April 2017 Prayer Report Happy Easter!

Lots has been going on in Manta!

In March, students from the KC, MO area came from Pleasant Valley Baptist Church to serve alongside the young people from IBB Manta. They did some great work at the La Revancha church and well over 150 people in the community participated and heard the Gospel at the outreach opportunities.

In April, Dr. Chuck Lynch and his wife Linda, visited Manta to teach a seminar on Biblical Counseling. We had great reports of the impact of all that they shared.

We are very grateful.

You can also read our latest prayer report. Easter Sunday, April 16, is the anniversary of the huge earthquake. We're thankful for all that God has done in our ministry since then.

Anzalone Ecuador Prayer Report April 2017

Serving Those in Need

Our church has been very active since the earthquake in getting food, water, clothing, and other needs to those who are suffering in Manta. We are cooperating with local and international missions organizations to put God's love in action around us. Please help with your prayers and with generous donations as God provides you with funds and directs your heart. Thank you!

Youth Camp and Women's Retreat

Youth and youth ministry leaders worked hard in the weeks before camp to raise money and to be prepared for a great week at camp. They attended a camp organized by a group of churches in another region of Ecuador who were kind enough to invite our church. It was held at Campamento  Bautista El Prado near Santo Domingo. The young people from Manta had a great time! They grew in faith and unity. When they returned, they were so excited that they organized a two-day youth retreat at our church with even more young people participating. God is at work in IBB Manta's youth ministry.

Women from IBB Manta were invited to a women's retreat at Campamento Cristiano Emaús. 10 women from the church attended the three-day event. They were blessed by the fellowship and outstanding conference speakers. Their report included encouraging the church's women's ministry to invite the speakers for a conference at the church in the future. We are grateful to Iglesias Bautista Rey de Vida for inviting our church to participate in camps and retreats.

Baptisms on May 26

Two young ladies were happy to take an important step in their Christian life, giving testimony of their faith in Christ by baptism. Also it was the first time for Assistant Pastor Darwin Moreira to administer the ordinance of baptism. A great day for our church.

Youth Camp

We had a terrific youth retreat in March. Missionary Glenn McGhee was our speaker. Many of these young people are involved in some kind of ministry in our church. They had a great time at camp.

Two Young Ladies Were Baptized Today

It is always a great Sunday when we have baptisms! I especially enjoy our baptisms at the beach because it provides a truly public testimony of faith in Jesus. Before we know it, we will be using the baptistery in the new auditorium, but I hope we will still go to the beach to baptize once in a while. Liseth became a believer just a few months ago. She told me that she accepted Jesus during the invitation time of the very first service she attended. She and her family have been coming to church faithfully. Pray that the whole family will soon follow Liseth's example. Stephanie accepted Christ as her Savior over a year ago through our youth ministry. She has been coming faithfully to church and youth Bible study since she attended the youth retreat we held in March. We are so very thankful for these young disciples. Please pray for them to continue to grow in grace.

Mission Team from Tennessee

Recently a team of 5 people from West Park Baptist Church in Knoxville ministered with us. Pastor Bill Gowder from the West Park staff, his wife Becky, Teresa, Kim, and Jeff were the team members. We also had a friend from a church in the Quito area come to help with translating. The team did evangelism with help from our church in a community where we would like to start a ministry in the future. On Friday and Saturday they led activities and teaching in a family retreat held at a nearby camp. The team did a terrific job.

Youth Retreat

The youth from our church had a great time and learned many valuable truths to apply in their lives when they enjoyed a weekend retreat at a nearby camp called "Los Cerros" (The Hills). Besides our church youth leaders, Luis and Melanea Mejía, three young Ecuadorian pastors colaborated for the music, games, preaching, and workshops. They all worked very hard on very little rest. We are very thankful.

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.

Youth Activity

Every Saturday Luis and Melanea lead a youth Bible study and fellowship meeting at the church. This week they brought the group to our house. We enjoyed serving them hot dogs, watermelon, and brownies. We had a devotional time, and played video games like tennis and bowling with the Wii for "recreation".

Camp in Cuenca

August 10 to 16th I had the privilege of teaching at a youth camp near Cuenca, Ecuador. Joy and Teddy were able to go with me. In spite of the cold weather in that area and the high altitude (we had to find coats and sweaters and needed oxygen tanks), we had a good time. We believe that God had a purpose in putting these young people in our path for a few days. Pastor Yuri Alfaro and his wife Sara were our excellent hosts. The theme of the camp was "Be Radical" and we challenged the students to live radically for Jesus Christ.

Baptism at the Beach

On Sunday, August 3, 2008, eight people were baptized in the "cold-ish" waters of the Pacific Ocean at Murciélago Beach. The five young people to the right in the photo have been a part of the church youth ministry for several months. They gave testimony of the decisions they have made to follow Christ at youth camp and because of the work of their mentors at church. The couple to the left have been coming to the church for five months. They were separated when they began to follow the Lord and have since seen their marriage restored. They also gave testimony to the patient teaching they have received from those in the congregation who have come alongside them on the road of discipleship. The lady in the green shirt is Mom to two of the teens. We pray that her husband will soon take the step of believer's baptism as well. We are very grateful for this evidence of good ministry being done during our four months in the States.

In Manta

The people of the church in Manta are picking up the slack in our absence: preaching, teaching, planning and directing services, workin in Travesía, etc. We are thankful that we have so many who are willing and able to serve in these ways.

The attendance this past Sunday was excellent: 86, near our recent average of 90.

Pray for the situation regarding the border with Colombia. Our people desire peace and good relations with our neighbors. Also pray for Manta and the Manabí province. The season of heavy rains continues. Even Manta, usually very dry, has experienced unusual amounts and severity of rainfall. Many homes have been destroyed and the general health of citizens is threatened because of flooding and disease. I know that they are grateful for your prayers on their behalf.

This week 10 young people from our church are attending camp at El Prado. Please pray for their safety in travel and for blessing in their lives.

Thank you.

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.

Backwards or Forwards or Both

Young people's Bible study has seemed like a weak point in our current ministry. Recently we re-started it with a different emphasis and with the assistance of a young married couple in the church. I am really pleased with the changes made and with the results so far. The meetings emphasize daily devotions, church attendance, prayer, and scripture memorization. Since there isn't loud music, sports, constant outings, and "anything-but-Bible-study!"; it isn't all that appealing to a lot of kids. At my age, and with a thousand responsibilities, I can't deal with the entertainment aspects of youth ministry. Yet, we are seeing the kids who do attend consistently really blossom. Some of them are helping or teaching in the children's ministries on Sunday. Others have become regular attenders of the Sunday morning Bible studies and worship hour. More are reading the Bible on a daily basis. During the Saturday afternoon meetings we try to answer the questions they have that arise from the reading during the week and we talk to them about making application of the Scriptures. We want to allow God to influence their lives at home, school, work, and among peers.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a couple of younger teens who come to church on Sunday AM with their parents hadn't come to the Saturday meetings. I suggested that they try it out. They didn't come the first time so I encouraged them again. They seemed very shy about it, and I remembered how hard it is for kids their age to break into a new peer group--the fear factor. I smiled and asked them to try it, "Please." Last Saturday they came. They quietly participated in the opening game time, smiling, saying a few words, and starting to come out of their shells. We all shared and learned their names. The challenge lately has been to learn the names of the books of the Bible in order. I joked with one of the regulars about whether or not she could say them backwards yet. Everyone laughed. On Sunday the new kids were at small group Bible Study and worship. "How'd you like it yesterday?" "It was good. We want to go all the time now." Big smiles from really shy kids. Yesterday I got a text message on my cellphone. "Pastor, it's me, J... I know all the books now. Backwards and forwards. I'll be saying them on Saturday.'' Awesome. I can deal with that.

It's Already September

Let's catch up on some things that happened in August:

Joy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.

Our daughter Ashley celebrated her 22nd birthday.

Joy's parents visited us for about 3 weeks. Joy's father, Rev. Ted Wille, preached a series of sermons on the subject of stewardship for our church.

The response to the stewardship messages was excellent. The congregation made a faith promise of over $300 per month for our building project, and over 20 people commited to tithe faithfully for the general needs of the church's ministry.

We started weekly youth Bible study. The young people are accepting the challenge to read and memorize the Bible. In the weekly meetings we answer questions about their daily reading and talk about applications to their life. Luis and Melanea are assisting me with this group.

We are thankful for the way God has provided the needed funds for the purchase of the land for a future church building. Thank you for your generous contributions and prayer support for this project.

Blue Ridge Group

A group from Blue Ridge Baptist Temple in Kansas City, including Pastor Bill Boren, ministered with us for five days toward the end of June. They did a great job, taking music and evangelism to elementary schools, parks, a children's home and the village of Travesía. They also participated in our regular church services. Their ministry was well-received and fruitful in opening doors for sharing the love of Christ with many in our community. Thank you, Blue Ridge Baptist!

Shoeboxes

Last Friday we received a couple of large boxes in the mail. They were filled with brand new sneakers in various children's and youth sizes. They were a gift from the youth group of Ocean State Baptist Church in Smithfield, RI for the children of a home for street kids run by a local charitable foundation in Manta. The Rhode Island youth had ministered in the home one afternoon last summer during their mission trip to Ecuador. In a letter accompanying the shoes they wrote:
"While in Ecuador, we went to an orphanage to perform our skits for the children there, hoping and praying that God would touch their hearts in a life-changing way. But in the end, God unexpectedly touched ours. While some of the guys played soccer with the kids, we noticed they had no shoes and it broke our hearts. Seeing this really opened our eyes to how spoiled we were; we knew most of us owned way more than five pairs of shoes. And as a youth group, we decided to save up money and buy shoes for the Ecuadorians who couldn't. We hope these shoes are a blessing."