"Bendecidas para Bendecir" is Off the Ground!!

There is so much I could say about how this morning went, but I think for this post, I'm going to just let the photos tell the story... What a blessing to be here serving the Lord, and to be used by God to be his hands and feet.  To have the privilege to share the love of Christ with others.  Thank you to EVERYONE who supports and/or prays for the ministry here in Manta, Ecuador!!  God is working in this place!

Friday morning we filled boxes and bags, ready to hand out on Saturday morning. 

Each household represented would receive a box full of food, 

and a bag of fresh veggies.

Praying together before people arrived. 

Waiting for their turn to be "checked-in"

We had the opportunity to talk with and pray with each person.

These need no explanation...

Celebrating Father's Day...

Here are a few photos of what we did with Tony, to celebrate Father's Day this year...

 

This family photo was taken after services Sunday.

We took Tony to a Mexican Resturant for supper, Sunday. We went about 5:00, and were the only people in there... Most people go out a lot later for supper around here. 

After we ordered our food, the kids gave Tony his gift and the cards they had made.

Everyone loved their dinner! ;)

Carla and Matthew had "Flautas de Pollo"...

Tony had the "El Coyote" 

Teddy had a beef burrito and I had tostados.  It was all delicious!

Today, we went to San Lorenzo, to climb up to the light house. 

You can just barely see it on the top of the  hill.

And we're off...

At the half way point.

This is where I stayed...

but the kids were ready to move on...

"Victory is ours!" is what Matthew said, when they reached the top! ;)

had to take a photo of the "stairs".  There were "only" 650 some...

There were also sea turtle nest marked off.  That was neat.  The kids came home and checked it out on the computer to see photos of the turtles.  

on the way back out of the little town, we came across a bunch of baby pigs crossing the road...

Happy Mother's Day!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!   We had a great day here.  I enjoyed breakfast in bed, and some sweet presents from my kiddos.  Also had the special treat of talking with all 3 of my big girls, and my Mom.

We had a great turnout at church for our Mother's Day Breakfast.  70 ladies attended, and we had several visitors.   Those taking care of the food, did a wonderful job.   Ceci and Melanie did an awesome job with the program.  Viviana and Alexander, were two women from the Bible who visited to share their testimony and how their encounter with Christ changed their lives.   Ceci pulled it together with a very clear salvation message.   They did all that, along with singing all together, and 1 game in the 30 minutes we had for the program!  :)  We also enjoyed giving roses to all the ladies present.  (Moms or not)   We had 188 in our worship service, with several visitors.  It was a great day of planting the seed!

After church, I took photos of 42 different family groups.  This has been a Mother's Day tradition since we came to Ecuador, and other missionary friends introduced us to the idea.  We take photos off all the Mom's present with their families, and then have them printed up and hand them out the following Sunday.

Here's our family's photo from this year...

After church, we came home, and my sweetie, fixed a wonderful dinner for us.  Grilled steaks, baked potatoes, salad and fruit.   It was all delicious.   In the evening we went out to visit our friends Mirian and Fernando and enjoyed chicken and patacones at their restaurant.  Wonderful ending to a great day!

Here are some photos from the Ladies Breakfast at church...

serving breakfast, this was about 9:55am...

Because of the expected turnout we had to change our plan and have it in the auditorium.  So we used the back corner, and the ladies decorated the walls with fans and verses.  

Cristobal, (standing by the keyboard) played soft music for the first 30 minutes, while we served and had breakfast.  Joselyn led us in a song at the start of our program.  

These are our two "visiting" speakers.   Alexandra (in black) played the woman caught in adultery and Viviana the woman who touched the hem of his garment.  (probably not the 2 characters from the Bible that I would have chosen right off, BUT, their "testimonies" were POWERFUL!  I am so thankful for the time and effort they put into to doing this.)

Here is the breakfast that was served.  "Torta de choclo", grapes and a chocolate. It was very yummy! ;)

Ceci, pulling together the testimonies and sharing a very clear Salvation message.

playing a short game... the prize was the "fan" Melanie is holding.

getting ready to end the program.  All the ladies seemed to have a wonderful time.  Everyone got a beautiful rose, to celebrate the day. ;)

My Children...

