20 Days!

It doesn't seem possible that 20 days have passed since my last post. My "short" trip ended up being 3 days longer than I expected, and I have been behind ever since. The trip was successful in that I was able to make contact with a number of our supporting churches and pastors; I had the privilege of presenting our ministry and reporting to a few churches in their services; and enjoyed spending time with some of our family and friends.
Meanwhile, church attendances have been good the past few weeks, with more than 90 present on Sunday morning on average.
One Sunday morning we recognized the teens that have been most faithful in attendance, Bible reading, and Scripture memorization. We handed out four Bibles as prizes. The top boy and girl received an excellent Study Bible with notes, references, concordance, and dictionary. We are proud of the work these young people and others in their group have done in recent months. One of the youngsters, a 7th grader, sent me a note of thanks. In part, he said, "I never imagined I would have such a Bible in my hands so that I can learn more of God's Word to share with my family and friends."
We enjoyed American Thanksgiving with a house full of friends. The Mock family, missionaries from Cayambe, came to visit us for a few days. The Tignors from Portoviejo, an American friend who lives nearby were here for dinner as well. There are always many, many reasons to be thankful, and gratitude should be one of our prime motivations for service. "Thank God for his indescribable gift!" said Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians.
Today, Joy began a journey that will take her (by God's grace and blessing) to Uijongbu, South Korea, where our oldest daughter, Amanda, and her husband Mike await the birth of their first child and our first grandchild. I would love to be there too, but I am tremendously happy that Joy is able to go. She will be a blessing to Amanda. I look forward to seeing pictures and video.