July 2017 Prayer Report

It’s time for us to get back to Ecuador!

This furlough has been a great experience for our family. In some ways we’ve had ample opportunity for rest, recharging, and even recreation; but in other ways it has been stressful and challenging. We have reserved tickets to Quito for August 31, so … ready or not, here we come!

Praise

·       Fellowship – Since we arrived in the USA at the end of October 2016, we have spent 12 to 16 weeks around 3 different churches that invited us to stay in homes provided to missonaries. Their generosity created much-needed stability for our family, and reduced our furlough expenses. It also created a unique bond of fellowship and sense of belonging between our children and the church. We are very grateful!

·       Safety – We have been driving a couple of 2007 vehicles with high numbers on the odometers, but we have had no breakdowns and no accidents. One of our trips with the five of us plus our grandson Crosby Taylor covered 13 states, and over 4,000 miles in 15 days! We’re thankful for God’s mercy over weary travelers.

·       Family – Joy and I are at this stage of life when we value time with our parents, children, and grandchildren over almost anything else. God has been generous with us in allowing us to spend quality time with many of our family members, to enjoy holidays together, and to make memories that we’ll treasure.

Prayer

·       Goodbye and Hello – We have mixed emotions about returning to Ecuador. It is going to be hard to say goodbye to family and friends. Our parents have some serious health concerns and our adult children have challenges to face. On the other hand, we’ll be returning to our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters who love us and to the Manta church that has moved forward during our absence. Pray for us to have grace for both experiences.

·       Extra expenses – Our budget is always stretched beyond the limit! Airfare from Knoxville to Manta will have a total cost around $3,000 for our family. Recently an opportunity developed to have Carla and Matthew professionally tested in regard to their special educational needs. They will be completing the testing before we leave. The testing, plus our usual education costs at this time each year, come to over $2,000. If you’d like to help with either of these needs, you may add an additional amount to what you send through BBFI (mark it Anzalone Ecuador Special).

·       Family – We are starting our new “Multiply!” ministry. Pray for us as we create networks with pastors and churches. Pray for new visions and strategies for discipleship, servant-leadership development, and local church planting. Pray for the sale of our home and the purchase and development of a new home for hospitiality ministry. Pray for God to provide our goal of $50,000 for development of the property. Please pray about giving for this purpose.

Thank you for praying and giving.

You can download the full PDF file of at Anzalone Ecuador Prayer Report July 2017

January 2015 Prayer Report

Happy New Year

There were a lot of challenges in our ministry in the final months of 2014! We know that every one of those challenges was an opportunity for us to grow personally and for our church and leadership team to grow spiritually. We need to learn to pray and obey in everything we do.

2015 offers more challenges and opportunities. Please pray with us about these:

Jonathan and Lexi Taylor

Pray for Jonathan and Lexi to continue to learn Spanish and to adjust to life and ministry in Ecuador. Pray for them to be able to use Spanish effectively. They will have more responsibilities and opportunities to serve during the next several months. Jonathan’s permanent visa application has been submitted. Pray for it to be approved soon.

Missions Team

We will be leading the church in Manta to be more involved in evangelism and missions. One initiative will be the formation of a team of people responsible for communicating with missionaries, sharing with them and their ministries, informing the church about missions, and planning for strategic outreach and service within our local culture and across cultural and geographic borders. Pray that the church would respond by praying, giving, and going.

Short Trip to USA

Our family will be traveling to the USA in February. Our daughter Carla will be having some tests done to monitor her heart condition. We will also be reporting to a few partner churches, and presenting our ministry to at least one potential new partner congregation. Pray for good results in all areas, and safety while traveling. We need a vehicle for family transportation while in the States. Please let us know of possible solutions to meet this need.

Thankful for Answered Prayer

Back in 2013 we began praying for God to bring us more monthly support in order to meet our basic budget needs. We are thankful that God answered by adding new supporters, bringing back old ones, and prompting some to increase their monthly giving. There is still a wide variation in the totals from one month to the next, but our financial situation is much more positive. Pray for giving to increase even more, so that the supply may be equal to the vision for ministry.

Back in Ecuador ... With the Taylor Family

It is great to be back in Ecuador. We've been here a week so far. We're very excited about having our daughter Lexi, son-in-law Jonathan, and grandchildren Crosby and Adrienne with us. The Taylor family is beginning their service as missionaries with an internship period working with us. Please be praying for them as they learn and improve their Spanish; adjust to many cultural differences; as well as observe and practice in many ministry areas. This family is going to be a tremendous blessing to the work in Manta, and will be used by the Lord to bring many into follow-ship with Jesus. These first weeks they are looking for a home to rent. Pray that they can settle in quickly. On Sunday the church in Manta presented them with warm greetings, gifts, and personal prayer commitments. It was awesome!

