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. ;)

Crazy Day!

Church was pretty crazy this morning!  We had a good attendance, 145.  Not super but not bad either. ;)  Sunday School went well.  The guys that usually run our Easy Worship program for the Worship Service were out today.  We've had a college age young lady learning the program, but today was her first time to do it alone.  It went well for the song time.  But then she ran into problems during the preaching.  It was a situation where the screen was blank, then it was on, then it was blank...  At the same time, we had children crying...  Also at the start of the preaching time, the mic was really "hot"... not sure why, they got that turned down, but then it wasn't really right.

After that, we had Lord's supper and the mic they were using was in and out.  Finally when they just decided to go without the mic, that went fine. :)  Darwin, lead Lord's Supper this morning and it was such a blessing to see him, and to think how much God has worked in his life!

After we decided to order pizza when we got home, and although we've ordered it many times, this time, for some reason, our name didn't pop up on the computer when they entered our phone number. So Tony was in here trying to explain where we lived and after about 3 times, the delivery guy got on the phone and when Tony, asked if he was the one that usually delivered  and then said, I'm the tall, American guy, he knew exactly who and where we were! ;)

Even with all the craziness, it was such a blessing to be in God's House this morning and to worship with our church family.  God has done so much here already.  It's amazing when you look back and remember where we were and where we are today!  Praise the Lord for his grace and mercy!

I would ask you to please be praying for the ladies as they were on getting our Mother's Day Breakfast organized.  We already have 57 ladies signed up!!  Praying that God uses this to bring women and families to Him.

Have a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Joy

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 Update... Thanksgiving Day, 2012

I get so behind posting on here...I have great intentions, but then there just doesn't seem to be any time to do it all! :-)  This has been a full month, full of blessings and activities.

We took a trip to Quito at the beginning of the month, to see about our visas.  Here in Manta, we had been told that we would have to leave the country and return with a tourist visa, and then start the process to get a permanent visa.  But, in Quito they accepted our documents requesting a missionary visa.  We have spent the rest of the month, waiting to hear if this visa was granted or not.  On Monday, we received good news that the documentation was accepted as is, and they took our passports in order to apply the visas, which now have also been paid for.  Now we are waiting for the return of the passports with the new visas applied. Oh the joy of dealing with red tape! :-)

Besides, the drama of our visas...we have enjoyed celebrating my birthday on the 10th, and Matthew's birthday, which was today, but we celebrated it on the 21st, so that today, we could focus on Thanksgiving! Why have just one celebration, when you can have two?!

Carla, has been sick this month, but is doing much better, and we think she is on the mend, after a round of antibiotics and breathing treatments last week.

All 3 children are doing well in school.  Teddy finished a unit on New Zealand, and his end of unit project was to make a Pavlova for dessert.  He also did a short report about its origins.  I have to say that the dessert was excellent and not near has hard as I had thought it would be.  I can see it being made more often in the future! ;-)

Matthew and Carla have been learning about Egypt in Ancient History.  Last week, we read about "King Tut", and they also built pyramids with blocks.  There was actually directions in the book about how to make a "chicken mummy", but I decided that was not something we were going to get into! LOL!!  They had a great time making the pyramids, and we didn't have to wait 6 weeks or worry about stinking bacteria ridden chickens!

Because we made a trip up to Quito at the beginning of the month, and because Tony flew back up there on the 9th to check on the visa situation, and because Carla has been sick, we decided that it would be better for us to stay put at home this Thanksgiving.  We really missed the opportunity to be with our friends there, but we had a wonderful day here celebrating with the kids.   Today at dinner, we were talking about how much has changed since the first Thanksgiving Matthew and Carla were with us.  It is really quite amazing and remarkable.   I will post a couple photos to let you see what I'm talking about....

This was taken Thanksgiving day, 2010.  We had a couple kids that just weren't sure about any of it...

This was taken at dinner today!  

We are counting our blessings, and naming them one by one.  God has been so very good to us!

Thank you for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta.  God is working.  The church is growing and lives are being changed!

Blessings to you and yours on this very special day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joy

What's happening, now?

Good Morning!

