September 2025

 

Gold fever!

In the last few years gold mining here in the Andes Mountains has brought in a flood of change to the Awa people in the communities surrounding us. Some have found work in the mining firms; others have gotten involved in small mining operations that are continually being shut down by the military as they are not safe or sanctioned by the government. Chemicals used in the gold mining process have now contaminated the Lita River. Our friend Marco Antonio recently lost his 12 year old son, who drowned in a nearby river when his aunt was taking him along to watch her baby while she panned for gold. While many have been caught up in the hope of earning easy money, the presence of gold seems to have brought more hardship to the land and the people than it has brought blessing. 
 

More precious than gold…

Psalm 19 reminds us that God’s words are way more precious than gold; what a treasure we have been given in His Word! We are thankful to be able to offer this treasure to the Awa. The month of September has our team working extra to prepare portions of Joshua for a consultant check coming up in October. The process includes our coworker Andy first doing a rough translation into Awa, which we then review along with Guillermo, David, and Ramiro, the translation team. The resulting work needs to be checked by three separate Awa individuals (or groups) and back-translated into Spanish in order to check for comprehension and content. Needless to say, there is much work involved, and yet we recognize the value of having God’s precious Word for the Awa in words that they understand. Please join us in prayer for this important work!

 

Running with perseverance…with our eyes fixed on Jesus! (Heb 12:1-2)

August ended up with a special retreat with our Liebenzell Ecuador team. Our former coworkers Doug and Dorcas Williams joined us for the retreat, and we were encouraged by Doug’s teaching on the topic of “perseverance”. The Awa also enjoyed being reunited with Doug and Dorcas after about twelve years and enjoyed hearing Doug share in the Awa language!

As we are reminded in Hebrews chapter 12, please pray for us to not become weary, but to remember Jesus’ example and persevere! (verse 3)

We pray the same for you!

In His grip,

July August 2025

 

Summer Update 2025 (pictures below!) I believe we felt God’s answer to your prayers for us this summer as He carried us through an incredibly full schedule for June, July, and August! We felt His strength in our weariness, and His abundant provision in opening doors for ministry and supplying our needs. Thank you for walking beside us over the last weeks! As Ecuador struggles with a rising rate of crime and security concerns, we are so grateful for the open doors God has granted us here in AwaLand. This summer God allowed us to continue with our youth Saturdays each month, join the local mother’s group for their school year end program, participate in the Palmira high school graduation, and hold VBS programs in two communities…so many good opportunities to share God’s love! Our medical caravan team came in July and two busloads of Awa were able to receive medical help. And Shelia and the medical team worked hard to provide medical training and supplies for our three local medics! The summer VBS programs win the prize for providing the most fun and laughter—our prayer beforehand was that God would give us opportunities to share His love with the children and God abundantly answered that prayer. About 60 children joined us in each community and had fun with our “fish” theme and our big mascot “Freddy”. Our coworkers the Shaubs, summer intern Jada, and the Anderson family added more helping hands; and it was a joy that several Awa moms (and one grandma!) came to help with the small children. So yes, we are finishing up the summer a bit weary but also thankful for God’s help and provision of strength along the way. How much we appreciate your prayers! Two last events will round out the summer as we finish up the month of August: handing out school supplies to the 152 students in the Palmira school this coming weekend (Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd) and then our Ecuador Mission team retreat the last week of the month.   In His Grip,

Two youth Saturdays

Wedding (Dave & Carolina)

HS graduation for Jeison and Richard

Medical training with Dr. Tim

A visit from friends Owen & Ashley

Jada, our LMUSA summer intern

Cement project finished!

Our VBS mascot Freddy 😁

VBS fun in two communities

Sunrise in AwaLand! Thanks again for your prayers!

May/June 2025

 May in Review: Light in the darkness

Looking back over the month of May, we are struck by a certain sadness--several events in May reminded us of the hardness of living in a fallen world. We heard that two young Awa fellows had committed suicide, one 16 years old and another 22 years old, the latter with a young wife and son. I visited a 9 year old girl who broke her leg in a motorcycle accident; her father has refused to take her to the hospital so her leg is not healing correctly. We were able to help her by providing crutches, but not by getting her better medical help. A few weeks ago some of the believers took part in a curing ceremony/party for an elderly grandpa; some of the same youth who attended our youth class in the morning were drinking and fighting that evening.
 
Sometimes the darkness seems so very dark!
Please pray that the same God who spoke light into existence in the beginning would continue to shine the Light of the Gospel here among the Awa! And pray that we would not become discouraged; sometimes we feel like the Light we share is a small candle in the midst of a very dark world.
 
