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SUMMARY 2009
“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will
of God,
you will receive what he has promised” (Heb. 10:36).
In Ecuador, we have used two seasons: rainy (from October
to April) and dry (from May to September). Two years ago it
rained from August through July. This year we haven´t had
rain since last May. That means less crops and less
electricity, since hydroelectric plants are the main source
of energy in Ecuador. It hasn’t been a good year.
“MINISTRY”
Our last year in Ecuador hasn’t been a “good” year. We
haven’t seen a lot of “fruit.” We were working with a local
church since July 2008, when they asked for our help. They
later asked us to be the pastors. Last August, we resigned.
Half the church was with us, and the other half wanted to do
“what they had always done.” We decided to leave before the
church split. It stayed intact, and returned to doing, “what
they had always done.”
We started a community aerobics class in our store front in
the central park. For nine months, three nights a week, a
local professor led a one-hour class ranging from six to
fifteen women. We met a lot of new women who formed a
tight-knit group, but we were not able to produce a bible
study group from it, and so decided to suspend the classes.
On the brighter side, our Saturday night bible course
continues. We have dwindled from twelve to six, but the six
are faithfully completing their lessons, and we are
continuing into another year. We have two members from the
church we were pastoring, one medical doctor, and a
non-Christian lawyer, plus the two of us.
“LEGAL WORK”
Alan has done quite a bit of legal work. He did all the
paperwork to incorporate our mission Global Outreach here in
Ecuador. Now our missionaries can obtain their missionary
visas without looking for another organization to sponsor
them here in Ecuador.
Our town has longed to form a local Town Council legally
recognized by the government. Our goal is get involved in
the community so that they will know us and trust us. Alan
began the process to legalize the Town Council, but another
group in town tried to divert the process. They actually got
their board of directors “approved” by the government, but
they did it dishonestly. So Alan had to ask the authorities
to revoke the approval, which they did. But the other group
appealed the decision, and it turned into a small law-suit,
which we (the community) won. But it took over six months
for this process to pan out. The good side is that the
community is finally realizing that we CANNOT establish our
own government here in El-Tingo. We can only form a private
organization with limited members. That´s what Alan was
trying to get some folks to understand from the beginning.
It takes time! But many now know we are honest and striving
to help the town. That was our main goal.
“PERSONAL”
In November, Faby had a small tumor removed from just above
her right lip. Year ago she had briefly microwaved a
hard-boiled egg. She peeled it and nothing happened, but
when she bit it, it “popped” and the hot-vapor burned her
just above the lip. For a couple of years it was just a burn
scar, but in the later years it turned into something else:
bleeding, scaring, but never healing. So we began the
process of checkups and biopsy. God miraculously led us to
the government run dermatology hospital here in Quito, that
developed from the “lepers’ colony” years ago. Great
attention, excellent doctors, and no-cost! Praise God! (There´s
something to be said for socialism.) Faby underwent
out-patient surgery. They removed a 1” inch disk of a tumor,
and repaired the vacant space with some plastic surgery. It
wasn’t easy for her to be tied down to a table and awake
during the whole two-hour surgery, but God gave her the
strength and patience for it. In the past two months she has
been applying creams and having some ultra-sound therapy to
reduce the post-operation scars. It’s still not easy to have
a scar on your face, but from a small distance you can
hardly tell. Continue to pray for her.
So, this past year, what happened to Alan’s dissertation?
Oh, Oh. He was having a rough time with some issues in
epistemology and methodology, but after some intense
correspondence with his committee, and lots of encouragement
from them, he’s ready to write on “Contextualizing Worship
in Ecuador.” Please pray for wisdom in pulling this whole
thing together and finishing this year!
On the side, Alan taught two courses in a local seminary (“SemiSud”):
Contextual Theology and Introduction to Missions. He was
going to teach a course these last two weeks of January on
The History of Missions, but it was cancelled for lack of
students.
Pray with us for:
1.
Alan’s dissertation
2.
Faby’s continued recovery
3.
Our long-term community ministry here in El-Tingo
4.
Alan´s involvement in theological education in the
local seminaries
Thank you for your involvement with us!
Alan & Faby
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