This is a special day around our house.  It is our "Welcome to the Family" day for Carla and Matthew.  I have posted a little about my feelings on this special day at my Wordpress blog, The Journey of Waiting, if you are interested in reading more about it.  :-)

At home, my time is pretty much consumed in caring for and teaching the children.  We are getting ready to start week 4 of our school year.  So far things are going well, and it has been a joy to see how much the kid are growing and learning.   Teddy informed us last week, that he needed to learn Arabic, because God might want him to be a missionary someplace that as Americans we weren't able to go, but that he would be able to go because he was also Ecuadorian! (sometimes, I really do have to remind myself that he's only 10!)  

Things in our ministry are going forward.  We had a good attendance yesterday, of 156 in the Worship Service.  Tony continued his message series on 1 Peter.  Last night, we had a business meeting, and it was a blessing as we added 12 new members and there was just a great spirit of unity.  

Our outreach in Jaramijo went very well.  We had over 120 people out to listen and hear the gospel.  Many people asked about having a Bible Studies in their homes.  We are excited to see what God is going to do in this community.   Please make this a matter of prayer.  

You know when things are going well.  When people are getting saved and lives are being changed, Satan doesn't like it.  He will do everything he can to discourage us.  I would ask your prayers especially for a baby Christian, Joanna.  She is part of a large family, and several of them have come to know Christ, but it is our experience that every time, one of the family starts to climb out of the "pit" they have been living in, the rest of the family does everything they can to pull them back in!  

I have had the opportunity to start discipleship classes with another baby christian, Carol.  Please pray for her as she grows in her faith.  Carol has attended church off and on for many years with her husband.  She always had the right answers.  We have been praying along with her husband, Carlos, for a long time, that she would get saved, if she wasn't.  What a blessing it was to sit across from her at her kitchen table last week, and hear her testimony of how God worked in her heart, and how much had changed in her life in just a week since she had surrendered and accepted Christ as her Savior!   

You know God, really is in the business of saving and changing lives!   When we accept Him, we become "new creatures" and there is a change in the way we think, the way we respond.  

Current Prayer Requests:

Pray that we would be able to get Carla and Matthew's visas to travel to the US in a timely manner.

Pray for the Women's Conference, Oct. 26 & 27

Pray for the baby Christians in our church to continue to grow 

Pray for our economic situation and for God to add to our support team

Pray for the people in our church to step up to the plate in giving and serving

Blessings,

Joy

Sunday Update

We had a great day at church this morning!   The morning started with a "fellowship" time in the Ladies class.  35 ladies attended this morning.  This is the first time that ladies from the class took on the responsibility for the refreshments.  It was such a blessing to me to not have to plan it and make sure everything was there!  

We had 151 in church.  One of our missionaries, David Proaño, preached and did an awesome job! The gospel message was presented so simply and so clear.  It was great to have David and Monica along with their family in our services this morning.  2 dear ladies accepted Christ as their Savior this morning.  What a blessing it was to see the Lord melt their hearts.  

This Saturday evening we are planning an outreach again in Jaramijo.  We will be working with the Proaños. Looking forward to what God will do there.  Then next Sunday, David and Monica will be leading our Children's Church time.

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry here.   It is so exciting to see God at work in the hearts and lives of people.

Blessings to you!
Joy

Summer Vacation!!!

The kids and I are happy to be on "summer vacation"!   I am very proud of how well they did in school this year.  We have some sorting and organizing to do for next year, but for these first 2 weeks, we are just enjoying a change of pace!  

On the 4th of July, we had fun, roasting hot dogs, and then marshmallows for smores.  That evening we had fun with sparklers and light sticks.   Carla said, it was a "Great Holiday!"  

This past week-end we enjoyed having Glenn and Sherri McGhee here along with Randy and Sherry Rhoton.   On Saturday, we had 28 people from church attend a Children's Ministry Seminar that the Rhoton's did for us.  Everyone was very excited and eager to learn new things.  A very special blessing on this day, was that one young lady who has been attending church off and on for a couple months, accepted Christ as her Savior!!  

On Sunday morning Glenn shared a video of the outreach ministry going on around Tena.  It was a blessing to see how God is using the work there, and it was an encouragement to people here to get involved and reach out to the lost around us.  Randy preached in the Worship service and was a great blessing to our church.  We had 153, in church.  Last week we had 181.  Can't really give you any reason why there is such an up and down.  Seems like there are about 30 people that can't make up their mind if they are coming or going! ;-)  

On the 23rd we will be hosting a group from Oxbow Lake Baptist Church, in White Lake, MI.  They will be here until Aug. 1.  Please be praying with us, as we minister with and to this group.  We are excited to see what God does with and through this group.   

