdom they displayed in the planning was incredible, even in such simple areas as the food. Each morning they discussed with the ladies what should be cooked, and made sure there was what was needed. They organized men to carry water up from the spring. They waited until last to be fed, to make sure there was enough food for all. Milton even helped to serve food one day, a definite ladies’ job! They earnestly taught, admonished, and encouraged their fellow believers. One of the highlights for me was overhearing Milton in deep conversation with Alfonso, Meregildo’s neighbor, about what it means to be saved. As Alfonso expressed his worries (he can’t read, he can’t help getting drunk), Milton patiently encouraged him and reminded him that salvation rests in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Both Alfonso and his wife, along with their adult son (Manuel), all made a public show of their trust in Christ on Sunday.

Ok, I want to get this off, so I’ll close off for now, so you can praise the Lord with us for His wonderful work in the hearts and lives of the Awa people.

In HIS grip,

Kevin & Kathy

 P.S. For you prayer warriors, here are some more specific answers to your prayers!

• ·         Conference supply run:  Both of our trucks were still stuck on this side of the landslides on Wednesday; so along with Porfidio and Cecilia, who came along to help, we hiked over past the landslides and caught a local truck down to Lita, and a bus out to Ibarra. We borrowed the Mission truck to bring the supplies back, and by that evening the road was open, so we only had to carry the heavy load the 10 minutes to our houses.  (The landslide fell again later that night, but then was opened back up again the next day.)
• ·         We had wondered how the hospitality would go, for the Awa coming from afar. Meregildo butchered a calf at his house, left his wife preparing a feast, and hiked over and waited for five hours at the end of the road until the folks arrived. He even loaned his boots out to one girl who arrived in flip-flops, and rode back on his horse, barefoot, holding two of their kids! The huge grin on his face told of his joy in serving them.
• ·         The Lord’s provision in great weather during the whole conference.  There was a noticeable 3-day lull in the heavy rains!
• ·         The Lord’s grace and love in dealing with up to 65 people here at the Outpost! For the most part, the children played cheerfully, without leaving too wide a path of destruction behind them. J The water supply here is tight with so many—but the ladies doing the cooking were real troopers.
• ·         More than sufficient food! (We started off Friday morning butchering a cow out back!) It was a true feast! On Sunday many made the comment that they were going home full!
• ·         Thursday afternoon we heard a huge clap of thunder and soon realized a lightning strike had taken out the electricity for most of the valley. Friday we survived on battery power (for showing the Jesus movie) and were amazed to have it return Friday evening. The electric company had come, hiked up, and fixed it---a real miracle on a holiday weekend! (Kathy says maybe they were angels in hardhats! ;)