April 2014 Prayer Report

You can read our most recent Prayer Report and download it in PDF format with this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_rLHp1GThOCOHBDWkJmeGxVbUE/edit?usp=sharing

Praise and Prayer

Here is link to our latest prayer report with a list of reasons to praise God for what he is doing, and a list of prayer requests for the present and near future.
February 2014 Prayer Report

Baptism, September 25

I haven't been very good about updating here. I'll try to do better. On Sunday,. September 25 the church had the privilege of witnessing the baptism of Javier. We have been praying for him for three years, through many ups and downs. He made a public profession of faith in Christ, and was baptized. He gave thanks to God for a friendship his daughter made with a girl from our Sunday School who invited his family to church. That girl and her parents have been used to bring Javier's whole house to our church and to a living relationship with Christ. What a great testimony to answered prayer!

Baby Dedication

We are always happy to see families grow in their faith and commitment to follow Christ. Here is one of the couples that we have prayed for and worked with over the past few years. It was a blessing to present their baby Abbey during a Sunday church service and to offer a prayer of dedication for her and her parents.

With Mateo (Matthew) in Latacunga

We have spent the last few days getting acquainted with our new son, Mateo in Latacunga, the small city south of Quito where he has been living at For His Children. Mateo is at the foreground of the photo with Joy and Teddy at the end of a long hike. He has received excellent care and has been well-prepared for the adjustment to our family. Please keep him in prayer. Next week in Quito we will be getting to know Carla. Thank you for all of your support and encouragement.

Prayer Request

We returned to our home base in Manta on Friday. It was great to be in our church. We had a super service. It´s nice to go to church and find so many people happy to see you! I enjoy preaching to our congregation too. The house was full!
Today (Monday) Joy, Teddy and I traveled by plane to Quito and then by car to Latacunga which is about 1 hour south of Quito. Today we began our time of family adaptation with the 2 children we are adopting. In Latacunga we are working with Mateo who is five, and the dedicated staff of ¨For His Children¨ at this home. Then next week we will be meeting Carla and spending time with her under the direction of the ¨For His Children¨ team in Quito.
This is exciting! but we really need your prayers as we get to know these kids and they adjust to the idea of having parents, and a brother, ... and sisters,...and brother´s in law, ... and nieces and nephews, and grandparents, and .....
Please pray for us as we make these transitions.
Also, we are praying that our auditorium building project finally can get going this week!
Thanks for your prayers.

Unexpected Bus Ministry

One of our very faithful Sunday School teachers had mentioned the same prayer request several Wednesday nights in a row in prayer meeting: that God would provide a means of transportation for some of the children whose parents didn't bring them to church consistently. She was thinking that maybe someone with a pick-up truck could drive around town picking some kids up for church on Sunday, or maybe God would bless her and her husband with a minivan. Juan, one of our deacons, is very faithful on Wednesday nights. He doesn't have a regular car, but often got people together on Wednesday nights to share a taxi, or occasionally he would drive his work vehicle, a water tanker truck, to church. One Wednesday, about the time to start we heard the typical rumble of an old diesel engine. "Here comes Juan," someone said, but it wasn't the tanker truck, it was a long, old bus! Several people from Juan's neighborhood climbed out. Among the thanksgiving and praises that night: Juan had a new ministry, many of the kids have a way to Sunday School now, and more people are coming along with Juan on Wednesday night. Isn't answered prayer great?