I have been having some slight health issues.  I appreciate your prayers as we work with the doctor here to figure out what is going on, and find the best treatment option.  I had several tests last week, and will be having blood test in the morning, to see if there is an infection involved.  We know that God is in control and we have already seen how he has directed our steps.  Thank you for praying.  

Blessings,

Joy

What's been happening?

We thoroughly enjoyed our last week-end! It was a such a blessing to have Stacey and Andy Meyers visiting us.  They are in Ecuador for their honeymoon.

The kids really enjoyed all the extra attention.  We had fun showing them around and just visiting and playing games.

Sunday we had a great attendance again.  With 151 in the church service.  In the Ladies Sunday School class we had 37!!  We had a special "fellowship time" with rolls and coffee, starting class about 15 minutes earlier than normal. This was just idea I had, to see how it worked.  They ladies had a wonderful time, and we are going to be doing this once a month. :-)

2 people talked to Tony after services to let him know that they were interested in getting baptized this next month.

We are getting ready to start a contest in the Ladies class.  There are so many ladies that come to church but  don't make it to Sunday School.  So my idea, is to try to get them involved.  I am thinking to start this Sunday, and anyone who isn't present in Sunday School, will be considered a "visitor" the next week.  The ladies are going to get 5 points for each first time visitor and 10 points for each time that "visitor" returns...so the idea will be to try and get some new people in the "habit" of attending Sunday School!  

The kids have done really well in school this week.  We just have one more week left and then we will be on our "Summer Vacation".  Our school year is running a little longer than normal this year, because we took some extra time off for different things throughout the year.  We are all looking forward to our "vacation"... not sure who is more excited though, the kids or the teacher! ;-)

We have some more exciting news in our family.  Our oldest daughter and her husband announced this week that they were expecting, in February.  That will be 2 new grand babies for us this coming year!!  Also our middle daughter and her husband will be moving this week, to work in a church in Ohio!  We are very excited for all of these blessings.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Ecuador!

Blessings,
Joy

Happy Father's Day!!

Wow!  We have had an incredible week-end!

28 men signed up to attend a one-day retreat at a local camp.  24 actually attended!  Tony was thrilled at the turnout.   The theme of the retreat was "Courageous", based on the recent movie.  

While Tony was away yesterday, the kids and I worked on some special Father's Day treats.  We made a batch of Ginger snaps, which they had to give to him as soon as he got home, in hopes that he would share with them! Which of course he did. :-)  They also made cards and letters.  Teddy made his Dad a desktop organizer, from paper tubes and duct tape. ;-)  

This morning the kids and I made breakfast for Tony, and gave him our presents.  Then we all got ready and headed to church.  

We had 146 in the Worship service this morning.  25 Father's stood up to receive their gift.  13 of the men who attended the retreat, went up to the platform to receive a copy of the "Resolution" and to read it aloud with Tony.  After service they brought their families forward to sign the resolution and pray a prayer of dedication.   

That was all really incredible, BUT even more exciting than that, was that 3 precious souls came to know Christ as their Savior this morning.  One of the young men who attended the retreat yesterday, brought his wife up and said, to me, "She wants to accept Christ as her Savior!"  Then one of the men who had gone to the retreat, after signing the resolution, told Tony that he needed to take the first step and accept Christ.  Then after he had accepted Christ, he brought his teen age daughter over and she told Tony, she wanted to accept Christ!!  

This afternoon, we enjoyed a great Father's Day lunch, together.  Tried a new recipe and EVERYONE loved it!   Tony and the kids have been playing a "new" game outside.  I love hearing their laughter through the window.   

We are truly blessed!

Joy

Happy Monday Morning!  We've turned the calendar to a new month.  Can you really believe that it is already June?  It seems like just last month we were celebrating New Years!!!

We have had so many blessings already this year.  It just amazes me that God would choose to work through me and my family.

Last week we had 186 in services.  There were 32 ladies that attended our Sunday School class.  After services Tony baptized 3 precious new believers.  

This week we celebrated "Children's Day" here in Ecuador, Friday, June 1.  We had a team from the church take our puppets to a local school, at the request of the director for a presentation, Friday morning.  It was very well received.  One lady asked, them, "What does the church charge to do this?" ;-)  She seemed pretty amazed that the response was nothing, that we are willing to go wherever there is an opportunity or an open door.

Yesterday, we had 150 in services.  People responded to the invitation for prayer, and there was a great spirit in the church.   We are thankful for the work that God is doing in hearts and lives here in Manta.

This is a big "celebration" month for our family.  June 1, was Teddy's "Welcome to our Family" day.  We had a great time celebrating him and enjoyed "Children's Day" with all 3 kids.

Yesterday our oldest daughter, Mandie and her husband Mike celebrated their 6th anniversary.  This Wednesday our daughter, Lexi, will celebrate her birthday, and on the 27th, our daughter Ashley and her husband Shane, will celebrate their 4th anniversary, (I think, I have the "years" right! ;-)

We are praising the Lord for his blessings upon our lives and the lives of our children.

I pray that each of you have a week full of blessings from the Lord and open doors of ministry for the glory of God.

Blessings,
Joy

We have had an incredible day!  God is moving and blessing the work here in Manta.  It is a joy to be a part of  his ministry and see Him working.  

This morning  I had 30 ladies in my Sunday School class.  We had one first time visitor and have several new ladies that have been very faithful.  Many of these ladies are facing difficult situations and I appreciate your prayers for them.  Several have unsaved husbands.  One lady today requested prayer for her mother, a believer and faithful member in a sister church in Portoviejo.  She is awaiting the results of some medical tests, but at this time it doesn't look good.   Thank you for praying for Giaconda and for her family.

137 attended the Worship Service this morning.  We have been having attendances between 130 and 150 consistently and are excited to see how the church is growing.  Over 15 people are presently working through our discipleship program!  It is always exciting to see people growing and learning in their walk with Christ.

Thank you for your prayers and support of the ministry and our family!
Blessings to you and yours,
Joy

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Hi Friends!  I hope that you had wonderful Mother's Day.  My family did an extra special job of making sure I knew how much the loved me!  It started out with breakfast in bed, and just got better from there! :-)

At church this morning, we had 52 ladies attend our ladies breakfast at 9:30.  It was great to see how many people made the effort to get out just a little bit early.  We also had several visitors, and we are thankful for the opportunity to share the gospel with them.  Everyone had a great time, and I am so thankful for the effort made by the leader's wives.  Without their help, this would have never happened!

Here are a few pictures from our day.  I hope you enjoy them!

Blessings to you!

Joy                      
                                                                   


These first 3 pictures were taken at the start of our breakfast. By the end all those empty chairs were filled!  We had fresh fruit, rolls, and little pastry shells with something kind of like chicken salad... might not sound like "breakfast food" to you, but the ladies loved it!!

                              Joselyn and Crisnal, sang a song for the offertory.  They did a great job!

              Here's some of the crowd this morning...Yes, that's Tony and our 3 kids on the front row.

                                              Tony cooked dinner for us!  It was wonderful!!!

Sunday Update

Well, it is quiet...the kids are all sleeping and Tony is heading that way.  I just wanted to post a quick update before I head to bed, too.

We have had a busy week-end, but it has been really good.  The wedding Saturday evening was beautiful.  We had a great turnout from our church family, with at least 100 people there.  Everyone did a great job pitching in.  There were about 10 ladies that showed up Saturday morning to help decorate the church, and others that provided finger foods for the reception.

This morning God blessed our services.  We had very good attendances in both our Men's and Lady's Classes.
The children's classes were down a little bit, so our overall attendance was 138.  We did have 5 first time visitors and that was encouraging.

The situation I spoke of last week, seems to be working itself out.  It was a blessing to see the one lady who has been struggling with attitude problems talking to some people to make things right, and then this afternoon, when Tony returned to the church for a leaders meeting, one young couple who had been offended by this woman, multiple times over the last couple years and had been struggling to forgive, were there talking with her and her husband, and called Tony over, and wanted him to know that the Lord had used his sermon this morning to convict their hearts and that they were getting things reconciled!  Praise the Lord for this answer to prayer, for both families involved AND for the church as a whole.  

