Pain and Life...

We have been studying Esther in the Ladies Sunday School class.  This morning the lesson was "An Interlude with Evil".   Not very encouraging! :-)  You know pain is part of life.  There's no getting around it.   Bad things happen...be it natural disasters or horrible accidents or children born with birth defects or disease or just plain wickedness.   Often times, when there has been a terrible event...accident that takes the lives of children, or a natural disaster, people often ask, How could God let this happen?  Well, I think it is important, to remember that all of this is a result of the fact that we live in a fallen world.  I mean sin entered and with it all the consequences we see today. 

As a child of God, I know that God is working in my life to mold me into the image of His Son.   That means everything that he allows to come into my life, he is using to do that work.  I also know that He will never leave me and that his grace is always sufficient.  Wow!  That means that no matter what comes my way, my loving Heavenly Father, knows all about it.  He is using it to form me into the image of Jesus.   It will all bring Glory to Him.   He also is right there with me, and filling me with his grace and strength.   He has promised to always give me what I need for today.  I've not been promised grace for tomorrow.  That will come tomorrow.

God is working in the hearts and lives of people here in Manta!  This week Tony was able to lead two precious souls to Christ.  Two new young couples are now on the road to building Christian homes that will honor Christ.   There are many road blocks and obstacles for each of them to overcome, but with God's help and grace, they can be victorious!

It has been so exciting to see people getting involved and taking ownership of the new puppet ministry.  All 4 teams, have been working really hard.  The first month, they all worked on skits and programs that had been provided for them.  This month, they have each one had to come up with their own.  It has been such an encouragement to me to see them excited and really creative.   God is blessing their efforts.  Today we had 47 in the Children's Church.

This morning, Cristian and Monica dedicated their precious baby girl, Abbey.   This is a young couple who a year ago, we weren't sure were going to make it, and this morning, they were able to stand in front of the church and promise that they were going to do everything in their power to make sure that their precious daughter would grow up in a home that honored the Lord!   Please keep this precious family in your prayers.  God is doing a work in their lives.

Please pray with us for continued growth in the lives of the baby Christians in our church.  Pray for the Lord to supply the funds needed to finish the church building.  Pray for the Sunday School teachers, and those working in our Children's ministry. 

Also please pray for safety as our son-in-law and daughter, Jonathan and Lexi travel to Ecuador this coming Tuesday, with our precious grand baby, Adrienne.   We are looking forward to our visit with them.  They are excited not only to be coming to visit with us, but to get a vision about what God might have in store for them in the ministry here in Ecuador.  

I want to thank each one of you for your support and prayers for our family and the ministry here in Manta, Ecuador.  I pray that God would bless each one of you as  you serve him this week.

Life has been quite exciting for the Anzalone Family.  Teddy and I enjoyed spending 3 weeks in the US during the month of May.  It was a wonderful blessing to be present for the birth of our 5th grandchild.   We were also able to be there to see Jonathan and Lexi recognized as BBFI Team missionaries to Ecuador.   

We arrived back in Ecuador and hit the ground running.   That first week-end we were back, we had a special workshop to introduce those involved in our Sunday School to the puppet ministry.   We had 30 people sign up and attend the Friday evening and Saturday workshops.   We are very thankful to Jenny Carpenter for coming down and spending the week-end with us and doing such a great job with the workshops.   We were able to form 4 groups, and each one has taken a turn during our Children's Church.  This Sunday, we started the rotation again.  It has been great to see how excited and involved the groups have been.   

Last week, our family went to visit Joe and Sylvia Wells in Santo Domingo.  We had a great time with them.  Our children love to visit with Uncle Joe and Aunt Sylvia.   On Saturday we traveled on up to Quito and spent time with Glenn and Sherri McGhee.  It was really good to be in the services of the Iglesia Biblica Bautista, La Victoria, last Sunday.  While in Quito we were able to get Carla and Matthew's national ID cards.  We were also able to take Carla to see a pediatric cardiologist. She was also able to have have a few tests done, which gave us a better picture of what we are facing.  We would appreciate your prayers as we seek God's plan in all of this.  At this time it looks like Carla is going to need to have a procedure done to repair a defect in her heart.   We are trusting God to open the doors he has for us, and show us exactly When, Where and How this is to be done. 

