Busy Week... (aren't they all?)

Good Monday morning to each of you! The last week was pretty much a whirlwind for our family, but we are so excited at all the Lord did and allowed us to do!

Wednesday afternoon, as Tony was taking me to the doctor, he got a phone call and the owner of the apartment we rent for church had decided that they would like to rent the first floor apartment to us after all. This was after getting word from him earlier that they weren't interested in renting it to us for the price we could afford to pay. So now we have some more rooms to use for Sunday School and will be spending time over there this week to get it cleaned up and ready for at least 2 classes to move into this coming Sunday and hopfully we will be able to add a nursery starting the 2nd Sunday in May.

The annual Ecuadorian Pastor's wives retreat was a great blessing this year. There were 32 Ecuadorian ladies that participated and we had 7 US missionary ladies attend. It was a great time of fellowship and studying God's word together. I will try and post some pictures later on today.

We had good services yesterday. There were 53 in Sunday School and 73 in church. We had 2 first time visitors. After the service we celebrated the Lord's Supper. Teddy was sitting by me and after the "bread" had been passed out, he was looking very intenting at the little piece I was holding in my hand and then he looked up at me and whispered, "That's a piece of his body?!" :-)

In the afternoon, I had the ladies that have been participating in our Ladies Bible Study, "Jesus the One and Only", over to the house. We had our last study and then just enjoyed a special time of fellowship together. It is always so humbling to me to hear the testimonies of what the Bible Study has meant to each of the ladies. So often I feel that I have just failed miserably to communicate in Spanish, and then to hear how the Lord was able to take my feeble attempts to teach in Spanish and use it to work in their hearts! It is such a blessing.

We hope to actually sign the contract to buy the property for the church this week. Tony will be putting down a 1/3 of the cost and then we will hae 90 days to raise the rest of the money. Please be praying with us that the Lord would touch the hearts of our churches to make this a reality. The people at the church are very excited as we take this next step.

God bless you as you serve him this week, wherever he has placed you!
Love,
Joy

Weekly Update and Prayer Requests

I pray this finds each one of you enjoying the blessings of the Lord. We have had a very busy week, but exciting too. On Wednesday, we got a phone call from a real estate friend, who had a piece of property that she thought we might be interested in for the church. We went and looked at it, and were very impressed. The location was very good, basically a block away from another piece of property that we had been interested in, and it was quite a bit larger, and lower in price. So that was exciting! Then on Thursday evening, we got a phone call. She had been able to locate the owner of a piece of property that Tony had asked about. The property is even bigger than the 2nd one, and the price is lower than either one of the other two! We would like to ask you to keep praying with us about this. We feel like the Lord is definitely working in this situation, and are excited to see what he is going to do!

This morning we had 64 in Sunday School and 70 in church. We had 2 first time visitors. Maria Bautista, led the one lady to Christ this week, and invited her to church, and she came this morning, and brought a friend with her!

Tonight the older youth and single adults will be meeting at our house for a time of fellowship.

On Thursday morning, our family will be traveling to Santo Domingo, (it is about 4 1/2 hours, if all goes well). Thursday evenings starts our Ecuadorian Pastor's Wives retreat. We have 43 ladies signed up to attend! This year, Sylvia Wells, Sharon Smith, Lois Tignor and I will be doing the teaching. I would appreciate your prayers for me on Friday, as I will be teaching both my lessons on that day. I will open the day teaching the first session, and end the day teaching the last session. The retreat ends after lunch on Saturday. We also appreciate your prayers for us as we travel there and back.

I have 2 other prayer requests for you...
1. The infection in Teddy's tooth returned last week. This is the 3rd time, so he has taken antibiotics for it this week, and the dentist has decided that the best thing to do is to go ahead and pull it, as we don't want to take any chances of the infection spreading and affecting any of his growing teeth. This will probably happen tomorrow. We have talked to him about what is going to happen, and he has been doing really well, with all the dental work he has had done to this point. Please be praying for him tomorrow.
2. I have been having some problems with pain in my neck and arm. I have been receiving treatments, and it seems to be doing better, but is not completely well yet. Please be praying with us, that this situation would improve.

I pray that God blesses each of you for your faithfulness to pray for our family and ministry here in Manta!

Joy

I pray that each of you had a great church services this morning! Today the country of Ecuador voted whether or not they wanted to have their consitution rewritten. Because it was a mandatory vote, we only had our 10:30 service to try and allow people more time to take care of their voting. We were excited because we still had 54 this morning and a 1 first time visitor! This is the best attendance we have had on a Sunday morning, when there was an election.

Please be praying for the country of Ecuador. We are thankful that God has all of this in his hands!