And yet God’s light, shining through His word, continues to bring truth to the Awa who are willing to listen! This month of May we also saw signs of spiritual growth in the believers: Christian and Ana Patricia, and Jaime and Sandra, along with five other families, have taken up the challenge of reading a Bible passage at home each week. Two young men, both believers, told us that they had felt uncomfortable at the above mentioned curing party and had left early. Oscar, David, and Guillermo continue to help with Old Testament translation and are learning much; we enjoy hearing their comments as they understand something new!
 
The month of June has so far been a whirlwind with a youth Saturday, several special visits in Rio Verde, a wedding, and a farewell get-together with our Mission coworkers. Our coworkers the Shaubs are also travelling this month. One of our jobs this month is to set the calendar for July and August, as we host a LMUSA intern, take part in the annual medical caravan, and figure out dates for summer events like VBS programs. Thanks for praying for God’s guidance in planning!
 

In His grip,

Lost Sheep and a Resurrected Savior! April 2025

 

The last few weeks were full as we started back up the monthly Awa Youth day, fit in four more translation Fridays, as well as planned for and carried out the annual Awa Believers’ Conference! We have a great appreciation for your prayers as we experienced God’s provision of daily strength and help along the way.

Guillermo, Oscar, and David worked along with Kevin and coworker Andy to translate Isaiah chapter 53 in the weeks leading up to Easter. This chapter became our theme for the Conference, as we looked at God’s plan for dealing with our sins through the suffering of Jesus, as well as the joy of knowing that His work on our behalf is complete, shown in the Resurrection. Our memory verse was “All we like sheep have gone astray….” Isaiah 53:6.

Wantuzne karɨt pɨrikukana chaamtumakpas.
Everyone lost sheep-like walking-we-all
Pakaish pakaish au mimin sayamtu.
Each-one each-one our way-only looking-for
Au ñanta kimtukas,
Our crooked doing-even_though
Yawe au kwail kirɨt aizpa ussa taizninta.
Jehovah our bad done each-thing Him-to made fall.

Some of the blessings we saw:

• God held back the heavy rains for the three days of Conference. Lorena told us that it was a gift from God to walk back and forth each day dry, and she posted a picture of the heavy rain that fell on Sunday afternoon, right after we all returned home!
• We had a consistent 100 people each day; we were happy to see that the main body of believers assisted all three days of Conference, and listened with good understanding.
• The Andersons were able to join us, and the German Impact team did a great job keeping the children occupied with Bible teaching, songs, games, and crafts! This freed Kathy and Chrissy up to be able to remain with the ladies.

Many of you were praying for us—thank you for being a part of the work here!

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy

↓Check out our conference photo collage below!↓ 

March 2025 - A month in

 

A month in – March 2025

Greetings from Ecuador. As I write this the rain is pounding on our tin roof, which makes it almost impossible to carry on a conversation. In spite of that, it is really good to be home. 😊 (for a video clip of the rain, click here) It is amazing as I reflect on all that has happened since our February Bruce Brief. Thanks to all of you who prayed for our return to Ecuador!
 
Here are a just a few highlights from the last few weeks:

We arrived in Ecuador with all our luggage intact! (A bonus blessing, we even got seats with extra leg room on the flight!) Thank you to all who made our home assignment time a blessing and thank you for all of you who prayed for our travels.
Our first Sunday in AwaLand we enjoyed a joint service and lunch with both communities present! Pray as we consider different options to help improve interaction each Sunday.
Good friends from Ibarra came to help us beat back the jungle around our house in Rio Verde (we killed two venomous snakes that weekend!) Praise the Lord for safety as we worked and for good fellowship.
The Andersons are off to a good start getting settled here in Ecuador. They joined us in AwaLand for a recent weekend, and it was good to have our whole team together! Pray for them to find His grace sufficient as cultural and language transitions are not easy.
We already have had the opportunity to join in on a couple of Old Testament translation sessions going over verses in Joshua – please pray for this important work!

A Massive Invasion!

We do need to report to you an invasion of sorts here in Rio Verde. (‘Of sorts’ because this does happen here every year!) Overnight our yard was filled with little holes in the ground. A little digging uncovers the culprit, a new queen leaf-cutter ant. The Awa call the ant an ittal or kukim. These are prized tasty treats to the so-inclined. I dug up some, but I’m not very skilled at it, nor am I so thrilled to eat them. (Although I have before!) So we invited our neighbor boys to come help us get rid of them. When the boys were done their treasure hunt, we offered them as many as they wanted to snack on. Jhonatan said, “Oh, I have plenty!” as he showed us a pocketful. As you can imagine, a large colony of leaf-cutter ants is quite unneighborly to our garden…. snipping off the leaves of all our treasured plants! Thus, it is advantageous to get rid of them, even if you don’t find them particularly tasty. 😉  (BTW our chickens love them!)