The other situation with the couple that left, has had very little if any "fall-out".  We are praising God for his timing and work.  It should not amaze me that when we leave things in God's hands He always does them well.

This coming Sunday we are having a breakfast at the church for the ladies in honor of Mother's Day.  I would really appreciate your prayers as we make the preparations for this.  Mother's Day is always a special day here.   It is an opportunity for people to get their unsaved family members to visit the church.  Please pray with us that God would touch hearts and that souls would be saved next week.

We have some new people starting our discipleship lessons.  Please be praying for them as they are taking their first steps in their Christian walk.

The kids and I are steadily working through our school material.  We have about 8 weeks left.  Pray that we would not grow weary and would finish strong.   Also would appreciate your prayers for a church group that will be visiting us in July.  Please pray as we make the preparations for their visit.  Pray that God would use them to bless his work here, and use us to bless them.

I pray you will be encouraged this week.  That you will bring honor and glory to the name of Christ.  That God would bless you in the place of service where he has put you.

Thank you for praying for our family and the ministry here in Manta, Ecuador!
Blessings,
Joy

What's Been Happening?

I wanted to share a few photos with you.  Enjoy!

February 20-21, was Carnival Vacation here.  It is traditional to throw water on  random, unsuspecting people, during these days.  Our family doesn't participate in that, but we do enjoy our own "Water Fight."  These first 2 pictures are from our big Carnival Water Fight.  

March 18th, in the afternoon, we had a bridal shower for Mercedes.  Here are some pictures from it.

Mercedes and her sister

Wilda introducing the first game. They were divided in to 2 teams.  Each team was given a small cake, an egg, a little bit of white sugar, a little bit of powdered sugar, a lemon, some sprinkles, food coloring, a bowl, a fork and little wooden spatula.  They had to make some frosting, and decorate their cake...

Libertad was a "pro"...She had her egg white wiped up in no time! :-)

Diana, Carla and Libertad with their cake

Consuelo, Giomara, and Jessenia with their cake

Mercedes, right before refreshments.  We had a great turn out and a good time together.  Please pray for Mercedes and Maximo as they start their Christian Home.

Since Cristobal has taken over organizing and preparing the music for Sunday morning, we have had "special music" for the offering time, every Sunday.  This is a group that sang this morning and did a great job!

Tony, with Luis, Melaniea and Javier this morning.  The 3 of them received Study Bibles for completing the 12 classes that make up the first part of our Leadership Training Program.  

Tony with the two children that were baptized this morning.  This is Nicolas and Carla. 

We are so excited to see what God is doing here!  Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta.  This week we are gearing up for VBS.  We would appreciate your prayers for the teachers and workers as they prepare.  Also pray that we would see boys and girls accept Christ as their Savior.   We will be starting Wednesday evening and going through Sunday morning. 

Blessings to each of you, as you serve the Lord where he has placed you this week!

Joy

Advice for the Bride to Be...

What a wonderful day we have had here in Manta!  Over 150 people attended services this morning.  One lady accepted Christ after the service!!  We had over 30 in the Ladies Sunday School Class.  There was a great turn out for Mercedes Shower this afternoon.  What a blessing to see the ladies coming together to be a blessing and encouragement to one another.

Here is the devotion I shared with the Ladies this afternoon.  It is not completely original with me. :-) There are 3 thoughts that I believe will help us to be the wives and mothers that God wants us to be.

1.  Be a woman of the Word.  Make time in the Word of God a priority in your life.  How easy it is to get distracted from that all important time.  The cares of the day come in upon us, and we think, I'll do this in a little while, but the fact is if we don't make it a priority it will get pushed aside and soon forgotten.  We would never expect our family to go through the week and only have 1 meal to sustain them.  Yet how often do Christians think that they can make it through the week, with just a meal or two in the Word of God?

2.  Don't be a constant drip! (Proverbs 27:15)  You know it's easy to let the cares of the day settle over us like a little black cloud, but your husband doesn't need a "drippy rain cloud" for a wife! Instead of being a contentious or quarrelsome wife, we should be like the wise woman of Proverbs 14:1, that builds up our home and family.  The crown of our husband, as Proverbs 12:4 says.   We should use our words to build up and encourage our husbands to be everything that God has created them to be.   We can either be the Proverbs 31 woman, whose husband safely trusts in, or we can be the wife, whose husband runs away to the roof top to escape her, as in Proverbs 21:9.

