July 2013 update

Part of the work here includes much rejoicing in seeing hearts softening towards the Lord, while at the same time sorrowing when we see other hearts seeming to harden and move away from Him. We thank you for joining with us in praying that many will respond to His call by desiring to listen to the Bible teaching. Understanding the Gospel is often a slow process for the Awa, as they have very little concept of who God is to start with. As they begin to listen, there is much to think on! Recently Carlos and his wife Maria have shown a beginning interest in joining us on Sundays, along with their 3 youngest kids. Maria is very talkative, and especially seems to enjoy the kids’ lesson that Milton teaches. As he teaches, she interacts by repeating phrases, making comments, doing her best to follow along. We have also seen some changes in the teacher from Paulino’s community, Andrew, and his family. They are faithful attendees when we teach in their community, and are following the OT lessons with great fascination (on our last trip up there Kevin taught about Moses and the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea).

The government has been installing computers in each of the community schools, bringing modern technology to the Awa. However, there are very few who know how to use the computers (although we’ve noticed that, as in every culture, there are teenage boys on hand, just hankering to get those machines figured out!) Kevin has been asked by three Awa communities to teach them how to make use of these computers in the schools—a task he thoroughly enjoys! We pray that helping in this way will help to open new doors in the future to be able to share the ‘bigger’ reason that we are here. We’ve made two trips to a new community in the last few weeks—a community we had not felt welcome in before.

In the last month a situation arose in which one of the believers owed another believer a large sum of money. (We’ll call them Hector and Victor.)  Victor had been planning to sell Hector a piece of land, but the deal fell thru when his grown children changed their minds and decided that the land shouldn’t leave their family. Our hearts were fearful that this situation could cause a huge tear in the fellowship of the believers, as many were taking sides and beginning to talk negatively. On two occasions Hector travelled many hours to meet with Victor and clear up the issue, but Victor didn’t show up. Two Sundays ago we sat with Hector with heavy hearts, as it seemed that no progress was being made. At the same time Hector shared with us that he had been tempted to make a big fuss in the community, talking about the problem Victor had caused him. But because Victor is a brother in Christ, Hector said he realized that he didn’t want to try to settle the problem in that way, but to rather work it out in good fellowship, the way that God’s Word teaches. Our hearts were blessed by his Godly attitude, especially when he stands to lose so much in an economic sense. This past Sunday, Hector and Victor both came to the Sunday service, and were able to talk about the issue calmly, and Victor returned about one-third of the funds that he owed, while promising to continue to return the remaining funds as he is able. Kathy and I were gone to Palm community to teach (but praying!) and were so thankful to hear this good news from Andy and Chrissy when we returned. Andy said he mostly just sat and listened while the believers openly talked and worked out the issue! We were so thrilled to see the believers putting what they have learned into practice in a difficult situation. Amen…the Lord is able!!

Thankful hearts…
• The Lord gave us 3 excellent days with our friends Shelia, Dr. Tim, Dr. Kim, and the rest of the medical caravan folks. We were able to see over 400 Awa from at least seven different communities. Milton and Paulino had chosen the story of Jonah to teach to the waiting crowd, and Kevin took turns with the two of them teaching those who gathered around. The Awa thoroughly enjoyed the teaching, making comments and repeating key phrases---at times it was hard to pull them away when it was their turn in the doctor’s office! Since then we have heard many comments that the medical help was greatly appreciated (especially the parasite medicine!)
• Due to someone dropping out, Kenny was able to go back to work at Liberty U. 5 days/week over the summer at the IT Help-Desk position---a job he thoroughly enjoys; while still working weekends at J.Crew. He was glad to get a couple of days off for July 4th! Keilah and Kimberly are doing well at camp in Missouri—there are pictures posted on Facebook at Whispering Winds Bible Camp if you are interested in checking them out!

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

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Do your eyes cry for the lost?

Some random shots from the recent Medical Caravan in Rio Verde!

The free haircuts were a big hit! 

 Paulino sharing using an EvangeCube

The dentist worked very hard, and was very patient with the scared children!

Milton teaching the story of Jonah to a crowd in the "waiting room" :-)

Kathy directing with a smile the people to the right doctor room

time laps video in RV

June 2013

We thoroughly enjoyed our daughter Keilah’s two week visit! She arrived one day late on May 18th (a delayed flight left her staying overnight in Atlanta) AND without her suitcases (she got them a week later)….but we still managed to sneak in a few days at the beach, a week in the mountains, and even a day shopping at the Quichua market in Otavalo. Keilah just finished her first year at Bible School (NTBI) in Wisconsin, and is looking forward to going back in early August. On Monday we dropped Keilah, Kimberly, and cousin, Elena Shaub off at the airport to fly to Missouri to work at Whispering Winds Bible Camp for the summer. This will be Keilah’s fourth summer at the camp, and Kimberly’s first. WWBC has been a great place for the girls to work hard, serve the Lord, learn new skills, and also broaden their USA experience. We are already missing the girls---our house is sure quiet with just the two of us! (If you are interested to read either or both of their camp letters, click on their picture to download it. Keilah especially is seeking to raise some support to help her pay for her initial fees for NTBI for the fall semester, as the camp doesn’t pay her a salary, but only matches funds that come in her name. If you are interested in supporting either of the girls, checks should be made out to Bible Impact Ministries, and should mention Keilah or Kimberly's name in the memo; and sent to Whispering Winds Bible Camp - POBox 9 - St. James, MO 65559-0009. Thanks!)

The rains continued right through the month of May. We are thankful for the Lord’s protection and provision for an open road when we have needed to travel. Last week we heard the sad news that a local Ecuadorian fellow had died while trying to go across a landslide in the dark and rain. Apparently a mudslide or flashflood carried him and his motorcycle down into a swollen creek. The local folks are still looking to determine if he had a passenger with him or not. On Sunday Milton reminded the other believers that God holds our lives in His hands, and we can trust Him to protect us until He calls us home to be with Him forever. Normally such occasions fill the Awa’s hearts with fear—so it was a blessing to see these small seeds of faith growing in their hearts!

Thanks for praying for the meeting in Palmira! On Sunday I was able again to teach there to a group of about 20 Awa. Paulino had (on his own initiative) asked the teachers for permission to meet in the school building, and we stayed in the downstairs area, carefully sweeping and arranging the desks when we finished. This is just a temporary reprieve, however, so conversations continue about building our own church building. Pray for Paulino and the other believers to have clear minds as they think thru this issue—the church will be much more effective if it stems out of their own desire and initiative! The community had allotted one tract of ground for an evangelical church, and another tract for a future Catholic church, but Paulino told me that recently the tract for our church was taken back and is no longer available. “But I’ll give some of my own land for a church if needed!” Paulino assured me.

On June 21st we will say goodbye to our coworkers German and LuzMarina Millan, who have staffed our Lita camp property for the last seven years. They are returning to a church ministry in their native Colombia in order to be closer to their daughters and to medical help for LuzMarina, as she struggles with several health issues. A big prayer request is for new staff for the Lita camp—and for future direction for how to best use this beautiful property. In the past it functioned as our Awa Center, but the local road has greatly lessened the need for hospitality for the Awa. In recent years the property has been used more as a camp retreat center for the national churches. For the moment we have hired a short-term caretaker family to watch the property, but if you know of someone who might be interested in such a ministry, we are looking for applicants! Being ministry-minded, having some experience with Latin culture, and knowing Spanish would be several key qualifications.

Prayer requests:
---Kathy has been asked to speak at a ladies’ one-day retreat in Ibarra on June 15th. She’d appreciate your prayers as she prepares to speak on the topic of being beautiful in God’s eyes.
---Our friends from Kentucky will be here mid-June for the annual medical caravan. We’d appreciate your prayers for these three days as we seek to work with the local government health system to provide good help for the Awa.
---We are thankful for God’s provision for Kenny--he is settled into his summer apartment in Virginia, and is now busily gathering furniture and kitchen items so that he and his roommates can eat something other than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. ? Although he didn’t get the summer internship job he hoped for, the Lord has provided him a job at J.Crew which he will begin soon.

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

<CLICK HERE FOR PRINT COPY>

Roadblocks and Toothy Cows

The nice dry weather the Lord provided for the Awa conference lasted a few more days and then the rains came in earnest! In April it rained just under 18 inches, with most of that falling in the last two weeks.  This deluge, of course, has taken its toll on the road in landslides and mud. Yesterday I helped our neighbor take some of his fruit a couple of kilometers to a big landslide blocking our road. He needed to cross over two landslides to a truck waiting on the other side. We are confident that the town tractor will be up before too long to clear them out, but it does make our travel plans a bit unpredictable these days, and is definitely another area to trust in our Sovereign Lord!

Ximena helping Kathy clean up after a Sunday in Palmira

Sometimes the Lord allows things to happen in the ministry, too, that we might consider ‘roadblocks’. Just this week Paulino came down and canceled our trip to Palmira to teach. He mentioned various reasons, but perhaps the biggest was an issue with the building where we’ve been meeting. Originally the community’s ‘common’ building, it has slowly been taken over as classrooms for the school. The head school teacher has been complaining about the problems of having other meetings held in the building, and the dirty mess they leave behind.  Paulino’s wife Manuela recently attended a parent-teacher meeting where the teacher again complained about this problem, which made her feel uncomfortable about continuing to use the building for our church gatherings. While most folks certainly do leave the meeting room a mess, we are always careful to leave it cleaner than when we arrived.

We tend to see this situation through our ‘individualistic’ cultural glasses, and consequently think, ‘We are not the problem, so what is the big deal – we’ll be an exception. We just need to talk to the director and then be able to keep meeting there.’ Recently Kathy was reading in the book When Helping Hurts by Corbett & Fikkert, and was reminded of the need to see the situation through the Awa ‘collectivist’ cultural glasses. Here is a quote from the book on the contrast of the two viewpoints: “…Collectivist cultures, on the other hand, minimize individual identity and focus on the well-being of the group. Loyalty to and self-sacrifice for the sake of the other group members are seen as virtuous. People in collectivist cultures have extremely deep bonds with the various groups of which they are a part…” (pg 164) We realize that it is supremely important to Paulino and Manuela to be a blessing to their community, and not to cause problems with the school teachers.

How is the Lord going to use this situation? How are we going to move ahead with the outreach to that community? What will bring the Lord the most glory in this situation? These are just some of the questions we are wrestling with in partnership with our Awa brothers and sisters. Actually, Kathy and I are a bit excited as we face this dilemma, as Paulino and several other believers have been mentioning for some time that we ought to have our own church building. Maybe this current problem will be the impetus needed to move from this being just an idea to a reality. Please pray for these ‘roadblocks’ and ‘landslides’ in the path of the ministry here.  We are confident that together as His local body we will be able to soon ‘clear out’ a way, but it does make our plans a bit unpredictable at times, and is just another area to trust in our Sovereign Lord!

On the adventure side of news here at the Outpost, Kathy and I had a scary experience on a dark and foggy night… (drum roll, please…) …the attack of the toothy cow!* Two weeks ago, on a dark and rainy night, Kathy went out to empty some garbage onto our compost pile in the garden. It is only about 10 or 12 steps off our porch to the garden gate, and Kathy only made it half-way when, something big came charging out of the fog, hit her and sent her flying, and then ran off. Startled (to say the least), she screamed and hollered (quite loudly, actually!), so I came dashing out to find her lying in the mud puzzling over what had just happened. After helping her up and making sure she was alright, I went back for a flashlight to go find out what it was. I had just begun to search for tracks to see if it was a cow or a horse or what, when Kimberly yelled out, ‘There it is!’ As I looked up, a big cow (bull?) came crashing through a blue hydrangea bush just a few feet away straight towards me!

