Bags are Packed

Well, my bags are packed, and I'm about ready to go! My flight for Quito leaves Manta tomorrow about 2:00pm. That will be the start of my trip to get to Seoul, Korea. I am suppose to finally arrive in Seoul, Friday evening, (their time) around 8:40. I appreciate your prayers for my trip and for Mandie and baby Ioan. The reports from the doctor these days are that he could come anytime!

We had wonderful Thanksgiving. Full house and that is always fun! We enjoyed all the traditional favorites and even were able to enjoy "real" pumpkin pie (many years I make it out of carrots) "real sweet potato casserole" (that too has been made out of carrots in the past! LOL ) It was a great day of fellowship and sharing in the blessings that the Lord has given us.

Saturday afternoon, 17 ladies gathered at my house for an early Christmas party. We had a lot of fun. They made 2 Christmas ornaments, and I showed them how to make sugar cookies. Then Jane Mock, from Cayambe, shared a devotional with us that was a wonderful blessing to everyone. Of course not party would be complete without refreshments, and the ladies did a great job with that too.

Sunday was a good service at the church. Ben Mock preached and that was a blessing. We had 89 in church. I really did look for that "extra" person to make it 90, but I just couldn't find them, no matter how many times I did the count! ;-) Please be praying for those that will be stepping in and teaching while I'm away.

Thank you for your faithful prayers for the ministry here in Manta and for our family.

Love, Joy

Well, here it is Sunday afternoon again! We had a very good service this morning. We had 70 in Sunday School and 86 in Church. We had 3 visitors. It is exciting to see how the Lord is working in the lives of the believers here.

Everyone was very happy to have Tony back at church this morning. This coming Saturday we are having a ladies meeting. Please be praying with us that this is a blessing to the Ladies here and that the Lord is honored and glorified.

This week is Thanksgiving! Can you believe it? We are looking forward to a big turkey dinner and sharing some time with good friends.

Have a wonderful week.
Joy

Retreat

I made the trip to Quito Thursday to participate in a retreat for Missionary Ladies. What an incredible blessing it was to be with all these other ladies who are serving the Lord around Ecuador. The time of fellowship with them was very sweet, but the times of teaching and praying together was just wonderful.

There were 15 ladies who came from the US to minister to us and that is exactly what they did. They showered us with love, gifts and special treats,(among which was lots of chocolate!) I am so thankful for all the sacrifices that they made to be here in Ecuador and bless us with this special time.

Update on the "Update"

Hi Everyone! Hope your week as started out well. Just wanted to let you know that Tony wasn't able to travel back to Ecuador today. Their was an accident at the Quito airport on Friday. No one was hurt seriously, but a plane went off the end of the runway. Anyway, it seems that everyone has resumed their flights to Quito except American Airlines... wouldn't you know it!

Anyway, he was able to get booked on a flight to Guayaquil on Wednesday. He will be spending the next couple of days with friends of ours in PA. (although the airline changed his flight at no additional cost they won't pay to put him up or to get him to Quito from Guayaquil) What a mess.

We are doing fine here in Manta. Thanks for your prayers for us and please keep Tony in your prayers during the next couple of days.

Joy

Update

Matthew 16:25

"For whosoever shall save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

This morning as I was reading my devotions, this verse stood out. Our Sunday School lesson today was on James 4:1-12. We spent time talking about how pride and our desire to be in control puts us in opposition to God. In my devotional reading this morning, one part really jumped out at me...

"It is not difficult to turn over to Christ those things that are not a sacrifice or that you would prefer to do without anyway. Rather it is the things that are good and dear to you that may stand between you and God's will. It's good to be near your grown children and grandchildren, for example, but God may want you to go to another city or continent on mission with Him."

We had good services this morning. There were 65 in Sunday School and 93 in our church service! We had 5 first time visitors. The men did a great job leading the service. We enjoyed hearing a report on the ministry, here in Ecuador of the radio station, BBN, from the director, Jorge Michala. Samuel Moreno, from Guayaquil preached this morning.

Tony reports that his time in the US has gone well. He has had the opportunity to speak at 3 of our supporting churches, and to visit with 3 other pastors. Teddy and I are looking forward to his return home on Tuesday. He will be flying back to Ecuador tomorrow and back to Manta on Tuesday. Please be praying for him as he travels. There was an accident at the Quito airport on Friday and the airport was closed some, we don't know if he will be flying into Quito, or somewhere else at this time.

Please continue to pray for Teddy and me, while we are here without him.

Have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Joy

Home Sweet Home

Well, Teddy and I are safely home in Manta. It was a long couple of days, but we are so thankful for the blessings of the Lord and that we arrived in Ecuador safely Thursday night and that our suitcases arrived safely on Friday night! :-) The Lord allowed us a day together with Tony relaxing in Guayaquil. What a special blessing. We arrived home yesterday about noon.

This is a big holiday week-end in Ecuador and today is the celebration of the founding of Manta. We had a really low attendance this morning, 57. Every class was down. All the schools had special events this morning.

We are thankful that this past week, Darwin decided that the men were never going to be able to clean the property off on their own, and he got some friends he knew who owned heavy equipment to go over and clear it all off in about 2 hours! What a blessing that was!

Tony will be traveling this week. Please pray for him as he travels and visits 3 of our supporting churches and has the opportunity to meet with a few of our pastors. Pray for Teddy and me as we are here while he is gone. He will be gone for about a week.

Thank you for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta. We are so thankful to know that God is in control and that he has a plan for us and for the work here.

God bless you as you serve Him!
Joy