3.  Glory in Service.   The life of a wife and mother are wrapped up in the mundane tasks of the everyday!  Doing the safe things over and over and over again...There are always dirty clothes to wash, always bathrooms to clean, beds to make, floors to sweep, dishes to wash and meals to cook.  1 Cor. 13:13, says that now abide, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.  The Biblically based home will consist of all three of these, but the greatest is love.  Love is not to be understood just as a sentiment or emotion, but rather self-sacrificing obedience to the Word of God, with the whole heart.   One of the most important things we can learn to do as a wife and mother, is to learn to serve with our whole hearts in love.  To realize that when we are washing dishes, or doing laundry or cleaning our house, we are serving the Lord, and bringing honor and glory to Him.   Learn to work and serve in love.  Not for your self, but for the love of God and family.   That's what the Christian life is all about...serving in love.   Col. 3:17, reminds us to do everything with our whole heart, serving the Lord!

What's Happening Now?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  No, I'm not going to wear green, and I didn't get any special cookies baked for the kids...they don't even know it's St. Patrick's Day. ;-)  The only thing I really remember about St. Patrick's Day growing up, was that if you didn't wear something green to school that day, the kids would pinch you! LOL!!!  I remember one year, our teacher had made green shamrocks for everyone out of construction paper and gave them to us as we walked in the door, so that there would be no pinching in our class for the day. :-)

We are keeping busy here in Manta!  Just finished up our fourth, 6 week term in school, so the kids and I have 12 more weeks to go for this school year! YAY!!!  Teddy has started to learn about WWI in History and Light and Color in Science.  He also started working with Decimals this week in Math!  (I'm pretty sure I wasn't learning about decimals or WW I in 4th grade!!  Carla is reading and started having spelling test a couple weeks ago, and has done really well!  She has also just finished up a Math unit on graphs, and had no problems understanding and applying what she was learning.  Matthew, is starting to get the concept of reading, and has been working extra hard on his writing.  He also started a new unit in Math this week on numbers to 20 and is being introduced the idea of Place Value.

Tony has been having a Discipleship Seminar on Thursday evenings, at our normal Bible Institute time.  He has been very pleased with the participation usually having over 20 each evening.   They will have one more week.  Then March 29-April 1 is our VBS.   Appreciate your prayers as we get ready for this special time.   Then it will be Easter! WOW!!

Tomorrow afternoon, the ladies in the church will be having a Wedding Shower for one of the young ladies.  Looking forward to a great time of fun and fellowship.

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

Ministry Update...

This week-end is Carnival Vacation here in Ecuador.  That means that Manta is FULL of people visiting from around the country.  It also means that you need to watch out when you go out as you might be splashed with water...buckets, hoses, water guns, or water balloons. :-)  Our kids are looking forward to our big family water fight Tuesday afternoon.

We had a great service this morning, even though many of our regulars were traveling, we still had a great attendance of 130!  Also had a lady accept Christ at the end of the worship service!!

We enjoyed a nice family time for Valentines Day.  31 years ago, I celebrated my first Valentines Day with my Sweetie, and 21 years ago, we spent our first Valentines day in Ecuador.  God has blessed us so much and we are so thankful for all that he has done for us!

We are staying busy.  Appreciate your prayers as our church starts a new visitation ministry.  The ladies will be hosting a Bridal Shower for one of our newly married couples.  Also will be planning VBS, which will be in March.  The schools in Manta are on "Summer Break" right now.  (except for the Anzalone's school! ;-)

Appreciate your prayers as we continue to minister here.  Tony and I both are involved in Discipleship lessons with people.  Also working with the leaders and their wives.  Tony continues with the Bible Institute classes on Thursday night.

Blessings to you this week!
Joy

Weekly Update...

Today our friends from Battlefield Baptist Church, returned to the US.  We had a very hectic and busy week, but we also had many blessings!

Thursday morning at a local park, the team, along with people from our church invited people to a local park to watch a puppet "show".  After some songs, a puppet skit and Tony giving a brief gospel message, 8 precious children prayed to ask Jesus to come into their heart!