We returned back to Manta on Wednesday.   Wednesday evening at prayer meeting and then Thurday at Institute class we were greeted with a torn up street around the church, and a horrible smell...they were putting in sewer lines!  It was a great blessing to get to the church this morning, and although the streets are still a mess there was no horrible smell!  

This week the kids and I will finish up our school year.  It has been extra long, because we didn't start until the middle of September last year, after Carla and Matthew joined our family.   We are all looking forward to our "summer vacation!"  Tony will be making the trip back to Santo Domingo on Thursday to preach at a Pastor's Retreat.  

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

April is coming to a close....

We have had a great month!  It is amazing to see how the Lord keeps opening doors and opportunities.  I appreciate so much your prayers for our ministry and family!!

We started this month, with a short vacation.  This was the first time that we have taken our "new family" for a vacation.  We went down the coast a couple hours, and stayed at a very nice place right on the ocean.  It was great to get away.  We all had a wonderful time, even though Carla and Matthew weren't quite sure what was going on, and many times through out the 2 days we were there, they would ask, where are we going to eat...where are we going to sleep...what are we going to do next?  ;-)

While we were away for those couple of days, Teddy celebrated his 9th birthday!  It is hard for me to believe that he is already 9 years old!!!  What an incredible blessing he has been to our family!

We got back home on 6th and on the 8th was the 2nd meeting with the deacon's wives.  We started our Bible study at this meeting.  We are using the book, "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free".  We were also able to organize a Baby Shower, get some ideas going for our next Ladies Meeting and start making plans for a special Mother's Day Breakfast.

Last week, we attended a new Bible Study with some retired Americans who are now living in Manta.  Also had another meeting with the Deacon's wives, and continued to make plans for the upcoming events.

Easter Sunday, we had 139 for church, and 4 precious believers followed their Lord in Baptism after the service!

This week, I would appreciate your prayers as I prepare the devotion for our Ladies meeting Saturday at 4:00pm.  We are also starting a new music ministry, and will be meeting with those who want to be involved Saturday at 6:00pm.  Also please be in prayer for our special Mother's Day Breakfast.  We are planning on and praying for 50 ladies to attend.  It is open to all the ladies of the church and their friends and family.  We have encouraged them to invite their unsaved friends and family members.

I pray that God blesses you as you serve him in the place where he has planted you!
Blessings,
Joy

Life is certainly never boring, is it?  This we I had the opportunity of having the deacon's wives over for a Tea on Friday afternoon.  That was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed preparing for it and hosting it.  It was also a great time to just share and get them to start thinking and dreaming about ministry opportunities that we have.  Please keep this a matter of prayer as we work together to get some new ministries off the ground.   You know it is always easy to dream, but it becomes more difficult to put you feet to your dreams. ;-)

Yesterday afternoon was our monthly Ladies meeting.  We had about 24 attend and had a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer together.   It was encouraging to see one of our ladies give the devotion for the first time.  Nelly was very nervous, but she did a good job.   It was also neat to hear all the ladies praying when broke off into groups of 2 and shared our concerns and hearts with one another and took those to the throne of grace. 

It always amazes me how God can take imperfect people and use them to bring and honor and glory to him if they are just willing to surrender to him.   This morning we had about 30 ladies attend the morning Bible Study.  We were studying lesson 4 in our series of Biblical Principals of Discipline.   We ended up with 121 in church this morning.  We are looking forward to moving down to the auditorium space soon!

I have a special request for you this week.  It has come to our attention that the behavior and attitude of the wife of our "care taker" at the church, has not been what it should be.  Tony talked with her yesterday and her response was not one of repentance and acceptance of responsibility for any of the words or actions.  This evening Tony has a deacon's meeting and afterward  will be talking to both the caretaker and his wife.  I would ask you to be praying for wisdom and discernment on Tony's part and on the part of our leaders.  Also that God would soften her heart.  Above all please pray with us, that this would not harm God's work here. 

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta!  We are so thankful that we have the opportunity to serve God here. 

Blessings,
Joy