Sunday Evening...

Well, I just noticed that it's been over a month since I posted on here!  I just can't seem to keep up with everything.   It seems that the older I get the faster time flies by! ;)

We had expected that we would be heading to the US, this month...well actually when we started the whole visa process for Carla and Matthew, we expected to be heading to the US in May or June, but that was not God's plan! We are learning every day through this process, that God's timing is not our timing and that His ways are not ours!  He is NEVER late, and his plans are ALWAYS perfect!  We have received news that our visa process has passed all the steps needed in the US.  The next step is to be assigned a date for our interview at the consulate here.  We have been told that we should be assigned a date in August.  So we are prayerful that we will be heading to the US by the end of August/first of September.  We would really appreciate your prayers about this, as our first scheduled meeting is at a church in VA. Sept. 21-22.  This is a new church for us, and it is really important for us to add to our support base.

This month we have enjoyed celebrating the 4th together as a family.  We "officially" finished up our school year, the first week in July and the kids have been enjoying their vacation.  I have been working on organizing our school plans for the coming year, and figuring out what we will need to take with us to the States.  I have also been working on compiling a reading program that will meet Matthew's needs.  I think that is just about finished, and I'm quite happy with how it has turned out.  It is always neat, when you can "re-cycle" and re-use things that you already own! ;)

Friday, we celebrated Tony's birthday.  The kids and I enjoyed taking him out for supper and trying to spoil him a little bit.

Our church is doing well.  The leaders are doing a great job, stepping in and getting ready to carry the work during our furlough.  This week-end we enjoyed having our Missionaries, David and Monica Proano here, with a group from the US.  They did an "Evangelistic Seminar" Saturday morning, and then Saturday afternoon, people went out passing out tracks and invitations to a program this coming Saturday evening at the church.  This morning we had a guest speaker from the group, and it was a great challenge to our church. This afternoon, we went with this group and several people from our church to the Malecon here at the beach, and shared the gospel through a couple dramas and painting.   We know that 1 young lady accepted Christ, and several people took the gospel of John that was passed out and followed along attentively has David showed how to do the little Bible Study in the front of the book.  People from our church took time to talk with those that stayed around til the end of the presentation, and lots of invitations and tracts were handed out.  Please pray with us, that there will be fruit from this outreach.  

This morning as Tony and I were sitting on the front row, getting ready for the morning service to start, a man that had accepted Christ 2 weeks ago, came up with a huge smile on his face to shake our hands!  He was so happy to be there.  It is so neat to see the joy now radiating from him!

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta!  God is working and we are so excited to be a part of his work!

Blessings,
Joy

Busy Days...

We are keeping busy around here!  This coming week the kids and I will be finishing up the basic core work for their school year!   No, we aren't starting our summer vacation early, BUT, I wanted to be finished with the work we needed to do, so that WHEN we receive the visas for Carla and Matthew, we will be able to just go to the US, and not have to worry about when and how to do school the first few weeks we are there. :) So, I guess our Summer Vacation will start when we get to the States!

On that note, people keep asking me, WHEN are you coming to the States? or WHEN are you leaving for the States?  Hate to tell you, BUT we have NO IDEA!!  I can guarantee you that we will be on the first possible flight out, once we receive the kids visas! :)  But exactly WHEN that will be is not in our hands.  We are thankful that God knows all about it and that it is all in his hands and we are trusting HIM!  We know that HIS TIMING is PERFECT!!  So we rest in Him for this.  Don't think, though, that while we are "resting" in Him, that we are not busy.  I have come to learn that "Waiting on the Lord" is an active process.  So during this time of waiting, we are working on getting everything prepared for our absence.  There are things around our house that need to be packed up and taken care of.  There are preparations at the church that need to be made.  This week I will be meeting with Ceci in preparation of turning over the responsibilities of the Ladies Sunday School Class.  I will also meet with our Leader's wives, to discuss how the Mother's Day breakfast went, and also to help them figure out what events they should work on and organize without.  Tony and I will be taking Pastor Darwin and Jessica to the Christian Bookstore to check out new Sunday School material.   I would ask you to please be praying for each of these people as they step up and take on responsibilities for the ministry here.

We had a great day at church this morning.  Our attendance was 140 in the preaching service.  I had 28 in my Sunday School class.   The ladies were still talking about the Mother's Day Breakfast. ;)  I would ask you to be praying for those visitors last week, that heard the gospel for the first time.  The seed has been planted.

Thank you so much for praying for our family and for the ministry here in Manta!  God is working and hearts and lives are being changed.

Blessings to you!
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

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

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

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 Happening?

"Happy Monday Morning!!"  It's been quite some time since I just gave you a ministry update from here, so I'm going to try to share some "highs" and "lows" with you this morning.

The church attendance here has been moving steadily up, for which we are thankful.  Yesterday we had 141, with 4 first time visitors.  We had a great VBS the end of March.  We are so thankful for about 30 workers who showed up every night.  We had extra people helping in each class, taking care of our registration and attendance, passing out snacks and helping with crowd control.  The young people worked with their teacher to do a skit each night that went along with the Bible Study they kids had in class.  We had others working with puppets.  They also did a short skit each night,  in our opening time, that introduced the theme.   We had a high of 86 kids and teens on Friday night.  Many of the children have continued to attend Sunday School, these past few weeks.

Tony has started back into our regular Bible Institute Classes.  He had taken a month to do a seminar on discipleship.  Then they had 3 weeks off of classes...1 for VBS one for "Holy Week", (everyone is off here!) and the week after Easter our family had a vacation.  Appreciate your prayers for him and for the students.  He is presently teaching 2 classes on Thursday evenings.  1 at 7:00, Life of Christ 4, which is for the people in the first 2 years of study.  Then at 8:00, the Principles of Teaching.  Which are for those who have completed the first 2 years, and want to study more.

As with every church there are "growing pains", and we certainly have our share!;-)  Confrontation is never easy, nor is it something that we go looking for, but at times it is necessary for the health of the church.   In one case a couple who has been attending our church for 6 years, decided that they weren't in agreement with some very fundamental doctrines, but instead wanted to be able to teach doctrines that they had learned years ago, while attending a church in Quito.  Tony and I had known for a little while now, that something wasn't right, and had been praying that God would do a work in their heart or move them on.   So this past week, when they came to us, and said, that they felt they needed to move on and find a church that would agree with what they wanted to do, we knew that it was God's answer to our prayers.   It is never easy to go through these situations, but we are so very thankful that God worked and yesterday when Tony announced to the church that these people were leaving, there was no major reaction.  It was as if the majority were already aware that it was going to happen, and that it needed to happen.

We are also dealing with another situation that I would ask you to be praying with us about.  We have had to confront one lady in our church who has not had the right attitude toward leaders in the church or toward other families.  At this point we are still uncertain of what the outcome is going to be, but we do know that God knows and that he is in control, so we are placing it all in his hands.

You know, over the years I have learned that the more Satan is attacking the closer we are to seeing God do something AMAZING!  During these days we appreciate your prayers for wisdom...to speak when we should speak and to be quiet when we should be quiet.  :-)  Also that in all of this, God would be honored and glorified.   That His work would move forward.

Upcoming events...this Saturday we will be having our first "church wedding"!  The people are very excited to be involved in helping to give Maximo and Mercedes this special wedding.  Please pray for this sweet young couple as they form a Christian home.   In two weeks it will be Mother's Day!!! I k now you knew that, it just has seemed to creep up on us! ;-)  The ladies will be having a special breakfast during our Sunday School hour.  This is always a very special day here.  It is a great opportunity to get people in church who normally do not attend.  Appreciate your prayers for all the preparation and that we would have many visitors.  

Here comes March!!!

I know I'm getting older, because I remember when time just moved along like a snail across the sidewalk and now it seems to just fly by!  Can you believe that tomorrow is already March 1st?

Things are going pretty well in the Anzalone  house these days.  Teddy, Carla and Matthew are doing well in school and most days we are happy to see progress as this family learns to gel together.  This past month started out with a bang, and pretty much just kept on going! LOL!!

Have you ever gone through those times, when you just can't seem to turn around and catch your breath?  Well, that is kind of how this month has seemed.  But things are starting to settle back down into our normal routine, and that is good.   The kids have all battled colds and Tony is starting to get one, so I guess that means I'll probably be next. :-/

Things at the church are going well.  We are in the process of setting up a new visitation program.  Tomorrow evening, Tony will also be starting a 4 week discipleship training seminar.  The ladies are in the process of planning a wedding shower for one of our sweet young ladies.  That will be Sunday afternoon, March 18th, and we will have our VBS at the end of March, right before the kids start back to school in April.  (Our kids are probably the only ones that are in school right now in Manta! ;-)  Of course they will be happy about that this summer when we have groups visiting from the US!  

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

In my shoes....

Today, has been hot, overcast and very muggy in Manta. Not the kind of day, you would expect to be anything out of the ordinary. It's a day, you would like to stay inside with the air conditioner on full blast and just enjoy the cool with a tall glass of iced tea!

But it is Sunday. So that means, getting up, reviewing your Sunday School lesson one last time. Fixing breakfast for the family, making sure the kids have their clothes out and are getting ready for church. Then fixing your hair, putting on your make-up, that you know will be "melting off" in a matter of minutes after you walk out the door, but you do it anyway, because you can't imagine heading to church with your hair not fixed and your make-up not on! ;-)

Driving to church, you review the kids Bible verses with them, remind them that you are going to be talking to their teachers after church to see how they behaved, so you expect them to be good, no matter what the other kids might do! About half way to church, it starts to rain...and you think about all the mess that can cause, and hope that it doesn't last long!

When you arrive, you greet everyone, and make sure the Sunday School teachers have what they need, and the Nursery workers are all set, then you head upstairs to your class, which is at one end of the "auditorium" and the Men's class is at the other, with the older children's class behind you separated by a curtain. You start out with the 10 ladies that are there, and after greeting them, ask if anyone has anything for which they are thankful for this week? Blank stares greet you. You think, oh yeah, I can tell this is going to be a good one! Then finally a few ladies start to raise their hands, and share some blessings. Then you take some prayer requests, and get ready to start the class. By this time you are facing about 15 to 20 ladies. While you are listening to the opening prayer, the kids behind you are singing and you are straining really hard to hear the prayer, so you can start talking after the "amen" and not before, or not keep your head bowed for an extended period of time either. It is so hot that sweat is rolling down your back and dripping off your face. You try to ignore it.

After class, (which ended up being about 30 ladies!) you go and check again with the Sunday School teachers and Nursery workers, to make sure their replacements have shown up. The nursery is short a worker so you see what you can do about finding someone for them. The other classes are fine, so you head back up stairs and get to your seat in the middle of opening prayer. You started sitting up front with the Pastor because that way you aren't distracted, by the kids/people going in and out. Which just aggravates you and makes you want to yell at someone!

The song service starts, and you notice, that they are still having problems getting the bulletin printed so it folds up right...I know probably not that big of a deal, but it is an "irritant." The music starts. They are introducing not just one new song, but 2...but they are good songs and the messages are good. One song talks about how in heaven the Sun won't be there, giving it's light or it's heat, and you are thinking, how wonderful that will be to be without this unbearable stifling mugginess! The kid that handles the sound equipment keeps messing with buttons, but you just decide to ignore him. After all, he doesn't cause any major problem this morning! After the music, they are giving the announcements and you notice that for some reason they have erased the announcement for the next ladies meeting at the end of the month, so thankfully you are sitting by the Pastor, and he can add that announcement later! There are definitely some "perks" in having the Pastor's ear! ;-) Then it's time to welcome 1st time visitors...Viviana gets up and introduces her brother, Emilio who you have been praying for the past several months! She says, Emilio accepted Christ this week! Then Neiger introduces a friend of his and he says, He accepted Christ this week and would appreciate your prayers as he starts his Christian walk! Then Consuelo introduces a family of 4 and says, "They have all recently accepted Christ!" OK, so suddenly, the heat, the dirt, the lack of nursery workers, the kid messing around with the sound equipment, the crooked printed bulletin...None of it really matters! You have just been introduced to 6 people who have given testimony that they have accepted Christ!!

After church you find out that another man, Javier, Paola's husband, that you have been praying for during the past 3 years, has accepted Christ as his savior, too! We had 125 in attendance this morning. No we aren't a perfect church, but by God's grace he is using this work to impact the hearts and lives of people in this city! God is good! All the time! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Christmas is coming!!!!

Wow, what a busy week we had around here last week! Our trip to Quito and home went well. We enjoyed visiting with our good friends, and were thrilled that the audience with the judge went well. He signed the act, that legalizes the adoptions. Now we just have to wait for the paperwork to make it's way through the system. Our lawyer expects to have it by the 27th or 28th. Then we will need to get their new birth certificates and ID cards. Exciting times!!!

Saturday at the Children's Christmas party at church, we had about 60 kids and probably 25 helpers! What a blessing! Everything went well and everyone had a good time. Yesterday our services were a little done in attendance with 104, but we had a great morning. The children said the verse they had learned at the party Saturday and sang a Christmas song. In the afternoon, we had the Ladies Christmas Party, and had about 35 ladies present. Everyone had a great time, and the best of all, we had one lady accept Christ as her Savior!!!

This week, we have some presents to buy for our family, gifts to wrap and cookies to bake. Looking forward to a wonderful time with the kids. Everyone is happy to be "on vacation" from classes! (including Mom! :-)

I pray that each of you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Blessings,
Joy

It's the Middle of December....

It's the middle of December and there's excitement in the air!!!

We are gearing up for Christmas at the Anzalone house. The decorations are up. Classes are winding down. Oh and in the middle of all this excitement we received a call from our lawyer yesterday that our audience with the judge in Quito to finalize the adoptions is set for this Friday at 11:00am.

So today, we are working like crazy, to try and get the school work that needs to be completed this week finished...the candy bought for the Children's Christmas party which will be at the church this Saturday afternoon, and everything else packed up and ready to go. We plan to leave in the morning and head to Santo Domingo, where will be spend the afternoon and evening with our friends the Wells. From there we will head to Quito on Thursday, and stay Thursday night and Friday night with our friends there, Glenn and Sherri McGhee.

We really appreciate your prayers as we make this final step to finalize the adoptions. Please pray for safety as we travel. Tony still does not have a valid driver's license, but he has papers that say that he did have a valid license and that we are working on getting a new one. They told him to show those papers if we have a problem...hopefully that will do the trick. Appreciate your prayers about that, too! :-)

This Saturday afternoon from 3-5 is our Children's Christmas Party at church. Then Sunday afternoon, the ladies are going to have their Christmas Party. Please pray for both of these activities, that God will be glorified and that they will be a blessing and encouragement to others.

Blessings on you and your family as you seek to serve Christ, this week!
Joy

Being Knit Together...

These days I am so excited to see what the Lord is doing in our hearts and in our home. It is really amazing to see his hand at work, knitting us into a family!

The first couple weeks, I literally felt like I was just surviving the days. I would wake up and go non-stop pretty much the entire day, falling exhausted into bed at night and basically feeling like I had just accomplished the very basic things...then little by little the routines have been established, and everyone knows what the "game plan" is and that has made a huge difference.

It is a joy to hear the the children playing together, and laughing. It is a joy to hear them pray and thank God for making us a family!

Thank you for your prayers for us during this time of transition. We are seeing progress day by day, and we know that it is the result of many, many prayers being said on our behalf.

The construction on the church continues to move forward. We ask you to join us in praying that the Lord would provide the funds needed to finish this work.

Plans for the Ladies Conference is moving forward. We have invited two of our sister churches in Portaviejo. The Ladies are getting excited. Please keep this conference in your prayers. Pray for Sharon Smith, as she prepares her lessons, pray for the ladies from our church who will be helping make this conference a success. There are about 6 ladies working with me to pull off this special event. There are ladies working on organizing a nursery and child care. Others, helping to organize refreshments, music, the craft time, and ice breaker activities. It has been a huge blessing that so many have been willing to stand up and take on a responsibility to put this conference together. Please be praying that God will use this conference in the lives of the ladies in our church, and also will be an opportunity to introduce Christ to many friends and neighbors.

God Bless you has you serve him this week!
Joy

What's happening now....

The last few weeks have been quiet an adventure for our family! We arrived home in Manta, on Friday evening, the 10th. The first week has been one of adjustments. We have worked on getting ourselves a little more organized.

The kids are doing great! Mateo, is a happy a little boy. He is very loving and usually very cooperative. He wants to do everything his big brother and sister do.

Carla is a sweet little girl. She is usually very happy and plays well with her brothers. She loves playing with our little dog Ellie.

Teddy is filling the role of Big Brother, with very little difficulty. He has his moments, but then every child does. He love having a brother and sister to play with.

Life has changed drastically for Tony and I, but we are loving it! We start our day early, Tony is usually up before 6:00 and I'm up between 6:00 and 6:30. Once we get the last child in bed at night, around 8:00 or 8:30, we are pretty much exhausted. I've been getting in bed at night by 10:00 and fall asleep almost immediately, but wake up bright and early and ready to start the day again. The children fill my day.

This week, we will be starting school. I appreciate your prayers as we get this underway. I have taught school for years, and had classes between 15 and 25, but the idea of homeschooling these 3 is a little overwhelming. Yet I know that nothing is impossible with God and that he will supply what I need.

Pray with us too, that the Lord would complete what he has started in us, and that the adoptions would be finalized quickly and with very little hassle.

God bless you as you serve Him this week!
Joy

Exciting times...

Hi Friends! Things have been very busy and exciting the last few days for the Anzalone family. We have spent the last week in Latacunga, where we have gone through the adaptation time with our son, Mateo. Yesterday we signed papers that make us his legal guardian until the adoption is finalized.

We will leave here tomorrow and go to Quito, where we will start the entire process over with our daughter, Carla.

I really appreciate your prayers for our family at this time!

The church is going well, and they are getting ready to start construction on the auditorium building.

Have great week!
Blessings,
Joy

We arrived in the US on Wednesday morning, July20th. We had an uneventful trip, which is ALWAYS nice.

Tony and I both had doctors check-ups on Friday, the 23rd. That all went well. I have a couple appointments at the end of August, right before we head back to Ecuador.

Saturday we drove over to Knoxville, and enjoyed spending the night and visiting with good friends, Pete and Sonya Wright. It was fun to catch up with them. Teddy really enjoyed having time to play with Megan, who is also 8. Sunday morning we were at West Park Baptist Church. It was great to be in one of the Adult Bible Fellowships for the 9:30 service and in the 11:00 Worship service. It was good to see old friends! We had a WONDERFUL lunch at the Chop House, with Mark and Carol Weaver. What's not to love about giant sweet potatoes and Prime Rib?! :-)

Yesterday, we made the trip from Crossville to Springfield. We left really early in the morning, and made great time. It was so fun to get here and be able to see and hold the babies! We are sooo very blessed.

I pray that each of you enjoys the blessings of the Lord this week!

God Bless,
Joy

July is here!

Happy 4th July!!!! Hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends.

We are doing well here in Manta, Ecuador. The weather has finally cooled off a little bit and that has been really nice.

We had great services Sunday. The ladies are studying Elizabeth George's Bible Study, "A Woman After God's Own Heart". I have been so excited to see how many ladies are making the effort to attend the 10:00 Bible Study time. Please pray with me that this makes an impact in the lives of these precious ladies.

Tony met with the Architect for our church building this week. We now have an amount of steel and cement to purchase, and are on track to start the auditorium building in 3 weeks. William told Tony that it will take about 10 weeks! Please continue to pray as we work forward to get this building built. We have funds for the next step, but then we are just trusting the Lord to continue to provide.

We are scheduled to have our Home Study tomorrow. Please keep this in your prayers. We are excited to be moving on to this next step, which is the last big step for us to take, yet at the same time it makes us nervous. Teddy's questions today, indicated that he too is nervous about the process. He asked us today, if something could happen that would mean the children couldn't come live with us? Thank you for your prayers for us as we continue to walk through this process. We are trusting the Lord to do all things right.

Enjoy the rest of the week and have a wonderful week-end!
God Bless!
Joy

"Hope is patience with the lamp lit." That has been on my desk top for the month of June. The idea of having the "lamp lit"...gives me the picture of someone waiting expectantly. I thought about the times when I have waited for Tony to return from a trip. How I would maybe bake his favorite cookies, and have things cleaned up and just making sure that everything said, "Welcome Home, we missed you!"

As we go through these months, we are waiting patiently, for the Lord to work and open doors. At the same time we aren't being idle. We are working on getting things organized around here...I have spent time cleaning out, closets and storage rooms. throwing away tons of stuff, and getting ready for a "garage sale". This morning was the first day for that, and it went amazingly well. I really was blown away, at how well we did, and I know it is just the Lord blessing us! :-)

We needed to get a bed made for Teddy's room, to make room for 2 boys in there. That is being done now and should be finished sometime this coming week. We also got the "guest room" painted, and are in the process of turning it into a little girl's room. That is fun! It has been quite a while since we had a little girl's room around here. So that is exciting, too! :-)

I have been working on figuring out what and how we are going to do school next year, and have ordered the curriculum we will use. Have just about got that figured out as much as possible, at this time. Tony is going to build 3 new small tables for our school room.

So that is a little of what has been going on around our house. We got all the Sunday School material packed into some trunks and taken to the church. So the ladies that help me with the Children's ministry is working on getting it organized and ready to go. We are using material that I organized in a 3 year cycle. That is all good, but for the 1st two years, we only had 2 classes and now we have 3, so I am working on getting material for ready for our "primary class", so that it will follow the plan also.