Saturday afternoon, we had over 50 ladies gather for a special Ladies Matinee.  We had 4 first time visitors.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship and teaching.  While the ladies were having their special time together, 15 men met with Tony, Pastor Skinner and the men from the group and they had a question and answer time.  

Sunday morning we had record attendances both in Sunday School, 140 and the Church service of 204.  4 people made public professions of faith!  It was a great morning.  That evening we had over 210 at our Anniversary Dinner.  What a blessing to see God working and moving in hearts.  Many of our church people worked hard preparing and serving the dinner and just making it all a very special time.

Thank you all for your prayers for our family and the ministry here in Manta!  God is doing great things in this place.

Blessings,
Joy

June has arrived!

Good Monday morning to each of you!

We have a beautiful sunny day here in Manta...blue skies, fluffy white clouds...the air conditioner is running, SO it is very comfortable in the house! :-)

We have had a couple very busy weeks. Last Sunday, the 24th, we had 115 in the Worship service here in Manta! We were pretty packed out in the apartment. We had some first time visitors and just had a great day! Everyone was very excited about the 2nd floor getting poured on Saturday morning the 23rd.

Monday the 25th, we worked on getting some curtains and blinds ready to put up in the apartment of the church in Portoviejo. We were trying to get things in order there, to welcome Gustavo, Lydia and Ezequiel. They have come to work with us from a church in Santo Domingo. Gustavo will work in the position of "Assistant Pastor" to help Tony with the work there. We are very excited to have someone actually living there in Portoviejo! It is not easy to pastor a church from about an hour away. Please keep Gustavo, Lydia and Ezequiel in your prayers as they adjust and adapt to life away from their family for the first time.

Tuesday we actually went to Portoveijo and hung some of the curtains...Tuesday evening was advanced Bible Institute class here at our house. Wednesday we went to meet Gustavo and Lydia as they arrived. Also on Tuesday and Wednesday we took care of getting Teddy's Ecuadorian passport renewed, in Portoviejo.

Thursday, I had art class in the afternoon, and Tony had Bible Institute at the church in the evening. Friday, Cecilia came over and we made 45 large sugar cookies to pass out at church yesterday, for "Children's Day". Saturday was our general Ladies meeting at the church. We had 25 ladies attend and had a wonderful time. I was thrilled that Mirian, Wilda and Aday, organzied everything...set it all up, I just gave the devotion and enjoyed the afternoon with the ladies! :-)

Yesterday, our attendance was down a little bit, with 85 present for the worship service, but we had a great spirit, and are excited to see what the Lord is going to do with this work. As with any work, when people are growing and lives are being changed, Satan is not happy and he is on the attack to try and destroy God's work. We are so thankful that this is God's work! Please pray for the leaders in the church here. Each one of them is facing some kind of attack, and we know that God has promised to give the victory!

Our family is doing well. Today is Teddy's "Welcome to our Family Day!" It was 6 years ago today, that God blessed us with this precious gift! We are so thankful for him. This is also our last week of school for the year! We will finish up 1st grade on Friday! YAY! The news we hear from our 3 daughters and son-in-laws is all good. The Lord is suppling their needs and blessing their families. We are very thankful for all the blessings he has bestowed upon our family.

Have a wonderful week. God bless you as you serve Him, this week.
Blessings,
Joy

Happy Easter!

Praise the Lord! "He is not here, for he is risen as he said!" What a special day. Just to think of the great victory won for us! Without the resurrection there is no point in the rest of the story, but with it, we have the gift of salvation.

We had a great day this morning. There were about 109 in attendance. We have new couples wanting to start discipleship classes. The Bible Institute class on Thursday night is running about 17. We have 3 students ready to go ahead and start the next phase of the program.

This past week was a nice week of "vacation" for Teddy and I from school. We enjoyed to slower paced mornings and just the change of pace. Tomorrow we will be getting back to school. We have 8 weeks left! The school year is winding down.

This coming Saturday the "young women" will be meeting here at my house. This is a monthly meeting we have for women 20-35 years old. Please pray for these women. Most of them are new Christians. This is a great opportunity to mentor them and for them to also work on friendships with other Christian women.

I pray you have a blessed week!
Joy