San Lorenzo Update

Dear Prayer Partners,

WOW! Our first Kid’s Club was amazing! God certainly is good and brought results that we never could have imagined! Thursday afternoon Ron, Ashlea, Austin, and Austin’s mom and sister, and I went to San Lorenzo to pass out fliers for the evening’s first Kid’s Club. Of course, passing out anything in San Lorenzo got us mobbed! But that evening brought around 200 kids to the little cabana on the beach!It was incredible! We never expected that overwhelming of a response! We had a great time of worship, games, craft, and Bible Story. The kids had a great time, and by the time we finished, we all felt like we had been run over by a truck! Exhausted, but thrilled with what God is doing! It is wonderful to see the kid’s faces light up when singing the worship songs they have learned from previous teams! The kids couldn’t wait to sing Yo le Alabo! We actually had to sing it twice and then they asked for an encore! God is amazing how He is already teaching these kids to praise Him with all their hearts!
Thank you all so much for your prayers, and continue to pray for us as we recruit more workers here in Manta for the Harvest that is certainly ready in San Lorenzo!

Also, last week, Austin’s mom Jean, and sister Lyndsey, with their home church and friends provided gifts for “celebrating you were born” party at the children’s home. The kids were more than thrilled and certainly received some much needed items! It was precious to watch the kids pack and repack their new “treasures” into their gift bags, many of them having never before received a gift to call their own. God is great! And we thank Austin’s family and their friends and church family for their willingness to bless these children in Jesus’ Name!

IN HIS SERVICE,
Nicole (for Ron and Eliana too!)

September Update

Greetings from Ecuador! It has been wonderful to hear from many of you, and to hear of your prayers for our family. We had a wonderful break when my parents came to visit this month. Eliana was thrilled to see her Grandma and Papa as we had been warning her for so long that they were coming, she had begun to doubt us! It was a wonderful time of relaxing and refocusing.

OUR FAMILY
Ron is doing great at language school and has begun individual classes to help him advance even further. He is enjoying his time in construction, and is getting more adjusted to the difference in culture here, although the traffic gets tricky at times!

I am adjusting to the mindset of not being a single missionary! Since most of my time on the field has been just me, it has been challenging to not become frustrated with how limited I feel I am. Eliana is an incredible baby, but there is only so much you can do with a 15 month old! I am enjoying building relationships with the kids, and looking forward to doing more this month in San Lorenzo.

Eliana is doing fantastic. She is walking finally! And her grasp of both English and Spanish is amazing. She understands everything! She was thrilled to have her grandparents here for awhile and is enthralled with the new webcam her Aunt Gina sent. She is amazed that she can see and talk to them!

OUR MINISTRY
The second children’s home is going up wonderfully. The entire exterior has been bricked in, and all of the interior walls are up as well. The roof is on, and it is looking great! It has been amazing to see it go up so well and none too soon. Unfortunately kids have been turned away because of lack of room. The first home is now at capacity with twelve children plus the three children of the house parents. The kids are all doing well, and the eight new children are adjusting wonderfully to a new life and a new family. While my parents were here we were able to take all of the kids to a community pool, something we have been trying to do as often as possible because of the heat! Everyone had a wonderful time, and several of the kids have requested swimming lessons. I guess we will become swimming coaches soon!

Both our family and the Smith’s (our team members here in Ecuador) have begun what we call a “ministry of presence” in San Lorenzo, which is stage one of our four part church planting strategy. For the last month, we have gone once a week to San Lorenzo and prayer walked. During our time in the town, we seize every opportunity to build relationships, talk, play volleyball with the kids, and anything else we can do to begin establishing trust in the community. Since we go the same time on the same day every week, the community has grown accustomed to us, and is very open to our being there. October begins phase two, where we will begin serving in the community to continue to build trust. I will begin teaching English a couple of days a week at the school, and hopefully we will also be able to begin a once a week English class at night for the adults. Our goal is to establish a trust and presence in the community that will allow us a foundation for their acceptance of the Gospel. Even during our prayer walking, it has been amazing to talk to the kids and they immediately begin singing songs from when teams have come. I have already talked with several who told me they received Christ while one of the mission teams were visiting, which allowed me to go further into details with them and begin discipleship. In October, we will also be starting a youth night/children’s twice a month where the kids of the community will come for games and Bible Study. We are very excited about the doors God is opening for us! Please pray that God would guide us every step, and that He would rise up national leaders to disciple for leadership in the San Lorenzo church plant.

