Pictures from Conference

Here is a link to pictures from our 17th annual conference with the Awa.

Floor and walls!

The worship center (church/carport) :-) is now sporting a brand-new floor and walls! We had a great time with the team from Grace Community EFC (Spofford, NH) who came down to work with us on the project. Several different Awa joined us each day, but none could match Milton's excitement (and patience!) in working with us. During the week, we had a mix of sun and rain and MUD, making for a slippery slide from our house to the church building, but we were thankful to be able to get all of the materials up our hill when we needed them!

Now preparations are in full swing for the annual Awa Believers' Conference on Easter weekend. Last Friday we had a church workday with over 20 of the believers chopping and carrying firewood and hauling extra boards for making more benches. After a long discussion with the group, a decision was made to have a pig delivered (on the hoof) for butchering at the beginning of Conference, as well as to visit the local fishery for buying 40-50 fish for Sunday's main meal. Each of the believers will donate a few dollars to help pay for the cost of the meat---for the Awa, a generous helping of meat is what puts smiles on everyone's face! More seriously, our theme this year is "Pakaish pakaish kal mijmanpa" /For each one having work(gifts)/, taken from 1 Corinthians 12:11. We'll talk about how God has given spiritual gifts to each believer for the purpose of building each other up as a church body. Our hope is that each of the Awa will see more clearly how they can be involved and what part they play, especially as we consider the months that we will be gone this coming year. Anyhow, we'd greatly appreciate your prayers for the finishing up of the preparations and for the days of Conference (April 18-20); and for strength for Kathy and I and the Shaubs for all that needs to be done.

Road progress: The government has continued to promise a road from RV to the Palm community. The land surveyor is here, and the surrounding communities are clearing the strip of land where the road will continue on. The promised tractor was supposed to show up this week, but hasn't arrived yet. While we too are happy to see the road progress, we are praying that the equipment gets here soon so that it will be well past us when we start the meetings...or that the Lord will work something out so that the Conference won't be interrupted by a roaring tractor or bulldozer at our doorstep! :-)

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

<for a printable version click here>

Construction time

It's easy to see that it's construction time here in Rio Verde--bags of cement, piles of sand and gravel, and cement blocks are piled in various places in the yard. Adding to the chaos, rainy season is at its height, often dropping  an inch or two of rain each afternoon and evening.  We are thankful that we have the pick-up truck for bringing up the supplies, and that we've been able to get each load up our muddy hill and driveway! When we first built here almost 8 years ago, we built everything with wood, as we needed to use materials that were locally available. Now, with the road coming right up to the houses, it's nice to be able to replace some of the rotting wood with cement. Over the last few weeks, Kevin and our visiting cousin Daniel have replaced the laundry scrubbing table where we wash our clothes, and are now replacing the water room (for showers and sink) on the other side of the duplex house. It's been quite a bit of work, always more than we estimate at first!

These small projects are preparation for putting a floor in the new church/carport building in March. A small team from our home church is coming March 10-18th in order to help with this project. We'd appreciate your prayers for the project, especially that we'd be able to get supplies up the muddy, slippery hill just below our houses. We'll need a couple of dump truck loads of material for this project, as it's more than our little truck can handle. If we can't get the big truck up to the top of the hill, we'll have to haul the materials up a little at a time. Our pick-up might also appreciate your prayers---not only is she working hard, hauling loads up, but these last few weeks we've been called upon to pull several other trucks up another steep hill behind us, coming up from the Lita River. :-)

As we try to stay sane :-) amidst the chaos of construction, the ministry continues---I started teaching Hebrews to the church in RV this last Sunday. I've enjoyed studying this book in more depth as I prepare the lessons! We've continued with the adult literacy classes on Friday---chaotic days for us because we often have so many more kids than adults students (one mom sometimes arrives with 6 children!) I've also recently made several trips to P. Community to help with a variety of projects there, and find the interaction with the folks there to be a good way to open the door for friendships and further opportunities. We pray the Lord will begin to prepare many hearts for following Him. Pray also for Paulino, along with Guillermo and Teacher Andrew, who are the main leaders there among the 50 or so families that make up this community.

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

for a printable version click here

cool bugs :-)

 That is a normal size banana!

Fancy moth all dressed up for a night out chasing the lights!

Happy New Year from the Bruce family!

We wish you a happy holiday season! All that snow that’s dumping down on the eastern USA sure makes it look like it’s Christmas-time! We don’t exactly have any snow, or even cold weather, but we are getting into the heavy part of rainy season, and often wake up to a ‘white’ world of clouds and fog! It’s not quite the same...but it does make us appreciate our morning cup of coffee!