This past week, I have been thinking about how so much of what is really important can't be bought!

One of the verses that had been on my heart was 3 John 4, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

How true that is.  Here is scrapbook layout I made based on that verse...

I am so thankful for the blessing of family and that by the grace of God our children are walking in the truth!

(This layout was done using The Best Things page kit by designer Carole Harden.  You can find it here: The Digital Scrapbook Place  )

Wow am I behind?!?!

Here we are nearing the end of February and I haven't posted anything for this new year!  Guess that means life has been busy around our house! :)

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas vacation.  It was nice to have the kids off of school and to enjoy the holidays.  We enjoyed hosting a couple parties at our house.  One for the deacons and their wives and a dinner for our 3 church staff and their families.  Christmas eve was our families "Birthday Party for Jesus", and the kids had a wonderful time.

For our "Old Man" for New Year's eve this year, the kids each made a replica of themselves.  Everyone enjoyed playing games and watching movies, etc. to stay up and wait until mid-night to burn them and make lost of noise to say "good-bye" to 2012 and "welcome" to 2013!

The week of 2013, was spent getting the Christmas stuff all packed away and the house put back together.  Then the kids and I were back at school.

We finished up our 3rd term on February 8th!  That was a big deal, as that means we are 1/2 way through our school year!!

Another big event that happened in January, was that we were able to start the process of requesting visas to  travel to the US for Carla and Matthew.  That is now in process, and we covet your prayers that this process would go smoothly and quickly.  We are hoping to have the visas by June, but earlier would be ok! :)  We are thankful that even though there are many "unknowns" for us on this road that God is not taken by surprise by any of it and that He is in control!

The church celebrated it's 8th anniversary on February 3!  It seems impossible that it has already been 8 years!!  We had a great attendance of just over 200.  We are so thankful the many blessings that God has bestowed upon this ministry!

For the anniversary I made a cake to share with the church.  It was quite an adventure.  It was made up of 12, 9x13 cakes.   Here's a layout of the "Cake Adventure". ;)

It is amazing what God is doing here.  The Ladies Sunday school class continues to grow.  We are presently doing a study based on Beth Moore's book, Praying God's Word.  It has been a huge blessing to me personally and it has also been a blessing to hear the testimonies each week of how the Ladies are growing and how God is working in their hearts and lives.

Schools are out in Manabi at this time for their, "summer vacation"... this year they are taking off until May, so during the next 2 months, we will be having our annual VBS and our Teen Retreat.  In March, our Bible Institute will be starting back up.  They are going to spend the first month, teaching, Evagelism and Discipleship.  Please be in prayer that many will be burdened to get involved and will make the extra effort necessary to participate in these Thursday evening classes.

This year at our church the "theme" or emphasis is on Gratitude.  So with that in mind, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the part you have played in our lives and ministry over the last 22 years.   I know that the only reason we are here ministering is because there are people back home, "holding the ropes".  People praying for us on a daily basis and many people sacrificing to give their Missions Offering each week.  We don't take those things lightly.   Each victory here, each soul saved and each life changed is all because of the part you have played.

So Thank you!! I pray that God will bless each of you above and beyond anything you could ever imagine.

Blessings,
Joy

(these layouts were done using page kits from the  Digital Scrapbook Place, Inc. )

Family Photo Album for November, 2012

Here are a few pictures of some of the things that have been happening in our life this past month...

Nov. 2, we celebrated the Ecuadorian Holiday, "Día de los muertos".

Carla and Matthew made pyramids out of blocks when we studied about ancient Egypt.

 Nov. 10, we celebrated my birthday.

That afternoon, some of the sweet people from our church hosted a surprise party for me!

At the close of his New Zealand unit, Teddy, made Pavlova, and wrote a short report about it's origins. 

 We hosted a get together with new attendees from church so we could get to know them better.

Matthew celebrated his 8th birthday.

Our Thanksgiving Celebration.