What's been happening...

The last couple weeks of October have been really busy.  We enjoyed great services at church.  185 two weeks ago and 162 last Sunday.  God is working and moving in hearts.

Our daughter, Carla, celebrated her 9th birthday on Oct. 22.  Here is a link to some pictures from that special day.

Carla's Birthday

The Ladies Conference we had planned for the 26th and 27th was wonderful!  We had 58 ladies participate that is only short 2 of those who had signed up.  I don't think we have ever had that kind of turn out before.  The ladies did a great job of helping with the planning and carrying through with their commitments.  By taking on the responsibility of so much of the conference it allowed me to focus the bulk of my attention on the lessons.  What a blessing!

If you would like to see photos from that event, please visit the link below:

Manzanas de Oro

It is also that time of year, when we need to re-new our visas.  Tony started working early in the month, to get together all the necessary paperwork.  It has always been a fairly simple, straight forward thing, (well as simple and straight forward as you can get when the government is involved! ;-)  Anyway, the first time he went they told him he was going to need some extra papers this year.  They also told him the name that he was to address all the letters to, (the coordinator of visas for this area).  Well, when he went back about 5 days later to turn in all the paperwork...he was told that the coordinator had changed and that the letters now needed to be addressed to a different person.  Also was told that one of our papers we had received from the National Mission here was out dated.  It needed to be less than 2 years old.  So we again, talked to the Mission leaders in Quito, and they re-wrote the letters, (these have to be written, signed by the president of the Mission and notarized, all of which takes time).  They also found a more current document on file and had it copied and notarized.  All was done and sent to us, within a couple days, (which was really amazing in itself)!  When Tony, went last Friday, to again turn in our folder of documents, he was told that they were unacceptable, because the paper, that we had been told needed to be less than 2 years old, now, had to be dated this year!  We found out all of this on Friday morning, and I was preparing for the Ladies Conference starting that evening!  Can you see Satan at work?!   Well, despite all of that we had Wonderful conference and God blessed!   On Monday we headed up to Quito.  We were going to try applying for our visa there, and if that didn't work we would head across the border on Wednesday, to return to Ecuador with a 90 day tourist visa.  Well, we found grace in the eyes of the officials there.  Our documents were accepted, entered in to the computer and our photos taken.  We have an appointment to return on Nov. 9.  At this point it looks like everything is on track.  Appreciate your prayers that we would be granted our visa with no more problems.

Today is Día de los Difuntos.  It is traditional to eat Guaguas de pan, (bread babies) and drink Colada Morada, it is a thick drink made from blueberries, blackberries, lots of spices with chopped up fruit in it.
if you would like a recipe for it, you will find a great one here .  We enjoyed the traditional treats and spent some time talking to the children about the history and meaning behind it.  Here are some pics from our own family celebration.

Day of the Dead, celebration

Thank you for your prayers for our family and the ministry here in  Manta!
Blessings to you!
Joy