At the end of October, Ron and I have been asked to teach at the youth discipleship weekend for the church Iglesia Bautista Hay Vida en Jesus that we have been attending. We are excited about our involvement with the youth of the church and feel strongly that God is going to use some of them in the work in San Lorenzo. This last weekend, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of girls from the youth at one of their overnights at the church. Our involvement with them has certainly been a blessing.

PRAISES
• We praise God for our time with my parents, and all the joys that came with it!
• We praise God for the relationships being forged with the Manta church, and our current involvement with the youth
• We praise God for His answers to prayers before we even have chance to ask. (We had been praying about starting an English Bible study since so many from the US Air Force base here have asked about one. Recently the pastor of the church came to me and asked if we would be interested in leading an English cell group for the people of the base!)
• Praise God for the ministry in San Lorenzo and the openness to the Gospel there.

PRAYER REQUESTS
• While Ron is doing wonderfully with the language, sometime the slowness of learning can be frustrating for him. Please pray for patience and persistence.
• Please pray for me as the house can get lonely at times, and hot! (I have actually never understood coveting until recently, when I was washing dishes, pouring sweat as always, and began to covet our American neighbor’s air conditioning units!) After the fact, it became quite hilarious!
• Please pray for the Youth Retreat October 20-22
• Please pray for our new ministry attempts in San Lorenzo, that God would grant wisdom and send His Holy Spirit before us
• Please pray for the new English cell group, that God would clearly define our role and involvement, and use it for His glory.
• Please pray for our family, that we would remain steadfast with grace in the midst of conflict and not waiver in what He calls us to do
• Please pray that we would fully submit ourselves to the Lord and that He would use us to draw people to Himself, receiving all of the glory, honor, and praise!

Thank you all so much for your partnership in what God is doing here in Ecuador. We truly covet your prayers, and would love to hear from you! Thank you for your amazing support as we serve the Lord in Manta Ecuador!

IN HIS FIRM GRIP,
Nicole (For Ron and Eliana)

Family Photo

AUGUST UPDATE

"Yet I Will Rejoice in the Lord, I Will be Joyful in God my Savior!"
Habakkuk 3:18


Wow! We can hardly believe that we have been in Ecuador almost two months! We hit the ground running when we arrived and I think only now have we begin to slow down enough even to look around and see where we are! Through it all, God has been amazingly faithful and good. We have had our fair share of challenges just trying to survive in the culture, but through the ups and the downs, the mountains and the valleys, God continues to remind us of His goodness, His presence, and His calling on our lives, and in this, we rejoice! We are settled into a house on the outskirts of Manta, and quickly beginning to settle into life here in Ecuador. Ron is doing incredibly well in language school, and working diligently in the afternoons on the construction of the second children's home. It is amazing how much they have completed already.
The children in the first home are doing wonderfully, in fact, the home is now completely full with eight new children coming in the last two weeks! The children range from 3 to 13 and they are all doing very well. Please continue to pray for them as they adjust to a new home, new family, new expectations, and most of all, and hopefully soon, a new understanding of Jesus Christ. We have truly been blessed by all of them more than we could express. Last Saturday we were able to take all of the children swimming, and just get to spend the day loving on them, we all had a wonderful time, and it was a big help in assisting the new kids in their adjustment.
Eliana is doing incredibly well. She has proved to be wonderfully flexible and a blessing to all that meet her. She certainly is a tourist attraction around here! She is finally starting to think walking may not be so bad!
We are very pleased that our attempts to network with the Manta Baptist Church (Hay Vida en Jesus) appears to be going well, and we have recently been invited to help lead at their October youth retreat. We are both looking forward to it!
The June-July teams went very well, and much was accomplished for the kingdom. The youth of the first week spent their time playing "While you Were Out" and redecorating the children's rooms in the home. The kids were thrilled to come home from school and see their favorite colors painted on the walls and new curtains on the windows. The youth team also held a lock in at the church in which we had over 70 youth attend! It was a wonderful time of fellowship and discipleship. The second week was full with a medical clinic in which the doctors saw over 900 patients! God is good and many though coming for physical healing, found spiritual healing as well. Also, the women of the team hosted a women's conference for 80 women. God was incredibly faithful and His presence was in the midst of it all. It was truly a blessing to all involved.
After the teams left, I had a quick trip to the States to see one of my best friends get married, it was beautiful as was my time there with my family. I was extremely eager to get back as right when I left, we were just starting to settle. Please continue to pray for us as we jump into ministry here. Pray that God would grant us wisdom to do what He would have us to do and to serve in every way we can to the people of Ecuador. We cherish your prayers and encouragement, may God richly bless you with more of Himself.

IN HIS GRIP,
Nicole (for Ron and Eliana too!)