April!

The month of April started with Glenn teaching at our Bible Institute's chapel time. The text was Psalm 32 and Glenn here was using the large black duffel on his back to represent the burden of sin.

Then we celebrated Good Friday as a church.  The youth presented a drama and MANY family members and friends came to the service!  What a blessing!

That same night, Glenn and I went to observe Cayambe's Good Friday procession.  We were amazed at how many people participated and observed the procession!

The focus seemed to be on darkness and death...

...as here, where Christ is in a casket. At our church we focused on Christ's resurrection and life - and the new life He offers to those who place their trust in Him!

The youth had some days off for the Easter holiday so Glenn joined them in visiting Cascada San Rafael - the largest waterfall in Ecuador!

There were MANY special birthdays in the month of April, but the most memorable celebration was at the Alcivar house...

Jessica, the birthday girl, asked her parents if she could have a party with just her friends from church...even tho her parents are not yet a part of our church family...

they not only agreed to host the party in their home, but allowed our church's worship band to play and we all sang praises to God together!  Jessica shared her party with one of the other "quinceñeras", who is also another Jessica!

The month ended with Glenn once again teaching - this time in Chaupimolino.  What a joy it was for us to help out our friends Darwin and Nelly as Darwin was preaching elsewhere, and to be with the friends we've made at this church!

 

But the highlight of April was when on the 27th, Victor came to our house and asked how he could apply all he'd been reading about with Glenn in the book of John, and hearing about at our church!  Victor made the decision to place his faith in Christ for salvation!  He has a SUPER happy girlfriend and church family!  God is SO good!

A March full of Ministry!

March began with a wonderful visit from our long-time, close friends, David and Gwyn Groh.  We enjoyed time together as couples, with the Primero de Mayo Church, and with the Crossworld-Ecuador team!  What an encouragement they were to us!

Visiting with church members Fernando, Zulema and Susan at the jeans store they manage!

Straddling the equator!

Dave and Glenn on the newly poured roof of the Primero de Mayo church building!

Gissela gratefully receives the children's books that Gwyn's sister and her students collected for the Primero de Mayo church ministries!

David preached in Primero de Mayo and Glenn translated...and they so enjoyed their time together!

This llama SO wanted to be a part of our photo!

Warming up together at the Crossworld-Ecuador Conference where David was the main speaker!

The Crossworld-Ecuador team with Dave and Gwyn!

 We celebrated two special birthdays with two special young ladies, Diana, pictured here with balloon,  and Dayana.   Both birthday girls were serenaded by some of our church youth guys...

 and both participated in the birthday tradition that involves taking a bite of their cake quickly before someone can push their face into the cake....

Both Diana and here, Dayana, weren't quick enough! 

A wonderful team from Liberty University joined us in the ministry here from March 8-17!  What a blessing they were!

The team opened up opportunities for us in the largest high school in Cayambe! After a 3 hour interactive English lesson, team leader Paul Halsey presents the English teacher with a gift...

Diana, here, and Dayana each got permission from their teachers for the team to teach their classes and then they each presented us to their classmates and identified themselves as a part of the church in Primero de Mayo!  Three of their classmates then joined us at youth group later that week!

We connected with 3 English teachers at the school and have an open invitation to return to the school!

We toured the rose plantation, Hoja Verde, where several of our teen's parents work...

and got to see one of our church members (Tia Lucia) in action at work! 

 It was our joy to host the Liberty team in our home two of the days they were here...and it was an honor to minister alongside Chelsea, a team member who is the daughter of our long-time friends, Lee and Sue Oberg!

The team also opened doors for us in nearby Quinche, where the local high school denied us entrance into their school but, at the request of our pastor's daughter Estefany, allowed their students to attend an English lesson in our sister church there...

Approximately 150 students were in attendance and were introduced to Pastor Wilmer, in orange, and were invited to return to the church!

Finally, the team furthered the construction of our church building in Primero de Mayo - here Chelsea, Glenn, Paul and Andrea work on the sidewalk!

At the end of the month Crossworld's Lynford and Sharon Regier, and Gissela Simbana took Glenn and Susie to see and participate in the ministries in the Caluma area (about an 8 hour drive to the south).  We visited our association of churches' main campground and 3 churches in 3 days!

Glenn and Susie shared their testimonies at the La Florida church and here Glenn shares at the Caluma church...

At the Estero Lindo Church, Glenn and Lynford encouraged the men as leaders in their church...

while Susie joined Gissela and Sharon in training the women and teens in teaching children's Bible lessons.

This church SO reminded us of the churches in the Dominican Republic - ceiling fans and all!

Caluma pastor, Jorge, and his wife, Miriam, not only fed us well, but invited us to join them in visiting and encouraging their church members!  What fun we had together!

February 2012 in Primero de Mayo!

So sorry I'm a month behind posting these...but I didn't want to NOT post them!  God has been at work in and through the believers in Primero de Mayo and we're so thankful to be a part of what He's doing!

In the beginning of the month, Glenn helped Marco increase the height of one wall of the existing structure (it had been built for an inclined roof). This, our future church building, will now have a flat, concrete roof.

 

 The first weekend of the month we had a church work day ("minga") to help Rosa (a widow and mother of 3 teens in our church) begin to build her new home.

 

 What a great group turned out to help in the construction of Rosa's house and what fun we had!

 

 Mid February, while Susie was in PA with her family, Glenn, Pablo and David taught at a Couples' Dinner and Workshop for the Primero de Mayo community.  The youth from our church helped serve the dinner!  

 

At the end of the month we had a church work day ("minga") on our church property.  The project was to pour the flat concrete roof, and we succeeded!  Many hands from our sister churches came to help and we even hired a winch and operator for the day!