A few pictures...

Luis, Jesenia, Tony, Mercedes and Andres, at the baptism this afternoon.

The terrace was packed out for the morning service today.

The women at the retreat, honoring, Sylvia, Sharon, Stacey and I. They are so sweet!

Cecila, Aday, Mirian, Wilda and I at the retreat this week-end.

Ladies in Ministry retreat, June 25-27, in Santo Domingo. What a great group!

We're coming and going!

I pray that each of you had a wonderful time of worship in God's house today!

We have had a great week! Last Sunday, which was Father's Day, we had 15 Father's recognized at the church here in Manta.

This week, we went to Santo Domingo for our annual retreat for Women in Ministry. God blessed and we had wonderful retreat. 53 Ecuadorian Pastor's wives and Ministry Leaders attended this years retreat. We were excited because Sharon Smith, who has worked with Sylvia Wells and I over the last 10 years to plan this retreat, was able to return to be a part of this years retreat too.

Last night our church sponsored an Evangelistic meeting in the park near our church. At one point Tony counted over 150, just in the part close to the stage. There were so many people coming and going, we really have no idea how many actually heard the gospel. Many raised their hands that they had accepted Christ. Our Church members went around and talked to many of the people, asking them if they could visit them, and if they were interested in signing up to have a Bible Study. From the many that raised their hands, we only got about 15 names, of people who were interested in a follow up contact, but that is still 15!

This morning, we had 148 in church! I can tell you that the apartment was packed out to the max! There was a group from the US visiting, so that was 14, but still we had a great attendance! After church we had a meeting, trying to get the necessary things done to our church "incorporated" to make it legal. We had over 50 sign the sheet as members. We would have have a few more, but they didn't have their documents with them for us to copy. (Here we had to have a copy of their ID card, and the proof that they voted in the last election....yes voting is mandatory in Ecuador). After that we had a baptism, with 4 people being baptized! Lots going on, and the day still isn't over! :-)

This afternoon, the men are having a work day at the property, and then they will be enjoying a few games of volleyball.

This coming week, we will moving out of the apartment and over to the new property. Pray as we make decisions what to actually move to the property and what to store until we have more of the building finished. Pray that we would get water and lights! Everyone is very excited and we are so thankful for all the Lord has done to this point.

Saturday, July 4, we will be having a Baby Shower here at my house. God is blessing our church with more babies! :-)

Thank you so much for your prayers for the ministry here in Manta!
God Bless!
Joy

Can't keep up...

Do you ever feel like there is just so much to do and not enough time to get it done? I'm so sorry that it has been over 2 weeks since I posted on here. I will try to catch you up...without writing a "book". LOL

On June 6th, we had our "Young Women's meeting" at the church. This is a meeting for women 20 to 35. We only had 6 attend, but it was a great time of fellowship for them. They so enjoy getting together. Melania shared the devotion with us, and did a great job. She is going to be doing it, during the time that I am away. Please keep her in your prayers.

Sunday morning, June 7, we had 115 in our Worship Service. We are definitely bursting at the seams in the apartment! :-)

On Saturday June 13th, 28 people from church attended a Teacher Training Seminar. We started at 10 in the morning and ended at 4:00 in the afternoon. We had 16 that had gone through the program last year, and 12 new ones. We started the morning, with Tony giving an "over view" of some of the introductory stuff we had done last year. Qualifications for a teacher...The importance of teaching children...some basic characteristics of the different age groups. Then I did an hour sharing the material on "Explaining Salvation to Children". After that time, they all had a chance to either make a small "word less book", "a bracelet, with beads the color of the wordless book" or another little book, with felt pieces, in the colors. When we finished that, we had lunch, which was prepared by one of our families. They did a great job...They opened up their home and had everything set up for us to walk in and eat. It was just a block from the church, so that worked out great! After lunch, we returned to the church and split up... Tony took the ones that had gone through the program before, and worked with them on a little more detail of developing a lesson, and also spent some time of methods of getting student participation. I took the news one and we went through the basics of preparing a lesson and presenting the lesson. Both of these groups have assignments that they are suppose to turn in. Everyone that turns in their assignment will receive a certificate on July 5.