Tony made an offer on a piece of property this week. It is in a wonderful location. Easy access, great area, etc. The owner started out asking for $50,000. Tony offered him $25,000. In a matter of about 5 minutes he came down to $35,000! We know that property in that area goes for about $40 to $45 a square meter, so $30,000 to $32,000 would be a good price for it. $25,000 would be more in line with the budget we would like to keep! :-)

Next week-end the owner of the apartment we are renting for the church is suppose to be in town. They have not yet rented the downstairs apartment. Tony is hoping to talk to the landlord, and that we will be able to rent that for more Sunday School space. Please be praying this week that the Landlord wouldn't be too greedy! If we were able to rent the apartment, that would give us room to go back to having both a Men's and Ladies' Sunday School class. We could also divide our children's classes, which would really be a good thing. Presently we have 2 children's classes, ages 2 through 1st grade, and 2nd grade through 6th grade! Quite an age stretch, I know, but it has been an improvement from having them all in one class! :-) Everything comes little by little. What a blessing it would be to have alittle more room to divide them up and have room to grow while we wait to get into our own building.

This morning we had a report from the group that went to La Travesia yesterday. They ministered to 50 children, and 8 adults. Please continue to pray for this ministry and those in our church that are involved in it.

I want to thank each one of you for praying for the ministry here in Manta. I would love to hear from you! You don't have to "join" anything to leave a comment.

Have a wonderful week!
Joy

Family news

We have had some major events happen in our family over the last week... Last Thursday, Teddy turned 5 years old! He had a big day, complete with a "Superman cake" and decorations. His favorite present was a box of "superhero stuff"! He also received a new bike.

Thursday afternoon and evening we had visitors fly in to see us. Cliff McGhee, missionary in Quito, came down and spent a couple nights with us. Tony was able to take him around to see property possibilities and get some more counsel on property and building options for our church. Also two very dear friends of mine came down and spent the whole Easter week-end with us. It was such a blessing to be able to visit and fellowship with everyone.

Sunday after church we had a big gathering for Easter Dinner here at our house. We invited Chris and Lois Tignor and their family to join us from Portoviejo. We had a great time of fellowship and great food too! The highlight for the children of course was the Easter Egg hunt after dinner! I don't think the adults could decide if the chocolate peanut butter eggs were the best, or the lemon cheesecake! :-)

Well, I have saved the biggest news for last... On Friday morning, our daughter Mandie and her husband Mike called us from Korea. They had just returned from their Mission trip to the Philippines. They had some very exciting news for us... Tony and I are going to be GRANDPARENTS! The baby is due early in December. We appreciate you prayers for them, for Mandie's health and for the baby. Also please be praying with us that the Lord would open the doors and provide a way for us to be able to go and be with them when the baby is born. Sometimes things seem impossible from a human standpoint, but we know that our God is the creator of the universe and there is NOTHING impossible for Him!

I pray God blesses you richly as you serve him this week!
Love, Joy

Weekend Report

I pray that each of you had a blessed Easter Sunday! We had a good attendance, especially considering that this is a huge vacation time here in Ecuador. We had 54 in Sunday School and 71 in Church. There were a couple first time visitors and we had a really good service.

Friday evening we showed the Jesus movie for children in La Travesia. 9 precious souls accepted Christ as their Saviour afterwards. I special blessing for us was among the 9, Barbara Castro, Juan's wife, accepted the Lord as her Saviour. She had gone through the discipleship lessons, when Tony did them with Juan, and had been attending church for awhile. We had seen big changes in Juan's life, but not much fruit in hers. What a blessing when she went forward, Friday evening! Please be praying as she starts this new walk with Christ.

Easter Week!

Can you believe that Easter is this Sunday?! Time is just flying on by. We had a good service this past Sunday. We had 54 in Sunday School and over 70 in Church. There were many visitors. Some from out of town, just in Manta for the holiday, but some local. Saturday we had a group ministering in La Travesia. That went well. We are so thankful to the Lord for the burden he has given some of our people to minister in this village. This Friday night, we will be showing the Jesus movie there. Please pray that the Lord would use this to bring people to him.

Tomorrow we have company coming! I always love having company! Cliff McGhee is coming down to spend a couple nights with us. He is coming down to see what is going on in La Travesia, as the cabin and property there is owned by a wonderful family in the church there in Sangolqui. They will be here this week-end for the holiday. This week is a huge "vacation" time in Ecuador. All the hotels in Manta are full, as the people from Quito have the week off and lots of them come to the coast.

Also tomorrow evening, 2 very dear friends of mine from Quito, will be flying in. They are going to be staying with us until Tuesday evening. I am really looking forward to seeing them. Barb Tooley and Terrilyn Kadle, both teach at the Alliance Academy in Quito. Terrilyn had all 3 of my girls in 2nd grade! :-)

Before the company arrives we will be celebrating Teddy's birthday. He will be 5 tomorrow! The birthday dinner, will be Tony's spaghetti and meatballs, with a Superman cake and ice cream. I'm sure there will be plenty, so if you are in the area, drop on by! :-)

As always, thank you so much for your faithful prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta. Praying God's blessings on you! Happy Easter!

Joy