Our Missionary Family

One of the great blessings of missionary life for the Anzalone family has been our extended family of fellow missionaries in Ecuador. When we came to Ecuador bringing our three little girls, we left behind a large and supportive extended family structure in the States. Over the years we have been able to stay close to our family back in the USA through letters, phone calls, internet, and other marvels of modern communication; but God has also blessed us with close relationships with our missionary co-workers. When we came to serve in Ecuador, back in February of 1991, we were immediately adopted by Jim and Sharon Smith and their family in Quito. They hosted us in their home, helped us to get settled, and encouraged our girls to call them Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon. We became Uncle Tony and Aunt Joy to their teens Zac and Stacey. Zac and Stacey received our little girls like younger cousins--played with them, ate at our house, even stayed at our house sometimes. Over those first few years we became as close as I can imagine any "real" relatives can be to one another, and during our service in Ecuador we have known the joy of family-like relationships with many other missionary aunts and uncles and cousins, nieces and nephews. Pray for all of the missionaries you know, asking God to bless them in this same way. We treasure these ties that bind.
That's one reason why it has been so hard these days to let go of our MK nephew Zac Smith. After a hard-fought struggle with cancer, Zac went to be with the Lord last Sunday afternoon. He was 33 years old. Zac was a joy to know as a teen--intelligent, witty, competitive, talented; he was always willing to join in with the missionary family, even being Santa Claus at Christmas gatherings and tickling his little nieces until they lost it completely! It was as an adult, however, that Zac's life made an eternal impact. As he grew closer to the Lord, he shared the wisdom and life-experiences with others as a teacher and through a blog. I was a regular reader. His insights often "blew my doors off." He worked in a very technical field, but eventually heard a calling to put his skills to use in ministry. Ironically, it was just a few months after he began to work in "full-time" ministry that he was diagnosed with cancer. He lived the roller coaster ride of surgery, chemo, no cancer, and recurrence with grace, and with an amazing openness that impressed him to share his experiences and emotions with others on the internet. He always seasoned his writings with biblical truth and urged people to turn to Jesus. Ultimately, with the help of the team he served with at NewSpring Church in South Carolina, Zac made a couple of videos that have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Others suffering pain like Zac have found encouragement in his words, and some who didn't know Jesus have turned to him as their Master. Zac's own words tell the story: "God is still God. God is still good. To God be the glory."
Link to Zac's Story.

Womens Ministry and Mother's Day

Joy and the women's ministry held a special activity for all of the women of the church and their invited guests. It looked and sounded like they had a great time playing games, singing, and doing a craft. Wilda, one of the ministry leaders, gave a devotion along the theme of building your home on the Lord. The women really enjoy these times of fellowship. On Sunday, we had over 100 people in attendance, with over 30 mothers present.
Overall, our church attendance has been excellent lately. We dipped below 100 a couple of times at the end of school vacations (that's the end of March around here), but aside from those days we have seen the attendance average over 120 for the past few months. Our next milestone for attendance average will be the 140 range, and then we will really need the new auditorium. Please be praying with us about that!

Baptisms

Five young women were baptized on May 2. This was a great day. In spite of heavy rains, there were 137 people at church. It was also our first Sunday to have a nursery for babies during the service, and there were seven babies present! Please pray for the ladies who followed the Lord Jesus in baptism.

Prayer Requests

I want to let you know about a few prayer requests for our ministry.
1) Joy and Teddy are in the States right now until March 30. Joy is completing follow-up appointments with her doctors and having a couple of tests done. Everything seems fine. Meanwhile, she is taking the opportunity to visit her parents and our kids and grandkids. Please pray for safety as they travel.
2) This weekend, March 12 to 14, we are having a youth retreat for our church teens and young adults. Please pray for a breakthrough in our youth for evangelism and service. This is an area where our church could grow a lot in the future. There will be a few unsaved kids at the retreat and we pray for their salvation. Pray for our pastor friends Patricio and Nikolay who will be teaching and preaching.
3) We will have Vacation Bible School for children from the 24th to 28th of March. We have a good team of teachers and a simple program planned for the kids. Pray that children will trust in Christ and will see godly Christlike examples to follow in our children's workers.

Theme for 2010

"The whole Bible. The whole church. The whole year." That's our theme for 2010. We have started a new Bible reading program to motivate the church to read the Bible daily. Besides a calendar of readings for the year, we are providing a weekly devotional guide to help everyone understand what they are reading. Some will read the entire Bible this year, others the New Testament, and a few will read through the Gospels for the very first time. We are excited about what 2010 holds in store. Pray for us as we follow through and reach our goals.

Back "Home"

Joy, Teddy, and I returned to Manta yesterday afternoon! We are very happy to be back at home. There is a lot to do, and we are excited about the next steps in this ministry. We are looking forward to Sunday, our first Sunday back at our church after four months away. We also have meetings Saturday: Joy with the ladies fellowship, and Tony with the deacons-in-training. We have already been hearing about all that has been accomplished, and we look forward to sharing ideas for the future. We are excited about a couple of Christmas projects we have in mind to help local Christian foundations that work with street kids and orphans. We will keep you posted. Please keep praying for us.