Besides working on Children's ministry stuff, I am also teaching the Ladies Sunday School class. We are presently using Elizabeth George's study, "A Woman After God's Own Heart". The women are really enjoying the study. We have had a good turn out for the first 4 weeks of this study...averaging about 30 ladies.

I appreciate your prayers for Tony, Teddy and I as we have our home study, this coming Thursday. (hopefully, that is when it is scheduled to be, but they haven't confirmed that.) Pray with us, that we actually have it, as there isn't a lot of wiggle room in the schedule. Also pray that the meeting goes well.

Please be praying for a team from West Park Baptist Church that will be visiting us from July 5-12. They will be in our services on Wednesday night, and we are having an outreach on Thursday in a new neighborhood, where we would like to start a new work. The plan now is to hand out fliers and show a movie. Then on Friday and Saturday we are having our first Family Retreat. Pray we have a good turn out and for the team as they work with us. Teaching classes for the children, teens, and adults.

Please be praying for me as I work on getting the material together for the primary class and also as I prepare the lessons for the Ladies Sunday School class.

God Bless you as you serve him wherever he has placed you!
Joy

June is here...

I am so thankful for the service and sacrifice that so many have given to make and keep America free. What a blessing that we have to be part of such a wonderful country. I know that there are many problems, but it is still the greatest country in the world.

God Bless America!

Things are going well here in Manta, Ecuador. We are working on getting things organized for a Family Retreat in July. We have a group of 5 from West Park Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN coming to help us with this and we are very excited about it!

Last week the Tuesday night Bible Institute Class had their exam. It was extra long, so they will be finishing it this week. The Thursday night class started their new course, Life of Paul 3.

Friday I hosted the Young Ladies from the church for their monthly meeting. It was a great time together. 7 ladies were able to attend.

Sunday morning we started a new study, using Elizabeth George's book, "A Woman After God's Own Heart". We have been having a great attendance for this class. So many of the women are new Christians. Please be praying that the Lord will use this as they learn what it means to be a Christian woman, wife, mother...

Last week we received the last document we need for our adoption folder. We heard from our lawyer today, that we need to call the office in Guayaquil and make an appointment, so Tony was able to do that. We will be traveling to Guayaquil Wednesday afternoon, for a meeting Thursday morning. Thank you for your prayers as we travel there and please be praying that our meeting goes well.

Praying each of you experience the blessings of the Lord on your life this week.
Joy

Hi Everyone! Hope you are enjoying the blessings of the Lord in your life this week!

We had a good week-end here in Manta! Sunday morning we had a great attendance again, with 124 present. A great blessing was that Mirian's husband, Fernando came to church. Fernando accepted the Lord many years ago, and was instrumental in bringing his whole family to Christ, but then he got away from the Lord, and has been out of church and not interested in the things of the Lord. We understand that the Lord still has a lot to do in his heart to bring him back, but we were thrilled with the victory of seeing him in God's house!!!

I enjoyed a couple days away last week. I had the opportunity to make a trip to Guayaquil with my friend, Mirian. We enjoyed shopping, visiting, and just the fun of having a couple "girl days". :-)

Sunday evening we had a Teacher's meeting. There was a good attendance, and we feel that we were able to address a few things. Please keep our Sunday School ministry in your prayers. We are really a young church, and the majority of our workers are very young in Christ. We are trying to figure out how to have the best ministry for our children, and at the same time give everyone an opportunity to continue to grow in Christ.

Our nursery is working out really well. I was very "hands on" the first couple of weeks. I had spent so much time and energy, to get it set up, and it was hard to just turn it over, but the last couple weeks, I have stayed out of the way, and let the ladies in charge, do their job, and they are doing a great job, getting it all figured out! :-)

This week, I have been working on trying to sort out and organize the school room and the office. I have made quite a bit of progress and that is a great feeling!!!

We are awaiting the last document to arrive from the US, so that our adoption file is complete and we can take it to Guayaquil. It is suppose to arrive this week! Thank you for your prayers with us about this. The last time we checked, it had arrived in Quito and been released from customs!

Friday afternoon, the young women, (35 and under) are suppose to meet at my house. I appreciate your prayers for me, as I work on the devotion to share with them. This is a great group of ladies. All are new wives and young mothers. Most of the are very young in the Lord. There are about 6 of them that have been very faithful to get together once a month, and they are forming great friendships.

I pray that you have a wonderful week and that you sense the presence of the Lord in your ministry and work.

God Bless,
Joy