We also introduced the idea of "neighborhood Bible clubs". We have had one young woman approach us about starting a club in her neighborhood. Please be praying about this. Pray also for Maria Jose as she steps out into this new ministry.

This last Sunday, was an "Election Day" here. Voting is mandatory in Ecuador, and many of our church people have to go out of town to vote. We were thrilled to still have an attendance of 89! We also had Alan and Pearl Jackson come and share their ministry to abandoned children with our church. It was exciting to see many of our church members seeking them out after church to see how they could volunteer and be involved in this very special and much needed ministry.

Today, Tony went to the Ecuadorian Naval Base here in Manta, for the 2nd of his seminars on Marriage and Family. The response was very good. Please be praying with us that the seeds planted will bear fruit.

Construction the building continues. We are praying that the Lord would supply $10,000 to finish the first floor of the Education building. We will be moving into the building, "as is" on July 5. It will be a little "rustic" to start with, but we are excited and know that God will finish the work that He has started!

Next week is our annual retreat for Women in Ministry at the camp in Santo Domingo. We have 46 women signed up! Please pray for Sylvia Wells, Stacey and Sharon Smith, and I as we finish up the details and do the teaching at this years retreat.

I pray God's blessings on each of you as you serve him this week!
Joy

June has arrived!

Good Monday morning to each of you!

We have a beautiful sunny day here in Manta...blue skies, fluffy white clouds...the air conditioner is running, SO it is very comfortable in the house! :-)

We have had a couple very busy weeks. Last Sunday, the 24th, we had 115 in the Worship service here in Manta! We were pretty packed out in the apartment. We had some first time visitors and just had a great day! Everyone was very excited about the 2nd floor getting poured on Saturday morning the 23rd.

Monday the 25th, we worked on getting some curtains and blinds ready to put up in the apartment of the church in Portoviejo. We were trying to get things in order there, to welcome Gustavo, Lydia and Ezequiel. They have come to work with us from a church in Santo Domingo. Gustavo will work in the position of "Assistant Pastor" to help Tony with the work there. We are very excited to have someone actually living there in Portoviejo! It is not easy to pastor a church from about an hour away. Please keep Gustavo, Lydia and Ezequiel in your prayers as they adjust and adapt to life away from their family for the first time.

Tuesday we actually went to Portoveijo and hung some of the curtains...Tuesday evening was advanced Bible Institute class here at our house. Wednesday we went to meet Gustavo and Lydia as they arrived. Also on Tuesday and Wednesday we took care of getting Teddy's Ecuadorian passport renewed, in Portoviejo.

Thursday, I had art class in the afternoon, and Tony had Bible Institute at the church in the evening. Friday, Cecilia came over and we made 45 large sugar cookies to pass out at church yesterday, for "Children's Day". Saturday was our general Ladies meeting at the church. We had 25 ladies attend and had a wonderful time. I was thrilled that Mirian, Wilda and Aday, organzied everything...set it all up, I just gave the devotion and enjoyed the afternoon with the ladies! :-)

Yesterday, our attendance was down a little bit, with 85 present for the worship service, but we had a great spirit, and are excited to see what the Lord is going to do with this work. As with any work, when people are growing and lives are being changed, Satan is not happy and he is on the attack to try and destroy God's work. We are so thankful that this is God's work! Please pray for the leaders in the church here. Each one of them is facing some kind of attack, and we know that God has promised to give the victory!

Our family is doing well. Today is Teddy's "Welcome to our Family Day!" It was 6 years ago today, that God blessed us with this precious gift! We are so thankful for him. This is also our last week of school for the year! We will finish up 1st grade on Friday! YAY! The news we hear from our 3 daughters and son-in-laws is all good. The Lord is suppling their needs and blessing their families. We are very thankful for all the blessings he has bestowed upon our family.

Have a wonderful week. God bless you as you serve Him, this week.
Blessings,
Joy