We pray that the gospel message will become as invasive and highly prized among the Awa around us as the leaf-cutter queen ants are! Thank you for your support and prayers!

In His grip,

Kevin & Kathy

Feb 2025 - Ready or not

 

“Are you ready?”  February 2025

There is a question that we have been asked often over the last few weeks as we prepare for returning to Ecuador. That question is “Are you ready to go back?” Over and over our answer has been a resounding YES. And no, it is not because we want to flee the cold weather….we actually enjoyed the winter! 😊
 

 

Many commented to us as we shared with them our ‘Home Assignment’ schedule and the many miles we were traveling to see people, churches, and family, that they thought we came home to the USA to rest. And yes, rest was part of the equation as we planned our days here, but not the primary reason. Paul in Romans chapter one, when sharing of his desire to go to Rome and share with the believers living there, says this in verse 12: “that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”  As we sought to share with you how God’s grace is reaching into our lives personally and into the lives of the people in Ecuador, we also received much encouragement from your faith as well! That is how Kathy and I view our time of home assignment: as a time of mutual encouragement. As we rub shoulders with each of you, hearing and seeing firsthand how God is at work in your lives, we are re-energized and strengthened. That’s why we can say ‘Yes’--we are ready to return.

So this week we packed our suitcases, dusted off the car, and said goodbye to our bungalow in snowy New Hampshire!
 

We are looking forward to many good things. Our new coworkers the Andersons arrived safely last week in Ecuador. They are settling in and ready to embark on learning Spanish and adapting to the Ecuadorian culture.  Our Awa brothers and sisters are planning a welcome feast for our arrival. We heard the news that there were 13 chickens promised for the meal! We feel super blessed by their generosity towards us! Coworkers Andy and Chrissy are also looking forward to us being there to help carry the ministry load. 😊 It will be exciting to dig into the Old Testament translation project, as we seek to incorporate a discipleship component to our group work sessions with our Awa brothers and sisters.

Lord willing, our next update will come to you all the way from the equator! A big thank you to all of you who hosted us, fed us, and blessed us by your generosity. We pray that we have in some small way also been an encouragement to the many of you we were able to see over the last six months

In His grip,

Kevin & Kathy

Ecuador bound - January 2025

 Ecuador bound! January 2025

And just like that, 2025 is here! Happy New Year to all! One of our January customs is working on our year end review as well as setting goals for the coming year. We are so thankful for God’s faithfulness over 2024. We have truly seen our Lord’s sustaining hand during our time with the Awa in Ecuador and over the many miles we have traveled while here in the USA on home assignment. We have been greatly encouraged and blessed by all of you who hosted us or listened to us as we shared our hearts. We are heading back refreshed, encouraged, and ready to see what the Lord will do in this new year.

Christmas was special this year as we were able to spend several days with Kenny & Sophia and the boys as well as Kimberly & Zach. Family time together is always a blessing! Although some of us were fighting off a bit of the flu we really enjoyed the fellowship as well as the good food we all cooked together. I think we raised a brood of ‘foodies’ but hey, the Bible says there will be feasting in heaven too! That is something to look forward to, an eternal feast where ‘goodbye’ is no longer part of our vocabulary!

 

Thank you for keeping Andy and Chrissy Shaub in your prayers as they hold down the fort during our time here in the USA. By God’s grace Andy has been able to make some progress in OT translation, a feat he really didn’t think would be possible with us away. But God has put a determination in our Awa friend Guillermo’s heart to keep making progress!

 

A big answer to prayer this month is Steven and Gwen Anderson, enroute to Ecuador, getting their visas this last week! They now have a date to fly early in February. Please pray for them as they pack, say goodbyes, and embark on a new chapter in their life.  Their arrival is a big answer to prayer as we have been praying for some new younger coworkers for several years now. Pray that God will give us unity as we work together in the years to come.

 

Our return tickets are bought, the suitcases are standing ready, and the pile to take back with us is growing as we near the time to return to Ecuador in mid-February! These next weeks we will visit our last two supporting churches and spend time with friends here at our home church. One weekend in Waterville, Maine (Faith Evangelical Free Church) and a quick trip to Florida to visit my (Kevin’s) parents will round out our travels. Please keep us in your prayers, as we also keep you in ours.

 

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy