Construction Continues

We are not yet finished working on the first floor of the educational building, but with attendance well over 100 each Sunday, we already need to add space. You can see that work on the sidewalk is underway. Also a temporary metal roof is being built on the second floor. We will add perimeter walls to that area to make a larger meeting place for services. We should be able to seat around 135 in that area as opposed to the capacity of 90 in the classroom area we are now using. We will also have more room for children's classes since all of the first floor classroom space will be available for the kids. We should then have total capacity of 180 to 200. This is Stage 1.5 of the building project.

Leadership Team

We are grateful for the servant-leaders that God is raising up in the church in Manta. They have done an amazing job during the four months of our absence, and the church has grown because of it. Our first Sunday back they arranged to take Joy, Teddy and I out for a Chinese dinner. How generous! We took pictures. From the top down: you know who we are, Javier and Cecilia with their two children, Juan and Barbara (their kids are grown), Alfredo and Wilda (their children are adults), Darwin and Jessica and their daughter, Luis and Melanea with their son. One family was out of town, David and Monica, and they have three children. Please pray for these families.

First Sunday Back

November 8 was our first Sunday back in Manta! On Saturday, the ladies held a surprise birthday and welcome home party for Joy. It was great to see all the ladies express their appreciation for Joy's ministry and friendship. We also got to see some of the new babies!
On Sunday there were over 100 people in attendance. One of the children's classes made a welcome sign: bienvenidos. The letters are a little bit out of order. One of the faithful women of the church was able to bring her husband to church for the very first time and they asked if we would present their baby daughter and pray for God's blessing on her life as we do for all of the children. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to witness about the necessity of parents knowing the Lord and teaching his ways to their children from an early age. Please pray for this father's salvation!

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.

Family Benefits

I want to mention a couple of family milestones.
First, my maternal grandmother died on September 30. I had the privilege of attending her funeral in Dodge City, KS. My mother and my uncle asked me to preach at the funeral service. That was an honor, but was also emotionally difficult. I am very thankful for Mimi's testimony of faith in Christ, and the wonderful way she set an example for all of us who learned of Jesus from her.
The day after the funeral, I had another great privilege. I attended Curtis's baby dedication in Springfield, MO. My mother went along and helped with the long drive. It was great to see Shane and Ashley present their child and promise to bring him up in a way that honors the Lord. I thought of the full circle we have made in our generations--learning of Christ, growing in him, and passing on our faith and its responsibilities to our children and grandchildren.

Painting the Building

Joy, Teddy, and I are still in the United States. We expect to return to Ecuador on November 2. Meanwhile, we received some pictures of some of the men painting the first floor of the building. We are very thankful for the work that they have been doing! There is still a lot to be done, but we are grateful for what has been accomplished so far.

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.