December 29th about 70 of us gathered for the first time in our new church building in Rio Verde! Actually, the building started out to just be a roof to park the two trucks under….but somewhere along the way it turned into our new meeting area, mostly because we are just outgrowing our porch, where we normally meet. :-)  We’ve been slowly working on the construction over the last few months. It was a lot of work to pour the cement columns by hand, one at a time, but several of our Awa friends came to help at different times. Milton donated the wood for the roof framework, cutting it by chainsaw down by his house, and one Saturday a large group of Awa friends came for a workday to haul it up to our location. Somewhere along the way, Paulino told us that his family had decided to donate the immediate land around our houses to the church. So now the little fledgling church in Rio Verde has land and a building! Even six months ago we didn’t see that one coming…we give thanks to our amazing God for His provision!

For a quick family update: KEILAH just arrived in Quito for a 3-week Christmas visit. We are so glad to have her here! She flies back to Wisconsin in early January for her senior semester at NTBI. It’s hard to believe she will be graduating in May! I know she would appreciate prayers for the Lord’s guidance for her future after graduation. At this point she plans to continue her college studies, but isn’t sure where. KENNY is in the middle of his junior year at Liberty University. He is especially enjoying having his own apartment off-campus this year, even though it means a few more bills to pay. He is working part-time for the University at their HelpDesk, giving technical help, a job that he enjoys. He spent a few days over Christmas break with his girlfriend Hannah and her family in Wisconsin. Hannah’s family is still grieving the loss of her brother Benjamin from cancer in October (although they consider it a gain for Benjamin himself and rejoice that he is in the Lord’s presence now!) KIMBERLY is in the middle of her sophomore year of highschool here in Ecuador with us. She loves her cat and her bunnies, and is an indispensable help to us as she cooks, cleans, washes all our clothes by hand, and often holds down the fort while Kathy and I are elsewhere. We are thankful we still have Kimberly for several more years before she, too, will head off for college!

KATHY and I continue to thank the Lord for another year of His grace in our lives. We are thankful for His provision through many of you, our friends, and for the opportunity to participate in a small way in building His church here in this corner of the world. We are certainly blessed!

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

<for a printable version click here>

Merry Christmas!

RV Medio outreach!

On Friday we gathered with several of the believers from the church here to present a Christmas program in the community of Middle Rio Verde, about an hour’s hike uphill from the bridge crossing the Rio Verde river. We thank the Lord for strength and energy, good weather, and for the large group that received us warmly! It was a joy to be able to talk about Jesus’ birth to this needy group. Kevin and Paulino each shared, reminding the folks that God’s word is really important, and worth listening to. Milton told the story of Jesus’ birth. We invited those who were interested to let us know if they would like to hear more teaching. Pray with us that God would open up at least one home in this community where we would be welcome to go to teach regularly!

We often tell folks that the Awa don’t live in villages, but rather scattered out in the mountains. This month we feel like we ARE the village, as we have been surrounded by Awa full-time, for several different reasons. Paulino’s daughter Sandra has been staying here for the last month as she waited for her 2nd baby to be born (the little girl was born in the wee hours on Dec 4th---Kathy and her sister Chrissy got called into the birthing room to help out, as the ‘partero’, baby-deliverer man, felt like things weren’t going well. It was quite the experience as they learned more about Awa birthing customs, especially when the baby didn’t breathe right away! Thankfully all ended up well and the baby is now doing fine.) Of course, many of Sandra’s siblings and relatives took turns staying with her. Many others have also showed up for other help, some spending the night and eating meals with us. Some days we have felt a bit weary, being ‘on call’ from dawn to dark, but at the same time we are so thankful for the many opportunities to share God’s love both in action and in word. We are seeing God at work in many different lives. Anyhow, we’d appreciate your prayers for strength and stamina!

One of those who has been hanging out here quite a bit is Teacher Andrew. Last year we asked for prayer for him, as he has been listening to the teaching each month in P. Community. Andrew had asked us to help him with a thesis paper for his teaching degree. The first day he came, he asked if we could also use the opportunity to teach him more about God. “The community has been grumbling that I am bad, because I’ve argued with different folks. I realize that I lack character. Since you follow God, I think you could teach me about having character,” he told Kevin. We were a bit amazed, as this is probably one of the best opportunities we have had in many years to clearly teach the Word of God. Since then, we have talked for hours, sometimes going through Bible lessons, other times just answering his questions about God. When I shared the gospel with him, Andrew quickly agreed, at least in theory. Please pray with us that his understanding will make it from his ‘head’ to his ‘heart’!

We wish each one of you a merry Christmas season! May you rejoice with us in remembering God’s gift to us!

In HIS grip,
Kevin & Kathy

<for a printable version click here>