Updating Our Position

A lot of time has passed since the last post. We have spent lots of time in the car. We have also enjoyed the opportunity to see family, friends, and supporting congregations around the USA. Right now I am in Springfield, MO. We have a few more days to be with our daughters, sons-in-law, and grandson who live here. BTW, our grandson Curtis is doing very well. He has been out of the hospital for about a month now, and has been growing fast! We are so happy and thankful.
During the past several weeks, we also visited our daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids in Ohio. The new baby there, Saranna, is doing great! It is so much fun being grandparents. It is going to be tough to return to Ecuador and be far away from them, but we are thankful for all of the ways we can communicate and travel these days. Imagine what it was like when one said good-bye to loved ones to go on a journey or to be a missionary, knowing it would probably be the last time you saw them! In reality, we never know when it will be the last time in this life, so we should enjoy the times we do have to the max!
We attended the annual BBFI missionary family reunion. That was a good time of fellowship with other missionaries from around the world, most of whom we had never met before in person. We had a good time. There were a few fun activities, and some information we needed, but the best parts were the testimonies from fellow-missionaries and the biblical teaching from Pastor Lewis Mclendon.
August 10-12 we had the great privilege of celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of Joy's parents, Ted and Verneta Wille. We were able to arrange a luncheon and overnight stay for them and several of their friends and family members at a beautiful place in Tennessee. It was neat to see them with some of their life-long friends who have also been pastors and Christian ministers. What a testimony of faithfulness!
All along our journey of these weeks we have visited supporting churches and even a couple that don't support us yet (we always hope and pray they will). We have had some opportunities to share, and even to preach in services or teach adult Bible study groups. The response is always friendly and sometimes there is obvious interest and appreciation for our work. We are thankful for these opportunities. It is especially exciting when we realize that at least some people are trying to pay attention to what is going on in our work in order to pray or participate somehow. I am conditioned to expect to hear nothing more personal than, "How are things in Ecuador?" or "So what's Ecuador like?" When my answer goes beyond "Things are going well," people tend to look for a way to escape or change the subject. It is cool when someone in a church lets you know that they have been praying for some specific aspect of the work, have read my blog posts, or even seen the pictures or video I've posted on the internet. I thank God that there are some of those people whom God uses to encourage me.
Please be praying for us, especially for Joy. We recently learned that Joy must have surgery before we return to Ecuador, so we are changing our return plans. Instead of our return to Ecuador on September 10, Joy will be having surgery on September 16. We will be able to return to Ecuador after she has fully recuperated. Please be praying with us about this.
We receive frequent news from the church in Manta. A couple of babies have been born to church families, the services have been good with fair attendances and sufficient offerings, a few of the necessary steps in construction have continued (a security apartment, wiring, bathroom fixtures), the Thursday night class is almost ready for the test, and the leaders continue to meet for prayer and planning. There are some very positive reports from Portoviejo where Gustavo and Lidia are doing a good job and have reached out to some new people. Please keep praying for all of these things.

New Grandson

We had the privilege of meeting our new grandson, Curtis Anthony Coston, in Springfield, MO. Curtis was born six weeks early on July 2, and has been in neo-natal ICU. He is doing well. Please pray that he can leave the hospital soon with good health. Besides Curtis, we will be visiting Saranna Gwen Lewis, born July 4 in Ohio. We will also be visiting several churches and reporting on the great things God has done in Manta. Please pray for our safety in many thousands of miles of travel.

Still Moving Forward

There are so many good things going on around our church that sometimes we don't notice all of the progress. Overall attendance has been increasing steadily. Now the Sunday attendance is over 100 more often than not. We always have new believers and others interested in personal Bible study and discipleship classes. The Thursday night Bible institute class, Escuela de Liderazgo Bíblico, just started a new cycle of classes with 17 students. The ministry/leadership team has been working well together for several months. We have about 20 people involved in teaching children's classes. The church's monthly budget and giving have increased dramatically over last year. Wow! God has been good.
Yet there have been challenges. A number of people have been hospitalized lately with illness and injuries. One man in the church was involved in a terrible auto accident that resulted in some legal troubles. The financial crunch has hit families in the congregation at all economic levels. Several are out of work or are underemployed. Crime has increased in Manta and has touched some of our church families. We are making the best of limited space and limited resources. However, we realize that each of these challenges is an opportunity for God to work and to be worshipped.
Thank you for your prayers and partnership in our ministry.

Construction Progress

Thank the Lord our church building is now starting to go up as well as down! We are so pleased to see some progress in the construction of our church's future meeting and ministry place. There is still a long, long way to go. So keep us in your prayers. Any contributions for this project are greatly appreciated and can be sent through Baptist Bible Fellowship International, PO Box 191, Springfield, MO 65801. Be sure to include a note that your gift is for the building in Manta, Ecuador, part of Tony Anzalone's ministry. Offerings given through BBFI are tax deductible. Right now, each $10 contribution makes it possible for us to build one square foot of the first floor of our education building.
This weekend, from Friday night to Saturday night, the church will have 24 HOURS of PRAYER. More than 60 people have signed up for specific time slots in order to have a continual stream of prayer for the needs of our world, country, city and church. I am very excited about this. We will end on Saturday at 6:00 PM with a one-hour unified prayer meeting. Please join with us in taking every request to God's throne of grace.