Showing off the aftermath of the toothy cow attack

The unfriendly animal, obviously holding some large grudge against humans, shoved me into the side of the house, where I slipped and fell. I scrambled to roll under the low edge of the house to avoid being trampled (evidently I was mostly successful---only one big bruise in the shape of a hoof-mark appeared the next day!) All the while Kathy was screaming (again)...in the dark she was quite sure it was killing me. :-) It finally ran out behind our garden where I was able to scare it away with a blast from a shotgun.  Although we’ve all been a bit skittish about going to the outhouse at night, we are thankful that we suffered no more than a few bruises and sore muscles, and that the ‘toothy cow’ didn’t have horns! The story made for a lot of laughs among the Awa, and we could even laugh about it after it happened, so we thought you would enjoy the re-telling. :-)

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

*Illustration & name from one of our favorite children’s books by Andrew Peterson: wingfeathersaga.com

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16th Conference!

Greetings from the Outpost! Thanks to all of those who prayed for the Believers’ Conference! This year was the 16th year we have gotten together for three days of Bible teaching, meals and fun on Easter weekend with our Awa brothers and sisters. The picture below is of those brave enough to pose on the last day. :-)

We saw the Lord answer many prayers this year! The elders took an active role in planning, preparing, and teaching during the conference. Paulino helped in teaching the meaning of the colors of the ‘wordless book’ which we made in the form of a cross, and Milton taught about the death and resurrection of Christ. Before the Conference, Milton worked diligently to prepare the ‘outdoor’ kitchen area by sawing the boards needed and enclosing it with a floor, walls, and gate (to keep the dogs out), as well as benches and shelves. It was a special blessing to see Milton’s wife, Delia, take charge of cooking the lunches each day. This is a difficult responsibility in the Awa culture as it opens one up to the possibility of much criticism if the food doesn’t taste good, or if there isn’t enough to go around. Other ladies pitched in, but she carried the load of responsibility. The last day when Delia was feeling tired and discouraged, Milton encouraged her that she was doing the Lord’s work, not just being a cook! We were amazed to see her happy smile later on as she finished up! Seeing her being such a servant is an answer to our prayers that she would become a Godly help-mate for Milton in the ministry. It truly felt like we had new co-workers!

Kevin also taught on child-rearing and marriage.  We had some great discussions as several folks shared about family problems they were facing, and we talked together on how to apply the teaching in God’s word to their lives. Milton and Paulino were also able to share practical help from what God has taught them over the years in their own homes. We were also encouraged to see several new Awa stand to associate themselves with the believers—Ramiro, Jaime, Fermin and his wife Ana, and Manuel’s wife Maria. (With the Awa, spoken testimonies take many years to form—so going forward to take Communion with the believers is often the first step we see the new believers take. They don’t do it lightly!)

Another cool answer to prayer was the weather. For several weeks before, the rains had been heavy with little sunshine. We had a tractor come to clear and level an area for the tent, but the ground was a soggy mess.  Thank the Lord He sent us beautiful sunny weather a few days before conference to dry things out, and then continually during the three days as well. The nights were even bright with the full moon! We praise the Lord for His grace and mercy shown to us in this and many other ways!

We do truly appreciate your prayers. The two weeks before the conference were crazy (as usual). Our friend José finally managed to find time to put tile on the lower outside walls of our Ibarra apartment – a project we’d been talking about for several months.  Kimberly and her cousin Elena both got their wisdom teeth taken out.  Both of those things meant several extra trips and days in Ibarra, when we really wanted to be here in the mountains preparing. Here at the Outpost there were some bad colds going around among the Awa, some disagreements arose, money was tight among the believers for paying for the pig, and Meregildo was facing some heavy discouragement on several fronts. Kathy and I struggled to find adequate time to prepare the teaching for the sessions. But it was a blessing to us to see the Lord resolve each issue, one by one. In the end, the pig was fully paid for, we were ready for teaching, the disagreements were resolved, and Meregildo’s smile returned. We did miss Humberto and family, as they were not able to attend because of much sickness in their family.

Thanks for taking part in the work here! We pray that you also will rejoice with us in seeing the Lord’s grace at work.

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

<for a printable version click here>

PS: Here is a link to the Shaub's blog for their report and pictures