Our bags are packed...

We have suitcases filling up our entryway. Our flight for Quito leaves around 2:00 this afternoon.

The pastor's wives retreat this past week-end went really well. Thank you for your prayers. We had 31 ladies attend. Because of all the rains and flooding we have had here on the coast, the roads between here and Santo Domingo were really a mess. At the last minute it was decided that Chris Tignor would take Lois and I in his truck instead of Tony driving our car. It was a good decision as we came to a few places that the car would have never been able to get through.

Our services yesterday went really well. We had 70 in Sunday School and 90 in the church service. Please pray for the congregation here in Manta, as they step up and take responsibility for the work, in our absence. Pray for Celcila, as she keeps the Children's classes running smoothly. She as committed to making sure everyone has the copies and any other supplies they need. Also to make sure there is a snack for the children each week. Pray for the ladies that have committed to work with the children for this semester. Celcila and Maria Jose are teaching the younger children, Aday and Janneth are teaching our older children's class. We have several teams that are rotating each month for our Children's church time.

Also pray for Zonia, Melenea, Wilda, Lupe and Consuelo as they take turns teaching the Ladies Sunday School class. Pray for Wilda as she organizes activities for the Ladies. Pray also for the men in the church as they lead the Men's class, the morning service, preach, and just take care of the day to day things. There is such an opportunity for growth on the part of the people here in the church during these months, but as you know there is also an opportunity for Satan to sow discord. So many of the people in our church are new believers.

Please pray for us as we travel today and tomorrow. Our first Mission's Conference starts this Wednesday night at our Home Church in Flint, Michigan. Pray too, that the Lord would go before us and prepare the hearts to be ready to participate in our building project. When we look at the amount of money we need to raise for construction, it just seems like an impossibility, but we know that with God nothing is impossible! What a blessing it has been to see Him work these past months and supply exactly what has been needed each step of the way.

Thank you for your prayers for our family and the work here in Manta!
God Bless,
Joy

A little Crazy...

Life for us is just a little crazy these days. We are working really hard to get everything together and ready for our 4 month furlough in the US. That means having people ready to step in and do all the things at church and not just having people ready to step in, but having everything organized and ready for them.

Today was the first Sunday for the new teachers. That went pretty smooth. All the material has been given out and all the visual aides and handouts have been organized and filed for the whole semester. Please keep Cecila in your prayers as she is taking over keeping everything organized and making sure that there is cookies, juice, and anything else that might be needed.

There are 5 ladies that will be taking turns teaching the Ladies Sunday School class. Please pray for Zonia, Wilda, Lupe, Melenea, and Consuelo. Pray also for these ladies as they organize the monthly ladies meetings which are the last Saturday of the month.

This week, we will be going to Santo Domingo, to participate in the annual Ecuadorian Pastor's wives retreat. I would appreciate your prayers for me, especially as I finish preparing the 2 lessons that I will be teaching and then as I teach them on Friday.

We are also trying to pack, organized the house, make sure everything that needs to be "shut down" or changed... like internet, direct tv, cell phones... etc. is taken care of. In the middle of all this Tony and I have "caught" the "bug" that has been going around for about a month now. (I would say half of Manta is sick with it)

This evening we had a wedding shower for one of the young ladies at church. There were about 13 ladies that attended. I wish that more had come, but we had a great time. Everyone that made the effort to come out, seemed to have a great time, and Dina was very grateful for all of her gifts. Please pray for Dina and Marco as they are married and start their life together. Pray for Dina, as they will be living in Quito and this will be a big change for her, since all her family lives here. Pray for her mother, Zonia, who is battling cancer.

There were 81 present for the church service this morning. We had 4 first time visitors. God is working and we are so thankful that he has allowed us to be apart of it! Thank you for your prayers for the work here in Manta. We are so excited to see how the Lord is opening doors and the change he is making in people's lives.

Hope to see many of you while we are in the US! At the present time we are scheduled to be in 33 churches. Pray with us that God will touch hearts to join with us and raise the money needed to build the new church building here in Manta.

God Bless!
Joy

Carnival...

This is Carnival week-end in Ecuador. That means that most people are off work today and tomorrow. Manta is filled to overflowing with touriest from the "mountians". Carnival is kind of like "Mardi Gras" in the States, except that the big thing to do here, is throw water, or water balloons at people. When we lived in Quito I just hated this time of year, because they would start about a month or so ahead of time. Walking down the street became a hazardous activity. I remember seeing young ladies in suits, probably bank tellers walking down the street on their lunch hour and getting a bucket of water thrown at them.

In Manta, the water play pretty much is reserved for this week-end, also for the most part it is reserved for the beach too. Although you will see kids with buckets full of water, and small plastic containers on the side walks waiting for that pick up truck full of people to drive by so they can throw water at them. We "celebrated" the holiday today, by having a big water fight at home. Just Tony, Teddy and I! Teddy thought it was great fun, and that we should do it once a month! :-)

Yesterday was our churches 3rd anniversary. We had a great day. We had 80 in attendance, which is a little lower than what we have been averaging, but then for a holiday week-end we were pretty happy with it. There were some visitors, and we all enjoyed cake after the service.

In the evening we participated in an evangelistic outreach in the park near the church. There were about 200 people that watched a movie, and listened to a clear presentation of the gospel during a short intermission. About 60 people accepted Gospels of John, and participated in a short Bible study time. Pray with us that there will be fruit from this event. Many of our church people came and participated, handing out tracks, and talking with people.

Please be praying with our family as we continue to make preparations for a short furlough this Spring.

God Bless!
Joy