Carnival Vacation

Good morning everyone! This week-end is "Carnival" here in Ecuador. The kids are all out of school and most people are off work today and tomorrow. The traditional thing, besides for everyone who doesn't live on the coast to go for vacation...is to throw water on people. These days everywhere you go, you need to be on the look out for water balloons, water guns, buckets of water, cups of water, whatever... No one can tell me where this tradition of throwing water at people came from, but everyone seems to have a great time!

Our family had a good week. We had a great trip to Santo Domingo last week. Enjoyed very much being a part of the Valentine's banquet at Iglesia Biblica Bautista Rey de Vida. Tony also preached there Sunday morning. This is their "Missions Emphasis Month" and it was special to be a part of that. We also enjoyed a few days visiting with our good friends, Joe and Sylvia Wells. We returned home Tuesday evening, and pretty much hit the ground running. Wednesday was the Men's and Ladies Bible Studies in Portoviejo. Thursday I had a few visits to make...Friday one of the ladies from the church visited me, and Saturday was our monthly Ladies meeting here at the house. We had 14 and I thought that was pretty good, considering this is a "vacation week-end".

We had good services yesterday. Not sure what the attendance was, but estimate it was in the 80's. We started our new Sunday School class yesterday, so now we have 3 children's classes. Pre-school, 3-5 year olds, Primaries 1st-3rd grade, and Intermediates, 4th-6th grade. We also have a class for kids 7th-10th grade.

After our church service here in Manta, we headed over to Portoviejo and had church there. Then back home, to get things ready for Bible Study and our last meeting to organize our "mini" VBS. Things seem to be ready for that, and we are excited to see what the Lord does through this outreach. We will be starting Thursday evening and going through Sunday. This is the first "VBS" we have done one our own here, so we have been excited to see the response of the people and look forward to the blessings God gives us this week.

Thank you for your prayers for the ministry here in Manta. I pray that each one of you have a wonderful week!

Blessings,
Joy

Happy Valentine's Day!

A couple pictures of the congregation, Sunday morning, Feb. 8.

Tony recognizing the 18 people that were baptized during the year.

Some of the ladies, serving the cake and "snack" after the service.

Teddy enjoying his plate of "goodies"! Looks happy doesn't he?

Tony and I with Pastor Eduardo and his family in Portoviejo, Sunday afternoon.

I pray that each of you have had a wonderful week! So sorry for not updating you earlier in the week on our week-end, but things got a little hectic around here. LOL I believe Tony posted an update and some pictures, so maybe you have all been able to keep up with me through his blog.

Last Saturday, we had the young women's meeting here at our house. Only had 3 ladies show up, but we had a great time. Later, several told me they had planned to come, but just had different things come up. Please pray for these ladies. Each of them is struggling with their own set of problems, but they are growing and seeing God work in their lives and in the lives of their families. Saturday, Monica shared how overwhelmed she has been with the love and concern that has been showered on her by the ladies in our church. Monica is a very new Christian, and she is expecting her first baby. She mentioned that none of her sisters or even her mother have offered any kind of support or help, nor have any of the people that she would have considered, "her friends", yet several ladies in the church, who have known her a realitvely short time, have opened up their hearts to her! What a testimony to what the difference Christ makes in our lives!

Saturday evening we had a Leadership Team meeting. It went well, but long, as there were many things to discuss and "iron out".

Sunday morning started bright and early. It was pouring down rain, but about 30 minutes before the service the rain stopped and the sun came out!!! We had around 95 people to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the church. It was a very special service and time of fellowship. Tony recoginized the 18 people that had been baptized during this past year, and it was such a blessing to have all 18 of them present! What a great sign of growth in our young church.

Sunday afternoon we headed to Portoviejo, and enjoyed the service there, where the church recognized Pastor Eduardo and his family and thanked them for the years of service they have given. Pastor Eduardo and his family will be moving to Santo Domingo this week-end. Please pray for leadership and direction for them, and also for the church in Porto Viejo.

The Bible Study Sunday evening was once again well attended. After the study, we had a short meeting to get things organized for our "mini" VBS which will start February 26. Please be praying for those who have made the committment to help with this.

This week hasn't slowed down any either! Tuesday we had some friends from Santo Domingo come and visit us for a few days...we enjoyed thier company. Wednesday I met with the Leaders in our Women's ministry and then Wednesday evening we were off to the Bible Study in Porto Viejo. Tony has been very busy, with the normal classes and discipleship, plus work on getting the construction going for the building. That is all moving forward. We need to find a "general contractor" within the next week, that will be there to "over see" the day to day construction. Pray for God to lead us to the person he has for this position.

Thank you for praying for Barbara Casto. She is out of the hospital and doing well. She has a long road of recovery ahead of her, but God has been so good. Veronica Perez, too, is doing much better. Teddy seems to finally be completely over his "bug" and we are getting back on track with school. Tony and I still need your prayers for wisdom and energy and we minister here and in Portoviejo.

God bless you!
Joy

Blessings on top of Blessings...

Group with Tony that was baptized this afternoon.

l to r - Paola, Merly and Stalin, Tony, Monica, Solanda, Cristobal, and Andres

Tony teaching at the Bible Study tonight.

26 people attended the Bible Study this evening.

This has been a day full of blessings...and at the same time exhausting! We had a great service this morning. There were 92 present, with 3 first time visitors. After the morning service we had a baptism at the beach. 7 precious believers were baptized today. 6 adults and one young boy. This marked a great victory in their lives and we were blessed!

After the baptism we headed home for a couple minutes to change clothes, make a few sandwiches to eat in the car and headed to Porto Viejo to meet with the congregation there. 15 people gathered to meet with us and discuss the future of this work. Please pray for Tony and I as we lead this congregation during this time of transition. Pray that God would send the couple he has chosen to Pastor this work and that we would be patient to wait on His timing. At this point we will be making the trip over there on Sunday afternoons for their regular service and then on Wednesday evening, when we are planning to have a Men's and a Ladies Bible study.

From Porto Viejo we head home, had a time to get a class of iced tea, and print out some things we needed for the new Bible Study that started this evening in the church here! We had 26 people attend the study tonight. Tony is teaching a series on "How to Study the Bible for Yourself". The plan is for it to be about a 5 or 6 week series.

So we come to the end of this day, we are tired, but we are also very excited to see the hand of God working in the lives of the people here! Next week will be the 4th anniversary of the church here in Manta!

A couple special prayer requests...

1. Please pray for Barbara Castro. She had surgery this week and is still in the hospital.

2. Pray for Veronica Perez. She will be having some tests tomorrow.

3. Pray for Veronica's husband, Neiger, who was just told Friday along with 4 other guys, that after working for a month, they were no longer needed. Not only that, but they weren't paid for the months work...they were told to return next Friday and they would get paid.

4. Pray for Teddy, who has been sick this past week. He is much better, but still seems to have somthing "hanging on".

5. Pray for strength, energy and wisdome for Tony and I as we minister here in Manta, and now also in Porto Viejo.

Thank you for your prayers and support!
God Bless,
Joy